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Karl-on-Sea

@karlonsea.bsky.social
697 followers 196 following 7.2K posts

Audax, underbiking & velomobiles. Occasional tallbiking. Genius who brought you SPD Crocs, inventor of the Meths Martini & no longer allowed unsupervised lab access. Still successfully passing as human.

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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
An opinion from someone living in what is correctly identified as “the midlands.”
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djcaress.bsky.social @djcaress.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The hyper-vigilance required in order to stay as safe as possible when cycling is not just for self-preservation purposes, it’s also because you have the pick up the mental slack on behalf of distracted or inattentive motorists, of which there are many.
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Simon is on strike ✊🏻 @simonxix.com · 28/09/2026
Historic England outsourced their digital image provision to a third-party company. Then the company went bust and now all their images are inaccessible. Tell me again how outsourcing to the private sector is sustainable?
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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is a refuge on a residential street. The guy leaning on his bike is at the primary school entrance, hence the green fencing beside him. The bollards are pencil shaped to say “KIDS HERE” the plastic bollards on the refuge have been flattened. There is no #WarOnDrivers there is a #WarOnWalkers
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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Out riding at the weekend, we had probably four close passes that I'd definitely have reported if filming, two drivers *astonished* that neither we nor the traffic islands in front of them simply disappeared by their force of will alone, one driver decided to just barge through anyway...
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
One of the hardest things about being a cyclist is dealing with the nagging feeling that a serious crash is inevitable. Because you can indeed do everything "right" and it still does not matter.
I followed every precaution and it didn’t matter

New to biking here

I started in July around the time of the fatal car crash with that biker. That and hearing everyone who bikes to work tell me that they have had horrid experiences with cars was disheartening. 

I made sure to only use protected routes. I take Southwest corridor for basically my whole trip and even though it adds so much more time to my commute, it makes me feel safe. 

None of that mattered because at some point, even for a second you will hit the main road. And you will always lose to the 4 ton machine. I got hit by a car parking in the bike lane. He was more concerned with his car than the fact that I could have my life potential altered forever because he was looking at his phone. And at the end of the day, the police can literally choose to not respond to your 911 call and you get stuck with medical bills. 

