Meanwhile…

Okay everybody! Please help me with this! Universities everywhere are increasingly awful, so let's put together some New Year's Resolutions to help them get better! I'll start! 1) Stand up for the importance of good education for good lives for people, society, and planet.

There is an awful lot of fietsgeluk in the responses to @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social’s post! 2025 wasn’t a great year for cycling for me, but I did pick up this secondhand hybrid (a joy to ride!), covered a good few everyday miles, and had some adventures. 2026 will be a better cycling year.

Want to know more about the slightly odd estate, Village Court, between Norham Rd & Park View in Whitley Bay? It started life in 1880 as Northumberland Village Homes for c.130 “destitute and homeless girls”. Closed in 1985 and converted to residential use. co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/northumberla...

Ah, Sunday evening on the metro - I had to run fast but I caught a once-an-hour bus. Phew.

Giveaway! I’m giving one lucky person the chance to pick one shelf of books from our Bertvent bookcase. Follow and repost by midday on Saturday 27th and I’ll pick someone at random! Which shelf will you choose? (UK only)

Just bumping the link for donations, if you can spare any moolah #DuvetKnowItsChristmas www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

As the UK completely shuts down it's public transport for Christmas, remember that other countries are sane. In #Melbourne, for example, not only is public transport running, but its free to use on Christmas Day transport.vic.gov.au/news-and-res...

Tomorrow evening it’ll be my annual duty to vaguely shepherd the activity on the #duvetknowitschristmas hashtag and urge people to give small sums to charity. 7.30pm? Something like that?

Herring girls gutting fish on the quayside, North Shields, 1930s, photo by Edwin Smith (1912-71).

“These spaces are not just playing fields – they are vital infrastructure for health and wellbeing, community sport, and children’s play.” www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...

I hate it when places try to make their bike racks look like some sort of art sculpture.

A longer read about escaped slave Mary Ann Macham and her journey to North Shields in 1830, and just how remarkable it was: “I am not sure I have ever come across a narrative where a woman made it to the United Kingdom.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/1...

For those who know the UK: Chatgpt is equally at home with screwing around with borders and names. I asked it to "Generate a map of the United Kingdom with all the counties named" 🤣

Morning all. Photograph by Chris Killip ‘Wallsend in the snow’ 1976.

Noticing #Nature today and these Cormorants on the River Tyne #NorthShields #Birds

Last-minute North Shields merch from the pop-up shop.

Worth clicking through to Insta for this little bit of festive playful zebra magic (from Park View, Whitley Bay) - I love all the passers-by smiling and giggling. www.instagram.com/reel/DSfQo2o...

Park Hill, Sheffield in the fog and at dusk.

Kids who got new bikes for Christmas, "super excited" to walk them around the city that's too dangerous to ride in. www.creativebyrovelo.com/therovelorec...

A misty day on the railway -

Added a second print of a North Shields 800 mural to my collection; this one is by Anthony Downie of the back lane of my street, all the more poignant as we’re moving (a few streets) away soon, after 15 years.

Shiny metros on a wet afternoon -

Cycling Research Board Annual Meeting 2026 and call for abstracts on the theme of "Place, People, Politics: The Reimagination of Space". A multidisciplinary dialogue about cycling as a probe, a tool, and a catalyst for reimagining cities. Learn more about the conference: cyclingresearchboard.com

International Workshop: “More Than Child’s Play: Global Perspectives on the History of Playgrounds” 26–28 August 2026 ETH Zürich gmw.ethz.ch/en/

Can’t help but think that huge student cohorts, the loss of small group teaching, the shift online etc exacerbate this issue. Just another part of the crisis of higher education. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

POV: Everybody's asking where the star is and you're confused because *you* are the star 🌟 📷 John Lindsey

Don't steal pies this Christmas.

If the argument is that rehabilitation is a societal issue (not an individual one, that we all benefit), then surely we must also acknowledge, and act on, the understanding that enabling ordinary, everyday life without a car is a societal issue? We solve a societal problem with a societal solution.

The argument that banning someone who has deliberately used their car as a weapon from driving is too severe a limitation of their mobility & opportunity for employment should be a damning indictment of how society treats people who don't or can't drive - who are disproportionately disabled &/ poor.

Reasoning worth considering here, but I think this is also a case of the people who make the rules being car owners themselves and not being able to imagine living without one. Which would also explain why the safety and dignity of countless thousands of families without cars count for so little.

The fabulous I Love North Shields have worked with Elevation (the charity that developed the North Shields 800 mural trail) to produce a map of all North Shields’ new public art (murals and more) plus transport links and accessible toilets. Download here or find a local pick-up point:

In better transport news, early plans to extend the Northumberland Line to Newbiggin, on the back of its 900,000 passenger journeys this year. Imagine if we did this everywhere possible? (I want an extension to Morpeth too - I'd love to be able to head north & onto Scotland without going via NCL)

You might think that a man who drove into 100 people, using his car as a weapon, would NEVER be allowed to drive again. It turns out he will be able to, around three years after leaving prison by taking an extended retest. Why should he ever be able to get behind the wheel again?

results not accidents

The details from the day and the victim statements are terrifying, but it's important that this is seen in the context of everyday, mundane road violence, not just as some one-off. Each day I see aggressive driving and widespread disdain for those on foot or on bike, seen to be in the way.

Harrowing statement by the judge here. An extreme case of road violence took place in Liverpool in May. 130 injured, with an immense amount of trauma that followed (described in detail). That's about 2 days worth of serious injuries on UK roads 🤷‍♂️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c8...

Very similar at universities. Yes, I've been striking to try to save colleague's jobs. But there's so much anger about restructures forced from above, unthinking programme closures, just a feeling that management doesn't understand what a university is and holds its workers in disdain.

The man who accelerated his car into a crowd of people in Liverpool admits simply to having “lost his temper.” The most recent example of what the Zetkin Collective called the “great driving right show” - the political, social and environmental debasement of the car. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This will be a fabulous celebration of @playingout.bsky.social and all its allies, plotting next steps in the movement to reclaim children’s freedom to play out and move around safely and happily on their doorsteps and in their neighbourhoods. Join us!

Less than 48h left to buy an Interrail pass with 25% discount (I already have!). Buy now, activate any date in next 11 months. About Interrail and how to buy: www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a...

Ferry booked for the summer ⛴️ Which two out of Den Bosch, Eindhoven and Maastricht for day trips in August? (from Utrecht - if we did Maastricht, we’d do an overnight)

This seems like a good list for city breaks -

More North Shields - the glorious celebration to mark the end of the the town’s 800th anniversary. I was gutted to miss this, as I was out of town, but have heard amazing things from friends and neighbours.

A fabulous, resonant account of good work in my community, led by school students and by parents with @citizensuk.org, to respond to anger with hope - focused on teen mental health, bus fares, a local playground and dog poo. All v local matters with much wider import, as the achievements show.

Beautiful morning to be leafletting for North Tyneside Green Party in Shiremoor, for local campaigner, Caron Kirkham. I love that the pace of leafletting allows for noticing - on this occasion - of play, engagement with nature, and the legacies of municipalism.

most people, left and right, treat traffic violence like the weather and not a specific policy choice

This is not adult content - it’s just a Farside cartoon - click without fear!

For some reason, as a teen this tickled me so much. A friend gave me it on a birthday card (probably at 14 or 15) and I still have it now.

Excited to see Baltic is planning a Tish Murtha exhibition for 2026 - baltic.art/whats-on/XqK...