Will Ironside
banner
billironside.bsky.social
Will Ironside
@billironside.bsky.social
Expat Manxman.
Director of Network Planning at Virgin Media O2.
Husband & Father of 2.
Sports Fan.
Care about most things, have a view on some. My views not theirs!
Are we going to see Mayors elected with even lower levels of public support in 2025? www.electoral-reform.org.uk/are-we-going... Electoral Reform Society – ERS
Are we going to see Mayors elected with even lower levels of public support in 2025?
Four Combined Authority mayors will be elected on 1 May 2025, but changes to the rules could see mayors taking power with little public support locally.Voters are going to the polls in
www.electoral-reform.org.uk
April 27, 2025 at 1:19 PM
chatgpt.com/share/67fa5c... Obviously not my work but does align my thoughts around possibilities for the future
ChatGPT - Funding Blast Furnace Renewal
Shared via ChatGPT
chatgpt.com
April 12, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Why all local councils should be elected with proportional representation www.electoral-reform.org.uk/why-all-loca... Electoral Reform Society – ERS
Why all local councils should be elected with proportional representation
If you live in England, you might be casting a vote for a councillor in a local election this May – and with your vote, expressing your desire for how you’d like your local services
www.electoral-reform.org.uk
April 12, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Reposted by Will Ironside
Life expectancy growth stalls across Europe as England sees sharpest decline, say researchers

Poor diet, obesity and inactivity blamed on decline with Norway the only country seeing a rise

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Life expectancy growth stalls across Europe as England sees sharpest decline, say researchers
Poor diet, obesity and inactivity blamed on decline with Norway the only country seeing a rise
www.theguardian.com
February 20, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
NEW: The Washington Post has pulled out of an agreement to run an ad in its newspaper criticising Elon Musk. This is despite signing an agreement to publish it.

Democracy dies in darkness.

Here is the ad. Let’s share it far and wide! Screw the Post.
February 17, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
THE SHOCKING state of NHS dentistry in England laid bare. Where is the Governments promised plan to fix it @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social?

youtu.be/Hu0Okad5O1w?...
THE SHOCKING state of NHS dentistry in England has today - again - been laid bare
YouTube video by Peter Stefanovic
youtu.be
February 15, 2025 at 11:18 AM
My latest completed read is: Ultra-Processed People 'Why do we all eat stuff that isn't food... And why can't we stop' by Chris van Tulleken. www.penguin.co.uk/books/451300... Very insightful & somewhat frightening education on how loads of what many of us eat isn't actually food ☹️. Recommended read
Ultra-Processed People
IT'S NOT YOU. IT'S THE FOOD. 'If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one' Bee Wilson 'You've got to get this book in your life . . . Completely compelling . . . Read ...
www.penguin.co.uk
February 15, 2025 at 11:21 AM
My latest completed read is: How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn’t www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/ian-d... A great but very depressing insight into the Government we have rather than that which we might want. Cheers @iandunt.bsky.social for the nightmares 🤣
How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn’t
Why do some prime ministers manage to get things done, while others miserably fail? What is a 'special adviser' and how did they take over British political ...
www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk
January 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
How would proportional representation work in the UK? www.electoral-reform.org.uk/how-would-pr... Electoral Reform Society – ERS
How would proportional representation work in the UK?
Proportional Representation (PR) is the idea that seats in parliament should closely match votes cast in an election.  A system that’s perfectly proportional would mean that if a poli
www.electoral-reform.org.uk
January 19, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
'From a tiny television studio in Paris, 4,500 miles from Kabul, a raft of programmes geared towards women and presented by female hosts beams 24 hours a day into homes across Afghanistan, even as women are being steadily erased from public life in the country.' 1/2
‘It’s a continuation of hope’: Paris-based TV station provides a lifeline for women in Afghanistan
Begum TV beams educational and entertainment shows into homes of women living under strict Taliban rule
www.theguardian.com
January 19, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Reposted by Will Ironside

"The UK environment secretary, Steve Reed, is pursuing legal action against a group of anglers who are trying to restore the ecosystem of a river."

