As an urban cyclist - and not especially fit one if I'm honest - nothing makes me happier that speeding past a jam of slow-going Beemers, Ranges and Mercs

When the button is pressed at a pedestrian crossing the traffic light should immediately turn red in all circumstances. Would make walking/running much more pleasant. Drivers can wait.

Fuckinell! They're literally smearing Count Binface already. The joke candidate. My god these people are pathetic humourless worms 😀 @countbinface.bsky.social

A man sits next to me on the train. Him: loads of psychopaths round here ... Me: really? Him: Loads mate. Me: How do you know? Him: There's signs ... Me: ... [47 minutes of awkward silence] Man gets bike and gets off. Ah ... cycle paths.

One of my most popular tweets.

haha, thats a great post. unfortunately you phrased it in a way that allowed me, a moron, to misunderstand it

Me? Well, depends how you count it - I mean, i didn't die from a bunch of things prevented by immunisation and responsible antibiotic use. But the broken leg at 10, the meningococcaemia at 19, and the prostate cancer at 54 (although that may have taken a few years still) So, yes, thanks NHS.

also excellent work from @newsthump.com 👏👏👏

There's a scene near the end of the 1992 Robin Williams movie Toys where the failed general (Michael Gambon) is happy in a nursing home, saluting toy soldiers being conveyed past him on a belt. I've often thought this might be a great way out of this mess...

Jimmy Carter had to sell his peanut farm to avoid even the impression of any conflict of interest, but this corrupt fuck doesn't even try to hide his corruption.

After years of asking kids the question, it seems canon for children under 5 that all unicorns are girls. However, for older children the chances of getting two genders increases with age.

There is the old line here that cutting out all the fun stuff doesn't mean you will live longer - it will just feel like it...

Still don't know

I sometimes challenge students to "define family". I might give them this to read in future.

Feels like every Paediatrician should have this on their wall, as a reminder of how impossibly ancient we appear to children...

They’re calling it the quote on British politics that ended the need for all other quotes

Well, that was a fucking ride.

Why don't we ask the kids what they think about the parents' use of social media? I mean, that might demonstrate that we need a nuanced national debate and rational way forward in the whole area... (oh. And ban all gambling ads. Especially those disguised as "we make it easy to stop gambling"... )

"If you can't see my mirrors I can't see you" is not an acceptable stance for big vehicles now that cameras and sensors are so cheap.

Last image from tonight (short film in the morning): this brother out here with his Singer sewing machine, gifting people a custom embroidery on their jerseys and hats with the name and the date, was more artistic than anything at Burning Man and ad gorgeous as a Caravaggio. Magic! Goodnight.

This extraordinary article puts into context the obscene scale of Elon Musk’s wealth. The poverty of his soul is revealed in how he chooses to use his power - by crushing the poor, the disadvantaged and the most vulnerable. He is the poster boy for the rotten nature of our modern world.

A society with one trillionaire and millions of people in poverty is something to be deeply ashamed of, actually

Congratulations to Elon Musk, the fattest monkey on Earth.

Ditto tennis players.

Famous authors asking you out

Everyone on X and elsewhere who called for a violent response should be charged with incitement. Everyone involved in the pogrom should be locked up with exemplary sentences. Govt should make it clear that will be the response in future anywhere else. Enough.

Really, really, really object to any news corporations labelling people setting fire to cars, houses and attacking police as 'protesters'

My day job is at a rural branch of a public library, and we have a Pride display. Yesterday I was at the desk when a man came in. Fifties, maybe, or sixties. Plaid shirt, mesh trucker cap, suspenders. He went up to the display and just stood there for a long moment. Then he came up to the desk. 🧵 1/

Nigel Farage Listens to the News

🏴‍☠

It's pretty gracious of him to show up at all, given that his side lost.

It's always a good game to check Google streetview when people complain about loss of car parking outside their shop. 2025: white mini 2024: white mini 2023: white mini. Excuse me, Mr Shopkeep, do you drive a white mini, by any chance?

Honestly incredible stuff but this made me gasp: "For $100 million a year we can get clean oceans,” he said. This is less than the annual marketing budget of most major consumer goods companies that produce the plastic The Ocean Cleanup is pulling from the sea. techfixated.com/young-invent...

Good to discover, in Pride month, what a clear thinker Jeremy Bentham was.

British newspaper headline, huge: IS THIS INSANE FAR RIGHT CONSPIRACY THEORY ACTUALLY TRUE? British newspaper subhead, in the smallest font possible: no, but we thought we’d discuss it at length anyway

One of Terry Pratchett's many skills was smuggling deep philosophy and ethical reflection into laugh-out-loud stories with wizards, dwarfs and trolls in them. Wrote about this here: blogs.bmj.com/adc/2015/03/...

Locutus safety tip: To prevent identity theft, avoid having your own identity.

I know it's a common topic, but car owners in Britain have it too easy. We park wherever we want. We drive like utter knobheads. We buy cars too big for our infrastructure and skill. It's got to stop. Far stricter regulations and heavy handed, punishing enforcement required.

What Reform did today was an incitement to rioting and an insult to a grieving family. This bloke should have hung his goddamn head in shame.

When the father of a murdered son makes a public statement saying "we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension", then I believe it's incumbent on any news outlet reporting on Farage's comments to ensure people know he has chosen to disregard the family's wishes.

If you've got an opinion you want on here - submit it to the form: https://forms.gle/1gNMupaNHQf8xeRE6

Friends, an apology: I failed to mark the 13th anniversary of this yesterday. An appalling omission

I had this sudden realisation that the reason Vera Lynn sang, ornithologically wrongly, of "Bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover" was because she couldnt sing "Bluetits"...