in this week's newsletter! I've written a long - and I mean long - essay on my weird relationship with New York, a place I both love and don't, but also about what grief does to you, and it's free to read, and maybe you will like it? youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/a-really-b...

The #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #weather a favourite shot in any weather we can see…..rain, wind, snow etc. The alt is #riverbank any bird capture on the banks of a waterway. Just a Heron, casually perched on some Thames riverbank railings.

Cherry Blossoms and a Bicycle (2023) Art Print: www.inprnt.com/gallery/ryot...

Crows - what a friendly bunch! Some beautiful pictures in this fascinating thread. And inspired me to dig out the pencils and get a bit sketchy!

This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.

Please read this, understand what the govt is doing & take action. Labour's immigration proposals swap integration for segregation, introduce a Dubai-style Kafala system of coercive employer control & drive low-income families into poverty. They're an abomination. open.substack.com/pub/wewanted...

🚨🚨special episode: I spoke to the UK’s former head of international energy strategy about what the war means for global energy supplies. It’s bad news, I’m afraid. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

WATCH: Whether you love cars or hate cars, you should watch this new video and better understand the truth about the real costs & consequences of too many cars in our cities, and the car dependency many of us live in. You might find it hard to watch, but watch it to the end anyway. Via #NotJustBikes

You should read this. It’s excellent communication & story-telling. “I’m driving less. I don’t want to see the world through a driver’s eyes any more. Before I began driving less, I had long had a melancholic sense that the city lifestyle I lived was cut off...” #UrbanTruth From @irishtimes.com

These people need a nice relaxing, calming soak in a bubble bath…ohhhh…

Exactly this! What I love about biking is knowing, pretty accurately, how long a journey will take me. Because I’m never stuck behind someone else on their journey. No bike-jams. And Brucey bonus - I stay healthy. And I’m not polluting the air. And it’s relatively cheap. It’s bloody awesome.

🧵And we're off, ladies and gentlemen! It's "they're banning the word EASTER" week. Regular as clockwork... So here comes a history lesson and media lesson all rolled into one thread! PS, I can't believe there's no easter egg emoji? This was the best I could do - 🗿🥚 🤣 I digress! 1/19

*rant incoming* "We should be doing it more thoughtfully, and more slowly" says lady in this article.... No. We shouldn't. We've had fifty fucking years to do things carefully and slowly and what that's mean is that we've done bugger all in that time to even keep pace with climate change (1)

Haha blimey, these ‘guys’ are so cringe lol I’ll stick to my fast bikes, tight Lycra and Belgian beer, thanks.

“A city’s creativity doesn’t depend on cars. That’s the 20th century. We’re in the 21st.”— Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Here’s the truth — when it comes to smart city-building, @annehidalgo.bsky.social has been the most influential & inspiring Mayor in the world. Thank you Mayor Hidalgo. #UrbanTruth

A society built around cars. And the cars chosen by a significant proportion of that car-centric society choose vehicles the size of a Sherman tank! I just don’t get it. If you want to drive & appear outdoorsy, what’s would be so objectionable about driving a cool little (Kei) 4x4 style minivan?

Now that we’re realistically in a prolonged regional war I want to talk about how Iran converts US operational overmatch into a sustained, costly quagmire. But I also get that I’m a rando girl on the internet to anyone who will see it, so I have included cat tax.

A choose-your-own-adventure on which France's hopes rest 🔗 Read more: https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/schrodingers-seixas

🧵 These stories really are coming thick and fast at the moment🙄 Guess what? The Canadian school is NOT 'banning food at lunchtime' during Ramadan🤦‍♀️ Obviously... And if you BELIEVED it to be true, then you need to ask why you would choose to believe such an obviously ludicrous headline? 1/20

“That ecological legacy faces a reckoning in Sunday's election, with Hidalgo not running…polls suggest the winner will either be Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, who wants to double down on the ​green agenda, or conservative Rachida Dati, who says the classical allure of Paris is being destroyed.” #VOTE

Zoom in and it looks like a guys face being devoured by a horrific face-eating alien amoeba! 🦠

Some relaxing (really!) content for Friday night: The video of Ukrainian group performing at Britain's Got Talent. This is really cool! The judges agreed.

Enjoyable BTS of FDJ United Suez at Strade Bianche. What a race! youtu.be/MHTn3EHevZE?...

