Tom Ward
@tomafro.net
Full stack developer for Go Free Range, GDS, Basecamp and now Head of Engineering at Farillio. Based in Leyton, interested in everything. https://signal.me/#eu/VYEdXcif6akF_w3m3s8gNgLfTn9BKVuEDGp8joQCC3ch-oiK7wVJl4hpzc8foJQm
I just don't understand why last week, when the porn all started appearing, they just said "we will stop posting on X until it prevents grok porn".
Prediction: Labour will try to do this in two weeks time, when it is least effective, after coming under attack for their own continued use of the site, which they fail to justify.
Labour can extend this beyond X and start going after Reform politicians making money from the site. "Will Farage give back the money he made from this sex offender site?" Etc...
January 13, 2026 at 4:14 PM
I just don't understand why last week, when the porn all started appearing, they just said "we will stop posting on X until it prevents grok porn".
Something for DHH to add to his London post. Maybe it was the “native Brits” doing all the murder? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
London’s murder rate drops to lowest in more than a decade
Sadiq Khan says ‘public health’ approach has made the capital one of the safest cities in the western world
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Something for DHH to add to his London post. Maybe it was the “native Brits” doing all the murder? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
"Will no one rid me of this turbulent Fed Chair?"
WHITE HOUSE’S LEAVITT SAYS TRUMP DID NOT DIRECT DOJ TO INVESTIGATE FED CHAIR POWELL
January 12, 2026 at 6:24 PM
"Will no one rid me of this turbulent Fed Chair?"
Reposted by Tom Ward
Started off a list earlier this week & struggled to find all the MPs that have actually set up profiles on Bluesky rather than just be on X. So built a little utility via TheyWorkForYou and Bluesky APIs to see if I could make it more comprehensive, so far I think I've found about 353
mps.dowu.uk
mps.dowu.uk
UK MPs on Bluesky
mps.dowu.uk
January 9, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Started off a list earlier this week & struggled to find all the MPs that have actually set up profiles on Bluesky rather than just be on X. So built a little utility via TheyWorkForYou and Bluesky APIs to see if I could make it more comprehensive, so far I think I've found about 353
mps.dowu.uk
mps.dowu.uk
“City of Culture you’ll never sing that” - Bradford City fans at Leyton Orient earlier this month.
Does being a UK City of Culture actually pay off? @isabelh.bsky.social examines the impact on this year’s recipient city: Bradford.
Bradford, a tale of two cities (of culture)
As it comes to the end of its tenure as UK City of Culture for 2025, the best thing some of the city’s established cultural institutions can say is th...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
December 30, 2025 at 8:11 AM
“City of Culture you’ll never sing that” - Bradford City fans at Leyton Orient earlier this month.
Reposted by Tom Ward
Watching THE GREEN KNIGHT again
April 22, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Watching THE GREEN KNIGHT again
Once a year I eat a carrot in the same manner as a reindeer.
December 24, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Once a year I eat a carrot in the same manner as a reindeer.
Reposted by Tom Ward
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
“Either way, it was all murder”
I spoke to the New York Times in this great explainer piece by Charlie Savage
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
December 4, 2025 at 10:05 PM
“Either way, it was all murder”
Reposted by Tom Ward
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
My son asking for a Funko Pop for his birthday is one of the only occasions I’ve flat out refused to get him something for reasons other than cost or age appropriateness. Can’t stand the things.
An excellent second mention, but also: if the tariffs take out Funko Pop that will at least be one positive benefit for humanity. God, how I hate those banal, witless, overpriced lumps of plastic junk, taking up space on your shelves until inevitably they must take up space in landfill, for eternity
November 9, 2025 at 9:12 AM
My son asking for a Funko Pop for his birthday is one of the only occasions I’ve flat out refused to get him something for reasons other than cost or age appropriateness. Can’t stand the things.
