George Poles
@georgepoles.bsky.social
Writer. Story consultant. Involuntary long covid expert. Nerd is my second language and Kermit the Frog is my spirit animal. Repd by Jean Kitson at Kitson Press.
Reposted by George Poles
#BanjoAunti here with “Poor Rosy”
What I love about this tune is that the shifting major to minor key illustrates the multi-layered nature of these people’s lives back in the time of enslavement.
What I love about this tune is that the shifting major to minor key illustrates the multi-layered nature of these people’s lives back in the time of enslavement.
November 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
#BanjoAunti here with “Poor Rosy”
What I love about this tune is that the shifting major to minor key illustrates the multi-layered nature of these people’s lives back in the time of enslavement.
What I love about this tune is that the shifting major to minor key illustrates the multi-layered nature of these people’s lives back in the time of enslavement.
Reposted by George Poles
This is a fantastically important and timely initiative from Channel 5 and one I hope will be emulated by the other UK channels. New stories and fresh voices are so needed right now - and so are opportunities to enable people to survive in a crumbling industry.
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
Play for Today: The revival hoping to save British TV from a class crisis
‘Play for Today’ one-off films were a seminal moment in television in the Seventies and Eighties, writes Hannah J Davies. Decades later, Channel 5 is bringing them back, and aiming to diversify small-...
www.independent.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM
This is a fantastically important and timely initiative from Channel 5 and one I hope will be emulated by the other UK channels. New stories and fresh voices are so needed right now - and so are opportunities to enable people to survive in a crumbling industry.
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
Reposted by George Poles
please, tv writers, i beg you
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
November 12, 2025 at 6:20 PM
please, tv writers, i beg you
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
Reposted by George Poles
My last word on the matter
November 11, 2025 at 2:27 PM
My last word on the matter
Reposted by George Poles
At some point I might just write “what if everybody is wrong?” because there is a chance I believe nobody bothered to work out if any of this would make a profit or, indeed, whether you’d be able to power the data centers themselves
Amazon just sued one of the largest power companies in Oregon after it failed to power up two data center (one without enough power and one with no power at all) campuses that were meant to be ready *in 2021*. Sure hope this isn't an industry wide problem!
www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/amaz...
www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/amaz...
November 10, 2025 at 7:16 PM
At some point I might just write “what if everybody is wrong?” because there is a chance I believe nobody bothered to work out if any of this would make a profit or, indeed, whether you’d be able to power the data centers themselves
Utterly shattered, so watched a 1963 ep of Sergeant Cork on @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social. It's talky, the sets sometimes creak and the odd lines is fluffed but it delivered a cracking detective story covering corrupt MPs, pornography, prostitution and women's rights, *live*, in under an hour.
November 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Utterly shattered, so watched a 1963 ep of Sergeant Cork on @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social. It's talky, the sets sometimes creak and the odd lines is fluffed but it delivered a cracking detective story covering corrupt MPs, pornography, prostitution and women's rights, *live*, in under an hour.
Reposted by George Poles
We are annoyed by the BBC because it in fact embodies precisely what it is to be British now:
Cursed by a legacy of institutions & led by a whimpering class of fearful idiots constantly harassed by a hostile media.
Cursed by a legacy of institutions & led by a whimpering class of fearful idiots constantly harassed by a hostile media.
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 AM
We are annoyed by the BBC because it in fact embodies precisely what it is to be British now:
Cursed by a legacy of institutions & led by a whimpering class of fearful idiots constantly harassed by a hostile media.
Cursed by a legacy of institutions & led by a whimpering class of fearful idiots constantly harassed by a hostile media.
Reposted by George Poles
I really shouldn't share bad ai, but the fact that they're pretending to have animated it all by hand is extraordinary. Anyone who has done digital animation will be flabbergasted at the audacity.
Mirroring the video here if you don't want to even humor going onto Twitter, but when it gets into the "process" section, there's so many red flags of them lying about the work they put into the commercial that reveal how much of this video is them trying and lying after the fact.
November 8, 2025 at 11:42 PM
I really shouldn't share bad ai, but the fact that they're pretending to have animated it all by hand is extraordinary. Anyone who has done digital animation will be flabbergasted at the audacity.
Reposted by George Poles
Reposted by George Poles
Tonight, we parody a great, recurring sketch from Last Week Tonight:
How is This Still a Thing?
@lastweektonight1.bsky.social
@thedailyshow.bsky.social
#TheGreatestMEdicalScandal #JohnVsJonVsME
How is This Still a Thing?
@lastweektonight1.bsky.social
@thedailyshow.bsky.social
#TheGreatestMEdicalScandal #JohnVsJonVsME
June 1, 2024 at 10:18 PM
Tonight, we parody a great, recurring sketch from Last Week Tonight:
How is This Still a Thing?
@lastweektonight1.bsky.social
@thedailyshow.bsky.social
#TheGreatestMEdicalScandal #JohnVsJonVsME
How is This Still a Thing?
@lastweektonight1.bsky.social
@thedailyshow.bsky.social
#TheGreatestMEdicalScandal #JohnVsJonVsME
Reposted by George Poles
Today's a good day to remember Rosalind Franklin, British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose untimely death meant three men shared a Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA for which she'd done most of the work.
