Rick Gaehl
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rickgaehl.bsky.social
Rick Gaehl
@rickgaehl.bsky.social
Retired bloke in Devon who identifies as European and is interested in politics, the environment, photography, the arts, history, cycling, and stuff.
All photos are mine unless credited elsewhere.

Also to be found here: https://mstdn.social/@RickGaehl
Pinned
Lots of new people joining BlueSky just now, which is a good thing.

I try to post a new photo every day, but also post stuff about politics, climate change, and other issues.

I welcome new followers, but I tend not to follow back if you have a scant bio or posting history, or unless I know you.
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
The funniest thread you'll read today.
THREAD. In her exclusive interview in today's Daily Telegraph Magazine, the actor, influencer and designer Philippa Islington-Smythe (pictured) discusses the price of fame, her controversial new perfume, working with Margot Robbie and how becoming a parent changed her perspective on the world...
November 14, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Here are just a few windows from Venice for #FensterFreitag.

#Photography #Venice #Travel
November 14, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
"What's more shocking? Fairytale of New York never making it to Christmas No 1, or #UnitedUtilities dumping sewage into #Windermere and paying themselves huge dividends?"

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Not so Golden Brown: DJ plays 24-hours of No 2s in Lake District sewage protest
Radio host uses chart songs that didn’t quite make top spot to highlight issue of Windermere pollution
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
Here's a pile of oyster shells on a beach I came across at an old whaling station in New South Wales. Apparently, there are ancient middens nearby containing shells over 10,000 years old. People have been eating these things for a long time...

#Photography #History #Australia #Beach
November 13, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Here's a pile of oyster shells on a beach I came across at an old whaling station in New South Wales. Apparently, there are ancient middens nearby containing shells over 10,000 years old. People have been eating these things for a long time...

#Photography #History #Australia #Beach
November 13, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
Things gradually slotting into place.
November 12, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
'Schaufenster'
#FotoVorschlag

Schaufenster eines Kunsthändlers.
November 12, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
A delightful beach and an inviting sea, all set about with gum trees and banksia. Wish I was going 'down under' again this winter...

#Photography #MeerMittwoch #Beach #Sea #View #Australia
November 12, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
They're going to crash the global economy by attempting to create an artificial general intelligence, despite having no idea what that is, no proof they can build it & no hope of doing so. Cunts just read too many sci-fi books.
November 12, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
Asylum seeker - who dislikes asylum seekers - seeks asylum in a country cracking down on asylum seekers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/09/germany-far-right-seibt-asylum/
German far-right activist seeks asylum in U.S. as Trump ties deepen
Social media influencer Naomi Seibt, a supporter of the nationalist AfD party, said she is being persecuted in Germany for her political views.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
J.M.W. Turner (British, 1775-1851)

“Turner’s Bedroom in the Palazzo Giustinian (the Hotel Europa), Venice c 1840.
November 12, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
◾ >9 years since Tees Valley voted for supposed benefits of Brexit

◾ >8 since Houchen was elected Mayor of Tees Valley

◾ >6 since Johnson promised to level up left-behind areas

...Middlesbrough remains the local authority with the highest proportion of most deprived neighbourhoods in England.
Houchen’s deprivation failure exposed – official
Middlesbrough remains the local authority with the highest proportion of most deprived neighbourhoods in England
northeastbylines.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 8:52 AM
60% of us want to get to net zero, but only 2% think we'll get there by 2050 (which would be far too late anyway). Depressing stuff...

yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
How far does the public support net zero? | YouGov
While six in ten Britons support net zero, there is much more limited public appetite for the kinds of policies that would help achieve it
yougov.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 10:57 AM
A delightful beach and an inviting sea, all set about with gum trees and banksia. Wish I was going 'down under' again this winter...

#Photography #MeerMittwoch #Beach #Sea #View #Australia
November 12, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
BBC Under Attack: Pot and Kettle Special

The new Private Eye is out now.
November 12, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
Here is the view from the back of our house on a sunny, autumn day.

#Photography #ThickTrunkTuesday #Autumn #Nature #Trees #Landscape
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
I'm not sure if others have noticed this, but interesting that one of the Prescott criticisms of the BBC is based on those of the 'History Reclaimed' group, which is also associated with the 'Restore Trust' group's attacks on & so far unsuccessful attempts to take control of the National Trust. 1/3
November 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
“A sustained campaign of anti-migrant rhetoric is fuelling a growing cesspool of racism, including against international and ethnic minority nursing staff, without whom our health and care system would simply cease to function.”

How disgraceful.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
Black and Asian staff left feeling ‘deliberately intimidated’, according to chief executive of one NHS trust
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Here is the view from the back of our house on a sunny, autumn day.

#Photography #ThickTrunkTuesday #Autumn #Nature #Trees #Landscape
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
This is the back of a very old gate at Hay-on-Wye Castle. I'm really admiring the textures and the rustic carpentry...

#Photography #MonochromeMonday #WoodWorking #Gate #Castle
November 10, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
'Ruhelosigkeit'
#FotoVorschlag
November 10, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
Want to know why the prisons system seems to be suddenly falling apart?

Well, it's not sudden. It's just suddenly being REPORTED. This rot was a deliberate policy choice, and I kept the receipts. Because I'm not the BBC.

(A note on what Tories did to cause this, from The Decade In Tory)
November 10, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
For all the talk of 'Broken Britain', so many things have got better.
Even a simple factoid like this gets overlooked, but it was not long ago that *everyone* directly knew multiple examples of people taken away by this at something preposterous like age 22
November 10, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
Maybe they have all missed BBCQT, Politics Live, Daily Politics, and This Week for the last two decades, for which Farage has his own dressing room.
Farage accuses the BBC of bias on Europe, immigration, the environment, Gaza, and Trump - to a hall of toadies roaring their approval.

And in the blink of an eye, turns to his actual employer "a much perkier GB News," then remembers "although I have to declare an interest." ~AA
November 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Rick Gaehl
Excellent analysis of this unfolding horror show
What you’re witnessing is a populist assault on the BBC.

This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.

iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
November 10, 2025 at 12:28 PM