Olly
@oshald87.bsky.social
L1 Key Skills IT (2003)
L1 Food Hygiene (2003)
U13 Most Improved Player (2000)
L1 Food Hygiene (2003)
U13 Most Improved Player (2000)
I have never seen a photo that looks more like a @coldwarsteve.bsky.social - is Cilla peeping out from behind the curtains?
incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty
November 6, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I have never seen a photo that looks more like a @coldwarsteve.bsky.social - is Cilla peeping out from behind the curtains?
Genuinely genuinely mad stuff
A mother with settled status whose child is disabled. The father is British by birth. They have received DLA for the child. A Tory government would deport her?
I'd really like any Conservative who has ever talked about the "party of the family" to explain why this is the right thing to do.
I'd really like any Conservative who has ever talked about the "party of the family" to explain why this is the right thing to do.
A policy this expansive would certainly mean mass stripping of permanent residence status from people with ILR (including pensioners and parents of British children) on a scale far beyond anything any democracy has ever done before. There is no public support for such an extreme policy.
October 22, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Genuinely genuinely mad stuff
Getting rid of Nuno to institute a more exciting style of football and six weeks later ending up with Dyche is absolutely peak football ownership 👌
October 18, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Getting rid of Nuno to institute a more exciting style of football and six weeks later ending up with Dyche is absolutely peak football ownership 👌
Reposted by Olly
The BBC are accidentally running the subtitles to Mrs Marple over the Mercury Prize, and it’s rather wonderful. A few of lines could plausibly have been written by Jarvis.
October 16, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The BBC are accidentally running the subtitles to Mrs Marple over the Mercury Prize, and it’s rather wonderful. A few of lines could plausibly have been written by Jarvis.
I hate saying anything to do with politics these days because it seems that things can always be worse. Notwithstanding that, however, it feels to me that in time it might turn out the current US regime are very much overreaching.
September 20, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I hate saying anything to do with politics these days because it seems that things can always be worse. Notwithstanding that, however, it feels to me that in time it might turn out the current US regime are very much overreaching.
Reposted by Olly
A great many more people protested the plight of Sheffield Wednesday this month than have attended any protest against asylum hotels
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sheffield Wednesday fans hold Chansiri protest ahead of home game
Fans want owner Dejphon Chansiri to sell the club following a turbulent time.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 25, 2025 at 9:08 AM
A great many more people protested the plight of Sheffield Wednesday this month than have attended any protest against asylum hotels
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
This Trump/Putin press conference is unlikely to age that well (which would be a good thing tbf)
August 15, 2025 at 11:35 PM
This Trump/Putin press conference is unlikely to age that well (which would be a good thing tbf)
Reposted by Olly
People seem convinced AI can do everyone else’s job. Not theirs though.
(Because anyone who knows the process / output of their work at a skilled level can see it’s not really doing it.)
Which is scary, cos the people deciding that we can be replaced by AI aren’t us. It’s people who can’t tell.
(Because anyone who knows the process / output of their work at a skilled level can see it’s not really doing it.)
Which is scary, cos the people deciding that we can be replaced by AI aren’t us. It’s people who can’t tell.
August 10, 2025 at 7:42 AM
People seem convinced AI can do everyone else’s job. Not theirs though.
(Because anyone who knows the process / output of their work at a skilled level can see it’s not really doing it.)
Which is scary, cos the people deciding that we can be replaced by AI aren’t us. It’s people who can’t tell.
(Because anyone who knows the process / output of their work at a skilled level can see it’s not really doing it.)
Which is scary, cos the people deciding that we can be replaced by AI aren’t us. It’s people who can’t tell.
This is my go-to argument to kids at school. Realise that people subcontracting out the ability to think, to know, to argue will lead to these qualities being ever more prized, not less.
Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.
July 13, 2025 at 12:30 PM
This is my go-to argument to kids at school. Realise that people subcontracting out the ability to think, to know, to argue will lead to these qualities being ever more prized, not less.
Reposted by Olly
Obligatory
July 10, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Obligatory
Reposted by Olly
Captain Tom's daughter
Michelle Mone
John Darwin
Matt Goodwin
ABBA Voyage
Greensill Capital
Whoever is running the Larry the Cat account
EU Supergirl
Salt Path lady
LinkedIn Premium
Michelle Mone
John Darwin
Matt Goodwin
ABBA Voyage
Greensill Capital
Whoever is running the Larry the Cat account
EU Supergirl
Salt Path lady
LinkedIn Premium
ok, somebody needs to rank the top 10 Great British Grifts of, say, the past 20 years.