The city’s transition away from the car, tho fantastically chaotic, has become a global role model. Under mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social, Paris was “the most influential city in the world”, says Canadian urbanist Brent Toderian. Hidalgo, stepping down after 12 yrs, exulted: “The bike beat the car.”

What is “the E-Bike Effect?” “Those who bought e-bikes increased their average daily bicycle use from 2.1km (1.3 miles) to 9.2km (5.7 miles), a 340% increase. The e-bike share of all their transportation increased dramatically too; from 17% to 49%.” Fewer car trips. Via @lloydalter.bsky.social

It doesn’t matter what bike you ride, how far you ride or how fast you ride, whether it’s with some e-power, lots of e-power or no e-power, the feeling of joy and freedom always remains. A lovely, uplifting read 👌🏻

Today we have a double debunk: 1. A debunk of the idea that 67 dog breeds are being banned in Britain 2. A debunk of what the usual suspects are saying online (because they are so tediously predictable!🙄) 🧵1/21

🇳🇱 Tibor Del Grosso doing Tibor Del Grosso things at 🇮🇹 Strade 🎥 Alpecincycling

Coffee, straight out of my nose.

BREAKING NEWS in the world of Sticky Toffee Puddings

‘Ensuring those who come here contribute’. By working. Paying taxes. Like I do. Or do they want extra? Forced to join a Morris Dancing Troupe? Always speak in Cockney rhyming slang? Compelling them to paint mini roundabouts with George crosses? A roast every Sunday? Proving they’re ’assimilated’.

“Helsinki hasn’t registered a single traffic-related fatality in the past year…Citing data that shows the risk of pedestrian fatality is cut in half by reducing a car’s speed from 40 to 30km/hr, city officials imposed the lower limit in most of Helsinki’s residential areas and city center in 2021.”

Every month the United States provides even more reason to boycott its products and companies — the strikes on Iran being just the latest. In light of that, it’s a great time to ditch the products and services of US tech companies. I made a comprehensive guide to help you.

At last, an Allister Heath column I can get behind

This weekend we have luge from sunny St. Moritz, the penultimate stop on the World Cup tour this year Here's a POV video of 2018 Olympic silver medalist Chris Mazdzer on ice. You'll note how much more quiet this is since the track is just constructed out of snow and ice

Allister Heath headline generator with the e-bike rage lol

Excellent write-up here from @suewilson91.bsky.social for @yorkshirebylines.co.uk on the practical & morally urgent changes we need to make to immigration policy Imagine a govt willing to do what's best to protect migrants' rights AND benefit host communities yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/the...

This clip is all over the other place and has made its way onto GB News and Talk TV so I’ll do a bit of an explainer here too! The clip doing the rounds is of a fantastic police officer telling a group of Muslim men that a Christian preacher nearby is entitled to freedom of expression. 🧵 1/19

A bit of French indie pop loveliness for a dreary Saturday: youtu.be/VzRy1r7IGQE?...

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, is there anything better than sitting down to a roast lunch? And what better way to earn your lunch than getting out on the National Cycle Network for a cycle or walk 🚶 👩‍🦽 🚴

The rich have really got an attractive pitch for the young developing: “Ha, Ai will take all your jobs so we can hoard more wealth, but if you’re lucky to get a job we’ll pay you less. Suck to be you, losers.” Workers are such a tiresome burden to the wealthy.

DOG AT THE OLYMPICS FULL COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS

I just did the dumbest thing of my entire career to prove a much more serious point. I tricked ChatGPT and Google, and made them tell other users I’m a competitive hot-dog-eating world champion People are using this trick on a massive scale to make AI tell you lies. I’ll explain how I did it

Wow.

Fantastic to see my Mini Switzerland idea covered by the BBC. It captures so many people’s imaginations because it’s both obvious, simple and yet - from where we are today - unspeakably radical. Please share! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

FIFA special award to the first footie fan to domesticate and ride one of these robo-pooches to a WC game.

My response to Noah Smith's essay from this morning. www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-crisis...

Fancy some synth-driven tunes this morning? Hey presto. youtu.be/Snsdn7kJ324?...

“I’ve reviewed over 50 sticky toffee puddings” is an incredibly powerful way to begin a video