iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2026

The second anniversary of this post is coming up, and surprise surprise these little "end of life" laptops are continuing to run well with #linux and do what we need then to, which includes spending less on tech so we can buy more actual books for the school […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

A mastodon post from October 2024 showing a photo 8 laptops running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and libre office, the post explains the school has added Ubuntu to some old windows 10 devices that their IT support told them were end of life.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026

Every child deserves to see themselves represented in the stories they read. Elle McNicoll's superb debut novel from 2020, A Kind of Spark, remains one of the best books for older kids that celebrates their autistic characters for who they truly are, and not […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

The front cover of Elle McNicoll's novel A Kind of Spark

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2026

So as a #smartphonefreechildhood parent of 12 and 10 year olds, decided it was time the kids had their own savings accounts to put the odd bit of birthday and chores money they get and encourage a savings habit. Didn't realise an easy offline account was going […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

Two Cambridge Building Society passbooks

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 20/07/2026

A thoroughly well meant gesture from the queen and an excellent book from an excellent author, but will this succeed in getting children excited by reading that aren't already? To develop their own love for reading, children need agency, a chance to choose "their thing" or discover what their […]

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Original post on mastodonapp.uk

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 23/06/2026

Now that everyone and their dog tends to be creating AI posters for community events, it's really hard to be able to tell whether it's a tiny "three old ladies and a few vases" flower festival or a full on professional fun fair, which in the past you could […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

A montage of 12 posters for community events, all generated by AI.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 22/06/2026

So it's a big news day today for the UK. In the past I would have followed the live feeds, kept up with the interviews and analysis and watched everyone and his dog throw in their opinion. Now, though, for me, it's just slipped in between Mendelssohn and Bizet […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 01/06/2026

Sit in the gap. Dwell. Discern. Grow in the discomfort. #AI #learning #deepthinking #education Life needs friction, the planet needs humans that can reason.

A cartoon image with one half labelled "skip the gap" with a person using a phone with AI to reach their answer on the other side of the ravine, whilst on the other side labelled "sit in the gap" with a person sitting in thought, with the ravine labelled "discomfort builds reasoning, ambiguity, tolerance, real learning and a seedling growing from the ground .

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 20/05/2026

RE: mastodon.social/@runbox/11660879094… I am much happier that my hydro-powered email is stored sustainably in Norway by the lovely people at Runbox rather than wherever the Silicon Valley folk decide it should be. The big tech guys are even working on data centres in space - […]

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Original post on mastodonapp.uk

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 20/05/2026

“Instructions for Living a Life" by the poet Mary Oliver, written in 2014 when she was nearly 80 years old. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. She's spot on. Our attention is invaluable and too precious to give away to Meta, Snap, X or Tiktok. Be discerning, be present, be alive. Oh […]

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Original post on mastodonapp.uk

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 24/02/2026

This is not defendable. This is nothing to do with free speech, democracy or whatever else gets mentioned to justify the abuse of an entire generation. We need a #smartphonefreechildhood for all children and #safeonlinespaces for teens. Big tech cannot be trusted to deliver that […]

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Original post on mastodonapp.uk

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 06/02/2026

I'm a teacher in a primary school. I teach #onlinesafety to 7-11 year olds. If one of our children behaved like this on our sharing platform it would result in a racial incident report and a meeting with parents. What hope do children have of behaving appropriately online with this kind of […]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 24/01/2026

Do birds know to deliberately hide when it's the #biggardenbirdwatch ? Not a single visitor to our bird feeders during the 1 hour of counting - but by tomorrow all this seed will be gone! At least there were 96 starlings higher up the tree, and plenty of wood pigeons popping by too.

A large walnut tree with two bird feeders hanging off it containing bird food, and no birds in sight.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 30/12/2025

Anyone else still saving like it's 1983? Just about to cash in my Co-op Savings Stamps on a big shop. This was all the rage 50 years ago, bringing the idea of saving weekly to the ordinary household. I remember my grandparents buying saving stamps for gas […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

A completed Co-op Savings Stamps book from the UK's Central Co-op made up of 48 £1 savings stamps, worth £50 when cashed in.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 02/12/2025

I am currently at the #midcountiescoop special members' meeting, about to vote on whether we should merge with #centralcoop to become one bigger society. Lots of talk about member engagement and representation so far. #coops #cooperation

The logos of Central Co-op and Midcounties Co-op

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 01/12/2025

So the Oxford University Press Word of the year is "rage bait" which narrowly fought off aura farming and biohack. Last year it was brainrot. Humanity's relationship with social media clearly isn't healthy. We need to show more discernment in our reading procurement. I would rather ask a […]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 19/11/2025

@mjr My local former Rainbow (Anglia Superstore) is still going (somehow). Kings Lynn went to Asda, Hunstanton is now Sainsbury's, Wisbech lost the lease after AHF moved out (also former Anglia owned) so is now Morrisons, Ramsey closed after Tesco opened round the corner and is now B&M after […]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 19/11/2025

