'Join the Queue'

"The House of Commons reconvenes on Tuesday to elect the speaker, after which MPs, old and new, will be officially sworn in, a process that can take several days."

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jul/06/labour-starmer-rig...

"Each of these pre-eminent technologies shaped the societies that they enveloped. Print shaped the world for four and a half centuries, followed by broadcast, which ruled for 50 years or so. None of this would have surprised a biologist, who would see human culture as something that grows in an enveloping nutrient. Change the nutrient and you change the culture that grows in it."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/29/closing-th...

"To make things worse, we also invented a technology that enables every Tom, Dick and mad Harry to publish whatever they like on opaque global platforms, which are incentivised to propagate the wildest nonsense. And to this we have now added powerful tools (called AI) that automate the manufacture of misinformation on an epic scale. If you were a malign superpower that wanted to screw up the democratic world, you’d be hard put to do better than this."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9gOQgfPW4Y

"Starmer’s first session answering prime minister’s questions, probably with Rishi Sunak putting the questions as leader of the opposition, has been pencilled in for 24 July, the week after the state opening of parliament on 17 July."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/07/commons-334-roo...

13 Comments

'Time for a few Zeds'

"Still, I suppose there are a lot of unemployed ex-Tory MPs, so maybe they might like to retrain for the construction industry. I can just see Liz Truss as a plasterer. Jacob Rees-Mogg as a chippy."

Cottingham Day...

"The curfew announcement comes as Naidoc week celebrations kick off in the town of about 25,000, attracting about 5,000 visitors from across the NT, Western Australia and South Australia."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/08/less-is-more-ke...

lol

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8807nkvy2lo

"It is the second time a precious item has been taken from the caverns, after the fossilised tooth of an extinct shark was stolen last year."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUL_yawY6Ks

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/nov/08/kids-these...

'How to Prioritise'

"It makes a fierce critique of the system as it stands. She packs a punch, rejecting a system in which all the blame falls on the individual and that ignores social obstacles: the millions of people waiting for NHS treatment, the absence of childcare, the lack of buses to work, age discrimination, and punitive jobcentre work coaches instructed to push people into “any old job”, however dead-end and insecure."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/20/fear-sanctions-bri...

"During the lunch break, the professionally grumpy became even grumpier as half the food concessions were closed and some of the queues were 200 or so punters deep. Then we settled in for the afternoon. Basically a long list of grumpiness."

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/24596768.york-trail-20-paddington-bear-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

""I had to learn everything for myself, like going to do estimates and quotes. But you can make it into your own niche and add creativity."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvglxne40p4o

Marmaladisation.

"I can remember in the 1970's when South Yorkshire was declared a 'Nuclear Free Zone' with huge signs telling visitors this, how things have changed."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIp6WaB5JjE

Odd Bods.

A 'Search for Spook'

"A week on Saturday, the Conservatives will elect their new leader. Rishi Sunak, a symbol of what went before, will finally exit the stage and his successor will enter it - and so become one of the central characters of the years ahead. And on Wednesday, the highly anticipated and long talked about Budget will be published."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/25/astronaut-hospitalized-n...

"He was at his most animated when I put it to him that his party seemed to be struggling to adjust to the realities of government."

https://ynygrowthhub.com/

"Before we know it, though, the long schlep home will begin – via Hawaii, California and Winnipeg - and Westminster’s tilt towards the Budget will become total."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE

"If they are out of work, learners are guaranteed a job interview with an employer after completing a Skills Bootcamp."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c774xjz3m7do

""And for that to be stolen… it’s absolutely terrible.""

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF1qfLMczNo

"Sandwiched between the soil and permafrost lie unusual metre-thick ponds of very salty water known as cryopegs, which are underlain by crystalised methane-water solids, kept stable by the high pressure and low temperature."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/23/terrawatch-mystery-of-si...

"Quantum computers promise to solve problems too hard for even the most powerful supercomputers - like those requiring vast numbers of parallel computations like complex weather simulations, the binding of drugs to their targets, or the vagaries of financial markets."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/25/state-backed-loans-firms-i...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbuFLUJ89Kw

"So he got out and said to Sir George 'I was hired to drive a coach not to fly your contraptions', and handed in his notice."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7481gev0k3o

'Remember, she did everything backwards and in heels.'

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/oct/24/thanks-to-this-unsung-magi...

Little Ears.

