iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Be able to afford a few books and a decent bottle of wine with family/friends at the weekend Good life unlocked

Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Yeah, feel like this is a vicious circle: prevalence is lower than it was, so volumes are low, so breweries shut, so availability declines... Unless I go out of my way to specific ale pubs, there just isnt much around. If it were, I'd drink it, but it isn't, so...

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

So I'm glad to know it's a tech issue, but if you could come over and babysit a small child for 10-15mins in compensation, Janine, that'd be great, thanks

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

In a darkened room (due to sleeping infant) I dozily jabbed away at what I thought was the latest Saturday weekend crossword, the paper version discarded in another room, until my wife pointed out "I'm sure we had "altos" last weekend" and we realised the issue.

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Fun times citing Shakespeare whilst also using "commonsensically apparent" in your own writing To answer your Q, as per another comment, I firmly believe the FT sees itself (to bring in Hamlet again) as a key supplier of petards upon which guest writers can hoist themselves

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Similarly the plugs, at the weekend, for the 9am R4 programme. I'm well aware of Broadcasting House, thanks, but I'm on R3 as a deliberate choice. I just don't see what it's for. Boosting some rajar number of listens even if I then switch back?

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Never having switched over, I do wonder if R3 Unwind has relentless plugs for "Prime Radio 3" or something. Or is the end goal that we all end up at the largely lower cost station?

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Well, this is getting very Slow Horses

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I feel this about all the journos (and thinktankers etc like yourself) and the volumes of reading they achieve; I then reassure myself they're not in a classroom most hours of the working day. I can't keep up, and that's ok

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'm going in half term, very much looking forward to it. Matinee, so probably going for a nice lunch followed by the theatre... Seems the sort of thing the man himself would approve of for use of hard-won leisure time

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Plus those characteristics are at least partly in tension in pretty obvious ways: you want nation states with all their sovereignty and veto power, but also capable of acting as a global power in concert with each other? Good luck with that, I guess

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

That's 13 goals for Spurs this season in their first 8 games! Not outstanding but not bad What do you mean it's two different teams

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Ha! I see the ads as an imposition, but the trailers part of the "going to the cinema" experience

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I'm interested in changing views, partly because I'm not sure how exactly it happens for me want to be better at it/more aware. I interpret this as you saying you changed your mind on the theory before this evidence? If so, would you mind sharing what caused the switch? What or who persuaded you?

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

(prob overweighting an experience where I cycled across S London to stand in a 45m queue for perfectly-adequate-but-not-worth-the-wait buns, where the queue wasn't even that long, physically; now grumpy and scared for life..but as you might have pointed out, my fault for going to the viral place)

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Totally fair points, but I get a bit of an impression from some places that they prefer to wallow in their artisanal slowness (to which, also fair enough, if that's their vision/purpose)

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

True in some cases, but you can also hire an extra person to make some coffee. Or maybe tweak their systems to reflect such change Brb, going to go and pioneer dynamic bun pricing, and see if people are more annoyed by 30min waits or £10 pastries

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Plus, in my experience, the queues for these places always seem slow and inefficient. There's often just as many people going through the local Gail's and they're not waiting 30min. It therefore seems quasi-deliberate or incompetent, and neither indicates an attitude to customers that I enjoy

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Gotta go for the three Bs for likable clubs who seem to do well and punch above weight through sound strategy: Brentford Brighton Bournemouth

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

So I reckon 5th January is earliest possible, and the AIs are wrong again

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Um, don't Spurs and Arsenal both have 20 games scheduled for 2027, meaning Arsenal would have to be 60+ points ahead? Which therefore can't be done given only 54 available from Arsenal's 18 2026 matches. Or am I missing something?

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Would love to know how much influence specific builder could possibly have vs the vastly more significant factors like location. Can't be many people thinking "ooh, there's a new Bellway development, let's move there"

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Yeah but doesn't one tub last an entire family's lifetime?