@mjr The phone co-op does certainly need to sort out pricing, particularly with so many MVNOs out there now, besides the fact "Your Co-op Mobile" is a daft name, it isn't really an offer that stands out. Tesco/Asda/Smarty/Super drug/anyone etc win on price, and Ecotalk have a more coherent and […]

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Original post on mastodonapp.uk

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 19/11/2025

@mjr I'm here 👋 Missed the meeting, got a bit caught up with family stuff, thought I might catch the end but it's already finished. Any exciting news? Midcounties voted overwhelmingly to proceed on Monday. I'm a member of both, phone broadband and energy with Midcounties (when my Phone Co-op […]

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Original post on mastodonapp.uk

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 24/10/2025

I couldn't agree more, Microsoft. My Windows laptop will be upgraded soon and run much faster. As the #endof10 has now come to be, it's just a case of which #linux version to go for.

A Microsoft advert advising the need to upgrade Windows 10 computers.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 21/10/2025

Free bottle of champagne if I spend another £75 at the Co-op before the end of the month!

A screenshot from the Central Co-op app showing a voucher for a free bottle of champagne if £150 is spent before 31st October, and a progress bar showing £75.22 already spent so far.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2025

Happy birthday Runbox! Privacy-focussed sustainable email for 25 years. Proud to have been a customer for the last 20 years. It seems more relavent now than ever. I recommend Runbox to anyone that's had enough of Microsoft, Apple and Google domination and […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2025

@DrakkenZero They're 2019 Acer Travelmate B 331 models, with the Celeron N4120 processor and 4GB RAM, so small and basic machines with Ubuntu LTS 22.04 running. Works fine for our needs but it all depends what the school is tied too. So many now have Google or Microsoft accounts as mandatory for […]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2025

I posted this a year ago, and as we now approach #endof10 these superb little laptops are still merrily running #linux very happily, and will be joined by more shortly. It's money saving, planet saving, and even time saving as the machines work so much quicker!

A screenshot of a Mastodon post made on 16th October 2024 showing 8 laptops with libre office open on a Linux operating system.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2025

An excellent way to show support for #palestine is to pop to the Co-op and buy some yummy Zaytoun Medioul Dates #fairtradefortnight

Boxes of fairtrade Zaytoun Dates on a Co-op Supermarket shelf in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, UK

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2025

Education. Healthcare. Pensions. Free buses to school in remote areas. It's amazing what can happen when you have a cuppa. #fairtradefortnight […]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2025

Happy #FairtradeFortnight folks. Changing the world one cup of tea at a time really does change lives for the better.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 05/09/2025

It really is possible to change the world by having a cup of tea! Where you shop and what you buy matters. #cooperatives #fairtrade www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O-7XGf10w4

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2025

Seriously powerful stuff from The Australian newspaper: teens know they are addicted to their phones and want to get off them, but need help. As adults we have a duty to allow a #smartphonefreechildhood for the space for children to breathe and grow away from fear, constant comparisons and […]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2025

Picture books are a great way for children to learn about difficult subjects through shared reading with parents or teachers. Looking forward to getting hold of the new #TomPalmer book for the school library #kidlit #iamreading

Front cover of Tom Palmer's new picture book "War Dog".

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 08/08/2025

No thank you, Copilot, I don't want you to summarise the document. I would like to read it myself and discern what I consider to be important, which may be different to other readers. Bring back Clippy. He was well meaning but just gently hopeless, like a […] [Original post on mastodonapp.uk]

A clipart image of "Clippy" who was an onscreen assistant in Microsoft Office in circa 2005.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 04/08/2025

@simon_brooke Winnie the pooh and Box of Delights loved here too. Also a big #ArthurRansome fan and having recently re-read them all after 30 years of first doing so, astonished I remember enjoying Peter Duck as Black Jake was such a frightening enemy. I generally went for pretty tame stuff as a […]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 04/08/2025

@nicol I did set up the BridgyFed myself, your boost prompted a private mention message which explained BridgyFed and I chose to follow BridgyFed to set the whole thing up, so it was consentual. Still all a bit new to me.

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 04/08/2025

Welcome home, Timothy! I've just finished re-reading #ArthurRansome 's Pigeon Post (again!). Still can't decide if it's my favourite Swallows and Amazons book or not. Reading as a child, I was always expecting Squashy Hat to be some super villain!

A picture drawn by Arthur Ransome from the last page of Pigeon Post, showing a small box with a tiny hinged door surrounded by small potted cactus plants and a welcome banner reading "welcome home", designed to be a home for Timothy the Armadillo. [Image copyright owned by The Literary Estate of Arthur Ransome]

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Stuart Wilkinson @fairtradestu.mastodonapp.uk.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2025

Thank you Allan for all the childhood memories. Woof! was my favourite. #AllanAhlberg #kidlit

The front cover of the children's picture book Funny Bones, written by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by wife Janet Ahlberg.

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