Tom Hannen
@tomhannen.ft.com
Video @ FT, before that BBC
Mastodon @tomhannen@mastodon.social
Can’t DM here. Use Signal: tomhannen
Mastodon @tomhannen@mastodon.social
Can’t DM here. Use Signal: tomhannen
Lovely idea for a certain kind of nostalgic geek
🚀 NEW MAGAZINE ⌨️
Back in the ’80s there were printed mags of BASIC programs to type in, we’ve brought that back but for web pages!
10 amazing games, toys, puzzles and utilities, no coding knowledge needed
vole.wtf/doctype/
Back in the ’80s there were printed mags of BASIC programs to type in, we’ve brought that back but for web pages!
10 amazing games, toys, puzzles and utilities, no coding knowledge needed
vole.wtf/doctype/
DOCTYPE magazine 🚀⌨️
’80s BASIC type-in mags are back, but this time for HTML!
vole.wtf
November 11, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Lovely idea for a certain kind of nostalgic geek
Reposted by Tom Hannen
November 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by Tom Hannen
A radio programme like the Shipping Forecast but it’s called Bin Day and it just reads out every single council in the country’s bin schedule
November 10, 2025 at 11:53 PM
A radio programme like the Shipping Forecast but it’s called Bin Day and it just reads out every single council in the country’s bin schedule
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Crisis at the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation!
Crisis at the CSC | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
From the desk of Lord Kronsteen, founder and proprietor of the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation. To all staff, It is with a heavy heart that I take pen in hand to inform you of the resignation of both…
thecritic.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Crisis at the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation!
Reposted by Tom Hannen
30 yrs ago you could never think about abolishing the BBC, even though many fumed over bias then. Its quality stood tall. Since then, deep and severe cuts. Resources reduced, experience walked out the door. Mistakes get made. Weakening the BBC was a vital step in trying to get rid of it.
Between the news media in the UK and the US the biggest difference is the strength of the BBC at the center. Which makes it a target. As @brianstelter.bsky.social writes: "the BBC is positioned as an apolitical brand, yet operates in a politically poisonous atmosphere. www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/m...
November 10, 2025 at 3:42 PM
30 yrs ago you could never think about abolishing the BBC, even though many fumed over bias then. Its quality stood tall. Since then, deep and severe cuts. Resources reduced, experience walked out the door. Mistakes get made. Weakening the BBC was a vital step in trying to get rid of it.
JBM 4 DG
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
JBM 4 DG
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Robbie Gibb once suggested that reporters should reflect if they were getting more retweets from one side than the other - a braindead analysis that ignores that fair and impartial reporting of education might get more Tory retweets than say, criminal justice.
Stephen really does have the best take on this. It’s not clear that the BBC Board or indeed the rest of the News team really understood the message of the previous reviews, which were about getting detail right. Instead they wanted to know what was ‘biased’ or not like they were blotting out stains.
The impossible dream some people on the British right are chasing is that you can have a BBC News operation that retreats from detail and expertise, that takes dictation from the government, but this will only create incompetence and failure when it suits you:
November 10, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Robbie Gibb once suggested that reporters should reflect if they were getting more retweets from one side than the other - a braindead analysis that ignores that fair and impartial reporting of education might get more Tory retweets than say, criminal justice.
Reposted by Tom Hannen
So make no mistake, this is a coordinated assault on one of the cornerstones of British civic life from people who want to weaken our democracy. Sadly, the BBC is so cowed it will actively abet them in its own destruction.
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
So make no mistake, this is a coordinated assault on one of the cornerstones of British civic life from people who want to weaken our democracy. Sadly, the BBC is so cowed it will actively abet them in its own destruction.
Reposted by Tom Hannen
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UK newspaper editor calls Bill de Blasio fake interview blunder ‘humiliating’
A Times associate editor reportedly addressed situation in an email to staff, saying: ‘We should have been on our guard’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Tom Hannen
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:10 AM
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Brilliant new ad campaign I just spotted at the Southwark tube station in London.
November 8, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Brilliant new ad campaign I just spotted at the Southwark tube station in London.
It looks great, but I only see a single piece of glass/plastic logo in the making-of video, so it must have been digitally composited to some extent, mustn't it? @tvaziri.com 9to5mac.com/2025/11/06/a...
November 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
It looks great, but I only see a single piece of glass/plastic logo in the making-of video, so it must have been digitally composited to some extent, mustn't it? @tvaziri.com 9to5mac.com/2025/11/06/a...
Reposted by Tom Hannen
We need more reporting of local government. This is quite a thread...
Cllr Daniel Taylor, currently on bail pending trial over allegations that he threatened to kill his wife, has attended today. Given he missed every other meeting since his arrest, he would have been disqualified as a councillor had he not arrived today.
November 6, 2025 at 11:42 AM
We need more reporting of local government. This is quite a thread...
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Great working on this with @alisonkilling.bsky.social, Chris Campbell, @peter.andringa.me, @ian-bott.bsky.social, @sdbernard.bsky.social and @raydouglas.bsky.social.