'Sounds like a Plan'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp9zrg128get

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3a4OTh2Y8w

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/24/end-of-an-era-for-b...

Yawwwnn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJL-lCzEXgI

https://news.sky.com/story/cyclist-creates-halloween-themed-ride-by-taki...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ebkj9x5Ko

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvzn3vxlxno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9z0e1Wm64M

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/30/scare-tactics-scientists...

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43wsiNBwmo

"She thanks Bank of England staff for their help...."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw4ywl7w820o

Stranger Things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0

"The chancellor has lifted employers' National Insurance Contributions, but the drop in the threshold at which businesses start paying it is pretty startling - from £9,100 to £5,000. It will raise £25bn, she says."

What staff, I see no staff...

"From 2028-29, personal tax thresholds will be uprated in line with inflation, she says."

This is a write old pen pushers punish the poor budget innit. Thresholds should be pushed out to £15k.

"Although increasing employers' National Insurance (NI) by 1.2%, and reducing the threshold at which employers pay it to £5,000 from £9,100 - the chancellor said she would extend the amount employers can claim back from their National Insurance bill from £5,000 to £10,500."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIs5StN8J-0

I would not recommend this to the House.

The sneakiest of stealth taxes...

Go Rishi...

Working people?  Who are they then?

"Sunak says that, as Labour's plans became clear, survey after survey showed business confidence plummeting.  He says the government's own assessment show its "French-style" labour laws will impose a £5bn cost on business. Tax rises on jobs and enterprise announced in the Budget will "hobble growth", he says."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N92SdfUyARg

"Taxes are going up across the board, Sunak says. Taxes will rise for small business owners, for the energy sector, for young couples saving for their first home, and for families, he says. “They’re taxing your job, they’re taxing your business, they’re taxing your savings. You name it, they’ll tax it," Sunak says."

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/oct/31/10-flops-that-became-classi...

Interesting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw0dz3yyg23o

'Organic Frameworks'

Never Count your Chickens...

"Just half a pound of the stuff may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can, according to early tests. Once the carbon is absorbed by the powder, it can be released into safe storage or be used in industrial processes, like carbonizing drinks."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/27/angela-rayner-meets-pope...

"Following his Budget, the head of McVitie’s has said that it has been harder to understand what the case for investment in the UK is."

Broomsticks.

"We define political consciousness as a way of seeing, caring about and acting in the world. It is guided by a commitment to human rights and justice and an understanding of power and inequity in social, political and economic systems, relations and values."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/25/san-francisco-navy-lab-h...

The Ironic.

"“Speak not of the wild animal, lest he should appear,” because you're simply too afraid of seeing one. The name bear is a euphemism; it's a good word substituted for a bad one. It's probably the oldest known euphemism in world ."

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/30/how-is-glitter-made...

Sleep Tight.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/29/covalent-organic-fra...

Hmmm...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjbQEEdVcDI

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qdj80py3no

lol

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/29/houseplant-of-the-w...

Straight Face.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/24759156.nandos...

The Silence.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/understanding-plants/how-plants-breathe

"“There’s one thing for sure, whatever political position I hold, I will always fight for the coast and moors and the opportunities of the renewable sector.”"

Best not mention Harry Potter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52chF7DWJcY

""I always bring some different elements - improvisation, the piano, the flute, the jazz harmonisation - so that the music is going through another process of creolisation."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg7vwlg8rmo

'Climate Moderation'

"The root of the problems with the OSA is that it was framed and enacted by legislators who think that the “internet” consists only of the platforms of a small number of huge tech corporations. So they passed a statute that supposedly would deal with these corporate miscreants – without imagining what the unintended consequences would be on the actual internet of people using the technology for genuinely social purposes. And in doing so they have inadvertently raised the question famously posed by Alexander Pope in 1735 in his letter to Dr Arbuthnot: “Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?”"

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/24848641.york-north-yorkshire-can-tackl...

“We’ve already helped about 30 farmers build resilience and improve biodiversity so they can be much more environmentally-friendly."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDMCwSP5nf0

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/12/note-to-no-10-one-...

'Reserve Designs'

"The Royal Mint had announced that the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm and Coming Up for Air is to be honoured on a new £2 coin to coincide with the 75th anniversary of his death."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99y0mp7p44o

"All these projects highlight one vivid point: that places not only need their own journalism, but can provide the audiences to support it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/12/tech-barons-bbc-pl...

