Abelian
@abelian.bsky.social
Trying to commute less these days.
DMs turned off because of the UK censors.
DMs turned off because of the UK censors.
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Spey!
Alas! I am very sorry to say...
Alas! I am very sorry to say...
Historic rail viaduct collapses into River Spey
Historic rail viaduct collapses into River Spey
The Spey Viaduct forms part of the Speyside Way trail and is popular with both walkers and cyclists.
www.bbc.com
December 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Spey!
Alas! I am very sorry to say...
Alas! I am very sorry to say...
‘There’s been a Badenoch bounce’: is the Tory leader finally cutting through?
‘There’s been a Badenoch bounce’: is the Tory leader finally cutting through?
Conservative insiders say the party and the public are warming to Kemi Badenoch after a difficult first year
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:34 PM
1. UK intervention or influence anywhere is always disastrous and is *the* cause of refugee flows.
2. The British government's refusal to intervene more forcefully in Sudan is shameful and makes it complicit in genocide.
FFS human rights peeps, pick a lane.
2. The British government's refusal to intervene more forcefully in Sudan is shameful and makes it complicit in genocide.
FFS human rights peeps, pick a lane.
December 5, 2025 at 8:08 AM
1. UK intervention or influence anywhere is always disastrous and is *the* cause of refugee flows.
2. The British government's refusal to intervene more forcefully in Sudan is shameful and makes it complicit in genocide.
FFS human rights peeps, pick a lane.
2. The British government's refusal to intervene more forcefully in Sudan is shameful and makes it complicit in genocide.
FFS human rights peeps, pick a lane.
For me the joy of Wodehouse is the wordplay, much of which rests on an assumption that the reader is familiar with the KJV, Shakespeare, the BCP, the major Victorian poets and the impedimenta of an early C20 schooling. I don't know how well it lands with younger 21st century readers.
So I've been reading Victorian/Edwardian era comedians, and one interesting thing is why some feel dated and unfunny, while others don't. Like, Wodehouse is still funny despite all sorts of early Edwardian tropes, whereas much of Jerome K Jerome or Saki feels dated?
November 29, 2025 at 6:56 PM
For me the joy of Wodehouse is the wordplay, much of which rests on an assumption that the reader is familiar with the KJV, Shakespeare, the BCP, the major Victorian poets and the impedimenta of an early C20 schooling. I don't know how well it lands with younger 21st century readers.
Reposted by Abelian
The children have suffered enough with this monstrosity
November 22, 2025 at 11:29 PM
The children have suffered enough with this monstrosity
Sorry, but I don't care enough about the BBC to actually watch it. Every time I turned it on, there was Farage, so I turned it off. When we moved house, I cancelled the licence and put the TV away. They send me threatening letters, but I really don't miss the Nazi bar at all.
If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee
If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee
Replacing the TV licence with a means-tested alternative may help disarm the right of one of its most effective weapons, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Sorry, but I don't care enough about the BBC to actually watch it. Every time I turned it on, there was Farage, so I turned it off. When we moved house, I cancelled the licence and put the TV away. They send me threatening letters, but I really don't miss the Nazi bar at all.
This is not a strategy that works well when you're coming third with 11% of the vote.
Yes: the plan is to lock the cabin door then fly the plane into the mountainside and if it somehow ends up with Prime Minister Farage, then tell the public it could never have been different. Also, fuck you.
November 5, 2025 at 5:23 PM
This is not a strategy that works well when you're coming third with 11% of the vote.
Well, this one is going to bugger up the line of succession to the throne, isn't it?
Ant Middleton wants people to be here four generations before they can be equal citizens + eligible for high office. (Quite a convoluted way to deliver aim of ruling most black & Asian people out)
But Middleton may have lost his mainstream reputation (with Reform unable to back him for London Mayor)
But Middleton may have lost his mainstream reputation (with Reform unable to back him for London Mayor)
November 3, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Well, this one is going to bugger up the line of succession to the throne, isn't it?
The latest from the front lines of Elon's civil war: someone was ignored by a shop assistant.
October 31, 2025 at 8:58 AM
The latest from the front lines of Elon's civil war: someone was ignored by a shop assistant.
"Some"
They aren't even trying to quantify the damage they are causing.
They aren't even trying to quantify the damage they are causing.
Ofcom letter to Parliamentary committees (Commons SITC and Lords Comms Com) with an update on implementation of the UK's Online Safety Act committees.parliament.uk/publications...
It's not censorship if we can badger them into doing it for us
It's not censorship if we can badger them into doing it for us
October 19, 2025 at 9:08 AM
"Some"
They aren't even trying to quantify the damage they are causing.
They aren't even trying to quantify the damage they are causing.
This is the reverse of the truth. Done right, restoring trust in the state could enable digital ID. But that would require the government to be trustworthy, so we'll have to do it back to front.