It’s hard to have a conversation about sharing the road when people in cars feel entitled to do whatever they want and the only person who’s ever in danger is the biker. I love biking in this city and I have found a really love and joy for the outdoors because of it. Now I am terrified to even get on a bike lane, even if there is one, if it’s shared with the main road.
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Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️ @philsturgeon.com · 28/09/2026
Just saw someone zoom by on a Solar powered recumbent e-bike, clearly homemade. I barely got a photo before he was away. Just commuting to work in Chippenham I think? Legend.
Industrial estate with a small grainy cyclist turning the corner, laying back on a recumbent bike, and two flexible solar panels making a roof over the top.
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Alex M @wigan2000.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Agreed. This should also apply to those who take their front plates off and shove them on the dashboard. There’s a real epidemic of that round our way
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Real Gaz on a proper bike: gazza_d@toot.bike @gazza-d.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Dodgy number plates are a red flag to a criminal mind. The UK really needs to do two things. Make use of them a serious criminal offence rather than the £100 now. Make prosecution easy and a priority through the existing #opsnap portals. It's currently too difficult. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Thousands of illegal ghost plates on cars revealed by new cameras
Illegal registration plates are far too easy to get hold of and are putting the public at risk, BBC is told.
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𝕯𝖆𝖓🍂🎃🕸️ @arepublic86.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For reference, Voyager 1 launched in September 1977, and on November 18 of this year it will finally hit one light day. 49 years for one light day.
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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Cyclists should have number plates” Also: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Thousands of illegal ghost plates on cars revealed by new cameras
Illegal registration plates are far too easy to get hold of and are putting the public at risk, BBC is told.
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 27/09/2026
SUPER excited for this, after a year of chasing the angle, 30 minutes of waddling around up and down a parking garage, and over 6 hours of editing: A murder of crows flies towards the camera, in front of the full Moon, set to Blind Guardian's "Nightfall" and the sound of the crows themselves. 🪶 🐦‍⬛
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Giles MacDonogh @gilesmacdonogh.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
AfD bans Stolpersteine: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
German town bans stumbling stone memorials to Nazi victims
Germany's education minister has branded the ban on the small brass memorial plaques a "scandal".
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Diane Duane @diane.dianeduane.com · 27/09/2026
WTF. 😡
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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Again, what difference does the bike being an e-bike make in this dog's dinner of a report.
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Stacia Seamonster 🦑 @stacia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If you’re female, consider choosing a gender-neutral handle. I was an editor for years but the misogyny was overwhelming and I finally deleted my editor account.
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Robert Campbell 🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦🇬🇪 @madman2.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It doesn’t have to be a huge amount but a monthly standing order held enormously. Do it
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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
A thread to give all you pedants out there something to think about.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 27/09/2026
Old time religion / Going to need a bigger boat (Cthulhu Classics, cover by Lee Gibbons for a compilation of reprinted Call of Cthulhu adventures, Chaosium, 1989) oldschoolfrp.tumblr.com/post/8289391...
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Steve Worcester @stevewfolds.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Regular donations help them a lot. Less than 2% of users donate.
Dear Steve,
I want to thank you personally for becoming a monthly Wikipedia supporter! Millions rely on Wikipedia for trusted information, yet less than 2% of readers donate, and fewer still choose to make a sustaining monthly gift. You are part of a small and truly exceptional group of people, and we're so grateful for everything you make possible.
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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Use Wikipedia regularly? Set up a monthly payment. Also, contribute your expertise. Write content. Review others’.
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Tyron @tyron.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Just seen it's Wikipedia's 25th birthday. The greatest website online, and possibly the internet's greatest fruit
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Dr Matthew Hardy @drmatthewhardy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Always donate. #RNLI There’s one in all good pubs.
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Mike Cookson 🔶 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @mikecookson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I wonder if making the single carriageway bit of the A1 into a Dual Carriageway will make it safer?
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Angry People in Local Newspapers @apiln.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s far too early to speculate what’s going on down there, but it’s obviously posh kids, a dog, and lashings of ginger beer.
Five arrested for alleged terrorism offences after
'major incident' near RAF
Fairford.
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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is a feature, not a bug.
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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We can read the equivocations mate here i circled em for you
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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In modern terms. I don't think you can beat Dutch roundabouts. British roundabouts are mostly terrible, including for drivers.
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Defend Our Juries @defendourjuries.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
BREAKING: Massive Attack’s Rob Del Naja arrested under the UK Terrorism Act outside Labour Party conference venue. The legendary musician was arrested after peacefully holding “I oppose genocide - I support Palestine Action” on a paper sign on the eve of Labour’s conference.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Only 10% of the richest 0.01% of the population paid close to the top 47% (45% income tax marginal rate + 2% NIC) rate on earnings. A quarter of that group paid an effective average tax rate of 20% or less. The tax system appears to be progressive for some but is frequently not so at the very top
bmmagazine.co.uk
Only one in ten top UK earners pay close to top tax rate, says CenTax
CenTax says equalising capital gains tax with income tax could raise £19.7bn by 2030, as HMRC data shows few top earners pay the 47 per cent top rate.
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Mike @ksmikey.eurosky.social · 26/09/2026
Pourquoi prend le Pape un avion vers Lourdes quand il y a une liaison rapide à Toulouse?
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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Same energy.
Hugh Laurie in a beard and Elizabethan dress with a pair of fake boobs
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It’s me, Claire 💚 @faultfinderuk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I will always have the image of JSO activists stopping traffic and members of the public, whipped up by media hate, trying to drag them off the street or run them down. If petrol use, our love for oil, kills people and planet through heat and floods what heroes they are.
Screenshot of photo from JSO of people sitting in street holding large orange banners saying Just Stop Oil.

