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Chris Barker

@chris-egb.bsky.social
187 followers 392 following 268 posts

I spend most of the time right now watching Doctor Who and listening to Wings

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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Enjoyed this. Maybe not quite as focused as the first part, but Simon Abkarian is terrific and owns the part. There's a not wholly subtle theme that Europe should unite or be swallowed by superpowers to the East and West, which goes unheeded by Britain. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/se...
theguardian.com
De Gaulle: Liberté review – biopic of conquering French war hero reaches his imperial era
A shrewd performance by Simon Abkarian leads this blockbuster account of the wartime leader’s career as he ascends to political dominance
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"Service delayed due to train crew being delayed by disruption"
Ouroboros
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Ashford "International" is quite depressing these days.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Avanti West Coast is notoriously poor, but the one thing that works well is delay repay. Virtually every service is at least 15 mins late and the refunds are approved quickly.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The lanyard thing is so weird to me. Most occupations with a physical workplace have access control - health and social care, retail, any office. Yet a particular type of commentator thinks they're exclusive to the BBC and Civil Service. It's such an out of touch and very online canard.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This is a really great interview! Thanks Miranda
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Got to respect Andy's commitment to the bit with that one. Had us all going for weeks. All bets are off!
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Good to see Andy Burnham is a Doctor Who fan - he namechecked Circuit Breaker and said it all went wrong in the eighties.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Happy New Prime Minister Day! I swear it gets earlier every year.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Listening to some Badfinger courtesy of @super-deluxe.bsky.social. Thanks Paul!
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Phone is groaning under the weight of emergency podcasts
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Seems like the perfect night for a round of 1972's hottest new boardgame!
Photo of a boardgame box. Titled 'Election', with a map of the UK and the following text:

Someone once said: "The General Election is like a game. To win, you have to be a crafty schemer, a shrewd planner, and an accurate mud slinger."

Now the General Election is a game. An entertaining game for adults and older children based authentically on the British General Election. You're one of 6 parties: Independent, Nationalist, Conservative, Socialist, Labour, Liberal.

As you move from area to area fighting for votes, you challenge other players parties. Can you, for instance, counteract the Socialist' appeal to workers in the North East? Can you reduce the Independents' support among housewives in the midlands?

Is a combination of a slur campaign and brilliant TV broadcasting enough to shift white collar workers in the South and West to your party?

Your objective is to win enough votes to get a majority of the 635 seats in Parliament. And if you have to make a few hollow promises . . . well that's politics. This game is about as realistic as it's possible to be, in fact. There are no dice of course. Who ever heard of an election with dice?
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I know we're all talking about Manchesterism these days, but the decision not to build air conditioning into the Metrolink tram requirement is looking short-sighted on days like this 🥵
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Ah, the ceremonial Freezing of Fuel Duty. Feels like it should be announced by a herald, with the King and Queen driven to Parliament in a 1989 Ford Sierra.
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Reposted by Chris Barker
Jay Foreman @jayforeman.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
So… hypothetically… if there was an election (or song contest) with 25 candidates, one of which was super-controversial, and passionate voters were able to vote 20 times on multiple devices… that would massively favour the pro votes, because the anti votes are split 24 ways.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
If Andy Burnham could make the wifi on Avanti West Coast actually work, that would be swell
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Should have bought shares in this gif
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Just sad that "King Kenny" isn't Kenny Dalglish.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Really enjoyed this! Highlight for me was 'Mother', and the footage looked incredible #powertothepeople
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Wait, @eggpod.bsky.social is back? This year is looking up!
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
This was great, some *very* interesting revelations!
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
The Iraq War and Tony Blair are now the equivalent of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam when I was learning about them at school. Is there a GCSE history exam about David Kelly and Andrew Gilligan?
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Argos just isn't the same without the laminated book of dreams. A touchscreen doesn't cut it.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Well this seems to be a book aimed squarely at me - you've got my backing!
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Can we just reboot this year and start again?
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Iconic for Stephen to dress like Wilma Deering for the final #traitorsuk #thetraitors
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Why not try 'Spaghetti Omelette' - from this 1989 Italian-Australian cookbook
Photograph of "Spaghetti Omelette"Recipie for Spaghetti Omelette: if you have some Spaghetti Bolognese left over from the night before, here is a quick and easy snack. To the sauce and spaghetti add one or two eggs (depending on quantity) and a little parmesan cheese. Mix well. Add a knob of butter or margarine to the frying pan and heat well. Add spaghetti Bolognese mixture to the pan and place a lid over it. Cook over a low heat. When the first side is cooked toss over onto the plate and cook the other side. Cut into quarters and serve.Front cover of Mamma Vitoria's pasta cookbook: Traditional Italian cooking from the heart of Australia's Little Italy.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Having consulted the historical documents, 1994 wins for me!
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Something particularly chilling about seeing Casablanca described as a "franchise".
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Found a page from the 10th August 1946 edition of @manchestereveningnews.co.uk behind my skirting boards. Headline is "Truman to accept British plan for Palestine". Anyone know how that panned out?
A crumpled and torn page of the Manchester Evening News dated 10th August 1946, with the headline 'Truman to accept British plan for Palestine'.
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Reposted by Chris Barker
Cliff Chapman VO @cliffchapman.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Yeeted from elsewhere
What are we doing this Friday dear?
We're going shopping Johnny
Aah yes, it's got a special name this day hasn't it?
No Johnny

