Nick Barlow
@nickbwalking.bsky.social
Writer, walker, Who and Wolves fan. Lives in Whitehaven. Lots of other things that don't begin with W. https://linktr.ee/nickbarlow He/him
Avatar: Me (50ish man with greying hair and beard) smiling at the camera.
Avatar: Me (50ish man with greying hair and beard) smiling at the camera.
"His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, there's vomit on his cassock already, Mom's spaghetti."
November 23, 2025 at 3:22 PM
"His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, there's vomit on his cassock already, Mom's spaghetti."
To be fair, the British media have learned the lesson from these elections and they're not going to let Conservative or Labour politicians make unfounded and unevidenced populist claims about the country, society or economy.
The fact that in both 2019 and 2024, the winning party did so with a set of manifesto promises that could not be kept and dissolved upon contact with actual office is something that as an industry we should be much more bothered by than we are.
November 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
To be fair, the British media have learned the lesson from these elections and they're not going to let Conservative or Labour politicians make unfounded and unevidenced populist claims about the country, society or economy.
Reposted by Nick Barlow
The fact that in both 2019 and 2024, the winning party did so with a set of manifesto promises that could not be kept and dissolved upon contact with actual office is something that as an industry we should be much more bothered by than we are.
November 23, 2025 at 12:35 PM
The fact that in both 2019 and 2024, the winning party did so with a set of manifesto promises that could not be kept and dissolved upon contact with actual office is something that as an industry we should be much more bothered by than we are.
Doctor Who day, and time to watch the episode that started it all:
Wall's Sky Ray - Dr. Who (1967, UK, cinema)
YouTube video by LesterLeapsIn1
www.youtube.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Doctor Who day, and time to watch the episode that started it all:
"Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me..."
November 23, 2025 at 6:57 AM
"Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me..."
"Right Keir, we've spent days showing you how Zack Polanski is doing really well by being open and honest in interviews."
"Got it. I'll get in there and do the exact opposite of that."
"Got it. I'll get in there and do the exact opposite of that."
November 22, 2025 at 10:43 PM
"Right Keir, we've spent days showing you how Zack Polanski is doing really well by being open and honest in interviews."
"Got it. I'll get in there and do the exact opposite of that."
"Got it. I'll get in there and do the exact opposite of that."
That'll be the man who panicked so badly over Covid he fled to Northumbria lecturing other people on mental toughness, will it?
Seems probably bad that this guy was functioning as a shadow PM at one stage
November 22, 2025 at 8:03 PM
That'll be the man who panicked so badly over Covid he fled to Northumbria lecturing other people on mental toughness, will it?
Reposted by Nick Barlow
This, from the Guardian, is Ryanair at its very worst.
It's not good enough for them to insist that they're a low-cost airline and everyone knows the rules, in circumstances like this...
I wonder if legislation is needed?
It's not good enough for them to insist that they're a low-cost airline and everyone knows the rules, in circumstances like this...
I wonder if legislation is needed?
November 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
This, from the Guardian, is Ryanair at its very worst.
It's not good enough for them to insist that they're a low-cost airline and everyone knows the rules, in circumstances like this...
I wonder if legislation is needed?
It's not good enough for them to insist that they're a low-cost airline and everyone knows the rules, in circumstances like this...
I wonder if legislation is needed?
Just working out the #strictly maths after La Voix withdrew and thinking unless they have a week with no eliminations they're only going to have two people in the final...and then they announce no one's leaving this week.
November 22, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Just working out the #strictly maths after La Voix withdrew and thinking unless they have a week with no eliminations they're only going to have two people in the final...and then they announce no one's leaving this week.
Yet another example of how you can be well-educated and also a bit thick. There's a Channel 4 documentary of him and his mother (Prue Leith) looking at assisted dying in Canada and it's remarkable how little he engages - personally or intellectually - with people he disagrees with.
"America is British", "socialism is heaven". Good Charlotte Edwardes profile of Danny Kruger, in which he gets the opportunity to say what he really thinks. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
November 22, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Yet another example of how you can be well-educated and also a bit thick. There's a Channel 4 documentary of him and his mother (Prue Leith) looking at assisted dying in Canada and it's remarkable how little he engages - personally or intellectually - with people he disagrees with.
The Trump-Mamdani meeting is a reminder that Mayor of NYC is the one job that might have made Trump actually happy.
November 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
The Trump-Mamdani meeting is a reminder that Mayor of NYC is the one job that might have made Trump actually happy.
Just read this and god, yes, so much here I've wanted to scream out into the world.
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Just read this and god, yes, so much here I've wanted to scream out into the world.