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Correct on both counts, but additionally, I see she says "cut spending so we can lower taxes" so she's implicitly not even accepting the Laffer Curve argument! If you believe him, you could cut taxes and get enough growth to be more fiscally sustainable

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Just waiting for Danny Tommo to be revealed to be the owner of a ladies' undergarment emporium (Or whatever today's equivalent would be)

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

From BoE Financial Stability Report www.bankofengland.co.uk/financial-st...

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

This is my reading... Gets to do something which I'm willing to believe he cares about, a far more individual role as he says at start of interview, and will be Conservative in name but leave the national party to others and has essentially given up on it

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Similarly the Spanish ensign they sometimes get out at the National Maritime Museum; something like 10m x 14m, and it's just a (Obvs v important for not getting shot at by the wrong people) flag!

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Makes an interesting contrast with Sunak, who many assumed would be off at first opportunity. Meanwhile, I saw a sundial last week in Bexley unveiled by MP Edward Heath in 1997, so if you want to linger in parliament holding grudges it's perfectly possible...

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Ah, was about to ask why Jack's observation was true, and speculate about sheep and things, but this sounds good esp vis-a-vis Germany

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Ah, but will you physically queue in the rain to get to the front of the arena?!

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Among the several I don't recognise is, er, your brother/cousin/you (?!) with a beard next to you

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

But but but there's an actual Robin Hood film out too (Hugh Jackman one)! This is mad I actually thought it looked at least ok -Greengrass has pedigree - certainly vs trailers I saw (pre Odyssey): this, RH and Eggers' Werwulf. All 3 grey and muddy; thought this one, given subject, looked best

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Maybe he comes off X once a year to post this

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I know you listen to it a fair deal - are they better at this on France Musique?

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Comments sections on YouTube always have people slagging off conductors' choices, and even if done in the most objective way possible it might be hard to mask disagreement. "An *interesting* choice to take the third movement at that speed..." But yes, on the recorded stuff I'd like a bit more too

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I guess in the live presenting there's a tricky balance to be found. Slight danger in instant commentary that isn't Sandi Toksvig saying it was great is getting closer to a MotD style... "Bassoons have got to do better in that passage" and "conductor needs to improve the balance for the next match"

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Plus re the OP's issues and profile, said Scottish tenor is a fantastic LGBT star and I'm sure will be camping it up fabulously in the second half (Sakari is Finnish though...)

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

At least R4 listeners - like those on this site complaining about it (all of us?!) - might be more engaged, and the bulletin longer. It's the passing headline to the casual listener that I'm especially worried about, much like Jim Waterston's long-standing point about app push notifications.

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Possibly more importantly it was still the lead item on the 8am news on stations like radio 3. I think they were including the cuts at that point but the framing was still saving money

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Yes it thought that - I know it wasn't a ban, but I did genuinely think, moments after I got rid of it "hold on, what *exactly* did it say about a BBQ in my own garden?"

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Yes, looking forward to a future randomly wet summer when there will be a headline about unneeded planes and their expense But I agree, starts the ball rolling on "we need to get our act together and come up with a climate adaptation plan, and here's something we can start doing now"

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Surely it's the curds anyway

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Summer of Cambridge English grads

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Yes, at apx same time, my FM class was invited by college to take no-prep GS basically just for the funding boost, I think. We went to a couple of lunchtime sessions to look a few papers, then sat it... Quite fun for already engaged types (bit of a quiz then an essay on e.g. GM crops)

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I think just a general (yes, arguably misguided) sense of RoI - lots of people taking it who already see their future as a finance guy - in a world where a lot of attitudes to education are more transactional/consumer-y

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Andrew Lay @apwlay.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

So I understand a load of "we believe in gods because we don't understand the world as we see it" but I have no knowledge of how that grades into "we invent monsters which we've never seen to help explain grim stuff in our lives" or if it's all knowingly silly at the time

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