'My wife died in childbirth but wasn't told she'd been given labour drug overdose'

The changing nature of beachcombing. Construction related debris, picked up from the beach.

Baseball is a game normally played in secret by Americans while the British sleep but for some reason it has escaped into the uk daytime and now the secret is out.

Always fascinating watching people underestimate the size of London vs other UK ciries. On an average weekday, more journeys are made on JUST the Elizabeth line than the ENTIRE population of Liverpool. If the Tube was a city, its average daily passengers would make it the 2nd largest in the UK.

The thing I like particularly about the fact that Isaac Newton invented the catflap is it gives the image of him trying to lay the foundations of classical mechanics but getting distracted by having to let a cat out then in again 40 seconds later and thinking, “Shit, I really need to sort this.”

In the last fifteen years, if i do something badly, i get stick on social media. That's fine. I'm realistic. However when i do things well, the number of people keen to ignore, make excuses for, diminish or attack shows the degree to which cognitive bias rules. Racism is one of many such biases.

Today’s #1000postcards is one of my favourite moths. The Ermine reminds me of the black and white costumes , from the scene at the races, in the film My Fair Lady. So elegant! and a really fiddly one to paint

HAND-COOKED CRISPS I tire of hand-cooked crisps They are about as Exciting And new As kettle-boiled tea My jaded palate Needs something More special To shake me From my place Of crisp ennui Crisps cooked By the redoubtable Steel talons Of robot hawks That is the Only thrill I now crave

The way Instagram's algorithm is now, there's about as much point in someone like me having 35,000 followers there as there would be in selling 35,000 tickets for a rock concert in New York then sitting on a Welsh mountain, playing six songs, unaccompanied, on an old banjo with two strings missing.

Ladybird wisdom, part 47. Artist: Frank Humphris (A First ‘Do You Know’ Book, 1971)

Also new in v1.109: custom feed operators now receive more interaction events. If you run a custom feed, now you'll know when people like, quote, repost, reply, and see posts in your feed. All valuable signals that can help you drive higher-quality recommendations in your feeds.

Overheard at the vet today: “yes I’m here to pick up a prescription for Kerfuffle”

Adverts should be representative of traditional British families

v1.109 is rolling out today! #NewProfilePic We've given the app a mini makeover with some new shades of blues! Plus, a whole bunch of bug fixes and performance improvements to make your experience better.

Apparently I’m a woman now, because (checks notes), I have a home and kids.

Liverpool Street station will be closed over the Christmas period, for the second year in a row, due to engineering works along the railway. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/liv...

“OPENAI’S CHATGPT, GOOGLE’S Gemini, DeepSeek, and xAI’s Grok are pushing Russian state propaganda from sanctioned entities—including citations from Russian state media, sites tied to Russian intelligence or pro-Kremlin narratives—when asked about the war against Ukraine, according to a new report.“

Ernesto Cabral Illustration 1920s

The Farage Factor. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

I remember Meera Syal saying on a tv chat show about twenty bleeding years ago about the lack of representation of poc on tv particularly in advertising. It’s taken this long to finally see a fair balance so that stupid women and others like her should just shut the fuck up.

Here are 3 shelves of my books in A-Z order by author. I'm having a big clear out! You can have any 2 for £10 (free P+P). Please share (and buy). UK only.

Pleased to sign this letter. Sorry that I had to. One more awful blight in the indefensible practices of #FactoryFarming of chickens. In addition to 1.1 billion slaughtered for meat each year in the UK #AnimalRights #AnimalWelfare www.express.co.uk/news/politic...

JUST ARRIVED. Signed copies of "The Penelopiad" by @margaretatwood.bsky.social This is a gorgeous 20th Anniversary edition, with a new foreword by Margaret. You can order a SIGNED copy HERE! biggreenbookshop.com/signed-copie...

Here's Harlands Primary School, the first recipients of books courtesy of "Big Green Books 500 Club" I sent them £500 of books, thanks to the dosh we're raising each week through the club. You can read about it HERE. biggreenbookshop.com/big-green-bo...