I was headbutted in the late 90s in Winchester. WINCHESTER FFS. Group of lads just hanging around, hassled me and @drjennings.bsky.social on our way back from the pub, and the leader bust my nose with his head. Just random violence. Does this not happen any more?
yeah I was a teenager in the 1990s and there was a level of possible casual violence - of, say, getting headbutted by a random group of dickheads on the way home from school, as happened to me one time - that largely seems to have disappeared from British life. I blame videogames.
Violent crime peaked in 1995 according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales..
November 3, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I was headbutted in the late 90s in Winchester. WINCHESTER FFS. Group of lads just hanging around, hassled me and @drjennings.bsky.social on our way back from the pub, and the leader bust my nose with his head. Just random violence. Does this not happen any more?
It was striking to me that in 2024 my MP @stellacreasy.bsky.social had her vote fall 16%, all of which went to the greens. She’s a hard working popular MP so I don’t think she’s under any threat, but I could definitely see her share fall further. If she wasn’t the Labour candidate, who knows?
Younger people who voted Labour are going Green, young people who couldn't vote or didn't vote are going Green. Many uncertainties in politics but here's one sure thing: this group will be bigger at next GE than now - voting age going down and more people becoming eligible.
Where is the Green vote coming from? Only 4 in 10 current Green voters backed the Party last July. 1 in 5 opted for Labour while a similar number didn’t/couldn’t vote in a mirror of Reform UK’s attraction of previous non voters.
October 29, 2025 at 11:13 AM
It was striking to me that in 2024 my MP @stellacreasy.bsky.social had her vote fall 16%, all of which went to the greens. She’s a hard working popular MP so I don’t think she’s under any threat, but I could definitely see her share fall further. If she wasn’t the Labour candidate, who knows?
Used my extra hour to watch One Battle After Another. Really enjoyed it, fantastical, though a little too believable and prescient at times. The car chase one of the best sequences I’ve seen in years. Definitely worth seeing at the cinema.
October 26, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Used my extra hour to watch One Battle After Another. Really enjoyed it, fantastical, though a little too believable and prescient at times. The car chase one of the best sequences I’ve seen in years. Definitely worth seeing at the cinema.
For me this seems more like an argument *for* electoral reform. When every election you have to vote to prevent something, rather than for what you believe in it, it can only make you more apathetic and cynical.
Fear (and tactical voting) in Caerphilly.
Yesterday's by-election shows voters don’t *need* electoral reform to get the outcome they want (or, at least, prevent the one they most want to avoid).
✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/fear-and-t...
My newsletter, out now.
Yesterday's by-election shows voters don’t *need* electoral reform to get the outcome they want (or, at least, prevent the one they most want to avoid).
✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/fear-and-t...
My newsletter, out now.
October 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
For me this seems more like an argument *for* electoral reform. When every election you have to vote to prevent something, rather than for what you believe in it, it can only make you more apathetic and cynical.
Come and work with me! If you've got a background in a language other than clojure and are interested in picking up a new language, give me a shout.
Farillio is searching for: Mid-level Full Stack #Clojure Developer #RemoteWork #London 🇬🇧 #elasticsearch #wfh #react
🇬🇧 Remote Clojure job: Mid-level Full Stack Clojure Developer at Farillio (London, United Kingdom)
Mid-level Full Stack Clojure Developer Who we are: Farillio is an innovative legal and business tech start-up, offering a unique platform that combines best-in-class technology with expert-led content. Our solution serves SMEs, landlords, individuals, households, and families, providing guidance
ClojureJobboard.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Come and work with me! If you've got a background in a language other than clojure and are interested in picking up a new language, give me a shout.
