Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 4hSuch a shock, that one. Showed what an incredibly strong campaign – against some dreadfully complacent incumbents – could do. Sue proved to be an engaged councillor too. Labour never had organisation that good again though, and the Lib Dems woke up, for the next few elections at least. 000
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 11hOne day the sales rep came in with a brochure for the first cellphone, from Racal. "What's this?", I asked. "It's the end of our jobs", he replied. 020
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 11hsites.google.com/site/616cell...sites.google.comUK Mobile Phone History - System 4 - RadioPhoneSYSTEM 4 101
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 11hHad a student job fitting Marconi System 4 "Radiophones" in 1983. Precursor to cellphones. Four grand each, with a suitcase of electronics required. The cars coming into the workshop for them were astonishing. We also put one on the Liberal/SDP Alliance campaign bus – I think GEC were a party donor. 210
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 28/09/2026It could trap AI in an infinite loop of ‘hang on, that can’t be right.’ Which would be fun. Or we might find that the lyrics of HMHB did indeed contain the key to artificial general intelligence. Which would not. 010
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 28/09/2026Playing with the ChatGPT voice interface, I accidentally left it on, with a St Etienne album playing. So it dutifully transcribed the lyrics for an hour, pausing every few minutes to try to "answer the question". There's pages of this. 280
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 28/09/2026youtu.be/r82AEvbDFVo?...youtu.beMonologue: Shut The F*ck Up, Dario! | Better OfflineYouTube video by Better Offline 000
Reposted by Chris RandBylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 25/09/2026M&S Custard Cream Spread: Britain has completed food One jar of M&S Custard Cream Spread has caused us to question civilisation, breakfast, mashed potato and the limits of human restraint @willyandbill.bsky.socialcentralbylines.co.ukM&S Custard Cream Spread: Britain has completed foodOne jar of M&S Custard Cream Spread has caused us to question civilisation, breakfast, mashed potato and the limits of human restraint 2220769
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 27/09/2026…and 28 years later in 2022. youtu.be/riW6YgGIol8?...youtu.beSaint Etienne - He's on the Phone (Glastonbury 2022)YouTube video by BBC Music 030
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 27/09/2026Glastonbury 1994… www.facebook.com/share/v/1LJo...facebook.com 100
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 27/09/2026Final UK gig of the final UK tour by St Etienne, after 36 years. What a class act. Balloons. Tunes. And so much love in the room. 120
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 26/09/2026Spend a few pence buying googly eyes to put on it. Mine just came by and I couldn't help but say hello. 010
Reposted by Chris RandTom Jenkins @tomoljenkins.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Here is the trailer for Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ launch on 9October that has been banned by YouTube, TikTok and Meta, citing “political” content. X won't even take Bleecker Street's calls. The distributor is appealing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFTf...youtube.comMUSK | Official Trailer HDYouTube video by Elevation Pictures 24028
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026One point off the win in the quiz tonight. We got the year of the Gunpowder Plot correct, then changed it at the last moment. NEVER OVERRULE YOUR FIRST GUESS. 040
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026According to the sleeve notes, it turns out to be Neil Warnock. 010
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026ChatGPT has asked me 20+ times today if I want to advertise. I didn’t the first time. I certainly don’t now. For a product with access to every marketing lesson ever written, this is spectacularly moronic. 120
Reposted by Chris RandDisappointed Optimist @disappoptimism.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I don’t believe for a second that Xi didn’t make this Thucydides trap reference fully knowing that Trump wouldn’t begin to understand it. Xi is mocking America & its clown president on camera. America is so cooked 36215
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 24/09/2026A point also made when Rory Stewart recently interviewed Yuval Noah Harari about the existential threats of artificial intelligence. 161
Reposted by Chris RandOld British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 24/09/2026[1965] A Hard Day’s Night - Comedy version of The Beatles song in which Peter Sellers recites the lyrics in the style of Laurence Olivier in the film Richard III. It became a UK Top 20 hit in 1965. 04425
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 24/09/2026What do you mean? They're pouring out of the cinema chanting: "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido" after being inspired by Petula Clark! 110
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 24/09/2026In our film review chat, my son concluded that "The Uprising" was "fairly terrible, all things considered". He particularly couldn't get over "The priest with a ridiculous Gen Z broccoli haircut". To which @fenlandgent.bsky.social quickly sounded the "new Half Man Half Biscuit song title" klaxon... 090
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 24/09/2026The Alf Upper says no! Getting up and down every 5 movies for people to squeeze by? Sod that. 100
