Andy Powers
@andypowers.bsky.social
Technology, cycling and parenthood
Probably the most insightful take of the day
Britain:
American taxes and Scandinavian public services for the old.
Scandinavian taxes and American public services for the young.
American taxes and Scandinavian public services for the old.
Scandinavian taxes and American public services for the young.
having gone to university as the last cohort of the 3k/year system never fails to give me a brief taste of that "last chopper out of Saigon" feeling boomers and, to an extent, Gen Xers have been getting for most of the past fifteen years or so
November 26, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Probably the most insightful take of the day
I thought your Ineos email was excellent @dnlbenson.bsky.social A question given the lack of both British riders on the team and reliable climbing domestiques, so you think James Shaw is on their radar? It feels like he’d be a solid acquisition.
October 28, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I thought your Ineos email was excellent @dnlbenson.bsky.social A question given the lack of both British riders on the team and reliable climbing domestiques, so you think James Shaw is on their radar? It feels like he’d be a solid acquisition.
You were just referenced on UK national television @katewagner.wehwalt.net The BBC show, “Have I Got News
for You” used your quote on Trump’s Oval Office decor.
for You” used your quote on Trump’s Oval Office decor.
October 24, 2025 at 8:15 PM
You were just referenced on UK national television @katewagner.wehwalt.net The BBC show, “Have I Got News
for You” used your quote on Trump’s Oval Office decor.
for You” used your quote on Trump’s Oval Office decor.
Sam Freedman’s work is usually excellent, but this piece on Labour’s emotional attachment to their traditional base, is full of insight. Highly recommended if you want to gain more understanding of what they are doing, and why it is failing.
New post:
"Identity Crisis"
Labour keeps trying to appeal to a lost white working class vote + alienating middle-class grads / ethnic minority voters that are a much bigger part of their coalition.
Why? And how can they rebuild their coalition more effectively?
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/i...
"Identity Crisis"
Labour keeps trying to appeal to a lost white working class vote + alienating middle-class grads / ethnic minority voters that are a much bigger part of their coalition.
Why? And how can they rebuild their coalition more effectively?
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/i...
Identity Crisis
How Labour can rebuild their voter coalition
open.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Sam Freedman’s work is usually excellent, but this piece on Labour’s emotional attachment to their traditional base, is full of insight. Highly recommended if you want to gain more understanding of what they are doing, and why it is failing.
@doctorhutch.bsky.social Agostiniacchio is in the EF Devo program, hence the pink POC helmet.
September 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
@doctorhutch.bsky.social Agostiniacchio is in the EF Devo program, hence the pink POC helmet.
Good to see @rouleurmagazine.bsky.social looking at the bigger picture and asking the question on if this Vuelta will actually be able to continue.
www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...
www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...
Will the Vuelta a España 2025 make it to Madrid?
Stage 16 was shortened to due protests at the finish line. The Vuelta organisers should expect the same outcome in the coming days.
www.rouleur.cc
September 9, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Good to see @rouleurmagazine.bsky.social looking at the bigger picture and asking the question on if this Vuelta will actually be able to continue.
www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...
www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...
@josebeentv.bsky.social - I assume Fred Wright’s middle name is related to Brockwell Park, between Brixton and Herne Hill in south London.
August 24, 2025 at 1:24 PM
@josebeentv.bsky.social - I assume Fred Wright’s middle name is related to Brockwell Park, between Brixton and Herne Hill in south London.
@josebeentv.bsky.social Josh Tarling is still recovering from his injuries sustained in his Giro crash, and won’t be defending his national TT title.
June 20, 2025 at 3:05 PM
@josebeentv.bsky.social Josh Tarling is still recovering from his injuries sustained in his Giro crash, and won’t be defending his national TT title.
The analysis in this thread is very good, well worth a read. I personally think Reform led councils will be an utter shit show and that will, ultimately, dent their national electability. Hope I’m right.
Agree people don’t know what councils do etc. But I also think the public is reasonable enough to question why the local area looks dirty/declining etc while council tax bills have gone up and up and up and up and up. Politically it’s therefore currently ripe for undeliverable promises
April 17, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The analysis in this thread is very good, well worth a read. I personally think Reform led councils will be an utter shit show and that will, ultimately, dent their national electability. Hope I’m right.
This thread is magical: educational, creative, witty and has some genuine laugh out loud moments. Please take the time to enjoy it, you won’t regret it.
Today is the 5 year anniversary to when I slowly started losing my mind during the pandemic and began dressing up as works of art.
As my Twitter account has long been abandoned, why not make a thread of my madness on BlueSky?
This was “The Maid” by Wilhelm August Lebrecht Amberg, from 1862
As my Twitter account has long been abandoned, why not make a thread of my madness on BlueSky?
This was “The Maid” by Wilhelm August Lebrecht Amberg, from 1862
April 11, 2025 at 8:42 AM
This thread is magical: educational, creative, witty and has some genuine laugh out loud moments. Please take the time to enjoy it, you won’t regret it.
Cheeseburger eating surrender monkey.
March 4, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Cheeseburger eating surrender monkey.
We need a picture of @wutm.bsky.social to show the 21st century equivalent.
February 23, 2025 at 11:18 AM
We need a picture of @wutm.bsky.social to show the 21st century equivalent.
Reposted by Andy Powers
For six years, we’ve covered British road racing, the stories behind the results, the decisions shaping the sport.
But we’ve never actually put into words why we do it, how we do it, and what we stand for.
So, for the first time, we have.
thebritishcontinental.co.uk/2025/02/21/b...
But we’ve never actually put into words why we do it, how we do it, and what we stand for.
