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Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

1.8K followers 300 following 2.5K posts

Hiker, bridge player, Terry Pratchett fan, transport enthusiast, like getting angry about politics on the internet. Proud to be a woke do-gooder. He/him, cis. Exile from the bird place. Spammers WILL be reported and blocked.
🇺🇦 🌻 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🔶 👊🏿 😷 💉

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Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Wow, Grouty has scrubbed up well!

Scene from British TV comedy Porridge, showing two convicts, Grouty (played by Peter Vaughan) and Fletch (played by Ronnie Barker) talking in the prison yard. Grouty has a very similar facial structure and expression to Roger Stone.

November 6, 2025 at 11:40 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Yes, but...

Hideously ornate golden carriage used for the coronation of the Charlie Formerly Known As Prince

November 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

How much would it cost for 1100 miles in a dinghy?

Map showing the shortest route by sea from the UK to Kaliningrad

October 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Yes Minister, The Compassionate Society, 1981

(Text)
This morning started none too well, either.
Roy [Hacker's driver, and like all drivers, one of the best informed men in Whitehall – Ed.] picked me up as usual, at about 8.30. I asked him to drive me to the Ministry, as I was to spend all morning on Health Service administration.
He started needling me about it right away.
"Chap just been talking about that on the radio," he said casually. "Saying the trouble with the health and education and transport services is that all the top people in government go to private hospitals and send their kids to private schools..."
I laughed it off, though I sounded a little mirthless, I fear. "Very good. Comedy programme, was it?"
This egalitarian stuff, though daft, is always a little dangerous if not watched very carefully.
"And they go to work in chauffeur-driven cars," added my chauffeur.
I didn't deign to reply. So he persisted.
"Don't you think there's something in it? I mean, if you and Sir Humphrey went to work on a number 27..."
I interrupted him. "Quite impracticable," I explained firmly. "We work long enough hours as it is, without spending an extra hour a day waiting at the bus stop."
"Yes," said Roy. "You'd have to make the bus service much more efficient, wouldn't you?"
"We certainly would," I said, trying to dismiss the subject quickly.
"Yes," said Roy. "That's what he was saying, see?"

September 8, 2025 at 9:03 AM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

That's what always happens though, Labour's own supporters will hold them to the highest standards and the Tories will capitalise on anything they do wrong, while Tory supporters let their own party get away with blue murder.

Or we could use the Ecksecksecksecksian system...

"We put all our politicians in prison as soon as they're elected. Don't you?"
"Why?"
"It saves time."
— Terry Pratchett, quote from The Last Continent

September 4, 2025 at 9:47 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Warren Drive, Kingswood, Surrey - plot 30m×80m - 1 house
Buckleigh Crescent, Doncaster - plot 25m×80m - 12 houses

But yes, building upwards can give you more homes per square metre of land, although isn't necessarily as quick or easy to build.

Aerial view of a large detached house with a large garden

Aerial view of a row of modern terraced houses in blocks of 4, with modest gardens

September 3, 2025 at 12:05 AM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Reminds me of this classic
xkcd.com/810/

Cartoon strip, two people talking
- Spammers are breaking traditional captcha with AI, so I've built a new system. It asks users to rate a slate of comments as "constructive" or "not constructive". Then it has them reply with comments of their own, which are later rated by other users.
-- But what will you do when spammers train their bots to make automated constructive and helpful comments?
- Mission. Fucking. Accomplished.

August 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Mission accomplished

August 17, 2025 at 4:48 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

I remember the Whitgift Centre when it looked like this

Black and white photo showing open-air shopping precinct on two levels, with a ramp and a staircase to the upper level, centred on a pub with an octagonal roof. The area is surrounded by tall office blocks and looks very 1970s.

Open-air two-storey shopping precinct with a large spiral ramp to reach the upper level, and a high-rise office block built over the shops.

Pub called The Forum built in an octagonal shape on the upper level of an open-air shopping precinct, with a ramp and a staircase leading up to it. Tall office blocks in the background. Caption notes that the pub was demolished in the 1990s.

Entrance to the Allders department store with shoppers walking past.

August 11, 2025 at 11:27 AM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

They were defeated by the Garden Gang?

Brightly coloured children's books, each showing a pair of cartoon fruits and vegetables with faces:
- Peter Potato and Alice Apple
- Percival Pea and Polly Pomegranate
- Oliver Onion and Tim Tomato
- Lucy Leek and Bertie Brussels Sprout
- Gertrude Gooseberry and Belinda Blackcurrant
- Wee Willie Water Melon and Betty Beetroot
- Colin Cucumber and Patrick Pear

August 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

It's giving off a certain vibe...

July 31, 2025 at 10:26 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Looks to be genuine.
philamuseum.org/pride-month

Page from the Philadelphia Museum of Art website, showing the museum with pillars at the front, and a large progress/pride flag draped over the steps leading up to it.

June 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

I wonder how many years of free public transport for everyone we could pay for if we recouped all the money that thieving bastard Tory MPs have stolen from us in one way or another...

Daily Mail headline: "Millionaire minister Robert Jenrick forced to repay £122 expenses claim for car journey between his Newark constituency and London because he took the train and claimed for both" (February 2021)

May 30, 2025 at 3:47 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

I hope they've got Giuliani doing the planning – he'll book a load of Austins, the British cars from the 1970s...

Austin Allegro - a red car, 1970s era small family hatchback

May 28, 2025 at 8:26 PM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

Do we need to go through this again?

Between 1997 and 2010 Labour was continuously in government. Here are Labour’s top 50 achievements during those years.

1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.
2. Low mortgage rates.
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.
4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.
5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.
7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.
8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.
9. Employment is at its highest level ever.
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.
11. 85,000 more nurses.
12. 32,000 more doctors.
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.
15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.
16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.
18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.
19. Restored city-wide government to London.
20. Record number of students in higher education.
21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.
22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.
23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.
25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.
27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.
28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.
29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.
30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.
31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.
32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.
33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.
35. Banned fox hunting.
36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.
37. Free TV licences for over-75s.
38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.
39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.
40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.
41. New Deal – helped over 1.8 million people into work.
42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.
43. Free eye test for over 60s.
44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.
45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.
46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.
47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.
48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.
49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.
50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.

Scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian: "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

April 17, 2025 at 11:52 AM

Stevie D

@stevieinselby.bsky.social

By definition, negative numbers are not natural numbers.

$Chart showing the real number system. Natural numbers (1, 2, 3...) are a subset of Whole numbers (adds 0) are a subset of Integers (adds ..., -3, -3, -1) are a subset of Rational numbers (adds fractions) are a subset of Irrational numbers (adds weird shit like √2 and π)$

April 16, 2025 at 1:41 PM