Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 21hNo, they need to hold their seats and flip four for a majority. Most likely are Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio or Texas. They need 51 seats for a majority (the reps need 50 as the speaker is theirs). They currently have 47. 100
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Do you know about the War of the Currents? Nikolai Tesla’s AC system was much better than Edison’s DC over long distance. But Edison staged stunts like this, and suggesting that AC was used for executions, to try and smear Tesla’s technology. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_...en.wikipedia.orgWar of the currents - Wikipedia 010
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 02/10/2026My brother was at that gig as well! Did you bump into him? 100
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 01/10/2026My Nan’s was “oh him? he used to chew bread for our ducks”, used as a put down when someone was bragging about an acquaintance of higher social standing 010
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 26/09/2026In many of the cases, they had ‘sponsorship’ from linked entities that was massively overpaid. this balanced their accounts, hiding a huge loss on big player fees and salaries. Making a loss would have triggered fines and other penalties in both the prem league and Europe. 010
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026It's all a bit 'Stop Me Before I Kill Again' for my liking. 010
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I dislike 'Pace' more. This isn't a 5k track race, it's business - 'Regulate' is the correct term! 210
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Occupy Wall Street started 15 years ago today. I was in NYC that November, and went to check it out and take some pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/matlo...flickr.comOccupy Wall Street - Zuccotti Park, November 2011Some photos taken from Zuccotti Park, New York, during the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in November 2011 051
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 10/09/2026“If you tolerate this, then your children won’t eat Greggs” 010
Reposted by Matt LockeThe Guardian @theguardian.com · 08/09/2026Youth clubs, trade unions, pubs: here's how Burnham can fix Britain's social recession | Gordon Browntheguardian.comYouth clubs, trade unions, pubs: here's how Burnham can fix Britain's social recession | Gordon BrownFrom volunteering to the WI, we have lost so many ways to meet our neighbours. Making that easier can only be good for society, says former UK prime minister Gordon Brown 4449
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 29/08/2026When Alice and I were at Channel 4 in the late 00s we hosted a women in games panel. We heard a rumour Milo was going to turn up. I remember him being nervy and awkward in his suit at the event. Then he wrote up a horribly misogynistic piece for the telegraph afterwards. What a wanker. 01135
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 19/08/2026So I'd agree that the legacy of Big Brother led to some tabloid commissioning in Fact Ent and Features, but to say the whole place was Daily Star for the middle classes is way off the mark. It was far more diverse and interesting than that. 110
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 19/08/2026And then when Big Brother was finally cancelled, the next big opportunity was pitching for the 2012 Paralympics, which really showed Channel 4 at its best. 110
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Most of this period was under the creative leadership of Kevin Lygo, and it was a period of really diverse commissioning from some brilliant people. Outside of Features and fact ent, the comedy team were doing Inbetweeners and Peep Show, Drama was doing Skins and MIsfits, and Film 4 was on a roll 120
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Secondly, as Big Brother rolled on, it moved away from the initial social experiment towards 'freak show' format points, casting people who just wanted to be famous, and tasks or features that encouraged confrontation. This influenced some of the fact ent/features commissioning you're talking about 110
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Firstly the tech behind it led to the docs team commissioning a lot of ground breaking shows that used the same fixed-rig camera system to show daily life in new ways - like One Born Every Minute. These shows were genuinely new and exciting, and broadly positive. 110
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Hmmm. as someone who actually was a comm ed at C4 in the late 2000s, I think it's more complex than that. Its true that the surprise success of Big Brother (it was a huge punt in the first season, and a genuine social experiment) had a couple of big influences on C4 commissioning. 210
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 14/08/2026from our family, definitely in Brighton, Bristol and London! 000
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Tbh, 43% is a high turnout for a pointless by-election. The 2024 general education had a 58% turnout for that seat. Reform‘s share of the total electorate then was 27.13%, so there’s been no increase in Reform‘s vote as a percentage of the electorate.The only winner in all this was Binface! 010
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Farage’s vote was 63% of a 43% turnout. So only 27.7% of the electorate. 120
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Maya Rudolph. Her mum was Minnie Riperton, and she wrote ‘Lovin‘ You’ for Maya when she was a baby! 030
Reposted by Matt LockeGiles Turnbull @gilestur.bsky.social · 12/08/2026seb made a useful eclipse-view-tester sebbacon.github.io/eclipse-find...sebbacon.github.ioWill I see the eclipse? — UK explorer 056
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 10/08/2026I eventually tracked down a version on a Chinese social video site, and wrote about it. it was truly a terrible presentation: howtomeasureghosts.substack.com/p/jan-9th-an...howtomeasureghosts.substack.comJan 9th & May 24th 200715 years on from two events that marked the start of the 21st Century 010
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Researching for a book proposal, I became a bit obsessed with his 2007 F9 presentation where he mapped out a vision for the Facebook Social Graph. It was a few months after Jobs’ iPhone reveal, but got nowhere near as much attention. It has also since been virtually erased from the web. 230
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 02/08/2026@moongolfer.com @lloydshepherd.com have you seen this? readingmaps.comreadingmaps.comReading Maps - Maps & Travel Routes from Books & FilmsReading Maps plots real-world journeys from classic novels and films - Around the World in 80 Days, Heart of Darkness, James Bond, On the Road - on an interactive atlas. 210
Reposted by Matt LockeRob Manuel @robmanuel.b3ta.com · 28/07/2026Wrote two lines of Javascript to make news websites actually look like what they *feel* like to me 6463154
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Yep- it’s Rachel Reeves’ borrowing rules. Designed to not scare the bond markets, but also far too restrictiv: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukRachel Reeves' borrowing rules lead to dysfunctional policymaking, claims IFSThe think tank suggests the chancellor's fiscal rules need to shift the focus from one key figure. 100
Reposted by Matt LockeSteph Gray @lesteph.com · 23/07/2026I like the granularity of this calculator by @dantaylorwatt.com of your personal AI environmental footprint. I find the moral panic about AI on ecological grounds a bit tiresome so it's good to have some apparently well-sourced data to work with: www.dantaylorwatt.com/ai/ai-enviro...dantaylorwatt.comAI Environmental Impact CalculatorEstimate the energy, carbon and water footprint of your AI use: chatbots, image generation, video generation and agentic coding. Based on published 2025-26 measurements. 3104
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 23/07/2026This example, and the recent Jacobean conjecture, where not solved by funding a proof. The LLN found a counter example that showed the conjectures were false. that’s needle in a haystack work- impressive, but not as creative as finding a proof. 2200
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 23/07/2026There’s a big difference between ‘solving’ a maths problem with a proof (which needs to be true for all possible answers) and a counterexample (which is finding just one example that shows the problem is false). 1220
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Good content is just not important enough to big tech for them to care. The idea we could use the bbc as leverage in regulation is laughable. We have to preserve public spaces online, even if they’re the minority. 140
Reposted by Matt Lockea rare photo of sean connery signed by roger moore @steamedhamms.bsky.social · 08/07/2026binface vs farage vs lawrence fox is like el classico for “different ways your mate’s dad could end up taking the divorce” 4830228
Reposted by Matt LockeTom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 08/07/2026I love British politics sometimes. 0233
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 06/07/2026This is the kind of sport/political theory content I follow you for Will. 020
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 03/07/2026And I’d suggest X in particular is a very poor way to build audience 000
Matt Locke @matlock.bsky.social · 03/07/2026The line I’ve been using with clients is ‘maybe audiences *should* be hard to build’. We’ve grown lazy off the false promises and huge numbers from social platforms. Build communities not audiences! 320
