RIP Prunella Scales I met her and Tim one evening at the Wigmore Hall while we queued for drinks at the interval. Absolutely charming. We have lost such a wonderful actress.

The car industry has spent hundreds of millions of pounds/dollars on using advertising to promote cars. Unfortunately it has been very very successful and today the majority believe the adverts and do love their cars. This is despite the huge problems that cars cause - crashes, deaths, pollution..

Would it help if the Met pretend the escaped Ethiopian prisoner had poured a cup of coffee down the drain. Or that he’s a 95 year old grandmother with a flag. Pretty sure they’d have him within an hour.

Microsoft is “reimagining” Outlook with integrated AI. I look forward to being able to say “Yeh bro. A pint sounds good” in 17,000 words, including quotes from Plato and Descartes and explaining the relevance of the Poincaré conjecture to the event.

The only thing better would have been finding a reason to give the Nobel Peace Prize to Hunter Biden.

Fingers crossed that the Nobel Peace Prize goes to a woman. Preferably one of colour. And one who arguably doesn’t really deserve it. And a Muslim from Venezuela. Icing on so many cakes.

One of the political dilemmas of our time is the politicians promise less and less tax, less and less spend. While people want a quality of life that is inconsistent with rock bottom taxes. We want good infrastructure, safe places, public health, justice, emergency services, and education.

I shared a stage with Dame Jane Goodall 20 yrs ago. She was a star; I was embarrassed to even be in her shadow, but so honoured. But she was gracious, treated me as an equal and behind the scenes was kind, friendly, interested. Humanity and the world’s environment have both lost a superstar. ❤️

Binge-listening to the Talking Headways podcasts of @usa.streetsblog.org. Very American but still much of relevance to the rest of the world.

Saddened to hear of the death of Manchán Magan. Ireland has lost a passionate and dedicated chronicler and lexicographer.

Never tire of watching Rick Stein’s programmes. Such emotion, such joy.

Just watched a YouTube podcast in which @jeffspeck.bsky.social heroically and with the utmost patience refutes the absurd arguments of pro-AV Musk bros. They pitted their “trust me bro” evidence against Speck’s *decades* of real-world experience and real data.

Why in the name of God is @microsoft.com Word so staggeringly difficult to format properly?! A task is taking 4 times as long to format because every single fucking time - despite setting an indent as a default for the document - it ignores it. I cannot overstate how much I despise this product.

You can’t even escape people playing TV programmes loudly in the open on Trenitalia Frecciarossa trains by paying an extra €200 to go in Executive class. Wtf is wrong with people? Buy some fucking headphones. ffs.

Genuinely surprised how many Sicilian vineyards/wineries have website that are simply broken. Three out of three now which say they have English versions and don’t. And then the Italian site doesn’t work anyway.

The level of seatbelt use in Italy (Sicily specifically) is astonishingly low. I thought it was about 1 in 20 drivers, but standing at a bus stop for 30 minutes, I now believe it’s no more than 1 in 50. 😳🤦🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

TIL that some people use seatbelts in Italy. Saw it with my own eyes.

Interesting graphic of the Ferrovia Circumetnea (FCE) system, looping round Mount Etna. The map shows then rail route but also the parallel bus route. Does this suggest that long-term the railway will disappear? Its’s already lost 20km at the Catania end. #sicily #rail #FCE #circumetnea

Setting off on my holiday this morning. 3 weeks in Sicily. Travelling by train to Catania from Hampshire. Well first a bus, then the ferry to Le Havre. Guide book at my side. #rail #nofly #sustainabletravel

To lady on 1503 Waterloo to Windsor train: wearing headphones does not silence your fart.

To reiterate. People calling for peace are being designated as terrorists by the UK government.

Remember that authoritarians ALWAYS claim to speak for the silent majority. Every time.

When pacifists demonstrating for an end to genocide are arrested as “terrorists” something has gone badly wrong not just with both justice and policing. And with a political party founded on protest. As with the Tories, the end is nigh for Labour. Such hopes, yet such misery and despair.

Once again, a technical problem has caused incredible transport disruption with 14 of the 24 platforms at Waterloo out of action. It would seem that resilience is almost totally absent in the UK. Where did it all go so wrong? How (specifically)? Why?

Just read Xan Brooks “review” of Daniel Day-Lewis’s career. What a pretentious pile of crap. What is it with film critics? It’s one thing to not like a film but to unkindly mock someone is vile. If you ever read this, Brooks, I think you’re a talentless cunt. Irony of your fucking name, too.