So, for the first time, we have.
thebritishcontinental.co.uk/2025/02/21/b...
February 21, 2025 at 6:32 PM
For six years, we’ve covered British road racing, the stories behind the results, the decisions shaping the sport.
But we’ve never actually put into words why we do it, how we do it, and what we stand for.
So, for the first time, we have.
thebritishcontinental.co.uk/2025/02/21/b...
But we’ve never actually put into words why we do it, how we do it, and what we stand for.
So, for the first time, we have.
thebritishcontinental.co.uk/2025/02/21/b...
All that criticism of British Cycling’s selection policies for the UCI Cyclocross Worlds looks a bit daft now, the team have just won the Team Relay event.
January 31, 2025 at 12:29 PM
All that criticism of British Cycling’s selection policies for the UCI Cyclocross Worlds looks a bit daft now, the team have just won the Team Relay event.
This is spot on. There is a nearby drain cover on the apex of the exit from a roundabout, it is forever being repaired but no attempt has been made to move it and eliminate the problem.
Dutch here. Worked and lived in the UK for 10 years. Might I say this is wider than only healthcare. Even something as mundane as road maintenance. Always the ad hoc solution. Stingy about out of pocket costs. In the end total costs are higher than structurally trying to prevent the potholes.
January 26, 2025 at 7:04 AM
This is spot on. There is a nearby drain cover on the apex of the exit from a roundabout, it is forever being repaired but no attempt has been made to move it and eliminate the problem.
A classic example of poorly written legislation having unintended consequences. Most people won’t care, but online communities play an important role in so many ways which will end in March 2025.
The Online Safety Act was designed to protect children from dangerous content but seems to be having serious side-effects and potentially shutting down hundreds of small community websites: forums on everything from cycling to Porsche 911s to Sunderland AFC.
www.newscientist.com/article/2461...
www.newscientist.com/article/2461...
Hundreds of small websites may shut down due to UK's Online Safety Act
Hundreds of community websites run for fans of everything from cycling to Sunderland AFC may be forced to shut down by the UK's Online Safety Act, which is designed to protect children from harmful co...
www.newscientist.com
December 20, 2024 at 2:44 PM
A classic example of poorly written legislation having unintended consequences. Most people won’t care, but online communities play an important role in so many ways which will end in March 2025.
Reposted by Andy Powers
he calls her a marxist but she's not the one getting publicly owned
September 11, 2024 at 1:58 AM
he calls her a marxist but she's not the one getting publicly owned
This bit of Paris hasn’t looked this good since the Muppets movie.
August 3, 2024 at 2:32 PM
This bit of Paris hasn’t looked this good since the Muppets movie.
This is superb writing, so many perceptive, and quotable, lines.
Column. Brexit repeating on British politics like indigestible food; Farage as acrid burp. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Sunak’s campaign was a Nigel Farage tribute act – and now he’s been upstaged | Rafael Behr
There should have been a line between the Tory approach and the rightwing demagogue’s but, foolishly, the PM dissolved it, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
June 5, 2024 at 8:23 AM
This is superb writing, so many perceptive, and quotable, lines.
Mistakes like this annoy me, and you’d expect better of The Guardian, but Stevie Williams isn’t even the first Welsh winner of Flèche Wallone. He is the first British male winner of the race though.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/a...
www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/a...
Stephen Williams makes history as first British winner of La Flèche Wallonne
Stephen Williams timed his finish to perfection to become the first British winner of the men’s La Flèche Wallonne
www.theguardian.com
April 17, 2024 at 5:56 PM
Mistakes like this annoy me, and you’d expect better of The Guardian, but Stevie Williams isn’t even the first Welsh winner of Flèche Wallone. He is the first British male winner of the race though.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/a...
www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/a...
The irony here is off the scale, Gove blaming the SNP’s obsession with independence for the decline of Scotland.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Scotland’ is in decline because of SNP’s independence obsession, says Gove
Devastating focus on separatism means public services have been run down, Gove tells Tory activists in Aberdeen
www.theguardian.com
March 2, 2024 at 4:12 PM
The irony here is off the scale, Gove blaming the SNP’s obsession with independence for the decline of Scotland.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
It’s rarely mentioned in the media, but one of the biggest challenges (of many!) that a Labour government faces is making the Home Office functional again. Abolition and starting afresh is one option.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...
English test scandal: students wrongly accused of cheating launch legal action
Overseas students seek compensation from Home Office for unlawful detention and loss of earnings after it cancelled visas
www.theguardian.com
February 19, 2024 at 6:55 AM
It’s rarely mentioned in the media, but one of the biggest challenges (of many!) that a Labour government faces is making the Home Office functional again. Abolition and starting afresh is one option.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...
This is absolutely spot on about the character of Sunak. What a horrible, morally bankrupt, shallow, pathetic excuse for a human. That he is PM shames us all.
Sunak seemed a fairly run-of-the-mill conservative when he came to power. It transpires that he is a moral vacuum. There is simply no floor to his behaviour. There is no depth he will not plunge iandunt.substack.com/p/brianna-gh...
February 7, 2024 at 5:07 PM
This is absolutely spot on about the character of Sunak. What a horrible, morally bankrupt, shallow, pathetic excuse for a human. That he is PM shames us all.
This is excellent, even by Rafael Behr’s very high standards. Well worth a read.
Column: on Westminster sweating out an old fever and Sunak passing the point of no return. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Britain needs rescuing from the Tory cult of immaculate sovereignty | Rafael Behr
Rishi Sunak is a fool if he thinks he can govern in partnership with ideological fanatics who want him to fail, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2023 at 9:48 PM
This is excellent, even by Rafael Behr’s very high standards. Well worth a read.