From the Fast Show
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Great punchline to the young man (4:16) who describes exactly how to circumvent the law.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Honestly, give the editors the £87,500 #celebritytraitors
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
A film you’ve seen more than seven times with a gif
media.tenor.com
a close up of a man 's face with his mouth open
Alt: Admiral James T. Kirk yelling "Khan!"
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
"credible people"
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
I don't think this is great, but the sums involved are relatively small and the alternative is presumably even higher spend on hotels. This seems like the best outcome for families. Obviously it would be better to have available housing stock, but we are where we are.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
I fear this pizza in Spain could cause an international incident 😬
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Important not to set expectations too high at airports. (It was good).
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
I watched The Day Today on DVD through the PS5 recently and honestly it looked great. Years of Blu-ray conditioned me to assume DVD is basically equivalent to watching a home recording from the neighbouring ITV region on an E240 in long play mode.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
If the next Doctor Who special isn't these guys teaming up, I'll eat my fez.
Billie Piper in Doctor Who: The Reality WarDavid Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor WhoCamille Coduri, Billie Piper and David Tennant in Doctor Who: Journey's End
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Well #doctorwho was totally nuts. I loved it!
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Getting a new phone means checking each of the 87 open Chrome tabs on the old one *just in case* there was something really important I meant to read in 2023.
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
It's sparked some comment over the years, but is not very current.
Central Electricity Generating Board logo
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Authentic map of the world beyond Pittsburgh. Is it too late for the book @jayforeman.bsky.social ?
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Cobus 2700 really has a stranglehold on the whole giant airport transfer bus market don't they?
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Not the main point, but why do American politicians in general, and T in particular love these printed flipcharts? Is the tariff on imports of large displays from South Korea too high?
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
The IOC:
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Got to admire Norman Foster's commitment to the bit, designing a giant circus tent to reflect the ongoing clown show at Man United. www.theguardian.com/football/202...
theguardian.com
Manchester United to build new 100,000-capacity stadium next to Old Trafford
Manchester United have confirmed their intention to build a new 100,000-capacity stadium ‘footsteps’ from their Old Trafford home of 115 years
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Obsessed with the insistence that the Sony Walkman should be referred to as the "Walk Person to be non-gender specific"... In 1989. Everything new is old again. With thanks to the amazing BBC Archive youtu.be/qXG-RGCatwA?...
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Chris Barker @chris-egb.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
🚨 My phone is groaning under the weight of emergency podcasts
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