Absurdly lenient sentence. 16 months in prison. It’s been said before: if you want to kill someone, do it with a car. The utter madness of sentencing is one of many elements driving people to more extreme political parties. www.bbc.com/news/article...

“I will end the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled. I’ll get it done in 24 hours.” Donald Trump, 1st July 2023. <checks watch> <shakes head> The man who tanked the world’s economies, set back economic and technological progress, started pogroms. But hey! Pronouns.

Thrilled to see Iga Świątek winning yesterday. A huge thing for Poland.

After five years, I cancelled Amazon Music today and am returning to Apple Music. Really not happy with the streaming model from either of these corporate giants but I sense that despite a lot of what I consider shady practices (music purchased then not available), Apple seems a lesser evil.

“I’ll end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours”. From the Bollocksmeister General. 5,793 hours later…. He could have promised you absofuckinglutely anything and y’all would have voted him in. He did. And you did.

My digital Interrail pass (Poland only) has worked only in 1 of the first 7 trains. I rely on the goodwill of 6 conductors/guards so far.

I hate how the iPhone is virtually unusable in bright sunshine. It seems a huge flaw that has been problematic on iPhones for a decade. Why though? Isn’t it occasionally sunny in California?

Travelling around rural western Poland by train. So many single track lines with a train maybe only every 2 or 3 hours (but often with occasional intercity train too). It’s a real investment decarbonised future travel. Every single station seems to have money being actively spent.

While not doubting how good Google Maps is overall, it fails in a huge way with large indoor spaces. Trying to get to a shop in Warsaw, the app had me going to the nearest wall of the building then straight through it - as the crow flies. Took me almost 20 mins circling the place to find an entry.

Where will you be in 3 weeks time? Just some of the highlights of Byline Festival 11-13 July We’d love you to join us! Don’t miss the festival that could change your life … Full programme and tickets bylinefestival.com

Christ but it’s virtually impossible to read any Reach title (most UK local papers) online. The relentless bombardment with popups makes it so difficult to read. Is there a browser that can strip all this shit out so that articles can be read? I understand the need for advertising but it’s insane!

Really struggling to link up Google Maps with Warsaw metro and tram and bus routes. Spending ages switching between apps. Google Maps is great for road route planning but absolutely pisspoor with public transport.

Thanks for the reminder @janemunday.bsky.social. Every summer, I repost this article DROWNING DOES NOT LOOK LIKE DROWNING. To date, I know of FOUR kids who were saved after someone who'd clicked on the link learnt how to spot actual drowning. Take time to read and pass on. slate.com/technology/2...

Green Steal. One of the largest steel producers chickens out of #greensteel after massive subsidies. Bad because decarb strategy for construction is based on fantasy scenarios such as green steel, concrete, just to avoid having to switch to #renewablematerials with new sustainable value chains.

Enjoying Warsaw, one of the world’s great cities: friendly, cheerful, buzzing. Believe the Berlin - Warsaw - Baltic States axis will be the centre of so much more in the future: a new Hanseatic League. If only Russia and Belarus weren’t such shitshows rn, I’d add Minsk and St Petersburg to that.

Why do the social media companies do NOTHING - and I mean zero - about this vile behaviour? They do NOTHING. Just rake in money. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis...

In case you didn't know it - I'm an architectural and interiors photographer. I've been taking photographs of places for over 25 years. I've put together a bit of a portfolio of my contemporary stuff here: digest.andymarshall.co/architectura...

Good to see others making a stand and traveling long distance by train. But still the nightmare of poor rail ticketing forces many of us to fly: just 7 weeks before my Milan to Catania journey, the tickets aren’t available for the ICN1963 direct sleeper. 🤦🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️ Frustrating. Needs to be fixed.

Wow. Imagine a president essentially declaring war on his own county.

So much good television being made in Wales.

Suspect I should have bought popcorn futures earlier this week.

🌍 It's #WorldEnvironmentDay! Wondering if it's unusually hot where you are in the UK? Check out this new website: istheukhotrightnow.com Explore live UK temps hour-by-hour and see if it's cooler, average or hotter than ‘normal’ (1991–2020 avg).

Has anyone told Rachel Reeves there’s some big savings to made here. Many of them are pensioner’s anyway

Trenitalia tickets for the direct Milano to Siracusa train still not available just ten weeks before departure date. Imagine if airline ticketing systems were this shit? Real barrier to travelling long distance by train. Massively puts me off and is almost forcing me to book a plane tkt.

I am deeply concerned that if aliens land and ask to be taken to our leader, that this happens in the USA.