Reposted by Tom Ward
Farillio is searching for: Mid-level Full Stack #Clojure Developer #RemoteWork #London 🇬🇧 #elasticsearch #wfh #react
🇬🇧 Remote Clojure job: Mid-level Full Stack Clojure Developer at Farillio (London, United Kingdom)
Mid-level Full Stack Clojure Developer Who we are: Farillio is an innovative legal and business tech start-up, offering a unique platform that combines best-in-class technology with expert-led content. Our solution serves SMEs, landlords, individuals, households, and families, providing guidance
ClojureJobboard.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Farillio is searching for: Mid-level Full Stack #Clojure Developer #RemoteWork #London 🇬🇧 #elasticsearch #wfh #react
This AWS outage sucks. Can't work because sites are broken, can't procrastinate because other sites are broken.
October 20, 2025 at 9:26 AM
This AWS outage sucks. Can't work because sites are broken, can't procrastinate because other sites are broken.
Reposted by Tom Ward
Reposted by Tom Ward
FOR WEDNESDAY:
Here is the route of the march against Trump & the far right
GATHER: 2pm Portland Place (BBC)
MARCH: at 3pm
RALLY: 5pm at Parliament Square!!
Here is the route of the march against Trump & the far right
GATHER: 2pm Portland Place (BBC)
MARCH: at 3pm
RALLY: 5pm at Parliament Square!!
September 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM
FOR WEDNESDAY:
Here is the route of the march against Trump & the far right
GATHER: 2pm Portland Place (BBC)
MARCH: at 3pm
RALLY: 5pm at Parliament Square!!
Here is the route of the march against Trump & the far right
GATHER: 2pm Portland Place (BBC)
MARCH: at 3pm
RALLY: 5pm at Parliament Square!!
Can't make the full march, but I'll be at Parliament Square at 5pm Wednesday for the demo against Trump's state visit. It feels important to counter the far-right march on Saturday, where my friends and neighbours were made to feel unwelcome in their own city.
September 15, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Can't make the full march, but I'll be at Parliament Square at 5pm Wednesday for the demo against Trump's state visit. It feels important to counter the far-right march on Saturday, where my friends and neighbours were made to feel unwelcome in their own city.
Reposted by Tom Ward
Political violence disproportionately hurts people with less power, not people with more power. Political violence will disproportionately hurt people of color and women and LGBTQ people. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it works. Celebrating political violence means at best indifference to that.
Political violence is bad. It usually begets more political violence.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
September 10, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Political violence disproportionately hurts people with less power, not people with more power. Political violence will disproportionately hurt people of color and women and LGBTQ people. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it works. Celebrating political violence means at best indifference to that.
Reposted by Tom Ward
well on the one hand it's bad for democracy and social cohesion that Keir Starmer is trying to appeal to the racists by pretending to be one of them, but on the other hand it's not actually working and the racists still don't want to vote for him
September 1, 2025 at 3:06 PM
well on the one hand it's bad for democracy and social cohesion that Keir Starmer is trying to appeal to the racists by pretending to be one of them, but on the other hand it's not actually working and the racists still don't want to vote for him
Reposted by Tom Ward
Sunday protests seem to be < 500 nationwide, maybe < 300, across 4-6 locations
Yet ITV news using language of "erupt nationwide" (!)
Epping: 100-150
London: 20
Birmingham: 30
Stevenage: 30-50
Norwich: ? anything of any scale
Manchester: ? anything of any scale
Dudley: ? anything of any scale?
Yet ITV news using language of "erupt nationwide" (!)
Epping: 100-150
London: 20
Birmingham: 30
Stevenage: 30-50
Norwich: ? anything of any scale
Manchester: ? anything of any scale
Dudley: ? anything of any scale?
August 24, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Sunday protests seem to be < 500 nationwide, maybe < 300, across 4-6 locations
Yet ITV news using language of "erupt nationwide" (!)
Epping: 100-150
London: 20
Birmingham: 30
Stevenage: 30-50
Norwich: ? anything of any scale
Manchester: ? anything of any scale
Dudley: ? anything of any scale?
Yet ITV news using language of "erupt nationwide" (!)
Epping: 100-150
London: 20
Birmingham: 30
Stevenage: 30-50
Norwich: ? anything of any scale
Manchester: ? anything of any scale
Dudley: ? anything of any scale?