Never, Mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyFAnA9oPRE

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jan/11/why-we-cant-get-eno...

'Welcome, Approaches'

"As if he knows he can’t help making even the most interesting subjects just a wee bit dull. What should be engaging too frequently dies on the tongue. It’s his cross to bear. Integrity he can do with ease. Enthusiasm takes a little longer."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/13/ai-keir-starmer-sketch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMQegMnHIJ4

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/13/space-junk-rockets...

"Circular solutions include reuse, repair, recycling, eco-design, sustainable supply and responsible consumption."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zx8t9ty

Wheel Barrows.

lol

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg7zg9xkyl3o

'A Torino Scale'

"Based on measurements gathered so far, the asteroid has a 1.3% chance of smashing into Earth on 22 December 2032, or put another way, a nearly 99% probability of barrelling past without incident.

“Most likely this one will pass by harmlessly,” said Colin Snodgrass, a professor of planetary astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. “It just deserves a little more attention with telescopes until we can confirm that. The longer we follow its orbit, the more accurate our future predictions of its trajectory become.”"

https://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/24898774.hull-road-service-station-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uRN-a2xsO4

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jan/30/asteroid-spotted-chance-...

Ohm.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgly62z6py8o

'Heritage Locomotives'

"Our products are essential to the continued operation of heritage locomotives, and nobody else makes what we make. Without our oilers, these magnificent machines would face costly and potentially unfeasible conversions. Our mission is to keep them running for future generations to enjoy.""

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/25/vinyl-carver-lathe-cutters...

"One guy just looked up from the ice-cream momentarily and went back to his selection. Fresh people kept coming in to the shop. It’s amazing how fast an atmosphere can be determined, yet how little it interrupts anyone’s plans. “Weird vibe. Ah, heist in progress. But I still need hummus.”"

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/25/starmers-message-after-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8_fLu2yrP4

"I’m not saying the bandits have a point, just that banditry is where we are"

https://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/24954788.armstrong-oilers-unsung-he...

"Our mission is to keep them running for future generations to enjoy.""

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4apyYG5My0

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/26/what-i-have-learne...

'And Whenever'

"I couldn’t get my ideas out fast enough to suit them. I couldn’t drain my thoughts of meaning and emotion quickly enough to match the buoyancy of their words. I couldn’t hide my true self."

https://edemocracy.northyorks.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=1145&MId=1...

"She always said, “Wow, you’re so smart!” after I spoke, even though I never said anything interesting. "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weRHyjj34ZE

https://drillordrop.com/2025/02/26/burniston-fracking-protest/

"The council is also organising a drop-in event on Friday 28 February 2025 from 2pm-6pm at Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/27/we-arent-fracking-in...

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUT5rEU6pqM

"Sadly, her friends weren’t into neurotic lizard babies, so that was that."

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/25/hugh-grant-movies-writes-hi...

'Soft Landings'

"The SpaceX Dragon capsule will make a fast and fiery re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere, enduring temperatures of up to 1,600C. A heatshield will protect Butch, Suni and the two other astronauts they are travelling with, as they sit inside the capsule.

As the craft hits the atmosphere, it starts to rapidly slow and the astronauts will experience significant g-forces, about four times Earth’s gravity. Finally, four large parachutes will open up – with a jolt for those inside – but this then allows the craft to slow down enough for a gentle splashdown in the ocean.  Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut, made the ride home in a Soyuz capsule during her visit to space in 1991. She said the thrilling ride would be worth it."

https://newsthump.com/2025/03/17/woman-wondering-if-she-might-own-too-ma...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZjO45RJZjo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c9de6q52g8qt

"In a statement they said performing arts organisations depend on a “fragile ecosystem” of freelancers who rely on copyright to sustain their livelihoods. They also urged the government to support the “moral and economic rights” of the creative community in music, dance, drama and opera."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KAqRiWUwz4

Imagine... wondering where you were.

'Flaming Typical'

"Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said he was listening to the calls of protestors but suggested the city was "doing more here than anywhere else to support people facing homelessness"."

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/commentisfree/2025/mar/20/scatt...

Hmmm ...

""Stick some red spots on that and it would look like Toad from Mario Kart, wouldn't it?"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyrpyk5re8o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC0eBiw6lg8

Daisy Dukes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3YyUcU6lU0

Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62x110p392o