'The bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath in north-west London will remain trans-inclusive after a public consultation overwhelmingly favoured its existing rules.' Good news. 86% of 38,000 respondents in favour of retaining trans-inclusive policies.

The eye-roll at 17:00 on this @fryrsquared.bsky.social video is possibly the best eye-roll in history. Think "since the invention of the kiss" from The Princess Bride, but applied to eye-rolls. No timestamp in the link, because it's worth watching the whole video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzR...

So it seems Farage has had enough time today to condemn a one-word (repeated, admittedly) misquote of his speech by the BBC. Has he had enough time to condemn the violence last night? Is there some condemnation he's issued, some plea for calm (rather than rage), that hasn't been reported?

Just had an idea for a twist for a future Traitors series... Currently once you're a Traitor, there's no going back. If each Traitor were given the power to become Faithful again just before the finale, would that ever be tempting?

Agreed - while almost every use of the phrase "common sense" in modern political discourse is awful, I'd like to think that this article really *does* deserve that label in the most positive sense.

We’ve taken the time to digest the amended EHRC Code of Practice. We’ve broken down what’s happening and what the changes mean for services and trans people: the good, the bad and the ugly (and yes, there is some good in it). Read our full response: https://ow.ly/7Ru450Z4QwH

Currently mulling: how much of the foreword for a technical book can reasonably be about Into The Woods?

Read, share www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Ah, the joy of mixing hobbies. I'm reading @ericlippert.com's "Fabulous Adventures in Data Structures and Algorithms" (which more than lives up to its name; strongly recommended) and the section on change ringing (in the context of enumerating permutations).

It's possibly gauche to praise one's own software, but I'm so pleased with the A/V system I've created for my local church. I'm sitting in a hotel in Paris, and having received the order of service from the preacher for Sunday morning, [continued]

As I start looking for a job for when I've left Google, I can't help but wonder how guarded I need to be about my concerns around AI. I'd like to think I'm open-minded and can see benefits as well as problems, but are employers going to be put off by anything negative.

Public Service Announcement: the news in the UK today was only a test for the combined UK emergency podcast services. No further action is required, but you may wish to restrict yourself to listening to one (1) emergency podcast in the next 24 hours to avoid banging your head hard against a desk.

Funny how a cabinet vacancy comes up on the same day Angela Rayner announces that she's been cleared by HMRC. I've no idea whether or not she'd be a good Health Secretary, but it would at least be funny.

Suppose Streeting *doesn't* launch a leadership bid - at least not just yet. If you're Starmer, do you fire him anyway in a reshuffle, given that the manoeuvres were pretty clear? Or does that just make him a martyr?

BBC headline: 'We're all behind him' - chief secretary to the treasury Unspoken follow-up: 'That makes it much easier to stab him in the back.'

Okay, 2026 England local election results are now up on election2029.uk/local-electi... as far as I've got data. There are quite a few results still to be uploaded to Democracy Club, and *loads* where there's no clear correspondence between old and new results, but it's still interesting...

Just listened to "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd for the first time in a while. It's *so* good - makes me sad all over again for us losing Sondheim, but he's left us so much treasure...

Hoping to create the same sort of Sankey diagrams of how seats have changed hands as I did last year, but it definitely won't be today (I'll be at a daytime count) and it may well be some time next week, depending on how hard it is to sort out the data from "seats last time" to "seats this time".

As is so often the case with @ldfreedman.bsky.social (and @samfr.bsky.social), this is a wonderful combination of insight and elegant prose. There are plenty of sites with one or the other - or even a "pretty good" standard of both. But Sam and Lawrence absolutely nail both with alarming frequency.

I foolishly started bingeing on "The Traitors India" without spotting that most if it isn't available on iPlayer yet. Rookie mistake.

Today’s newsletter: the United Kingdom doesn’t have the antiracism movement that its politicians, or much of the British Jewish community, thinks it does:

Now seems as good a time as any to post this... I've handed in my notice at Google. I'll be working to the end of June, with my final employment date being July 7th. I don't have anything lined up yet in terms of my next role, but I'm starting some conversations. Feel free to get in touch :)

I hadn't quite expected the "Handmaid's Tale crossed with Bridgerton" vibe that's coming off The Testaments.

