Keith Sands
@keithsands.bsky.social
Cambridge-based, work in ELT publishing / ed tech for a university press. Semi-competent rock climber. Half Man Half Biscuit & Cardiacs enjoyer. Occasional writing and translation.
Cometh the hour...
January 15, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Cometh the hour...
Mornings on BBC2 consisting entirely of Pages From Ceefax
Without revealing your actual age,what's something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?
January 9, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Mornings on BBC2 consisting entirely of Pages From Ceefax
I didn't expect miracles from Starmer, but I did expect him at least to show occasional signs of being conscious
Keir Starmer's spokesman tells me that X and Grok's creation of sexual deepfakes of children is "completely unacceptable" but again won't commit to taking direct action against them, or to stop posting there.
Says "all options are on the table" but suggests it's a matter for Ofcom, not Government
Says "all options are on the table" but suggests it's a matter for Ofcom, not Government
January 7, 2026 at 4:08 PM
I didn't expect miracles from Starmer, but I did expect him at least to show occasional signs of being conscious
I gave myself a rope burn teaching myself to abseil down the stairs at home.
What's the most ridiculous way you ever hurt yourself? I got out of the tub, skidded in water and tripped over the toilet. Ankle sprain.
😅
😅
January 6, 2026 at 11:48 AM
I gave myself a rope burn teaching myself to abseil down the stairs at home.
Remarkable medieval panel in the Courtauld Gallery depicting the bathing of the infant Van Morrison
January 3, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Remarkable medieval panel in the Courtauld Gallery depicting the bathing of the infant Van Morrison
Switched on Radio 4 to what sounded like a really dark episode of The Archers - residents of Ambridge moaning about lambs blood, God has left us, etc. Turned out it was TS Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.
December 27, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Switched on Radio 4 to what sounded like a really dark episode of The Archers - residents of Ambridge moaning about lambs blood, God has left us, etc. Turned out it was TS Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.
Alan soliloquises amongst the limestone geology of the Arno valley until lunchtime. Meanwhile, Mark Rylance (as Leonardo) gets a trip to Wookey Hole
Absolutely heroic expense account bashing from Alan Yentob in this 2003 Mona Lisa documentary on BBC4. Extemporising over a glass of red, brandishing cigar at a hotel bar. "The only way to clear this up is to go to Milan", yeah sure Alan
December 8, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Alan soliloquises amongst the limestone geology of the Arno valley until lunchtime. Meanwhile, Mark Rylance (as Leonardo) gets a trip to Wookey Hole
Absolutely heroic expense account bashing from Alan Yentob in this 2003 Mona Lisa documentary on BBC4. Extemporising over a glass of red, brandishing cigar at a hotel bar. "The only way to clear this up is to go to Milan", yeah sure Alan
December 8, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Absolutely heroic expense account bashing from Alan Yentob in this 2003 Mona Lisa documentary on BBC4. Extemporising over a glass of red, brandishing cigar at a hotel bar. "The only way to clear this up is to go to Milan", yeah sure Alan
Also this one.
By An Ebb, published by @pressfuturist.bsky.social
By An Ebb, published by @pressfuturist.bsky.social
December 7, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Also this one.
By An Ebb, published by @pressfuturist.bsky.social
By An Ebb, published by @pressfuturist.bsky.social
(Odd how these lines, written in 1975 or thereabouts, kind of work as a foreshadowing of social media algorithms, motivations and codes of behaviour).
W.S. Graham, from 'What is the language using us for?'
December 7, 2025 at 9:57 AM
(Odd how these lines, written in 1975 or thereabouts, kind of work as a foreshadowing of social media algorithms, motivations and codes of behaviour).
W.S. Graham, from 'What is the language using us for?'
December 7, 2025 at 9:30 AM
W.S. Graham, from 'What is the language using us for?'
Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence of Arabia
How Green Was My Valley of the Dolls
The Railway Children of the Corn
How Green Was My Valley of the Dolls
The Railway Children of the Corn
Insert a movie into another movie:
DR. STRANGELOVE, ACTUALLY Or: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE KANSAS CITY BOMBER
DR. STRANGELOVE, ACTUALLY Or: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE KANSAS CITY BOMBER
Insert a movie into another movie:
Remains of the Day of the Triffids
Remains of the Day of the Triffids
December 4, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence of Arabia
How Green Was My Valley of the Dolls
The Railway Children of the Corn
How Green Was My Valley of the Dolls
The Railway Children of the Corn
The Wicker Man Who Knew Too Much
The Empire of the Sun Strikes Back
Carry On Doctor Zhivago
The Empire of the Sun Strikes Back
Carry On Doctor Zhivago
Insert a movie into another movie:
DR. STRANGELOVE, ACTUALLY Or: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE KANSAS CITY BOMBER
DR. STRANGELOVE, ACTUALLY Or: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE KANSAS CITY BOMBER
Insert a movie into another movie:
Remains of the Day of the Triffids
Remains of the Day of the Triffids
December 4, 2025 at 9:49 AM
The Wicker Man Who Knew Too Much
The Empire of the Sun Strikes Back
Carry On Doctor Zhivago
The Empire of the Sun Strikes Back
Carry On Doctor Zhivago
I used to use Spotify only for work-from-home wallpaper, a loop of indifferent Brian Eno ambient stuff, just because it was boring / non-distracting. Imagine my horror when the Wrapped thing said I was in top 2% of Eno fans, and then Brian's shiny pate popped up to thank me earnestly for my support
December 3, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I used to use Spotify only for work-from-home wallpaper, a loop of indifferent Brian Eno ambient stuff, just because it was boring / non-distracting. Imagine my horror when the Wrapped thing said I was in top 2% of Eno fans, and then Brian's shiny pate popped up to thank me earnestly for my support
I hate the I hate the Die Hard discourse discourse
December 2, 2025 at 12:02 PM
I hate the I hate the Die Hard discourse discourse
Remember when budgets were one-offs, like Play For Today, instead of the disappointing series finale of a self-indulgent 115-episode Netflix series?
November 26, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Remember when budgets were one-offs, like Play For Today, instead of the disappointing series finale of a self-indulgent 115-episode Netflix series?
Watched Edge of Darkness on the iplayer last week, having never seen it - it's brilliant (and weirder than it first appears)
And another! Stories and interviews with the team behind one of the BBC's greatest ever TV dramas – "a revenge thriller, a mystical nuclear-and-environmental-apocalypse fable, a clear-eyed political document of the mid-1980s, a ghost story" – by me for @thequietus.com thequietus.com/opinion-and-...
Why Edge Of Darkness makes so much sense in 2025 | The Quietus
Judge Rogers speaks to several key members of the team who made the ecologically-minded thriller for the BBC
thequietus.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Watched Edge of Darkness on the iplayer last week, having never seen it - it's brilliant (and weirder than it first appears)
If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
November 8, 2025 at 9:33 PM
If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
Casa del Frutetto (House of the Orchard), Pompeii
October 30, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Casa del Frutetto (House of the Orchard), Pompeii
Cafe Nero, Stansted Airport, where celebrity autobiographies go to shed their dust jackets and die
October 26, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Cafe Nero, Stansted Airport, where celebrity autobiographies go to shed their dust jackets and die
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
And say "that's not where I would put Llanberis"
(But overall, it's a lovely bit of work).
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
And say "that's not where I would put Llanberis"
(But overall, it's a lovely bit of work).
Edward Phillips posters have produced 'Mileage Chart' - a map taking in over 200 UK and Irish locations mentioned in #HMHB songs, including a key to which album each appear on. Methodical. www.edwardphilips.co.uk/vintage-rail...
October 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
And say "that's not where I would put Llanberis"
(But overall, it's a lovely bit of work).
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
I ring up Dial-a-Poster
And say "that's not where I would put Llanberis"
(But overall, it's a lovely bit of work).
Proustian rush as the Ronseal Tile Red Garage Floor paint I am using on a workshop floor recalls the Oxblood Doc Martens I coveted in the summer of 1989
October 11, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Proustian rush as the Ronseal Tile Red Garage Floor paint I am using on a workshop floor recalls the Oxblood Doc Martens I coveted in the summer of 1989
"Ringing the doorbell would kill the burglary sector" is the easy response, but also he's just plain wrong: plenty of companies develop and train specialised LLMs/ SLMs quite legally, asking permission. Some do really useful things, in medicine and tech, with human monitoring of the output... 1/2
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 9:26 AM
"Ringing the doorbell would kill the burglary sector" is the easy response, but also he's just plain wrong: plenty of companies develop and train specialised LLMs/ SLMs quite legally, asking permission. Some do really useful things, in medicine and tech, with human monitoring of the output... 1/2
Pity the poor tabloid hack who's just been ordered to dredge for vaguely "woke" statements from the new Archbishop of Canterbury to go under the inevitable "Sarah Doolally" headline
October 3, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Pity the poor tabloid hack who's just been ordered to dredge for vaguely "woke" statements from the new Archbishop of Canterbury to go under the inevitable "Sarah Doolally" headline