Surely it’s more like the canoe man grift than the captain tom one
July 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Captain Tom's daughter
Michelle Mone
John Darwin
Matt Goodwin
ABBA Voyage
Greensill Capital
Whoever is running the Larry the Cat account
EU Supergirl
Salt Path lady
LinkedIn Premium
Michelle Mone
John Darwin
Matt Goodwin
ABBA Voyage
Greensill Capital
Whoever is running the Larry the Cat account
EU Supergirl
Salt Path lady
LinkedIn Premium
Neil Young's Cortez The Killer appeared in a particularly memorable 'music in the history classroom' session during my PGCE
June 28, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Neil Young's Cortez The Killer appeared in a particularly memorable 'music in the history classroom' session during my PGCE
I'm not so bothered about regime change to install liberal democratic, pro-western governments in Russia or Iran but it sure would be nice to have liberal democratic, pro-western governments in the west
June 23, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I'm not so bothered about regime change to install liberal democratic, pro-western governments in Russia or Iran but it sure would be nice to have liberal democratic, pro-western governments in the west
Reposted by Olly
Still true:
*Britain is a success story
*Most of its cities are doing astonishingly well
*Multiculturalism is popular
*Mass immigration has not led to social disintegration
*Nostalgia is increasingly weird
*Britain is incredibly safe
*Levels of social cohesion are high
Don't let them gaslight you.
*Britain is a success story
*Most of its cities are doing astonishingly well
*Multiculturalism is popular
*Mass immigration has not led to social disintegration
*Nostalgia is increasingly weird
*Britain is incredibly safe
*Levels of social cohesion are high
Don't let them gaslight you.
June 20, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Still true:
*Britain is a success story
*Most of its cities are doing astonishingly well
*Multiculturalism is popular
*Mass immigration has not led to social disintegration
*Nostalgia is increasingly weird
*Britain is incredibly safe
*Levels of social cohesion are high
Don't let them gaslight you.
*Britain is a success story
*Most of its cities are doing astonishingly well
*Multiculturalism is popular
*Mass immigration has not led to social disintegration
*Nostalgia is increasingly weird
*Britain is incredibly safe
*Levels of social cohesion are high
Don't let them gaslight you.
I'm all for a bit of Funky Captaincy but electing to bowl on a road on the hottest day of the year is possibly a bit too funky for my taste.
June 20, 2025 at 5:07 PM
I'm all for a bit of Funky Captaincy but electing to bowl on a road on the hottest day of the year is possibly a bit too funky for my taste.
Reposted by Olly
I wrote a new piece on how much progress has been made in treating childhood leukemia.
The answer is: quite a lot!
Before the 1970s, fewer than 10% of children diagnosed survived 5 years after diagnosis.
Now most are cured and around 85% survive that long.
ourworldindata.org/childhood-le...
The answer is: quite a lot!
Before the 1970s, fewer than 10% of children diagnosed survived 5 years after diagnosis.
Now most are cured and around 85% survive that long.
ourworldindata.org/childhood-le...
June 9, 2025 at 7:43 AM
I wrote a new piece on how much progress has been made in treating childhood leukemia.
The answer is: quite a lot!
Before the 1970s, fewer than 10% of children diagnosed survived 5 years after diagnosis.
Now most are cured and around 85% survive that long.
ourworldindata.org/childhood-le...
The answer is: quite a lot!
Before the 1970s, fewer than 10% of children diagnosed survived 5 years after diagnosis.
Now most are cured and around 85% survive that long.
ourworldindata.org/childhood-le...
This reminded me of when I had several noise complaints made against me.
Left my room and accidentally switched my Tiny PC with subwoofer to max volume and subjected 3 floors and 2 blocks of Ranmoor halls of residence to the 'Alan Partridge Happy Hardcore' screensaver for 4 hours.
Left my room and accidentally switched my Tiny PC with subwoofer to max volume and subjected 3 floors and 2 blocks of Ranmoor halls of residence to the 'Alan Partridge Happy Hardcore' screensaver for 4 hours.
At uni halls, the idiot next door played rave music constantly with his door propped open. If he went out I'd turn it off but he'd come back at 2am & put on again. When I left at the end of 1st year I removed the fuses of his cd player then plugged it back in. Sorry Martin.
June 16, 2025 at 5:32 PM
This reminded me of when I had several noise complaints made against me.