I hate the way "sanction" has two completely opposite meanings. From a BBC article: "It is not clear if the US-sanctioned vessel was attempting to pass through and exit via the Gulf of Oman." "US-sanctioned" could mean "approved" or "penalised" here; I genuinely can't tell which is the case.

ORBÁN CONCEDED

<sigh> Visual Studio seems to be back to "completely hang when hitting F12 to navigate to a member" mode :( It's been horribly unstable since the start of 2026.

Oooh, Hadestown proshot will be released in the US on July 24th. No UK release date yet, but I'd hope it won't be much later.

I cannot begin to express how furious I am with Girlguiding UK right now.

Visiting Cambridge after many years away, and this makes me so sad - when I think back to student days, having an occasional burger from Gardies is one of the strongest memories.

If Dónal Finn never ends up playing the Joker, it will be a sad waste. Very odd seeing him one day after another, first in Young Sherlock and then The Other Bennet Sister. He'll always be Orpheus to me though :)

NEWS: The Trump administration is forcing transgender inmates to detransition by implementing a new policy that would withhold their medical treatment in a way that puts clinicians in conflict with ethics and patients in danger. www.advocate.com/politics/nat...

The missions in Traitors NZ feel far more brutal than the UK ones. (Currently near the end of series 2.)

Nearly finished work for the day. Looking forward to putting some time into defeating my current nemesis boss in Hollow Knight: Silksong (*amazing* game, btw - I may post more on that another time). Trouble is, I'm also considering having a tinned cocktail. The two activities may not mix well.

I see To Kill A Mockingbird is going to be on in the West End again. I don't remember a show coming back (as opposed to a transfer like The Producers) so quickly before. (We saw it in 2022, and it lasted until May 2023.) That won't stop me from going again of course. It's a fabulous play. All rise.

It really pains me to say this, and I know people have been talking about Stack Overflow dying for ages, but I really think this *is* the beginning of the end - at least of the site I used to love. meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/43...

@samfr.bsky.social No idea if you remember saying this might be an interesting thing for the web site, but bloc-based voting intention polls is now on the site... election2029.uk/blocs - if you have any other suggested groupings, they're very easy to add :)

From EE: "For all of your numbers, we’ve moved you to our latest pounds and pence terms. In future, your price change won’t be affected by inflation, so you’ll know exactly how much it will increase each year." Sounds great, right? Except the price changes are *massively* above inflation.

Enjoying #TheTraitors Ireland, but it's sort of the diametric opposite of UK Series 4. Just - what?

At Hadestown again after a gap of just over three months - new Hermes, new Persephone. Can't wait.

I've just remembered that Farage was going to announce a high profile defection from Labour to Reform this week. Did I miss it in all the other news this week, or did it not happen? (Perhaps another computery problem for Nigel?) @samfr.bsky.social Was there a defection that got mostly drowned out?

one of the best things ever

I hadn't clocked that Siobhan McSweeney is hosting #TheTraitors Ireland. So that's clearly on the Must Watch list now.

This is the first time I've felt this way, but this time I'm actually cheering on Team Traitor. It took me a while to warm up to them, mind you. Definitely a different vibe to other series. #TheTraitors

Was Keir Starmer's speech basically, "We're not backing down on Greenland, but we're not going to do anything hugely bold/rash either"? If so, he took an awfully long time to say it.

Please sign and share. The far right are getting political representation through stealth. Starmer has been awful, but the mass election of Labour was the electorate **trying to boot the right wing out of politics petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

I'm very confused. I've seen there's a new party registered with the Electoral Commission: the Haringey Socialist Alliance. But the web site for it is about Your Party instead. Why register a new party if you're going to encourage folks to vote for a different one?

Blogged: "Election 2029: Load Testing" - codeblog.jonskeet.uk/2026/01/18/e...

Blogged: "Election 2029: Models and Reality" - codeblog.jonskeet.uk/2026/01/17/e...

Rewatching One Man, Two Guvnors on National Theatre At Home. We previously saw it during lockdown and I remember it being funny - but it's even better than I remember. Really hoping the NT Live shot of Here We Are comes out soonish. (And the Hadestown proshot, though I suspect that'll be later.)

<sigh> My election site doesn't currently cope with an MP changing party twice in one day as happened with Jenrick. Will get it updated when I get a chance (which won't be for an hour or two...)