More on this staggeringly stupid decision in today's @theguardian.com by @sandralaville
Ministers to appeal against river pollution ruling won by Yorkshire anglers
High court had ruled government was not meeting legal duty to clean up Costa Beck near Pickering
www.theguardian.com
January 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
Flying flags half-staff for 30 days after the death of a former president was put in place by President Dwight Eisenhower 70 years ago in 1954 & has been done for every president since that time until this Monday when Mike Johnson will end that tradition at Donald Trump’s demand.
January 14, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
Taliban 'do not see women as human', says Malala in Pakistan
Taliban 'do not see women as human', says Malala in Pakistan
Malala Yousafzai urges Muslim leaders to challenge policies restricting girls and women's schooling.
www.bbc.com
January 12, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
From the Beatles to biologics – how Liverpool became a life science hotspot
From the Beatles to biologics – how Liverpool became a life science hotspot
The city has a long history with tropical medicine and is now home to one of the largest biotech clusters in Europe Tucked away in the village of Leasowe, near Moreton on the Wirral peninsula west of Liverpool, the US pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers…
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Reposted by Will Ironside
MPs are set to vote through Labour ’s Renters Rights bill on Tuesday, banning no-fault evictions and demanding landlords fix serious health hazards like damp and mould 👏

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
Labour to make huge change banning 'heartbreaking' practice by greedy landlords
But more measures are expected to be added to Labour's landmark Renters Rights bill in the Commons - including one preventing guarantors of tenants who have died being chased for excessive amounts of ...
www.mirror.co.uk
January 11, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
Tbilisi, Day 44.

For the 44th straight night, Rustaveli Ave in the Georgia capital has been taken over by 1000s of protestors.

All demanding new, free elections and the release of political prisoners held by the Russian puppet regime.

#GeorgiaProtests

(📸 Ailis Halligan)
January 10, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
A cautionary tale for the rest of the world that should be studied for decades.

The country that imposed economic sanctions on itself.
January 4, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
As the Taliban open their doors to tourism, they are closing windows on women | Catherine Bennett
As the Taliban open their doors to tourism, they are closing windows on women | Catherine Bennett
Specialist travel companies are using euphemisms to avoid the gender apartheid Having denied Afghan women jobs, education and free movement, ordered them to be totally covered, banned them from parks, removed their critical healthcare and silenced them…
www.theguardian.com
January 5, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Will Ironside
Blue Sky People!

I wrote this blog for you, because I think I have a higher proportion of readers here rather than *there*

open.substack.com/pub/nedboult...
January 4, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Just finished my latest read, 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak. I honestly can't remember how it got onto my reading list but I'm glad it did. It's a great story, uplifting in parts, very sad in others. Definitely a recommended read.
www.penguin.co.uk/books/393019...
The Book Thief
'Life affirming, triumphant and tragic . . . masterfully told. . . but also a wonderful page-turner' Guardian 'Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times 'Extraordinary' Telegraph ___ HERE IS A S...
www.penguin.co.uk
January 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Will Ironside
The best thing to do on this platform today is to repost the Ann Telnaes cartoon that the Washington Post didn’t want the world to see.
January 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I love Ned's writing as much as his broadcasting. As brilliant as always Ned. Best wishes for the upcoming new year.
In light of Gareth Southgate being given a suit of armour and a horse, I have published a deleted chapter from "Square Peg, Round Ball". It's about him, and the brief time I spent in his company.

open.substack.com/pub/nedboult...
December 31, 2024 at 10:16 AM
Just a reminder that most of us never get what we voted for. But it doesn't have to be that way.

It should be a scandal that small changes in the vote result in outsize changes in Parliament www.electoral-reform.org.uk/it-should-be... Electoral Reform Society – ERS
It should be a scandal that small changes in the vote result in outsize changes in Parliament
Two, rather similar, articles came out today on the likely impact of small swings in the vote on the results of the general election. In the Times, they identified 130,000 voters in 100
www.electoral-reform.org.uk
December 29, 2024 at 5:25 PM