Left my room and accidentally switched my Tiny PC with subwoofer to max volume and subjected 3 floors and 2 blocks of Ranmoor halls of residence to the 'Alan Partridge Happy Hardcore' screensaver for 4 hours.
Left my room and accidentally switched my Tiny PC with subwoofer to max volume and subjected 3 floors and 2 blocks of Ranmoor halls of residence to the 'Alan Partridge Happy Hardcore' screensaver for 4 hours.
Reposted by Olly
NEW POST on AI, learning and why knowing stuff still matters. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-most-i...
June 14, 2025 at 5:32 AM
NEW POST on AI, learning and why knowing stuff still matters. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-most-i...
Reposted by Olly
We are going to regret this so much.
The best AI strategy for schools will be to lean away from it as far as they can to preserve the philosophy they are about people knowing and doing things.
schoolsweek.co.uk/school-ai-to...
The best AI strategy for schools will be to lean away from it as far as they can to preserve the philosophy they are about people knowing and doing things.
schoolsweek.co.uk/school-ai-to...
Government AI guidance for schools: 9 key findings
Schools could use AI to help write letters to parents, give feedback to pupils and come up with lesson ideas
schoolsweek.co.uk
June 10, 2025 at 8:30 PM
We are going to regret this so much.
The best AI strategy for schools will be to lean away from it as far as they can to preserve the philosophy they are about people knowing and doing things.
schoolsweek.co.uk/school-ai-to...
The best AI strategy for schools will be to lean away from it as far as they can to preserve the philosophy they are about people knowing and doing things.
schoolsweek.co.uk/school-ai-to...
Reposted by Olly
Oh one final thing. Dr. Wong's syllabus, which really is awesome, leads off with this quote:
“It seems to me that the poet has only to perceive that which others do not perceive, to look deeper than others look. And the mathematician must do the same thing." — Sofya Kovalevskaya
“It seems to me that the poet has only to perceive that which others do not perceive, to look deeper than others look. And the mathematician must do the same thing." — Sofya Kovalevskaya
June 7, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Oh one final thing. Dr. Wong's syllabus, which really is awesome, leads off with this quote:
“It seems to me that the poet has only to perceive that which others do not perceive, to look deeper than others look. And the mathematician must do the same thing." — Sofya Kovalevskaya
“It seems to me that the poet has only to perceive that which others do not perceive, to look deeper than others look. And the mathematician must do the same thing." — Sofya Kovalevskaya
Reposted by Olly
That single sentence contains more insight than the entire AI-generated summary I've had fun tearing apart here. And everyone who works in the education division of OpenAI would do well to sit and think about what it means, and what education is for, what math is for.
June 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
That single sentence contains more insight than the entire AI-generated summary I've had fun tearing apart here. And everyone who works in the education division of OpenAI would do well to sit and think about what it means, and what education is for, what math is for.
Reposted by Olly
Bill Bryson's Notes on a Small Island perfectly capture's pre-GPS life in the UK
June 4, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Bill Bryson's Notes on a Small Island perfectly capture's pre-GPS life in the UK
The discourse that's broken out on knowledge/skills tonight reminds me of that Jim Al-Khalili piece in the Graun where a literal professor of theoretical physics suggests 'knowledge' isn't really that important.
Very easy to overlook when you take it as read/find it easy.
Very easy to overlook when you take it as read/find it easy.
June 2, 2025 at 9:48 PM
The discourse that's broken out on knowledge/skills tonight reminds me of that Jim Al-Khalili piece in the Graun where a literal professor of theoretical physics suggests 'knowledge' isn't really that important.
Very easy to overlook when you take it as read/find it easy.
Very easy to overlook when you take it as read/find it easy.
Reposted by Olly
And, while I’m here, it always strikes me as odd that people complain of “Victorian schooling” training people for factories (i.e. workplaces) in one breath and then talk of schools needing to prepare kids for jobs (that don’t exist yet) in the next.
June 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
And, while I’m here, it always strikes me as odd that people complain of “Victorian schooling” training people for factories (i.e. workplaces) in one breath and then talk of schools needing to prepare kids for jobs (that don’t exist yet) in the next.
Reposted by Olly
*Of course* school prepares children for their futures, but not by being a mini workplace. It’s by giving them a breadth of foundational knowledge and experience across the big, enduring disciplines and human pursuits. The kinds of things they won’t get chance to learn about or experience at work.
June 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
*Of course* school prepares children for their futures, but not by being a mini workplace. It’s by giving them a breadth of foundational knowledge and experience across the big, enduring disciplines and human pursuits. The kinds of things they won’t get chance to learn about or experience at work.