I write middle-grade whodunnits, so you might want to dismiss my opinion out of hand. But I think cosy games/crime sometimes miss the fact that blankets are only cosy when it's cold outside. A world without conflict / a story without stakes isn't cosy, it's just safe.

The wrongful release of an offender highlights what we already know: our prisons are in chaos. Too few staff, too little rehabilitation, too much political neglect. It’s time for a complete rethink. #PrisonReform #PublicSafety

"Goldman Sachs has estimated that the average ChatGPT query uses nearly 10 times as much energy as a Google search." "A midsized data center uses as much water in a day as 1,000 American households, about 300,000 gallons, one research scientist told NPR." More: share.google/BOXHTwok4Ltr...

Substantial damages awarded to academic over Steve Coogan Richard III film

See these books? I have just ONE signed copy left of each of them. A lot of them are no longer on my website, but if there are any you're interested in, let me know. There's some good stuff!

This Day in Labor History: October 27, 1948. An air inversion trapped the pollution spewed out by U.S. Steel-owned factories in Donora, Pennsylvania. The Donora Smog killed 20 people and sickened 6000 others. Let's talk about this horrible moment and how it spurred pollution controls!

Facebook tells me that I posted this comment 10 years ago and it’s still the best “being caught bunking off school” story I’ve heard. Apologies for any minor factual inaccuracies in my retelling

Some big lads on the Common this morning.

Took my little brother to Glastonbury. He didn't tell me/my parents it was mock GCSE exams week. School tried to suspend him. My mum argued it was a more cultural experience than the carting event they'd let his classmate attend the same week. Suspension cancelled. The classmate was Lewis Hamilton

"There’s now a seven-percentage point difference in financial wellbeing between genders, a divide that has grown even larger since last year.” #Inequality www.thetimes.com/article/cost...

Why does this work so well? #MosaicMonday

When humans look at something we find beautiful our brains release dopamine, lifting mood & if we connect with what we're looking at oxytocin, giving us a sense of belonging. A tiny posy I made in a thimble, with real flowers I grew👇 If you like it it'll alter your brain biochemistry for the better:

For ‘adverts’, see also: ‘hospitals’, ‘the Cabinet’, ‘kindergartens’, ‘the England football team’ and, of course, ‘the country’. The only way you can miss this is deliberately. And just watch them try.

The @realmsunknown.bsky.social deep dive this week is into Portals. Let us know your favourite use of portals in Sci Fi or fantasy. Give me books! TV! Movies! Games! Comics and anime! Tell me what does portals well and what’s interesting about it!

Public service announcement: The purpose of adverts isn't to accurately reflect society, it's to sell things.

NYT games admitting its inspiration here?

Ireland elects an independent, socialist woman to the position of president. Irish Media: ‘Today, we ask what went wrong with the system, what her opponents have to say about it, and how it can be fixed for next time.’ #SpeirGorm #Áras2025

As it's coming up to Halloween, I've posted a couple of spooky (ish) stories on my website today. With a paying subscription (£2 per month, unless you want to pay more) you can read them both, plus everything new I post, and a massive archive. www.tom-cox.com/halloween/

When I came across these images in an old book, I had to double-check they weren’t by a Ladybird artist. They’re not - but are so cheery I have to share them anyway. 1/2

Boy thrown from Tate Modern can now run, swim and jump family say

Uber driver refused to pick me and my son from hospital cos he is on crutches. A little taste of grotesque ableism there.

Suspect video released after 'racially aggravated' Walsall rape

I’m on my nonsense again. This week’s Six Things: – automated music – the wonders of migration – the joy of jigsaws – Bullseye theme tune explained – photographs of tiny tiny things – a game YES ANOTHER ONE open.substack.com/pub/levparik...

Epping migrant sex offender to be deported 'this week' - Lammy

Thinking of the people of DRC, for whom the horrors just keep coming. While multinational corporations continue to profit from the wealth of their land www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...