Rowena S
@rowenas.bsky.social
Life insurance risk management by day. Sunday league football, choral singing, occasional hiking. Having an atrocious FPL season (evergreen). Personal views only
Reposted by Rowena S
Quick quiz: In which year did the a report say:
"The longer the essential work is left, the greater the risk becomes that the building might suffer a sudden, catastrophic failure, or that small, incremental failures might make the building uninhabitable."?
"The longer the essential work is left, the greater the risk becomes that the building might suffer a sudden, catastrophic failure, or that small, incremental failures might make the building uninhabitable."?
EXCL:
Final decision on restoring the Palace of Westminster will be delayed until 2030s
MPs were expected to vote by the end of 2025 on a way forward for fixing the crumbling parliament, but that now won't happen
Story w/@danbloom1.bsky.social
www.politico.eu/article/fina...
Final decision on restoring the Palace of Westminster will be delayed until 2030s
MPs were expected to vote by the end of 2025 on a way forward for fixing the crumbling parliament, but that now won't happen
Story w/@danbloom1.bsky.social
www.politico.eu/article/fina...
Final decision on fate of crumbling UK parliament delayed to 2030s
It’s a fire-hazard that’s prone to tumbling masonry — but fear of a public backlash is again delaying repairs to the world famous building.
www.politico.eu
November 15, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Quick quiz: In which year did the a report say:
"The longer the essential work is left, the greater the risk becomes that the building might suffer a sudden, catastrophic failure, or that small, incremental failures might make the building uninhabitable."?
"The longer the essential work is left, the greater the risk becomes that the building might suffer a sudden, catastrophic failure, or that small, incremental failures might make the building uninhabitable."?
Reposted by Rowena S
ʼTwas Ozy, and the legs of stone
Did gyre and gimble in decay:
Half sunk was the visageʼs frown
And the sands stretch away.
“Beware the pedestal, my son!
The hand that mocked, the heart that fed!
Beware the antique land, and shun
A sculptor who's well read!”
Did gyre and gimble in decay:
Half sunk was the visageʼs frown
And the sands stretch away.
“Beware the pedestal, my son!
The hand that mocked, the heart that fed!
Beware the antique land, and shun
A sculptor who's well read!”
They fuck you up, your King of Kings.
They may not mean to but they do.
They leave you trunkless legs of stone,
And add some visage, just for you.
They may not mean to but they do.
They leave you trunkless legs of stone,
And add some visage, just for you.
Whose land this is I do not know
The statue fell down long ago;
No one will mind me stopping here
To watch the sand o’er ruins blow.
My camel friend must think it queer
To rest with no oasis near
And precious little shade these days
Gives Ozymandias, I fear.
(1/2)
The statue fell down long ago;
No one will mind me stopping here
To watch the sand o’er ruins blow.
My camel friend must think it queer
To rest with no oasis near
And precious little shade these days
Gives Ozymandias, I fear.
(1/2)
October 31, 2025 at 9:52 PM
ʼTwas Ozy, and the legs of stone
Did gyre and gimble in decay:
Half sunk was the visageʼs frown
And the sands stretch away.
“Beware the pedestal, my son!
The hand that mocked, the heart that fed!
Beware the antique land, and shun
A sculptor who's well read!”
Did gyre and gimble in decay:
Half sunk was the visageʼs frown
And the sands stretch away.
“Beware the pedestal, my son!
The hand that mocked, the heart that fed!
Beware the antique land, and shun
A sculptor who's well read!”
Reposted by Rowena S
Bring back small phones! This is my iphone 13 mini. It is a perfectly-sized phone. But it's going to die - in a few years, Apple will stop supporting it w/updates. Yet there are now NO new smartphones to buy on the market that fit the human hand. www.ft.com/content/6332...
October 21, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Bring back small phones! This is my iphone 13 mini. It is a perfectly-sized phone. But it's going to die - in a few years, Apple will stop supporting it w/updates. Yet there are now NO new smartphones to buy on the market that fit the human hand. www.ft.com/content/6332...
Reposted by Rowena S
Is nitrous oxide food?
[FREE TO READ] UK courts continue to tackle the big questions
on.ft.com
September 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Rowena S
"Jack is 30, a barrister's clerk, newly engaged to Chloe and has taken part in research at UCL to turn his diagnosis into a positive."
"But he'd always known he was destined to share his father's fate, until today."
Wow.
"But he'd always known he was destined to share his father's fate, until today."
Wow.
September 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM
"Jack is 30, a barrister's clerk, newly engaged to Chloe and has taken part in research at UCL to turn his diagnosis into a positive."
"But he'd always known he was destined to share his father's fate, until today."
Wow.
"But he'd always known he was destined to share his father's fate, until today."
Wow.
