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ajbthomson.bsky.social

@ajbthomson.bsky.social
231 followers 1.5K following 77 posts
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 7h
This is truly excellent news. I'm doubly thrilled because a long time ago, in a galaxy not all that far away, I had a small hand in creating the policy that became the Asset of Community Value legislation. And this sort of outcome is exactly what the policy was designed to do.
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
There’s really only one way to mark the 99th anniversary of Roger Moore’s birth
Marc Haynes’ story: As a 7 year old in about 1983, … I was with my grandad in Nice Airport and saw Roger Moore Sitting at the departure gate, ... told my granddad i'd just seen James Bond and asked if we could go over so I could get his autograph. …so we walked over and he popped me in front of Roger Moore, with the words "my grandson says you're famous. Can you sign this?" As charming as you'd expect, Roger asks my name and signs the back of my plane ticket... I'm ecstatic, but …I glance down at the signature. … it definitely doesn't say 'James Bond'. ...I tell my grandad he's signed it wrong, … so my grandad heads back to Roger Moore...
"he says you've signed the wrong name. He says your name is James Bond." Roger Moore's face crinkled up with realisation and he beckoned me over. …he leant over, looked from side to side, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said "I have to sign my name as 'Roger Moore because otherwise...Blofeld might find out I was here." He asked me not to tell anyone …and thanked me for keeping his secret. I went back to our seats, my nerves absolutely jangling with delight. My grandad asked me if he'd signed 'James Bond.' No, I said.
I'd got it wrong. I was working with James Bond now. Many years later, I was working on a recording that involved UNICEF, and Roger Moore was doing a piece to camera as an ambassador. He was lovely and while the cameramen were setting up, I told him the story. He …had a chuckle and said "Well, I don't remember but I'm glad you got to meet James Bond." So that was lovely. And then he did something so brilliant. After the filming, he walked past me in the corridor, heading out to his car - but as he got level, he paused looked both ways, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said, "Of course I remember our meeting in Nice. But I didn't say anything in there, because those cameramen - any one of them could be working for Blofeld."
I was as delighted at 30 as I had been at 7. What a man. What a tremendous man.
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🎃👻🧙‍♀️ Vio the VVitch 🧙‍♀️👻🎃 @viothevvitch.myatproto.social · 08/10/2026
this is so fucking sad
Alvin Sng 0 @alvinsng My wife: Can you read our baby a book?
Follow
Me: Icanjust play an audiobook from my phone.
My wife: But then it won't be in your voic e.
Me:| can train a voice model.
Parenting hits different when you workin Al.
8:30 AM .07 Oct 26 . 816K Views
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Tania Doney @taniadoney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
So, who's your money on? Gérard Depardieu? Javier Bardem? Personally, I suspect Jackie Woodburne (Susan off Neighbours).
UK news
Marco Rubio says foreign actor was 'clearly' behind suspected plot at UK airbase
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Gavin Alexander @gavin83bay.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Quite an achievement to get the man's name wrong twice in the same post.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Also, why is this basically written up as "quirky crowd make an embarrassing mistake" and not "violent racists form mob because Asian people use hotel"?
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Very interesting, and timely, thread.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Snooker zombie
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I’ve again been asked “why do sharks stick their dorsal fins out of the water?” This happens because shark’s dorsal fins are on top of, and therefore higher than, the rest of the shark. And sometimes the shark is in shallow water or near the surface. Hope this helps! 📷: a scene from Jaws
Scene from Jaws showing the shark’s dorsal fin sticking out of the water.
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Toss @stevenspoints.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I really cannot think of a greater honor than to have the Muppets say this about you upon your passing
Instagram post from the official Muppets account: Few humans have earned the title of honorary Muppet more than the legendary Tim Curry. As a performer he was unparalleled - witty, charming, unnerving, and deeply funny. We will always consider it one of our greatest treasures to have been part of Long John Silver’s crew. Thank you for everything, Tim.
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Roger Cormier @themetsnewsletter.com · 25/08/2026
Tweet from 2022 by Marlow Stern:

