Adam
@adamcobb.bsky.social
Digital marketing type; European politics bore; language enthusiast; one of those gays you hear about; Eurovision nerd; that guy in the window seat. @adamcobb on Twitter
My mum did some consultancy work at the factory that makes M&S sandwiches back in the 90s and there was a folder the size of a doorstep for each one, mostly concerned with making sure that the taste was consistent regardless of which area of the sandwich someone bit into.
A lot of it is a country small enough to manage single sandwich factory. But particularly UK is world leader in sandwich bread technology, someone I know was deeply involved in the bread production process for a recently viral UK sandwich and it’s an enormously technical process lasting months.
November 27, 2025 at 9:36 AM
My mum did some consultancy work at the factory that makes M&S sandwiches back in the 90s and there was a folder the size of a doorstep for each one, mostly concerned with making sure that the taste was consistent regardless of which area of the sandwich someone bit into.
Reposted by Adam
Suspect a weird side effect of this policy is a lot of people who’ve imagined house price growth to be continuing at 2000s era rates will discover to their shock and dismay that it hasn’t been, and their home hasn’t gone up in value like they thought.
November 27, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Suspect a weird side effect of this policy is a lot of people who’ve imagined house price growth to be continuing at 2000s era rates will discover to their shock and dismay that it hasn’t been, and their home hasn’t gone up in value like they thought.
My favourite example of this is abolishing de minimus import exemptions in MARCH 2029. Yes, taking away people's ability to buy cheap stuff on Temu just before an election is a wonderful strategy!
The government’s spending plans are “25-27: spending increases, 27-29: paaaain” which, uh…the election is 2028-9!
November 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
My favourite example of this is abolishing de minimus import exemptions in MARCH 2029. Yes, taking away people's ability to buy cheap stuff on Temu just before an election is a wonderful strategy!
Reposted by Adam
If you are eligible for the mobility component of PIP and you want to spend *your own money on top of that* on having a nicer modified car, why shouldn't you? Should screen readers only work on Chromebooks?
November 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
If you are eligible for the mobility component of PIP and you want to spend *your own money on top of that* on having a nicer modified car, why shouldn't you? Should screen readers only work on Chromebooks?
Still convinced that a lot of the rise in claims was down to Reddit, MSE and the like informing a lot of people who were always eligible for these benefits that they were in fact eligible rather than some massive and sudden change in society.
November 26, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Still convinced that a lot of the rise in claims was down to Reddit, MSE and the like informing a lot of people who were always eligible for these benefits that they were in fact eligible rather than some massive and sudden change in society.
Two things about this headline.
1. Please find me the person who wouldn't understand MP but does understand that Tory=Conservative and main opposition.
2. He's the shadow chancellor (or opposition finance spokesperson if you must!) Not just a random MP!
1. Please find me the person who wouldn't understand MP but does understand that Tory=Conservative and main opposition.
2. He's the shadow chancellor (or opposition finance spokesperson if you must!) Not just a random MP!
lol c'mon dog
*UK TORY LAWMAKER STRIDE SAYS OBR LEAK MAY BE 'CRIMINAL OFFENCE'
*UK TORY LAWMAKER STRIDE SAYS OBR LEAK MAY BE 'CRIMINAL OFFENCE'
November 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Two things about this headline.
1. Please find me the person who wouldn't understand MP but does understand that Tory=Conservative and main opposition.
2. He's the shadow chancellor (or opposition finance spokesperson if you must!) Not just a random MP!
1. Please find me the person who wouldn't understand MP but does understand that Tory=Conservative and main opposition.
2. He's the shadow chancellor (or opposition finance spokesperson if you must!) Not just a random MP!
Okay, what's the worst mistake you made early in your career? I sent out a promo email for a talk someone was giving and used the wrong picture for the speaker. The speaker received the email and was baffled.
I have immense sympathy for (probably) the stressed and undertrained 23 year old who actually make this mistake but they should never have been in a position where they could make it.
November 26, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Okay, what's the worst mistake you made early in your career? I sent out a promo email for a talk someone was giving and used the wrong picture for the speaker. The speaker received the email and was baffled.
Uhm... are we supposed to know this yet?
UK OBR: Mileage-based charge on electric cars raises £1.4 bln in 2029-30
November 26, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Uhm... are we supposed to know this yet?
Important retail history bulletin.
Argos expanded to the Netherlands way back when, but nobody "got it" and they pulled out pronto. They also pulled out of Ireland a couple of years ago
It was those little blue pens in doctors waiting rooms that did it for me - I took some French investors around stores in the 1990s and, like... 🤯
It was those little blue pens in doctors waiting rooms that did it for me - I took some French investors around stores in the 1990s and, like... 🤯
November 26, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Important retail history bulletin.
I think the one thing we can all agree on is that Labour deciding to have a 3 month run up to the budget, argue with itself, hand wave, basically announce and then drop major policy shifts and leave itself with a huge headache the next time the OBR does a new forecast has been a resounding success!
November 25, 2025 at 11:36 PM
I think the one thing we can all agree on is that Labour deciding to have a 3 month run up to the budget, argue with itself, hand wave, basically announce and then drop major policy shifts and leave itself with a huge headache the next time the OBR does a new forecast has been a resounding success!
Only true 90s kids remember the Index catalogue.