Really enjoyed visiting Container City today as part of the Open House Festival - the tour of the SS Robin steam ship alone was worth the trip to Canning Town programme.openhouse.org.uk/listings/2205
September 14, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Really enjoyed visiting Container City today as part of the Open House Festival - the tour of the SS Robin steam ship alone was worth the trip to Canning Town programme.openhouse.org.uk/listings/2205
Reposted by Rowena S
Of course the other big effect of slash and burn deregulation is to make anyone who invested in good business practices feel like an idiot as they get out competed by lower cost cowboy operators
Has nobody in Government worked out that markets are based on rules & enforcement of those rules? Otherwise it is either war or gangsterism.
September 11, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Of course the other big effect of slash and burn deregulation is to make anyone who invested in good business practices feel like an idiot as they get out competed by lower cost cowboy operators
Reposted by Rowena S
I think this is it. Despair is easy and you get to feel wise, and it doesn't really place any obligations on you or force you to speak out or do anything, really.
I do sometimes wonder if there is a certain kind of person that takes refuge in despair because it absolves them from having to do anything.
No, you do in fact have to help maintain the social norm against racism in the UK! That is your moral duty as a British citizen! Giving up on that is immoral!
No, you do in fact have to help maintain the social norm against racism in the UK! That is your moral duty as a British citizen! Giving up on that is immoral!
September 2, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I think this is it. Despair is easy and you get to feel wise, and it doesn't really place any obligations on you or force you to speak out or do anything, really.
Reposted by Rowena S
if you want to observe LIz Truss being intellectually owned, this is worth your time via @tobyn.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/30e5...
www.ft.com/content/30e5...
Liz explains the coup
An Odd Lot
www.ft.com
September 1, 2025 at 2:10 PM
if you want to observe LIz Truss being intellectually owned, this is worth your time via @tobyn.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/30e5...
www.ft.com/content/30e5...
Reposted by Rowena S
Without giving this thing any more publicity than necessary, no the old Intervision was not ‘held between 1965 and 1980 in communist Czechoslovakia’.
Now come weeks of this fluff instead of media exposing how 🇷🇺 positions itself as anti-🏳️🌈 world leader by hosting a song contest like this.
Now come weeks of this fluff instead of media exposing how 🇷🇺 positions itself as anti-🏳️🌈 world leader by hosting a song contest like this.
The United States is taking part in Russia’s version of the Eurovision Song Contest, alongside a sizable number of dictatorships.
US to take part in Russia’s answer to Eurovision
Singer B. Howard will join acts from Belarus, Cuba and Venezuela at event in Moscow.
www.politico.eu
August 21, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Without giving this thing any more publicity than necessary, no the old Intervision was not ‘held between 1965 and 1980 in communist Czechoslovakia’.
Now come weeks of this fluff instead of media exposing how 🇷🇺 positions itself as anti-🏳️🌈 world leader by hosting a song contest like this.
Now come weeks of this fluff instead of media exposing how 🇷🇺 positions itself as anti-🏳️🌈 world leader by hosting a song contest like this.
Reposted by Rowena S
We did not suffer through Baz Luhrmann at No.1 for this
August 11, 2025 at 11:30 PM
We did not suffer through Baz Luhrmann at No.1 for this
Reposted by Rowena S
@gralefrit.bsky.social You have to see these! A friend of mine has been collating a series of images entitled "Things my students have written turned into Philomena Cunk quotes" and they're just glorious.
August 11, 2025 at 11:12 AM
@gralefrit.bsky.social You have to see these! A friend of mine has been collating a series of images entitled "Things my students have written turned into Philomena Cunk quotes" and they're just glorious.
Reposted by Rowena S
I’ve watched this about eight times and I still feel like it is going to go in.
all the angles of the Ann-Katrin Berger save are unreal #WEuro2025
July 19, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I’ve watched this about eight times and I still feel like it is going to go in.
Reposted by Rowena S
The Mail invariably referred to young women as "flappers".
"Flappers" were party girls, who dashed about in motor cars and danced all night to jazz bands.
The Mirror - also, in those days, a right-wing paper - ran a series of cartoons, imagining the flapper running for Parliament.
"Flappers" were party girls, who dashed about in motor cars and danced all night to jazz bands.
The Mirror - also, in those days, a right-wing paper - ran a series of cartoons, imagining the flapper running for Parliament.
July 19, 2025 at 10:35 AM
The Mail invariably referred to young women as "flappers".
"Flappers" were party girls, who dashed about in motor cars and danced all night to jazz bands.
The Mirror - also, in those days, a right-wing paper - ran a series of cartoons, imagining the flapper running for Parliament.
"Flappers" were party girls, who dashed about in motor cars and danced all night to jazz bands.
The Mirror - also, in those days, a right-wing paper - ran a series of cartoons, imagining the flapper running for Parliament.
Reposted by Rowena S
The right-wing press is going mad over votes at 16 ("a naked attempt to twist democracy in Labour’s favour", an "election-rigging move"...)
Oddly, they said the same 100 years ago when the voting age for women fell from 30 to 21.
Let's revisit the Mail's campaign to"Stop the Flapper Vote Folly"...