Burnham is a disgrace if he allows the new oil.
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Cargo Bike Ben @cargobikeben.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
These are not ebikes, for fucks sake. They’re electric motorbikes and if the police are selling on motor vehicles with no type approval, that’s the real fucking story @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social. They should be crushed; not put back onto the streets to be seized again.
bbc.co.uk
E-bikes seized by police sold on at auction, BBC finds
Thousands are confiscated annually because they are suspected of being driven illegally or used in a crime - most are destroyed, but last year police sold at least 161.
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Cool Bike Art @coolbikeart1.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Mark Hamill on a Schwinn, circa late 1970s Happy #BicycleBirthday, Mark! Born September 25, 1951
Photo of a man smiling as he rests astride a bicycle in front of a bunch of rocks.
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Katja Diehl @katjadiehl.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Why I don´t talk about helmets? I lost too many wearing them. On Car-Free Day, 22 September, Nicolò, a seven-year-old child, was killed by a motorist in Turin. He was riding in the bike lane, wearing his helmet, riding to school with his father. A car driver killed him anyway. Photo Fabio Ferrari
A tiny ghost bike painted white.
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
There is a tendency to talk about people who receive support from the state as though they are somehow a completely different group from the rest of us: ‘taxpayers’ over here and ‘benefit claimants’ over there. My piece for @yorkshirebylines.co.uk yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/non...
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
None of us knows what is around the corner
A personal testimonial of the life-saving benefits of a social security system that supports the people, and the dangers of villainising those who find need of it
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Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The normies will own a truck, SUV, and midsized SUV all in one home, but call this weird.
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Robert Wright @reporterrwright.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I see a lot of people complaining about the undoubtedly stressful conditions at present on London's roads. But I see few people complaining about motor vehicles. Yet in the last 24 hours three vulnerable road users have died after being hit by people driving motor vehicles.
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Paul M 🇮🇪🇨🇦🇫🇷🚲🍉 @onebiskuit.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You have to read down to paragraph 18, out of 26, before you learn *which party* runs this council.
bbc.co.uk
South Tyneside Council nursery closures decision 'devastating'
Councillors confirm that all 10 Stanley's nurseries in South Tyneside will close by July 2027.
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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human—sweat, bad breath, everything
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Graeme 🦋 @fatherhilarious.blog · 25/09/2026
“Let them drown! Let them drown! Let them drown! Let them drown!”, a small girl was encouraged to chant through a megaphone in an anti-migrant protest in Gosport this week. It will be a nice thing for her to look back on at her 18th birthday... www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
thenerve.news
Stewart Lee: Why don’t we stage public drownings of migrants, to address people’s legitimate concerns?
The collapse of compassion in post-Brexit Britain suggests it’s now time for Roman-style lethal spectacles.  The alternative – stopping malign global influences from destabilising our society, say – s...
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Anyone who believes this bunch of con artists represents their interests is either a billionaire or seriously misinformed. leftfootforward.org/2026/09/outr...
leftfootforward.org
Outrage as Reform-run council votes to shut 10 nurseries
Members of the public shouted “you should be ashamed” as Reform councillors approved the plans
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Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Blockbuster movies need alternative soundtracks for when they are broadcast on TV. It's infuriating having to reach for the remote every time the soundtrack switches from inaudible mumbling to all out nuclear war and back.
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Robert Campbell 🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦🇬🇪 @madman2.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This happened in my patch. The modal filter met all the kpi the council set for its implementation but still it was dug up. Space for Fenham are still trying to get answers almost 2 years after.
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Seymour Strangely @seymourstrangely.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sarkar: “I feel like I’m going completely nuts, because there are mobs of men styling themselves as paramilitaries and both of you have had more to say about refugees and asylum seekers than you have had racism, which I just think is completely obscene." www.thenational.scot/news/2658099...
thenational.scot
Ash Sarkar brands far-right thuggery 'small penis behaviour' in Question Time clash
ASH Sarkar has branded the behaviour of far-right activists “small penis behaviour” during a fiery clash over immigration and racism on BBC…
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Hush-Kit aviation news, history & satire @hushkit.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Terminator internal comms declassified
Terminator-style screengrab with bullshit AI-style apology on it:
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Gary Cummins @garyinscotland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
road.cc/content/news...
road.cc
Family "devastated" as London lorry driver cleared of killing cyclist
The mother of a cyclist killed in a collision with a skip lorry at Ludgate Circus in the City of London say her family are “devastated” after a jury today cleared the driver of the vehicle from causin...
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CyclingMikey @cyclingmikey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Skip lorries are amongst the most dangerous vehicles on London's roads, involved in many cyclist fatalities. What can we do to stop the epidemic of phone driving, @MayorofLondon, @willnorman, @metpoliceuk? We desperately need those Oz style AI cameras. youtu.be/aR03PYrrhf0
youtu.be
CyclingMikey Climbed Onto his Lorry - LT21NJV Star Skips
YouTube video by CyclingMikey
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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Two junctions yesterday, and I caught two drivers on the phone. Except I mucked up the camera download for the first, and the battery died just as I got to the second. 😭️
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