Come for the reporting, stay for the largest map we‘ve ever built...
Come for the reporting, stay for the largest map we‘ve ever built...
November 6, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Great working on this with @alisonkilling.bsky.social, Chris Campbell, @peter.andringa.me, @ian-bott.bsky.social, @sdbernard.bsky.social and @raydouglas.bsky.social.
Come for the reporting, stay for the largest map we‘ve ever built...
Come for the reporting, stay for the largest map we‘ve ever built...
NEOM against London’s skyline. Spectacular graphics all the way through this: ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
A single 800m long module of the Line will be the world’s largest occupied structure. This is what the three modules of the first phase would look like if they were dropped into London. The finished Line would stretch from the capital to Birmingham.
November 6, 2025 at 8:17 AM
NEOM against London’s skyline. Spectacular graphics all the way through this: ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
An amazing film
Hats off to the BBC for restoring Peter Watkins' The War Game to the iPlayer. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
The War Game
Controversial drama depicting the consequences of a nuclear attack on Britain. The film was made in 1965 but not televised until 1985 as the BBC judged it 'too horrifying'.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 10:20 AM
An amazing film
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Nobody cares about just being mayor.
From Istanbul to New York: How Erdoğan Defeated His 'Mamdani'
Nobody cares if you're mayor in the first city
kulturkampftr.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Nobody cares about just being mayor.
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Jesus Christ. We go mad about one bloke we wrongly released, yet hear next to nothing about this horror? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
More than 50 child asylum seekers still missing after disappearing from Kent care
Council data obtained by the Guardian shows 345 children have gone missing in recent years, many probably taken by traffickers
www.theguardian.com
November 1, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Jesus Christ. We go mad about one bloke we wrongly released, yet hear next to nothing about this horror? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Some days you’re the pumpkin, others you’re the satsuma
November 1, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Some days you’re the pumpkin, others you’re the satsuma
In a perfect world Terry Kavanagh would be given all the money they give to AAA games to make platformers about eggs and the letter V six times. Everything game he makes is unique and charming.
“Egg” is free and plays in your browser (let it load for ages):
terrycavanagh.itch.io/eg
“Egg” is free and plays in your browser (let it load for ages):
terrycavanagh.itch.io/eg
Egg by Terry Cavanagh
why not be an egg
terrycavanagh.itch.io
November 1, 2025 at 7:19 AM
In a perfect world Terry Kavanagh would be given all the money they give to AAA games to make platformers about eggs and the letter V six times. Everything game he makes is unique and charming.
“Egg” is free and plays in your browser (let it load for ages):
terrycavanagh.itch.io/eg
“Egg” is free and plays in your browser (let it load for ages):
terrycavanagh.itch.io/eg
Pipes 👻
Here's my longer than usual Letterboxd review, which connects Ghostwatch with Paul Daniels faking his own death, Alexei Sayle's Stuff, and The Day Today:
letterboxd.com/rayray67/fil...
letterboxd.com/rayray67/fil...
November 1, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Pipes 👻
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Great to work with @aendra.com @amyborrett.ft.com @jonathanvincent.bsky.social on this important new dataset of deprivation in England
This is absolutely fascinating: you can put your postcode in and see relative levels of deprivation (and the opposite) where you live in detail. I live where I grew up, so I could spend days doing this as I know the town so well. www.ft.com/content/9a1c... Huge congrats to @amyborrett.ft.com et al.
Interactive: explore England’s new deprivation map
Data analysis reveals ‘cheek by jowl’ inequalities in first study of country’s disadvantaged areas since pandemic
www.ft.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Great to work with @aendra.com @amyborrett.ft.com @jonathanvincent.bsky.social on this important new dataset of deprivation in England
Mapping the UKs most and least deprived areas. Often right next to each other.
Gift link good for 300 clicks: as.ft.com/r/73e7450c-b...
Gift link good for 300 clicks: as.ft.com/r/73e7450c-b...
October 31, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Mapping the UKs most and least deprived areas. Often right next to each other.
Gift link good for 300 clicks: as.ft.com/r/73e7450c-b...
Gift link good for 300 clicks: as.ft.com/r/73e7450c-b...
Reposted by Tom Hannen
Elon Musk is once again inciting violence on British streets because the government has taught him there are literally no consequences for doing so.
They even carry on using his far-right social network to promote government policy as he does it. The absence of backbone is *astounding*.
They even carry on using his far-right social network to promote government policy as he does it. The absence of backbone is *astounding*.
October 29, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Elon Musk is once again inciting violence on British streets because the government has taught him there are literally no consequences for doing so.
They even carry on using his far-right social network to promote government policy as he does it. The absence of backbone is *astounding*.
They even carry on using his far-right social network to promote government policy as he does it. The absence of backbone is *astounding*.
Reposted by Tom Hannen
If you can’t afford a vacation, an AI app will sell you pictures of one
Always be manifesting.
www.theverge.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:11 AM