Mark Elliott
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thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Mark Elliott
@thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
1.4K followers 550 following 8.4K posts
Music, cycling, political and other random ramblings. Work: computer scientist/language tester/psychometrican in some order. Once drew trees and was told it was "better than felling them", which is a start, I guess. Views my own, cat photos will happen.
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thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
I now have a new favourite football photo.
Photo of Graeme Souness looking like he is about to commit an extremely violent murder (or possibly multiple murders) with his bare hands. He is seated at a press conference between the two reasons for his ire, the ever-charming Lee Bowyer and his Newcastle team mate Kieron Dier. The press conference was held in the aftermath of Bowyer and DIer both getting sent off for fighting each other during a match. Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA, from https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/nov/26/footballs-fight-club-which-players-have-fallen-out-on-the-pitch-with-a-teammate
November 26, 2025 at 10:28 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Contemplate the meaning of it all on a rainy afternoon
#Caturday
An orange and white cat sitting on the windowsill, looking pensively over its shoulder
November 22, 2025 at 3:09 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
I saw this fixture today, and it reminded me of one of my favourite flag facts: the Shetland flag is a mixture of the Saltire and a Nordic cross - effectively the Danish flad in Scottish coours, to reflect the islsnds' history and culture (formerly part of Norway until 1472).
Football fixture list, with Scotland v Denmark and the two countries' flags: The Scottish Saltire, a white diagonal cross on a blue background, and the Danish Dannebrog, a white vertical/horixontal cross with the vertical line offset to the left (as with all Nordic flags) on a red background The Shetland flag, designed in 1969, which is a deliberate mixture of the Scottish Saltire with a Nordic cross (as used in both the Danish and Norwegian flags) - a Nordic cross in the colours of the Saltire. Note: although the Shetlands were part of Norway before they became part of Scotland, this was when Denmark and Norway were a single kingdom, the flag of which was the Danish flag (the Norwegian flag was designed after the Denmark/Norway split).
November 18, 2025 at 10:26 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
From the cafe round the corner?
Guardian headline: Starmer stands by McSweeney and says he has been ‘assured no briefings against ministers done from No 10’ – UK politics live PM says he has ‘full confidence’ in his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney amid calls for him to be sacked
November 13, 2025 at 4:52 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Here is a list of the countries around the world that have banned or heavily restricted the use of VPNs.

Link: www.trustedinternet.io/blog/global-...
List of Countries Where VPNs Are Completely Illegal Some countries have outright banned VPNs, making their use illegal without exception. Here’s a list of countries where VPNs are completely prohibited: Belarus: VPNs and other anonymizing technologies are banned. Using a VPN can result in fines. Iraq: There is a full ban on VPNs, with no exceptions for individuals or businesses. North Korea: VPNs are illegal, and the government monitors internet activity closely. Turkmenistan: VPNs are illegal, and the government strictly controls internet access. Myanmar: The military government has restricted internet access severely and proposed laws to ban VPNs. List of Countries With Restricted or Regulated VPN Use Some countries allow VPN use under specific conditions, often requiring government approval or compliance with regulations: China: Only government-approved VPNs are allowed. Unauthorized use can result in fines or other penalties. Russia: VPNs must comply with government regulations, including blocking access to certain sites. Iran: Only government-approved VPNs are legal. Unauthorized use can lead to imprisonment. Turkey: VPNs are legal but heavily restricted, often justified as measures to combat terrorism. United Arab Emirates (UAE): VPNs are regulated and cannot be used for illegal activities, such as accessing restricted VoIP services. Oman: VPN use is illegal for individuals unless approved by the government. Violations can result in fines. Egypt: While not illegal, using VPNs to access blocked content can lead to fines or jail time. Uganda: VPNs are blocked to prevent bypassing the social media tax.
November 12, 2025 at 9:55 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
And so, as soon as we pin @submariner76.bsky.social down to specific claims based on a specific document we can all read down and ask for evidence in that document, the previously garrulous chap decides it's "word games" and "circular logic" and blocks. Read into that what you will, dear reader.
Post from @submariner76@bsk.social Not playing your word games. I have better things to do with my lifr. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was never going to convince you. Likewise, you aren't going to convince me. Bye. Have fun in your world of circular logic.
November 11, 2025 at 5:05 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
"I'm sorry, Donald, I'm afraid I can't do that."
Donald Trump on his aeroplane, seen through the window talking on his mobile. Outsdide, there is a big orb on a stalk. I have no idea what it is, but it has a glowing red light that looks errily reminiscent of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey Photograph: Luis M Alvarez/AP, from the Guardian
November 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Poem for today, by Siegfried Sassoon
Memorial Tablet Squire nagged and bullied till I went to fight, (Under Lord Derby's scheme). I died in hell— (They called it Passchendaele). My wound was slight, And I was hobbling back; and then a shell Burst slick upon the duckboards: so I fell Into the bottomless mud, and lost the light. At sermon-time, while Squire is in his pew, He gives my gilded name a thoughtful stare; For, though low down upon the list, I'm there; 'In proud and glorious memory'. . .that's my due. Two bleeding years I fought in France, for Squire: I suffered anguish that he's never guessed. Once I came home on leave: and then went west. . . What greater glory could a man desire?
