iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Kemi Badenoch has said that Edinburgh is the UK's 'second city' - a view shared by only 12% of Britons Instead the public split between 34% Manchester vs 30% Birmingham, with answers depending heavily on where people live yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

See, I was wondering if there was one from years ago but you are right, they did it recently too.

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Future More or Less item here for sure. Feels like bait.

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Our 2000s album-closers poll now runs a week longer, to Mon 12 Oct. It's tight at the top, and almost all tracks have been voted on. Still waiting: The Streets, Beck, Nas, Sleater-Kinney. Five minutes to vote: therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-poll-lets-all-meet-up-in

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Richard Herring @herring1967.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Can't believe Richard E Grant allowed that episode to go out.

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Curating Songs for the Deceased - by Chris Dalla Riva share.google/LtcXIzul4GZQ... It's definitely happening. I think the Beatles will not fade but in 20 years time a lot of 60s music will start to fade like Chris describes.

share.google

Curating Songs for the Deceased

The evolution of Sirius XM's channel list gives us deep insight into how we remember (and forget) popular music.

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

One ballot this morning rescued Bowie, Tom Waits, Steely Dan and Common from zero in the 2000s album-closers poll. 172 of 200 tracks now have a vote. Still waiting: The Streets, Beck, Nas, Sleater-Kinney. Closes Mon 5 Oct therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-poll-lets-all-meet-up-in

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

They should be nationalised and the squad sold to pay for Social Care. Playing up front can be a prize for Premium Bond winners.

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

If you are an opposition leader who could be doing better in the polls, what better way to move those polling numbers than to be on the wrong side of emerging public opinion.

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Emily✨ @emilyoram.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Liquid Bluesky

National Trust• @nationaltrust.org.uk
Nobody has ever regretted a scone after a long walk.

Except someone with ceoliac disease

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra @fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“Tap, tap, tap at the window. Bloody AI Greta Garbo, trying to sell me ball bearings.”

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It's tight at the top of the 2000s album-closers poll: Overnight ballots reshuffled the top three. 167 of 200 tracks now have votes, including Jay-Z. Still waiting: Bowie, The Streets, Beck, Nas, Tom Waits. Closes Mon 5 Oct therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-poll-lets-all-meet-up-in

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Once, I told some guy that my name was Elvis Aaron Presley, and I last had a car accident in Paris in Aug. 1997; I clipped a Mercedes with my white Fiat Uno. No flicker of any of that registered.

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A clear leader has emerged in the 2000s album-closers poll. 157 of 200 tracks now have a vote. Still waiting: Jay-Z, Bowie, The Streets, Beck, Nas, Tom Waits. And 2008 is still at the bottom of the years. Closes Mon 5 Oct therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-poll-lets-all-meet-up-in

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Can the arts business model survive AI? Perhaps the best guide is to look at how the arts survived past tech revolutions Take music—internet piracy and then streaming killed the lucrative CD market, but musicians mostly saved their jobs by focusing much more on live concerts

a graph showing music as a % of consumer spending, with album sales rising through the 90s before crashing in the 2000s and being replaced with concert revenue

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

If you claim to have never heard Crazy Frog’s “Axel F,” it says more about you than it does Mr. Frog. This about virtue signaling that you are better than entire genres of music, that your friends are not in the custom ringtone game.

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

It's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here! @scriblit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

*blackadder theme* His head is bigger than a fence He breathes, and everything gets warmer His urge to trample represents A nation's nuclear war trauma Godzilla! Godzilla! The scourge of beast and man! Godzilla! Godzilla! He's flattening Japan!

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Main: Womack & Womack - Teardrops (1988) 2: Terence Trent D’Arby - Sign Your Name (1987) 3: Neneh Cherry - Manchild (1989) 4: Bad Brains - I Against I (1986) 5: Danny John-Jules / Red Dwarf cast - Tongue Tied (original TV version) (1988)

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

132 of the 200 closers in the 2000s poll now have a vote. Coldplay and Britney are off the mark. Still waiting: Jay-Z, Bowie, Dylan, The Streets, Interpol, Beck, Nas, Tom Waits. And 2008 is still the decade's least-loved year. therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-poll-lets-all-meet-up-in

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Was voted for by TV "insiders" which included people like Graham Norton, Emma Corrin, Nicola Coughlan and other Brits/Irish.