Reposted by Chris RandDan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026England is a made up thing. It has no basis in the ineluctable laws of nature. Its extent is defined by Edward II getting his arse handed to him. Athelstan conquering York. The Welsh of Cumbria were incorporated, the Welsh of Gwynedd were not. It is a political idea, an aspiration - not taxonomy. 761731492
Reposted by Chris RandJoel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Is it time to post that paragraph from The Road To Wigan Pier? The one about how the desperate, pleasureless poor will always refuse to just spend their pennies on cabbage no matter how much you try and insist. This isn’t a thing you can make people do. It’s not how humans work. 1213543
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 24/09/2026That record of Ella Langley's is in the US chart. However, in the UK record was also broken this year, when Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's "Rein Me In" became the longest-running number one single of all time. And I couldn't hum that one to you either. www.officialcharts.com/songs/sam-fe...officialcharts.comREIN ME INRein Me In is a powerful indie collaboration between Sam Fender and Olivia Dean, blending cinematic UK indie rock with modern soul influences. The track pairs Fender’s signature anthemic guitar sound ... 000
Reposted by Chris RandStardust 🌏🎬 @stardustbluepr.com · 22/09/2026Warning: "Don't Download the White House App: It's a Privacy Nightmare The new White House App shipped with dormant location tracking and phones home to a marketing company on every launch among other problems. Don't install it."onlinesafety.substack.comDon't Download the White House App: It's a Privacy NightmareThe new White House App shipped with dormant location tracking and phones home to a marketing company on every launch among other problems. Don't install it. 17185145
Reposted by Chris RandTW @twesq.bsky.social · 20/09/2026this is fantastic and I learned something new 562692413
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 22/09/2026Wow, that's amazing, even if not the perfect situation. I think there are usually fewer than 50 couples a year who make it that far in this country. Love that you can still get a card. 110
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 22/09/2026It would have been my late parents’ 70th wedding anniversary today. Celebrating as they would, I'm going to have a Chinese takeaway with my brother. I've read that only 1 in 1000 marriages in the UK make it to 70 years, which makes it all the more remarkable that Her Maj and Phil the Greek made it. 120
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 21/09/2026I know it's a day old and you've probably seen it, but this really has lifted the nation's mood. I'm not alone in having been watching it on repeat all day, and I just can't stop. 010
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/09/2026Ed Sheeran apologising before his gig last night (Instagram). ➡️ www.instagram.com/reel/DdfY7JY... 000
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/09/2026[2/2] So if it's an acceptable compromise, you'll need to ensure that the main image on the page is landscape. I'd do this (a) by cropping it down; (b) adding black bars either side, or (c) using AI to invent something to fill in the missing space, as shown. 010
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/09/2026OK, I know a bit about this stuff. Obviously you need to give Bluesky a landscape image. As you're using Google Sites, there's no way to directly set the 'Open Graph image' that services such as Bluesky, Facebook or LinkedIn use for link previews. Google Sites just picks the best image it can. [1/2] 111
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/09/2026youtu.be/qnaZwFrEi24?... This is really good if you want a thoughtful discussion of the threat from A.I. – and what we can do, now. YNH says the market is pricing in that A.I. will become godlike in its capability but then the gods will become willing slaves. This simply does not make sense.youtu.beThe Greatest Threat Humans Just Can't Stomach | with Yuval Noah HarariYouTube video by The Rest Is Politics 010
Reposted by Chris RandAmbassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The accounting is in: In Oregon there are 111 data centers. The TOTAL number of people employed at data centers is just 2,630, or 0.1% of the labor force. Those 100 data centers consumer 23% of all electricity used in Oregon. Meanwhile, electricity rates skyrocket as more centers are built.opb.orgOregon data centers by the numbers: 111 facilities consume nearly one-quarter of state’s power, according to new reportA first-of-its-kind report details the footprint of the controversial facilities. 8030831809
Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 19/09/2026I hope it’s not farewell, I have tickets to see them at Cambridge next weekend. 100
Reposted by Chris RandMike Goodman @themlg.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Launched it on 9/11 no less. Just a bang up job all around. 4616
Reposted by Chris RandJoel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Brilliant. And in that same lovely back-footed Scandi-English key as Norsemen, which is blissful. 17328
Reposted by Chris Rand__________ @jenbren.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Fucking love this. And if it happened now, Bill Drummond would be murdered by security 2247
Reposted by Chris RandCambridge Diary @cambridgediary.bsky.social · 16/09/202616th September 2022 The Waterman’s Arms, a derelict 19th-century pub, stands by the Little Ouse river, accessible only by water. Built in 1861 to serve passing bargemen and riverside locals, it closed its doors in 1956 and has since been slowly sinking into the soft Fenland soil. 1237