James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 4hAnd probably impossible to disabuse him of that belief - like a chronic gambler, how do you prove that he couldn’t have made the numbers work if he had been allowed to keep going? Which makes them both fascinating but Holmes even more so: completely impervious to “but the tech doesn’t work!” 140
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 7hDid not know this existed and am enjoying how pretentious it makes me look. 3100
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 11hPossibly - I'm not going to claim enough knowledge there! But as you say it's good that she said this even if the worked example is imperfect. 000
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 11hIt's the style of response you expect on social media rather than in a (you'd hope) carefully drafted speech: "well THIS was never a problem back in the day!" [actually it really was?] 120
Reposted by James ChalmersStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 13hToday’s newsletter: on the five things a successful opposition party should aim to do, and what they tell us about the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch:ft.comFive things Kemi Badenoch must do to winWhile Tory leader’s popularity is clear, she must still neutralise areas of weakness and move closer to the Labour government 3306
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 13h(Pretty sure there are loads of German language releases, though, and some of his books are still in print in German.) 000
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 13h(I became aware of the films because a friend was writing a book on Scottish films and there is one which ends up being notionally set in Scotland seemingly only because someone along the way misunderstood what “Scotland Yard” means.) 120
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 13hThere was a Blu-ray release of some of the films last year which seems already to have sold out and if a very optimistic Amazon reseller is to be believed I now have a Blu-ray set worth £600 (I do not). www.amazon.co.uk/TERROR-FOG-W... 120
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Macron: I will lend the Bayeux Tapestry to the United Kingdom to celebrate the unique relationship between our countries. The United Kingdom: thank you so much for this spotlight you have shone on our national culture: queuing discourse will reach heights never before imagined. 13010
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 05/10/2026I’ve had this conversation with people in exactly that position and while they will, on reflection, accept it has bad effects their position is fundamentally “but people on over £100k *should* pay more tax!” (and it’s not as if I even disagree). They’re not going to change their votes because of it. 071
Reposted by James ChalmersEuropean Greens @europeangreens.eu · 05/10/2026Our statement on the recent Green Party of England and Wales motion 'Zionism is Racism'. europeangreens.eu/news/egp-pos... 53385135
Reposted by James ChalmersBarbara Rich @barbararich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026The Lost Explorer - Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 I have written about lasting powers of attorney, deprivation of liberty, and the powers of the Court of Protection in connection with the “disappearance” of Sir Ranulph Fiennes bleakhouserevisited.substack.com/p/the-lost-e...bleakhouserevisited.substack.comThe Lost ExplorerThe ‘disappearance’ of Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 114716
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 05/10/2026First Rubio says it’s fine; now echoes of pre-COVID reassuring posts: I’m off to become a hermit. 050
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I guess I miss the days where he’d watch a film on PBS of an evening and announce he was going to reopen Alcatraz. 040
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I can well imagine an elderly academic with time on their hands getting seduced into AI chats and going insane (watch this space) but I would have thought as POTUS there would be too many people eager to have conversations with you for you to want to spend extra time chatting geopolitics with an AI. 123
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 04/10/2026New Dietary Choices for a Healthier Me* *ordering chips in Nando’s without the peri salt 060
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I wonder how much of an upside that is really? Yes if you’ve got >£100k earners who are not making decent pension provision already (and I accept people are often bad at that!); not so great from an economy/tax perspective if they’re already fine and just salting more away to avoid the tax hit. 100
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026(For the record, Badenoch apparently gave an interview saying something like ‘not many girls played chess when I was young and I won a competition that only two people entered’, so this seems even more nonsensical than Reevesgate.) 2370
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026“Sir, a second girls’ chess championship scandal has hit the Palace of Westminster” 4768
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Ah then it’s sadly not as comical as I imagined but I still approve. 020
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I don’t really understand how traitors works as I follow it only through Posts but am I right in understanding that someone admitted “actually I am a traitor” and the contestants collectively went “ok, weird, we’ll get to that later but tbh it’s more important to kick out [redacted]”? 110
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I enjoyed how it dealt with the challenge of “how does our hero win the impossible showdown we’ve built up to?” by saying “we will just show him walking away unscathed with no explanation, the audience will get it”. 010
Reposted by James ChalmersKieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 01/10/2026I keep seeing this Semafor graph that seems to show the Trump administration’s effect on international visits is comparable to the pandemic. My first thought was “that can’t be true” and indeed it is not. This is monthly data. We only have to Jun/Aug 2026. The lines are over-fitted to the months. 12460133
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026But the French wouldn't have that data because of the audio guide system (which does raise the question of why they didn't go for that system, of course). And I don't think the Bayeux museum was trying to constantly operate at peak capacity in the way the BM will be. 100