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Gregk Foley @gregk.co.uk · 25/09/2026

“PUT THAT ICED COFFEE DOWN.”

Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross, yelling about coffee

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

@tomewing.bsky.social just watching this and baffled that Le Tigre have almost as many streams as The Bad Touch. youtu.be/8_ZLlyBfZ_I?...

youtu.be

top 50 most streamed songs from 1999

YouTube video by boogiehead

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Who was judging? David Cronenberg?

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

That one says roughly 54% of passengers were on long-haul flights in 2025. I know a fair bit about the subject; I co-wrote more than 50 of those releases while I handled traffic commentary there.

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

That's flights, and for one month. For annual passenger volumes, it's around 51-53%

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Transfer pax are a strong year-round source of demand that fills seats on routes the UK alone couldn't sustain, so the UK gets direct flights & more frequent service to places that would otherwise require changing in AMS or DXB. Plus, the belly-hold freight those flights carry benefits exporters.

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

James Butler @piercepenniless.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

When was the last time our Secretary of State for Culture displayed anything approaching this degree of public enthusiasm for our world-class arts industry? Has she been seen anywhere? Given impending charter renewal... did she even bother to visit a single prom?

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

New leader overnight in the 2000s album-closers poll. 111 of 200 tracks now have a vote; still waiting: Coldplay, Jay-Z, Bowie, Dylan, The Streets, Interpol. Closes Sun 5 Oct therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-poll-lets-all-meet-up-in

therunoutgrooves.substack.com

Reader's Poll: Let’s all meet up in the year 2000

Have Your Say - Your best album closers of the 2000s

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

83 of the 200 closers in the 2000s poll now have at least one vote. Still waiting for their first: Kanye, Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Bowie, Dylan, Blur, The Streets and Portishead - last year's 1990s champions. Votes close Sunday 5 October: therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-po...

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 24/09/2026

YouGov's September 2026 MRP projects that Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament, were an election held tomorrow Labour: 241 (-170 from 2024) Conservatives: 130 (+9) Reform UK: 123 (+118) Lib Dems: 71 (-1) SNP: 40 (+31) Plaid Cymru: 15 (+11) Greens: 9 (+5) Others: 3 (-3)

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The write in campaign starts here!

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

@bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social some folks may enjoy the poll Easter egg here therunoutgrooves.substack.com/p/readers-po... and cast a vote for their favourite closing tracks of the 2000s.

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Andrew Beasley @andrewbeasleyfootball.com · 23/09/2026

Anfield is the best stadium in England. Not my words, Carol, the words of over 54,000 Google reviews. Where does your team's ground rank among the 92? Find out in the searchable table in here:

theguardian.com

Which football stadiums have the highest and lowest Google ratings? | The Knowledge

Plus: the longest waits for 0-0 draws, more early replica kits and champions with the smallest ground

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Significance magazine @significancemag.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Exciting to hear our September cover feature on BBC Radio 4's More or Less this morning! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... Thank you🙏 @timharford.ft.com @mitchellst.bsky.social Read the full article for free right here: academic.oup.com/jrssig/artic...

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Mitchell Stirling @mitchellst.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I'm on the wireless in about ten mins. BBC Radio 4's More or Less, just after 0920, talking to Tim Harford about why albums end quietly, the physics of vinyl, and what happened when records weren’t limited by that physics. They've put me on last. Of course they have. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, Has the UK’s productivity puzzle been solved?

Tim Harford investigates bad productivity data, AI carbon, nuns and quiet album ends.

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Reposted by Mitchell Stirling

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 22/09/2026

Tyrannosaurus xkcd.com/3300/

Comic. [Person with long hair pointing to diagram with Tyrannosaurus Rex standing next to a person.] PERSON: We now believe the primary prey of Tyrannosaurus Rex was these humans who kept standing next to it for scale.

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