Reposted by Nick Barlow
What To Know About ‘Pluribus’ https://theonion.com/what-to-know-about-pluribus/
November 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM
What To Know About ‘Pluribus’ https://theonion.com/what-to-know-about-pluribus/
Take a break from doomscrolling and watch Dougal playing in the snow for the first time. (Near the top of Latrigg in the Lake Distrixt, for the curious)
November 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Take a break from doomscrolling and watch Dougal playing in the snow for the first time. (Near the top of Latrigg in the Lake Distrixt, for the curious)
Reposted by Nick Barlow
We're an undeniable border violation. We exist and we show that the border between male and female is both permeable and not simply a hierarchy. So we have to be dealt with the way border problems are - extreme violence or a complex series of exceptions.
I think you cannot understand anything until you realise the scale of cis society's obsession with transfeminity and the lengths it goes to not only to quarantine and punish it, but construct social rituals to navigate its presence in everyday cis life.
November 19, 2025 at 7:18 AM
We're an undeniable border violation. We exist and we show that the border between male and female is both permeable and not simply a hierarchy. So we have to be dealt with the way border problems are - extreme violence or a complex series of exceptions.
"We can always tell" enacted into law, Reform and the Tories will probably counter by promising to make Forstater the Transfinder General.
The core aim of the Terf movement - a tiny number of newspaper columnists who melted the brains of middle aged reactionaries - was always to encourage maximum public hostility against transgender people, and give them the impunity to act upon it.
November 20, 2025 at 7:56 AM
"We can always tell" enacted into law, Reform and the Tories will probably counter by promising to make Forstater the Transfinder General.
A story set in the future of Albert Square? What could possibly go wrong?
November 20, 2025 at 7:52 AM
A story set in the future of Albert Square? What could possibly go wrong?
Anthology slice of future life series across all the different civilizations. Klingon scientists, Cardassian sports, Romulan builders.
What is your Star Trek project that only you would love?
All of the TOS episodes rewritten in the Mirror Universe. 79 episodes of pure uncut goateed chaos.
All of the TOS episodes rewritten in the Mirror Universe. 79 episodes of pure uncut goateed chaos.
a man with a beard is standing with his arms crossed in a room .
ALT: a man with a beard is standing with his arms crossed in a room .
media.tenor.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Anthology slice of future life series across all the different civilizations. Klingon scientists, Cardassian sports, Romulan builders.
There are some interesting things in the way LLMs can generate text in line with specified parameters. However, that in no way means they are *writing* anything that is of interest in itself.
Put writing high quality literary text on the list of things that AIs used to not be able to do but now can do
With fine-tuning, now outperforming MFA-trained expert writers at emulating award-winning authors when rated blindly by MFA-trained experts papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
With fine-tuning, now outperforming MFA-trained expert writers at emulating award-winning authors when rated blindly by MFA-trained experts papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 19, 2025 at 3:21 PM
There are some interesting things in the way LLMs can generate text in line with specified parameters. However, that in no way means they are *writing* anything that is of interest in itself.
There are four types of guy online. No exceptions.
November 19, 2025 at 3:14 PM
There are four types of guy online. No exceptions.
Reposted by Nick Barlow
Carbon emissions aside, I think what I also want to highlight here is that the scale of job losses associated with these proposals is truly shocking. Apprenticeships gone. Thousands of businesses going bust. A government truly motivated by growth simply would not do this.
In case you're not across the Budget next Wednesday, it looks like it's going to be really bad for helping Britain reduce its carbon emissions. I'll explain... 🧵
November 19, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Carbon emissions aside, I think what I also want to highlight here is that the scale of job losses associated with these proposals is truly shocking. Apprenticeships gone. Thousands of businesses going bust. A government truly motivated by growth simply would not do this.
New Caledonia are in the World Cup playoffs, and so could give us the funniest reason yet for Scotland failing to get out of the group stage.
November 19, 2025 at 6:53 AM
New Caledonia are in the World Cup playoffs, and so could give us the funniest reason yet for Scotland failing to get out of the group stage.
Tonight's film thought: the latest Fantastic Four is like they just made the six-year-old telling you the plot version of the film. "And then this happened and this happened, then this and this and this"
November 18, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Tonight's film thought: the latest Fantastic Four is like they just made the six-year-old telling you the plot version of the film. "And then this happened and this happened, then this and this and this"
The Proclaimers must be happy tonight. Scotland going to a World Cup in the US means they get some exposure for their other song.
November 18, 2025 at 11:10 PM
The Proclaimers must be happy tonight. Scotland going to a World Cup in the US means they get some exposure for their other song.
Like all good US "Christians" has to resort to quoting Paul's fanfiction rather than anything Jesus himself said to justify her nonsense.
Badenoch describes Church of England as 'Labour party at prayer', as she says letting welfare spending soar 'not Christian' - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
November 18, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Like all good US "Christians" has to resort to quoting Paul's fanfiction rather than anything Jesus himself said to justify her nonsense.