November 9, 2025 at 11:37 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
If you see this post an album cover with a motor vehicle in it
The cover of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by Edward Wooward, featuring EW looking dapper in a suit with pocket square and trilby, sitting in an open-top vintage car smokign a cigarette
November 8, 2025 at 10:19 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
mood
Ed Miliband, wide-eyed and cluthing hi luxious head of hair in angst and horror Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock, from the Guardian website
November 7, 2025 at 9:00 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
As a chaser from TV, this Lovecraftian hellish monster from Space 1999 also stayed with me for some time - the mid control, drawing its helpless prey to their doom in a zombie-like trance, the massive eye, the tentacles, and spitting out the charred corpse after devouring as a finishing touch.
November 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
So this "Staten Island" place...
Map of New York mayoral election 2025 results by borough. All boroughs had at least a plurality for Mamdani apart from Staten Island, where he lost heavily
November 5, 2025 at 9:52 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
The Floof King
An orange and white cat with a resigned expression being held aloft in the style of Simba at the start of the Lion King
October 30, 2025 at 6:07 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
I asked our cat what he thought of it all:
An orange and white cat lying on a duvet. Its eys are reflecting the light and look like two big scary white discs.
October 29, 2025 at 12:09 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Yes, the problem is most certainly that while people are lapping up everything the Labour government are doing and saying, they wish it were being done and said much faster.
From the Guardian: "Downing Street: government understands 'people are disappointed with the pace of change'"
October 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
"So tell me, how would you summarise the difference between the UK and France?"
Famous scene of drunken mayhem on the streets of Manchester, with police arreting someone and someone else lying in the road reaching for a drink, among much other chaos
October 20, 2025 at 9:55 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
From the Simpsons: Martin putting up a poster reading "A vote for Bart is a vote for anarchy!" next to Bart putting up a poster reading "A vote for Bart is a vote for anarchy!"
October 18, 2025 at 12:55 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
The house in The Ladkillers (the original one, not the remake which I refuse to watch) - a lone house at teh end of a street in London
October 16, 2025 at 9:08 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Lenny from the Simspons "0 days without..." meme": "0 days without the French government collapsing"
October 16, 2025 at 7:22 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
So I see the Grauniad have decided to go with zombie paratic death fungus pictures on their landing page today. I guess that's about par in terms of cheeriness for a 2025 news story, mind you...
From the Guardian: Magnifying the minuscule: Nikon Small World photomicrography 2025 – in pictures Weevils, spores, slime mold and cells are in extreme closeup for the 51st anniversary of the Nikon Small World competition. For more than five decades, the award has brought scientific wonders under the microscope, with scientists, artists and enthusiasts from 77 countries contributing 1,925 photo entries this year alone. Judges have arrived at this stunning top 20. Picture: mushrooms bursting out from inside the body of a fly freshly killed by a zmobie parasite death fungus
October 15, 2025 at 5:51 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Flashback to 1891...
Under proper conditions machinery will serve man. There is no doubt at all that this is the future of machinery, and just as trees grow while the country gentleman is asleep, so while Humanity will be amusing itself, or enjoying cultivated leisure – which, and not labour, is the aim of man – or making beautiful things, or reading beautiful things, or simply contemplating the world with admiration and delight, machinery will be doing all the necessary and unpleasant work. The fact is, that civilisation requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure, and demoralising. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends. And when scientific men are no longer called upon to go down to a depressing East End and distribute bad cocoa and worse blankets to starving people, they will have delightful leisure in which to devise wonderful and marvellous things for their own joy and the joy of everyone else.
October 14, 2025 at 2:06 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
A postage box, with the lid open a crack. Inside the bo, you can just see a pair aof cat's eyes...
October 14, 2025 at 7:29 AM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
Post you from a different era.

Fuzzy photo of me bestriding a stile like a colossus (at least in my imagination) and gazing into the middle distance, somewhere near Lulworth Cove while on a camping holiday with my friends. All I can find rn...
Me, gazing into the middle distance on top of a stile, in Dorset.
October 13, 2025 at 5:24 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
If only there were people who could go around and find out what the reality is, and then perhaps report on it back to everyone. They could even publish their reporting in print or online, and possibly even make a business out of keeping folk informed about what's happening in the world. If only.
From the New York Times: "Comparative Calm or 'Hellscape'? In Portland, Depends on the Narrator."
October 11, 2025 at 3:31 PM
thatmarkelliott.bsky.social
That's Mr Prof Dr to you, my Journal Coordinator friend, although I thank you for your generous discounted offer of only charging me 1,700 Singapore Dollars to publish in your esteemed journal.
Screenshot from an email: "Dear Prof. Dr.,"
October 11, 2025 at 12:12 PM