November 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Only true 90s kids remember the Index catalogue.
I take to agree with this in general. The two huge risks are it being done in a panic because of a huge backlog and the fact that it seems to have dropped from the sky for most people and you really, really want them to have thought hard about the whats and whys of this.
I struggle with how much of the commentary which implies that our European neighbours are dreadful places ruled by judicial autocracy. But as @nwylabour.bsky.social says, it does not help that the government has done so little to build goodwill and has blundered on other 'reforms'.
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I take to agree with this in general. The two huge risks are it being done in a panic because of a huge backlog and the fact that it seems to have dropped from the sky for most people and you really, really want them to have thought hard about the whats and whys of this.
Glee. Sometimes I like to pretend they made a pilot and it never got picked up.
while I am posting trivia, which TV show do you think showed the sharpest fall in quality from first to last seasons? I ask because the answer is obviously The Morning Show, the last series of which was garbage
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Glee. Sometimes I like to pretend they made a pilot and it never got picked up.
And the 'taxes by SimCity 3000 budget screen' meme rolls on!
November 25, 2025 at 11:58 AM
And the 'taxes by SimCity 3000 budget screen' meme rolls on!
The main impression you got from that hearing is a bunch of people (on the BBC side and the parliamentarian side) who have no concept of the stakes they are playing with.
Prescott is asked whether he thinks Donald Trump's reputation has been tarnished by Panorama. "Probably not," he replies with a grin.
November 24, 2025 at 10:52 PM
The main impression you got from that hearing is a bunch of people (on the BBC side and the parliamentarian side) who have no concept of the stakes they are playing with.
The point that is endlessly missed by these people is that lockdown would’ve basically happened whether the government ordered it or not. There were huge drops in restaurant bookings, train travel etc. before any legal restrictions came in.
I too would be saying stuff like this, if my status and career depended on people not ever saying openly that I had been deeply complicit in an avoidable calamity with a five figure bodycount
November 20, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The point that is endlessly missed by these people is that lockdown would’ve basically happened whether the government ordered it or not. There were huge drops in restaurant bookings, train travel etc. before any legal restrictions came in.
I really feel the inquiry would've been better off interviewing a bunch of people in Australia, Singapore, South Korea etc. about what went right there and how we could learn from it. It feels like lockdowns would be much harder to pull off now than 5 years ago.
BREAKING: The UK’s response to Covid was “too little, too late”, a damning official report on the handling of the pandemic has concluded, saying the introduction of a lockdown even a week earlier than happened could have saved more than 20,000 lives.
November 20, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I really feel the inquiry would've been better off interviewing a bunch of people in Australia, Singapore, South Korea etc. about what went right there and how we could learn from it. It feels like lockdowns would be much harder to pull off now than 5 years ago.
My uninformed read is that the government assumed that rolling in behind the EHRC guidance was the best means of making the issue go away and upon discovering it did not do that, has had no Plan B.
November 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
My uninformed read is that the government assumed that rolling in behind the EHRC guidance was the best means of making the issue go away and upon discovering it did not do that, has had no Plan B.
I know, I know this is 100% a tiny violin moment and The Times knows that and it's why they're promoting it (they love rage clicks!) but this country needs to be better at convincing rich people to donate money to civic things. They assuage their guilt, we get a lovely park. New York is great at it.
The fear of not having enough money is familiar. But there’s a quieter struggle at the top: feeling uncomfortable with having too much, says money psychotherapist Vicky Reynal ⬇️
Why my ultra-rich clients are ashamed of their wealth
www.thetimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I know, I know this is 100% a tiny violin moment and The Times knows that and it's why they're promoting it (they love rage clicks!) but this country needs to be better at convincing rich people to donate money to civic things. They assuage their guilt, we get a lovely park. New York is great at it.
I’ve organized 3 events for work this year I’ve spent the 2 weeks leading up to them with a horrible knot in my stomach convinced I’ve forgotten to do something. So far, turns out I’ve been fine. There’s an event next week and I don’t have the knot and I’m worried it means I HAVE forgotten something
Nightmare. Been battling a sense of dreadful unease for the last hour. Turns out I had scheduled a panel for today that I had put in as happening next week (now in a cab to it), which is both embarrassing but also a fascinating insight into how unhelpful the brain can be.
November 19, 2025 at 5:51 PM
I’ve organized 3 events for work this year I’ve spent the 2 weeks leading up to them with a horrible knot in my stomach convinced I’ve forgotten to do something. So far, turns out I’ve been fine. There’s an event next week and I don’t have the knot and I’m worried it means I HAVE forgotten something
Reposted by Adam
Have I ever mentioned my mortal fear of former BBC News substitute presenter Mishal Husain? Probably not, since it's not a big issue generally.
Anyway, best get to work
Anyway, best get to work
November 19, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Have I ever mentioned my mortal fear of former BBC News substitute presenter Mishal Husain? Probably not, since it's not a big issue generally.
Anyway, best get to work
Anyway, best get to work
Reposted by Adam
WE GOT A BBC MONTAGE. That’s how important Scotland qualifying is!!
November 18, 2025 at 10:49 PM
WE GOT A BBC MONTAGE. That’s how important Scotland qualifying is!!
Never change Scotland
November 18, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Never change Scotland