David Whitley
@mrdavidwhitley.bsky.social
Travel writer. Nerd. General annoyance.
I never met a joke I liked that I didn't want to drill into the ground.
Writes quizzes at https://geograquiz.com/ . Shares unsolicited thoughts at https://planetwhitley.com/ .
I never met a joke I liked that I didn't want to drill into the ground.
Writes quizzes at https://geograquiz.com/ . Shares unsolicited thoughts at https://planetwhitley.com/ .
This man is a masochist with a kink for quote replies.
Could someone explain to me what is meant when a British person refers to "the middle class" ? Like, in the US, as I hear it, it basically just means a person who makes a certain amount of money, not too far below and not wildly above the median. Seems like a complex concept when UK writers use it?
November 10, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This man is a masochist with a kink for quote replies.
Do you like horrible fleeces? Properly nasty, low quality fleeces? Well, you are going to LOVE Mountain Warehouse.
November 10, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Do you like horrible fleeces? Properly nasty, low quality fleeces? Well, you are going to LOVE Mountain Warehouse.
I think organisations should take unsolicited, murkily-funded 'reports' from people who used to work for a rival that has made your destruction a life's mission a little more sceptically.
November 10, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I think organisations should take unsolicited, murkily-funded 'reports' from people who used to work for a rival that has made your destruction a life's mission a little more sceptically.
It'll be fun to see which job Michael Prescott turns up in next, won't it?
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
It'll be fun to see which job Michael Prescott turns up in next, won't it?
Reposted by David Whitley
Objectivity, impartiality and balance are all *different things*, and the lazy tendency to treat them as synonyms, and to use partisan balance alone as a proxy for the others, is the root cause of a vast amount of nonsense.
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.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Objectivity, impartiality and balance are all *different things*, and the lazy tendency to treat them as synonyms, and to use partisan balance alone as a proxy for the others, is the root cause of a vast amount of nonsense.
If only we had a culture secretary who could sack obviously poisonous government-appointed directors of cultural institutions.
November 10, 2025 at 11:28 AM
If only we had a culture secretary who could sack obviously poisonous government-appointed directors of cultural institutions.
I'm on my way to Cardiff for the night, and my favourite piece of pedantic Welsh language signposting so far is correcting the name of Merthyr Tydfil to Merthyr Tudful.
November 10, 2025 at 9:19 AM
I'm on my way to Cardiff for the night, and my favourite piece of pedantic Welsh language signposting so far is correcting the name of Merthyr Tydfil to Merthyr Tudful.
This site is good for many things, but parsing resignation statements is clearly not one of them.
November 9, 2025 at 10:12 PM
This site is good for many things, but parsing resignation statements is clearly not one of them.
Steps back from posting strong theory for reasons.
November 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Steps back from posting strong theory for reasons.
If an experienced media executive is needed, there's always Gary Lineker.
November 9, 2025 at 7:01 PM
If an experienced media executive is needed, there's always Gary Lineker.
When you hear there's another new job going.
November 9, 2025 at 6:59 PM
When you hear there's another new job going.
Suspect there's going to be a heavy workout for the Journalese After in the next few days.
November 9, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Suspect there's going to be a heavy workout for the Journalese After in the next few days.
It's quite incredible that the West controlled the greatest advantage over China - the internet. Then, when given the choice, China ploughed its efforts into near-limitless cheap energy, and the West threw everything into technology that would irredeemably fuck up the internet.
The automated problem factory!
‘A new service called Objector is offering “policy-backed objections in minutes” to people who are upset about planning applications near their homes.’
Another reminder that AI can be used for things you don’t like as well as things you like…
Another reminder that AI can be used for things you don’t like as well as things you like…
November 9, 2025 at 5:25 PM
It's quite incredible that the West controlled the greatest advantage over China - the internet. Then, when given the choice, China ploughed its efforts into near-limitless cheap energy, and the West threw everything into technology that would irredeemably fuck up the internet.
The post-Gatwa era sounds a bit dark
November 8, 2025 at 8:00 PM
The post-Gatwa era sounds a bit dark
When PRs send images in links that expire before you get round to downloading them.
two men are hugging each other on a couch in a living room with a bbc one logo in the corner .
ALT: two men are hugging each other on a couch in a living room with a bbc one logo in the corner .
media.tenor.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:18 AM
When PRs send images in links that expire before you get round to downloading them.
If anyone's feeling unusually chipper today, let me share the news that Mr Beast is opening a theme park in Riyadh.
November 7, 2025 at 10:58 AM
If anyone's feeling unusually chipper today, let me share the news that Mr Beast is opening a theme park in Riyadh.
Hands up if you read NSFW as New South Fucking Wales?
November 6, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Hands up if you read NSFW as New South Fucking Wales?
Reposted by David Whitley
New York City's street food is dreadful, largely because of a romantic attachment to two unrelentingly dire foods - hot dogs and pretzels - keeping out anything good.
November 5, 2025 at 8:11 PM
New York City's street food is dreadful, largely because of a romantic attachment to two unrelentingly dire foods - hot dogs and pretzels - keeping out anything good.
Looking forward to the bit where Republican try to catch out Zohran Mamdani for not liking things because he's a Muslim, and increasingly veer into things that are repellant to 95% of the American population.
November 5, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Looking forward to the bit where Republican try to catch out Zohran Mamdani for not liking things because he's a Muslim, and increasingly veer into things that are repellant to 95% of the American population.
Reposted by David Whitley
With that nice Eric Adams as his running mate
November 5, 2025 at 8:50 AM
With that nice Eric Adams as his running mate
The message that New Yorkers sent last night was that Andrew Cuomo should save himself for a bigger job. Surely a shoo-in for that presidential nomination now.
November 5, 2025 at 8:30 AM
The message that New Yorkers sent last night was that Andrew Cuomo should save himself for a bigger job. Surely a shoo-in for that presidential nomination now.
It can't be long before there's a specialist channel for Britain's favourite TV genre: Vicky McClure spouting acronyms.
November 4, 2025 at 8:30 PM
It can't be long before there's a specialist channel for Britain's favourite TV genre: Vicky McClure spouting acronyms.
If your children are too young and sensitive to learn that Dick Cheney has died, just tell them he's gone somewhere warmer for the winter.
November 4, 2025 at 2:29 PM
If your children are too young and sensitive to learn that Dick Cheney has died, just tell them he's gone somewhere warmer for the winter.
Reposted by David Whitley
VP Cheney will be honoured with a 21 gun salute accidentally aimed directly at 21 of his friends
November 4, 2025 at 11:42 AM
VP Cheney will be honoured with a 21 gun salute accidentally aimed directly at 21 of his friends