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I don't think this is as simple as a question of "basic calculations" because - unless you go for a system that dictates visitors' pace - the *calculations* are simple but where do you get the data to do them accurately? 120
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026For another sort of exhibit you could have a contingency plan of "if we've got this wrong we'll stay open for longer", but IIRC there's a limited number of hours the tapestry can be subjected to light, so that gets ruled out. Which must have made the whole thing a bit of a planning nightmare. 110
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Because Bayeux used audio guides in this way there is I assume no data on "how long does an average visitor, wandering freely, take to view the tapestry", meaning you have to make a guess for a system where you're trying to let as many people in as possible without scope to extend hours on the fly. 100
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I saw the tapestry in Bayeux years ago and you had to (I think, but then I am naturally compliant) wear an audio guide, which managed the flow of people effectively because it dictated the speed at which people walked round. Without that the whole thing becomes much more difficult to manage. 452
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I do this but it’s a lawyer’s need to add disclaimers rather than a joke: I will take responsibility for making a stupid mistake about my travel choices and ending up on the train to Carstairs; I’m not taking on responsibility for random members of the public as well. 180
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I keep seeing people arguing how far Man City should be demoted and you’re not being creative enough: why should they get to work their way back up in a sport they’ve gained unfair advantage at? Make them work their way up through a regional cheese rolling league before they can play football again. 1122
Reposted by James ChalmersDorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I have policy criticisms (they're not hard to guess) but Burnham is, so far, obviously good at politics. Successfully selling an idea everyone said was politically toxic is one example. Rebooting a failing government another. Making an impressive speech another. Almost the anti-Starmer on that level 91047
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 30/09/2026It certainly seems to have gone down a lot better than I would have predicted (which is good!) 001
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 30/09/2026This seems a good thing but I’m not sure it’s ideal that the UK’s cordon sanitaire against the far right is a random number generator mediated by an unevenly distributed set of levers poorly labelled “Tactical Vote?” 3153
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 29/09/2026That could work! But I would be boggling even more at the complexity of it all... 010
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 29/09/2026(That said I just realised an “earnings lock” would risk triggering Facebook discourse on “I paid in my whole life; why should my future pension depend on the earnings of the feckless youth of today who don’t even *want* to work?”) 140
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Baffled by the complexity of this. You could go for a headline like "we're moving to an earnings lock" (although maybe that wouldn't save as much?) but instead we're keeping two-thirds of the triple lock and claiming that this will mean the other third still sort of applies? 493
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026(On conditions I remember, during a particularly hot time in the Edinburgh property market, a trainee solicitor faxing off an offer on a flat newly on the market that she liked the look of with the condition "subject to viewing"; she was firmly told by the selling solicitors this was not a thing.) 020
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Partly it's professional culture/practice: I can't remember the exact detail but I think if you tell a Scottish solicitor you would like to engage in gazumping they have to go "you'll need to get another solicitor to do that", and I think that has a more general knock-on effect on the process. 240
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026“Favourite” feels wrong in some ways as the portrayal is entirely bleak: but Gérard in Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar: the complete absence of any redeeming qualities or consequences. 000
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I knew Jack McEnroe. I grew up watching Josh McEnroe. And I know Jesse McEnroe would never say this about baseball. 0121
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Very funny how Wes Streeting’s statement that the local farmer only had a “partial picture” read like “the intelligence services were all over this plot already” and could now be anything from that to “oh wow you’ll never guess what they found in the vans and I really wish I could tell you”. 79311
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026"And so, I say to you, Hope Again. Hope on my lectern; hope on the wall behind me. The hope down here is small, and the hope up there is far away." 130
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026A friend told me once he was hoping for a price crash before buying a flat, saying “sorry” and when I replied saying “I don’t care, my flat will continue to be worth one flat whatever happens” he looked at me like I was insane. 0282
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I’m wondering what an entry stripped of filler would look like. “We realised readers would want to know if anything is going on at the scene right now. Well I’ve dragged myself here and there isn’t. Are you happy now? Great use of the licence fee. I’m exhausted and there’s not even a Pret nearby.” 140
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I studied in the US for a year and was asked to mail in two passport photos beforehand. Living nowhere near a photo booth and assuming these would be stapled to a file somewhere I sent off some ancient ones, inadvertently creating the impression a child had been admitted to a graduate programme. 140
Reposted by James ChalmersDaniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Incredible headline/photo combo from the NYT today 46513
Reposted by James ChalmersKevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Susan Collins is always horrified by the predictable results of her own vote, which means Mainers who genuinely care about Susan Collins should elect Troy Jackson as he won’t vote for things that wind up upsetting Susan Collins, unlike Susan Collins 834167957