Author | Lightnews

Alison Gow

Alison Gow

@alisongow.bsky.social

310 followers 230 following 150 posts

Journalist, among other things. I like running, mountains and my dogs.

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Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · 28d

"Robert help"...
Most of TikTok seems trapped on deathly EverstTok, but I've somehow got stuck on MarcusTheWormTok and while I'm not mad about it I don't know the lore. Anyway, this is all I see right now:

Photo is a still from a Marcus the Worm video, showing an upright worm with eyes and arms.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Jul 15

Watched the video of someone making the school dinner classic, Cornflakes Tart, and the first comment underneath about English eating habits made me laugh. The immediate reply under that one has absolutely broken me though.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Jul 15

As a Pembrokeshire native, I approve of this message 😂

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Jul 10

Went looking for an Elmo Muppet gif, mistyped without the L and got this absolute gem

Miss piggy dressed in goth style with emo eye makeup

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Jul 8

I asked ChatGPT to give me a short, accurate social media bio; it suggested "mildly feral, mostly wholesome'.
Honestly, I'm not hating it.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Jun 17

That's pretty dreadful (and puts me off giving them my listening time). Podcast Bro territory adjacent.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Jun 17

How do we feel about people wearing headphones singing aloud on trains? Do we appreciate their free spirit and joy or feel murderous? I'm murderous but also worried this is not Zeitgeist-y of me.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 18

At least someone once recognised my talents 😇

A screenshot of a Facebook memory of a tweet that said “letter arrived addressed to Alison Gow of the Liverpool Echo newspaper, angel Mesenger, giver - amen”. Scared to open it.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

It's got a *great* ring road - I used to enjoy bypassing Nantwich very much on my Reach travels.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

Not a bad thought though! Many small boys could have fulfilled their burning career ambition.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

That sounds really interesting/unsettling. I think I’m going to have to check the Cheshire one out.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

If you want to hear a thick-as-mince senior US security advisor pitch a tantrum in the face of hard questions, the World At One has got you covered (starts @ 13.11) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Fair play to Sarah Montigue for pressing on despite his nonsense.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

Ah that’s so cool - was it very techie? Btw Churchill’s war rooms in Liverpool are also worth a visit if you’re ever in the vicinity.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

I fear they’ve been influenced by MI6’s secret HQ sign shenanigans.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

I kinda want to visit it

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

Thank you, honestly it’s never a surprise with Avanti! And I did indeed end up sprinting for any random train 😂

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · May 13

My train is stuck at Euston because the driver hasn’t shown up - gone completely awol. I’m pretty sure this will end with all passengers being ejected and sprinting for any random train going vaguely north west 😑

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 24

As a trustee of the Journalists' Charity, I got to do a 2-day governance training course with the Civil Society this week. I've been on boards for 10+ years, but still found so many useful takeaways from this. Really recommended.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 23

In related news, we probably need to buy a generator, which we've resisted for years but it's looking unavoidable now 😑

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 23

So all in, not insignificant numbers of homes are affected (I'd love to know the total number) but BT's reaction seems to be pretty much "yeah, sorry 'bout that".

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 23

It's not just a countryside issue - the analogue switch-off also impacts many elderly and vulnerable people whose assisted living devices rely on the service.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 23

*Ir bears repeating: There is no mobile signal, for miles around. A neighbour broke her leg on the mountain and couldn't phone for help. She had hypothermia by the time she was found.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 23

In severe storms, we can also be entirely cut off by fallen trees and flood water. We're pretty typical of rural mountain areas. (Where lots of tourists also get into scrapes and arrive on the doorstep asking for a landline phone*).

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 23

So an analogue phone handset is a winter essential, along with candles and a gas cannister hot plate.
The analogue switch off is Very Bad News.

Alison Gow @alisongow.bsky.social · Apr 23

[Not posted in a while so here's a rant about the analogue switch-off. Sorry.]

Where I live, if the electricity goes off in bad weather (power cuts can last for a few days at a time due to storms) we also lose WiFi - which the mobile service is going to run off.