If you are struggling with climate-related existential dread in this heat,I recommend driving along some country lanes while blasting Today by Smashing Pumpkins and Be Quiet And Drive (far away) by Deftones

7.45am river swim, much recommended. Now to faff around pretending to work for a couple of hours, then call it Siesta time.

In this house we respect the classics (Camel Up, First Edition) #BoardGames

Something I learned this weekend is that if you really give yourself to the algorithm, YouTube will eventually present you with Busdriver and Kirsten Schaal performing Space Oddity, and you won't know if it was a hallucination or not

Exciting time for my amateur birdsong recognition skills- I heard something in the garden that wasn't one I knew, clicked on my Merlin bird app- Greenfinch it says, and there in the neighbour's tree was a beautiful solitary Greenfinch!

I'm sure all the people rabidly asserting that Zack was in the wrong will be sharing this update... Any.... Minute.... Now.....

Hearing that government will re-brand "Nanny State" as "Daddy State" to appeal to Gen-Z

My "It is illegal to say I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION" T-shirt has a lot of people asking questions already answered by my shirt.

Andy Burnham suggests resurrecting the Northern leg of HS2 to Manchester by changing the way infrastructure projects are funded. If that works for Manchester, why not for the eastern leg to the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and Leeds, too? inews.co.uk/news/andy-bu...

The Flatiron Building, New York by my partner Clare Caulfield. She doesn’t do social media so I’m taking it on to promote her beautiful work. Giclee print £94.00+P&P. Many other sizes/prices available. 10% discount code, apply at checkout: CLARESARTPRINT10 Etsy link: www.etsy.com/uk/listing/7...

Can't believe we let this happen because of Woke.

I emailed my MP about this, she sent a nice email back saying she'd look at it, and now she's signed it. Good stuff, Anna Sabine, no notes.

I don't know why the YouTube algorithm decided I should see this, but I'm glad it did youtu.be/1i739SyCu9I?...

Took my kid to see The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act at the cinema -being around so many neurospicy teenagers being unabashedly excited about Their Thing was really heartwarming. Good movie, although I think i did doze off for a bit because it was dark and the chair was comfy and I'm old.

I just signed up for @dropout.tv on YouTube and it's already easily the best-value First Month Free I ever signed up for. I love Game Changer so much.

I've been strewing wildflower seeds around my garden for years, in hopes of making things more interesting. This year I'm seeing the benefit- these are all in a 3m² patch:

We gotta stop letting these tight pants motherfuckers be in charge of shit

Another productive day out in the sticks

thinking about this a lot today

Solidarity with LGBTQ+ Folx, with Firefightin' Folx, and with any other Folx who aren't going to take this shit lying down.

My tip for dealing with this heat in the UK is to live in a 1906 stone-built terraced miner's cottage, which is bastard freezing in the winter but at least manages to stay cool on days like this.

I was introduced to the Merlin bird sounds app, and my new favourite game is sitting in my back garden trying to recognise the bird sounds before the app tells me what they are.

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

Been dancing The Morris at Chippenham Folk Festival today. Lovely time. The British folk scene is a great demonstration of how white Boomers can be easily steered away from dogshit TERFy politics simply by being around trans people who like the same things they do.

labour mp/msps are fuckin brutal man. toothpaste is like 7 quid a tube and they're online boasting about how they're bullying a minority on behalf of a bunch of terf shut-ins

Went on a lovely Bat Walk with my bat-obsessed 10-year-old. Saw some bats, played with a sonar detecting device thingy, lovely stuff. And free!

Today, the DfT announced its marvellous, magical changes to HS2 to save costs. These changes are: ⭕ Reduce the maximum speed from 360 to 320 km/h 🤖 Remove Automatic Train Operation (ATO) 🚦 Reduce the signalling system (ETCS) specification This will save 2% off HS2's capex. Good idea?

If you design and build a railway to accommodate trains going a certain speed, and then you run the trains at a lower speed... That very plainly doesn't save you any money. I am but a humble banjo-playing Classics graduate, but this seems obvious to me

I'm absolutely delighted that Cabinet has agreed to pilot a locally-led filtered Quiet Lanes policy to improve rural active travel. It's innovative and I'm so proud of my role in it alongside others. Do share, AT policy enthusiasts (short thread) mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk/%28S%2803u25...

Not sure if it's a good or bad sign for my mental health that I'm listening to early Deftones earnestly

My 10-year-old's latest Special Interest is cake decorating, so we got her a bunch of good tools for her birthday and she decorated her own cake. This is the first time she's ever tried it.

None of us had even considered "Can we turn the AI communist?" This is on us, really.

One of my friends won a flipping Bafta. Pretty cool.

I have two mystery fast-growing shrubs in my garden. Possibly Wild Cherry and Goat Willow. This is the latter.

First swim of the year, at England's oldest river swimming club

Spangly adverts for growing 18th Century cattle fodder, the death throes of capitalism are fascinating

Sharing because A/ Vote Green and B/ I think this poster is great

Another banger advert from YouTube, that algorithm is a demon

I've always assumed that if/when I get a dog it will be a Standard size sighthound, but I have realised that I could get a Whippet and name it "Devo".

#trevorphillips tries to argue that because some people say the pro Palestinian marches are hate marches, they are. @zackpolanski.bsky.social is spot on, there is nothing hateful about marching in support of the Palestinians & against Israels brutal occupation & genocide.

First day I've heard the Swifts screeching overhead, one of my favourite things about Summer out here. And now I'm thinking again about how Labour kiboshed mandatory Swift Bricks in new builds out of (I can only assume) with spite or naked corruption.

I'm a No Mow Ever kinda guy.

Delphic Oracle: If you continue to pursue this strategy, you will destroy a long-established political party. Morgan McSweeney: Excellent, time to put an end to the Left once and for all.

Time for more Arcs by @buriedgiantstudios.bsky.social using the Print-and-Play in-development leaders. I'm running Ancient Wraith with Survival Overrides, which is delightfully chaotic.

Solar panels don’t damage the countryside you just don’t like the way they look. Skylarks. Linnets. Yellowhammers. www.ecoportal.net/en/solar-pan...

All this talk about The Strokes reminds me of a time about 8 years ago i was working with a 20-year old who was playing some new band that I said sounded just like The Strokes and he didn't know who that was, at which point I crumbled into dust, aged 33

We should be learning from other countries...

I am a diehard three-speed rider, but I just replaced the duff shifter and learned to adjust the derailleur on my daughter's 7-speed bike. Feeling pretttay technical.