November 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Today's a good day to remember Rosalind Franklin, British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose untimely death meant three men shared a Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA for which she'd done most of the work.
Reposted by George Poles
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
WAC wrong-headedness
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
WAC wrong-headedness - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: Some of you will know that I have been very involved over the past months with attempts to reverse the wrong-headed changes to access at the BBC Written Archives Centre (above, with...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
Reposted by George Poles
This is why living in the modern world is hard, surely? Why I don't buy from sweatshops and why I seek to limit my emissions? Because concrete consequences emerging from diffuse collective choices are hard to trace to source but real at the sharp end.
November 7, 2025 at 4:16 PM
This is why living in the modern world is hard, surely? Why I don't buy from sweatshops and why I seek to limit my emissions? Because concrete consequences emerging from diffuse collective choices are hard to trace to source but real at the sharp end.
Reposted by George Poles
Woke up with this image in my head, from David McKee's wonderful book Two-Can Toucan. So good I remembered it almost exactly after completely forgetting about it for over forty years.
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Woke up with this image in my head, from David McKee's wonderful book Two-Can Toucan. So good I remembered it almost exactly after completely forgetting about it for over forty years.
Reposted by George Poles
A wise person once told me "if it doesn't apply to you, don't take it personally". As a gen x who is definitely grumpy online but on the left, I definitely see so many people in my generation who've been brain poisoned by both the internet and the media. 50 year olds radicalised by radio 4.
Going to "yes and" this by @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social and say there's also a GenX turn to the left - ppl who once thought themselves centrist seeing things they took for granted disappear. Eg last night's Hopeful Technologists meet-up had a distinct GenX flavour www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Meet gen X: middle-aged, enraged and radicalised by internet bile | Gaby Hinsliff
Who is driving the populist insurgency? It’s not grumpy pensioners or vulnerable teenagers – it’s my generation, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:26 AM
A wise person once told me "if it doesn't apply to you, don't take it personally". As a gen x who is definitely grumpy online but on the left, I definitely see so many people in my generation who've been brain poisoned by both the internet and the media. 50 year olds radicalised by radio 4.
🧵
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has a fantastical vision for a new way of living. But The Line, his plan for a vertical city in a vast mirrored wall, is rapidly being undone by the laws of physics and finance.
Here is an #FTEdit 🧵 of eight mind-bending facts about this moonshot in the sand 👇
Here is an #FTEdit 🧵 of eight mind-bending facts about this moonshot in the sand 👇
November 6, 2025 at 2:54 PM
🧵
Reposted by George Poles
The reason for this is multi-factorial, but the fact that Long Covid is not mentioned once is extremely telling. Especially since the article makes an explicit comparison with 2019.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Britain sliding 'into economic crisis' over £85bn sickness bill, ex-John Lewis boss warns
The number of people who are out of work for health reasons has grown by 800,000 since 2019.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
The reason for this is multi-factorial, but the fact that Long Covid is not mentioned once is extremely telling. Especially since the article makes an explicit comparison with 2019.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by George Poles
If you’ve been looking for an alternative to Amazon-owned A*dible, we have good news for you: we’re now on @libro.fm!
Join now to satisfy all your audiobook desires while supporting your favourite independent bookshop.
Join now to satisfy all your audiobook desires while supporting your favourite independent bookshop.
Buy audiobooks & support local bookstores
Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks directly through local bookstores.
libro.fm
November 4, 2025 at 12:37 PM
If you’ve been looking for an alternative to Amazon-owned A*dible, we have good news for you: we’re now on @libro.fm!
Join now to satisfy all your audiobook desires while supporting your favourite independent bookshop.
Join now to satisfy all your audiobook desires while supporting your favourite independent bookshop.
Reposted by George Poles
Titanic.
Alexei Sayle's Stuff (19th October 1989). A lot more work goes into the production of each episode of Stuff than you might expect.
November 3, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Titanic.
Reposted by George Poles
Last chance to turn it off.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
October 31, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Last chance to turn it off.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
Reposted by George Poles
99p throughout November for the 20th anniversary!
Romanitas by @sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
Surviving Roman Empire AH.
www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/roma...
Surviving Roman Empire AH.
www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/roma...
Romanitas ebook by Sophia McDougall - Rakuten Kobo
Read "Romanitas Volume I" by Sophia McDougall available from Rakuten Kobo. In a parallel modern world, the Roman Empire stretches from India in the East to the Great Wall of Terranova in the West...
www.kobo.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:46 PM
99p throughout November for the 20th anniversary!
Reposted by George Poles
Ladybird book in the spotlight.
‘The Princess and the Pea’ 1967
Artist: Eric Winter
‘The Princess and the Pea’ 1967
Artist: Eric Winter
October 30, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Ladybird book in the spotlight.
‘The Princess and the Pea’ 1967
Artist: Eric Winter
‘The Princess and the Pea’ 1967
Artist: Eric Winter
Reposted by George Poles
Really good Halloween films that you can watch for nowt on the iPlayer.
Thread >>>
Thread >>>
October 28, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Really good Halloween films that you can watch for nowt on the iPlayer.
Thread >>>
Thread >>>
Reposted by George Poles
oh god of course
He’s designing the ballroom with AI isn’t he www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
October 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
oh god of course