'Done right, digital ID could restore trust in the state' argues Dan Howl
‘Done right, digital ID could restore trust in the state’ – LabourList
Trust is the lifeblood of any modern democracy, and the foundation of every successful digital system. And so, in the case of Digital ID, Government…
labourlist.org
October 9, 2025 at 7:45 AM
This is the reverse of the truth. Done right, restoring trust in the state could enable digital ID. But that would require the government to be trustworthy, so we'll have to do it back to front.
Reposted by Abelian
"this column has described insights from complexity science ranging from the economics of solar panels to how to prevent a housing bubble. All this suggests the problem economics faces isn’t that it is too mathematical, but that the mathematics it has used is needlessly narrow."
@timharford.ft.com
@timharford.ft.com
The wrong kind of maths
Why the mathematics used in economics for decades needs a rethink
on.ft.com
September 25, 2025 at 4:48 AM
"this column has described insights from complexity science ranging from the economics of solar panels to how to prevent a housing bubble. All this suggests the problem economics faces isn’t that it is too mathematical, but that the mathematics it has used is needlessly narrow."
@timharford.ft.com
@timharford.ft.com
His what?
Starmer has avoided state-visit bear traps but has he changed any of Trump’s thinking?
Starmer has avoided state-visit bear traps but has he changed any of Trump’s thinking?
PM cannot afford for US president to walk away from Ukraine crisis and must persuade him to publicly support specific Gaza plans
www.theguardian.com
September 19, 2025 at 7:39 AM
His what?
This is what real malicious communications look like.
Well, it’s two years since I shared this profoundly upsetting image, so I guess today is now officially Sultry Brandreth Day
Just been reminded of this photo of Gyles Brandreth wearing this sweater and what appears to be “it’s sexy time” face, and felt I should share
September 17, 2025 at 7:40 AM
This is what real malicious communications look like.
I've been thinking about the first time I saw a 1GB hard drive, which held the research data for a whole university department, back in about 1990.
In other news, I have just installed a 256GB storage card in my doorbell.
In other news, I have just installed a 256GB storage card in my doorbell.
September 12, 2025 at 1:55 PM
I've been thinking about the first time I saw a 1GB hard drive, which held the research data for a whole university department, back in about 1990.
In other news, I have just installed a 256GB storage card in my doorbell.
In other news, I have just installed a 256GB storage card in my doorbell.
Fortunately no e-scooters were involved, or someone might have had to do something about this:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Car crashes into stone bus shelter on Cirencester Road
The car crashed into the shelter at the weekend but the three occupants were unhurt.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 11, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Fortunately no e-scooters were involved, or someone might have had to do something about this:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Spare a thought this weekend for the Labour backbenchers, who found out again this week that their party deems them less fit for high office than Peter Kyle.
September 7, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Spare a thought this weekend for the Labour backbenchers, who found out again this week that their party deems them less fit for high office than Peter Kyle.
Trying some Canadian whiskey. Tasting notes on Reddit are blocked (Online Safety Act). According to Peter Kyle, using a VPN would make me Literally Jimmy Savile, so you will be pleased to hear that I just read the notes on one of the hundreds of other whiskey tasting sites out there.
September 5, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Trying some Canadian whiskey. Tasting notes on Reddit are blocked (Online Safety Act). According to Peter Kyle, using a VPN would make me Literally Jimmy Savile, so you will be pleased to hear that I just read the notes on one of the hundreds of other whiskey tasting sites out there.
I'm sure this is perfectly safe and can be fixed by banning floating bus stops.
September 3, 2025 at 10:56 AM
I'm sure this is perfectly safe and can be fixed by banning floating bus stops.
Poo Sticks (The Cows at Poo Sauna, 1928)
August 22, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Poo Sticks (The Cows at Poo Sauna, 1928)
Can you imagine being a civil servant who has to work every day with this level of boneheaded ministerial stupidity?
UK government asks everybody to stop using VPNs.
"everybody who's out there thinking of using VPNs...verifying your age keeps a child safe...So let's just not try and find a way around. Just prove your age."
- UK government
"everybody who's out there thinking of using VPNs...verifying your age keeps a child safe...So let's just not try and find a way around. Just prove your age."
- UK government
August 21, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Can you imagine being a civil servant who has to work every day with this level of boneheaded ministerial stupidity?
It seems like only last month that Whitehall was trying to recruit some people with basic STEM skills ("elite tech talent"), and people on here were telling me that it was all unnecessary and that numeracy is overrated in government.
I ran the numbers on the UK government's recommendation to delete old photos and emails to save water in data centers andymasley.substack.com/p/contra-the...
August 15, 2025 at 3:19 PM
It seems like only last month that Whitehall was trying to recruit some people with basic STEM skills ("elite tech talent"), and people on here were telling me that it was all unnecessary and that numeracy is overrated in government.