drunk guy just yelled “i love you” to dolly parton and she said “i love you too but i told you to wait in the trunk”
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FT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Imagine being talented and beautiful and rich and famous and still the most noteworthy thing about you is how good a person you are.
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Bored Humungus @writtenlow.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Elder daughter thought we were getting the ferry from Le Havre to...Doncaster. "I think you mean Portsmouth" "Well, I knew it had an 'o' in it"
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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Lotta people went all in on sociology as a nothingy subject and how disciplinary rigour matters also previously happy to wang out another book review/oped on the British empire from the background of eg Divinity, international law or medieval history. “Sorry no, should have said, it’s fine for me…”
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Philip Chapman @pgpchappers.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Bangladesh have now batted for 110 overs. The Aussies are mostly over 34. This is going to hurt them. This is what England should have been doing in the Ashes. Bat very long, get fielding time into the Aussies. Top performance from the Bangers.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Blimey this is a good blog from @laurenleek.eu on how algorithms tend us towards monocultures and that markets won’t save us without some help. Read, and follow her laurenleek.substack.com/p/temperatur...
laurenleek.substack.com
Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same
What 640 London shopping streets, 4,000 Billboard hits, a million films and synthetic AI personas tell us about why everything is flattening into sameness and how to regulate the algorithms behind it.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
And it is particularly striking, if not terribly surprising, that HMT officials have a wholly different take (from everyone else in Government) on what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how effective they are. I wonder if things will finally change under the new administration.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I'm on holiday so haven't read this report but this excellent thread spotlights some of the many downsides of HMT's approach that local government has been pointing to for many years. Short term 'spending control' leads to worse outcomes and higher overall spending across the system.
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Sophie Lawson @lawsonsv.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Not now, sunken Nazi warships
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
nibble?
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Good on Natalie Fleet - very brave to go “actually I’ve realised I can’t do this important job”, loads of people would just do it badly:
bbc.co.uk
Natalie Fleet leaves 'triggering' safeguarding minister role
The MP for Bolsover has spoken about how she was groomed and raped as a teenager.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 22/07/2026
Northern PM for two days and already imposing flat caps.
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Why Don't YouTube? @whydontyoutube.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: The South Bank Show profiles not yet famous RADA hopeful Maxine Peake, as part of which she and drama school friend Diane Morgan take private elocution lessons.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Yes! Please.
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Jack Blackburn @hackblackburn.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Garry Sobers was a legend He was also inaptly named
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
That was the worst tactical performance from an England team I've ever seen.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Somewhat baffled by the endless commentary that implies that there is some combination of appointments and policy announcements that would ensure no off the record criticism of the incoming Burnham administration. There isn't. MPs will always whinge privately to journalists. It's not big news.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
The best news is the semi-final is on the BBC so we don't have to listen to Sam Matterface and Lee Dixon again.
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
They said (The Daily Mail)
Screen shot of Daily Mail with the headline 

“Leave Jude at Home”
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Suw @suw.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Though fuck me, ITV had the entire country's commentary talent to choose from, and we got this drivel.
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Grant Brisbee @grantbrisbee.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
the boys from hanson with a speech bubble
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
My daughter explaining her persistent sass: "I do actually have a filter. But my face has subtitles."
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Tom Davies @tomdaviese17.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
The contrast between ITV's studio punditry - which has been pretty sharp and better than the Beeb's - and their excruciating commentary pairing of Matterface and Dixon is stark indeed
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Tv's worst, surely
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Toby Earle 🇺🇦 @tobyontv.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Sam Matterface continues to deliver the opposite of the goods
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Not Catholic but more than content with this result britmonkey.com/2020s-politi...
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Andrew Martin @andrewmartin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Political ideology is the strongest predictor of Messi-Ronaldo preference. Authoritarians who like short-form video are more likely to think Ronaldo is the GOAT.
plot predicting messi-ronaldo preference
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It was inevitable, wasn't it🙄 Of course the Telegraph would run with something like this👇 So let's remove some of the rose-tinted spectacles and also look at some of that data comparing 1976 with modern heat waves Because the 1976 nostalgia porn is wearing a bit thin at this stage 🧵1/23
Telegraph headiline:

"Heatwave hysterics wouldn't have lasted a day in 1976", overlaid with a bold “MONK DEBUNKED” stamp.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
This is very funny
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
This is an absolutely brilliant cover @newstatesman1913.bsky.social
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Dom White @domw.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Efficient market hypothesis really taking a beating recently.
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Rob Chapman @scribblerrob.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
There's probably never been a better time to remind you that when David Hockney first took his Mum to California she remarked 'all this lovely weather and nobody puts their washing out'.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Everyone prepare to be shocked
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Brecon Beacons!
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Very sad news. A long list of great performances, obviously. But most notable in this house for his fantastically urbane Herc in Cabin Pressure.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Best of luck with that
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LCC municipal @lccmunicipal.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Two visual puns I hadn’t been aware of until yesterday. The vertical elements of the City of London School for Girls resemble pencils, and those for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama represent tuning forks.
The vertical elements of the City of London School for Girls resemble pencils - brick columns with pointed concrete tops.The vertical elements of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama represent tuning forks - like a concrete stick person without arms, or an inverted boxy “Y” shape.
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ajbthomson.bsky.social @ajbthomson.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Here's to Megan, my fellow fan of Spurs, cricket, and craft beer 🍻
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