Oddly, they said the same 100 years ago when the voting age for women fell from 30 to 21.
Let's revisit the Mail's campaign to"Stop the Flapper Vote Folly"...
July 19, 2025 at 10:35 AM
The right-wing press is going mad over votes at 16 ("a naked attempt to twist democracy in Labour’s favour", an "election-rigging move"...)
Oddly, they said the same 100 years ago when the voting age for women fell from 30 to 21.
Let's revisit the Mail's campaign to"Stop the Flapper Vote Folly"...
Oddly, they said the same 100 years ago when the voting age for women fell from 30 to 21.
Let's revisit the Mail's campaign to"Stop the Flapper Vote Folly"...
Reposted by Rowena S
Hey ding-dongs, let’s have a chit-chat about 'Ablaut reduplication.'
If you have three words, the order usually goes 'I-A-O.'
-tic-tac-toe
If there are only two words, ‘I’ is the first and the second is either ‘A’ or ‘O.’
-click-clack
-King-Kong
If you have three words, the order usually goes 'I-A-O.'
-tic-tac-toe
If there are only two words, ‘I’ is the first and the second is either ‘A’ or ‘O.’
-click-clack
-King-Kong
July 17, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Hey ding-dongs, let’s have a chit-chat about 'Ablaut reduplication.'
If you have three words, the order usually goes 'I-A-O.'
-tic-tac-toe
If there are only two words, ‘I’ is the first and the second is either ‘A’ or ‘O.’
-click-clack
-King-Kong
If you have three words, the order usually goes 'I-A-O.'
-tic-tac-toe
If there are only two words, ‘I’ is the first and the second is either ‘A’ or ‘O.’
-click-clack
-King-Kong
Reposted by Rowena S
Pension funds 💔 gilts: looking at the OBR's assessment for demand for bonds.
www.ft.com/content/261f...
www.ft.com/content/261f...
Pension funds 💔 gilts
For whom the bell tolls
www.ft.com
July 10, 2025 at 5:59 AM
Pension funds 💔 gilts: looking at the OBR's assessment for demand for bonds.
www.ft.com/content/261f...
www.ft.com/content/261f...
Reposted by Rowena S
It's your last chance to respond to the EHRC consultation. It closes at 11.59pm tomorrow. Get it done tonight. Tell them about the personal impact. Better to do something short and quick than not at all.
Don't let them claim we didn't tell them.
Don't let them claim we didn't tell them.
June 29, 2025 at 6:21 PM
It's your last chance to respond to the EHRC consultation. It closes at 11.59pm tomorrow. Get it done tonight. Tell them about the personal impact. Better to do something short and quick than not at all.
Don't let them claim we didn't tell them.
Don't let them claim we didn't tell them.
Reposted by Rowena S
The book proposal I'm currently working on is about a general theory of crises. So far my research is pointing toward the conclusion that the most important thing to do is to **understand that you are in a crisis** and that the normal rules which serve well in normal conditions may not apply.
June 11, 2025 at 12:13 AM
The book proposal I'm currently working on is about a general theory of crises. So far my research is pointing toward the conclusion that the most important thing to do is to **understand that you are in a crisis** and that the normal rules which serve well in normal conditions may not apply.
Reposted by Rowena S
Also do check out the photos - they're pretty amazing. Run my home city of York close for "unexpected items outside the window"
May 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Also do check out the photos - they're pretty amazing. Run my home city of York close for "unexpected items outside the window"
Reposted by Rowena S
Kevin the ridiculous toffee coloured puffball of a dog has just bibbidy bibbidy bibbidied past wearing a new collar and lead. It's blue and glittery and it's got a bell on it. Not to worry, Kevin, you're still ferocious.
a small brown dog says i 'm ferocious
Alt: a ridiculous puffball of a dog is trying to look fierce. The caption is "I'm ferocious". He is not ferocious.
media.tenor.com
April 24, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Kevin the ridiculous toffee coloured puffball of a dog has just bibbidy bibbidy bibbidied past wearing a new collar and lead. It's blue and glittery and it's got a bell on it. Not to worry, Kevin, you're still ferocious.
Reposted by Rowena S
Wow sure would be worried if I lived in *checks notes* the world.
April 7, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Wow sure would be worried if I lived in *checks notes* the world.
Reposted by Rowena S
So it goes without saying, but let's say it anyway: the concentration of attacks on trans people isn't because trans people are the only people fascists hate (although they absolutely do hate them). It's because they're the people they think non-fascists are least likely to defend.
March 8, 2025 at 8:47 AM
So it goes without saying, but let's say it anyway: the concentration of attacks on trans people isn't because trans people are the only people fascists hate (although they absolutely do hate them). It's because they're the people they think non-fascists are least likely to defend.
Reposted by Rowena S
Another thing that struck me about yesterday’s Oval Office disaster is the place of language.
🧵
🧵
March 1, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Another thing that struck me about yesterday’s Oval Office disaster is the place of language.
🧵
🧵