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Andrew Curry

@nextwavef.bsky.social
329 followers 182 following 191 posts

Futurist in London. Pessimistic and sceptical. See my Just Two Things newsletter, plus a folk music sideline at Salut! Folk. New here, so still learning.

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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Your far too frequent reminder that the Home Office is feral and no longer fit for purpose. 14 years of the “hostile environemtn” have completely corrupted its operating culture. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
‘We’ve done everything by the book’: EU citizens left in limbo after UK government strips post-Brexit residency status
Home Office faces legal action after 1,473 people living in UK before Brexit told settled status was granted in error
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
#safc All this noise about the Sunderland penalty because of Arteta’s noise, but the penalty Saka won at the end was soft. The contact was outside the box, for one thing. Saka was lucky not to get a card for simulation.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
@bbc - I am trying to renew my mother’s TV licence, since she has dementia. But it is the name of her late husband. To renew it from her bank account, I need to change the name on the account. Can I do that online? Of course not. You tell me I have to call a number. (1/2)
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
@theguardian.com Remind me, where’s the box on this page that says, I already pay you £18 / month and here’s my subscriber number? This is fifth rate UI and sixth rate UX.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
@theguardian.com I have a subscription already, but when I try to access an article someone sent me on my computer I get this screen. Where is the UI option that says “I already pay you £18/ month”? It’s just a terrible UI.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The back catalogue tracks the Salut #Folk team have been listening to this year. Enjoy! (We’ll publish the new stuff we’ve been listening to in a few days). salutfolk.com/2026/08/23/s...
salutfolk.com
’Something old’—our back catalogue so far this year - Salut! Folk
It’s time for our summer edition of ‘Something Old, Something New, in which we ask the Salut! editorial team what they have been listening to so far this
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The political economy of shared spaces: Every policy wonk in Whitehall and local government should be reading this. laurenleek.substack.com/p/britain-lo...
laurenleek.substack.com
Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They Were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?
How private equity reshaped the local and the postcode tool that shows the pubs most at risk.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The “predetermined elements” that we already know about that will shape the 2030s. New post at The Next Wave. @artkleiner.bsky.social thenextwavefutures.wordpress.com/2026/08/13/w...
thenextwavefutures.wordpress.com
What will happen in the 2030s
We already know quite a lot about the shape of the coming decade. The question is how best to manage it.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This what happens when you let immigration policy dictate #education policy. It is totally self destructive. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
UK universities face ‘financial crisis’ amid collapse in international students
Higher education figures call on Labour to reverse tax on fees and warn institutions at risk of ‘going under’
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
One day the UK Home Office will have the grace to acknowledge it made a mistake and stop toying with people’s lives. One day. But right now it is feral and dysfunctional and needs to be broken up. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Home Office tells Italian man his right to stay in UK after Brexit was ‘error’
Man is told he should not have been granted settled status so he can no longer sponsor Brazilian wife to remain
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Every time I hear from @microsoft.com they are either hiking up the price to pay for an AI service, reducing their offer, or making it harder to use a suite of services I already pay for. #Enshittification.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
UK Home Office. Feral, rogue. Not fit for purpose. Doesn’t care what damage it causes to every other government policy. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
EU citizens in UK get letters telling them post-Brexit residency rights were given ‘in error’
After years of building lives in UK, potentially thousands of EU citizens could be told they have no right to remain
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The Home Office. Say it again: it’s feral and not fit for purpose. Maybe it’s time to abolish it, since a decade of the “hostile environment” has completely corrupted its values. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Home Office blocking evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza
Refugee family reunions in limbo, despite Foreign Office saying it is ready to get people out of war-torn territory
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
The UK Home Office is feral and no longer fit for purpose. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Home Office rejects Palestinian Jerusalemite woman’s UK visa but approves husband’s
Officials not satisfied Therese Abdallah is a ‘genuine visitor’ and believe she would not leave after visit to son in London
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
The entitlement of a bunch of Labour Party politicians who were the beneficiaries of the most sustained factional attack in the post-war history of the Labour Party is beyond belief. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Was Keir Starmer’s leaving party the boozy birth of a new Labour force?
A £10,000 bar tab was drunk, there was a ‘lot of anger’, and now ex-ministers are thinking how to cooperate in future
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
In my Just Two Things today, Rob Hopkins on using imagination to unlock the future. And understanding Stewart Brand’s pace layers model. justtwothings.substack.com/p/24-july-20... @transitiontotnes.bsky.social
justtwothings.substack.com
24 July 2026. Imagination | Time
Rob Hopkins, imagination, and a politics of longing // Stewart Brand’s Pace Layers as a sense-making device. [J2T#668]
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
“Imagine if Africa was next to Ireland…” The Afro Gael Beats—an African/Irish fusion band led by Gregg Kofi Brown, a longstanding member of Osibisa—played at @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social on Saturday. My review is posted at Salut! Folk. salutfolk.com/2026/07/22/o...
salutfolk.com
Osibisa with a slice of Irish - Salut! Folk
Gregg Kofi Brown spent almost four decades playing with Osibisa. On a hot summer night he played in London with his Afro-Irish fusion band, Afro Gael Beats.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Given that the English Football Association just made £22 million from the World Cup, this is a little bit embarrassing. Or maybe the Premiership teams could find £3,000 each from their charity schemes? www.theguardian.com/football/202...
theguardian.com
England cannot afford trip to amputee World Cup – and the FA will not help
With no national funding, England’s successful men’s amputee side is struggling to raise the £50,000 needed for November’s tournament in Mexico
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I strongly believe in giving the man a chance. But keeping Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary suggests the vicious attacks on immigrants and refugees, and self-defeating attempts to outrun the far right, are likely to continue. Which is pretty damn depressing. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Read these words from 100 years ago about immigrants in Britain – and see how history is chillingly repeating itself | George Monbiot
Shabana Mahmood’s new rights clampdown looks outlandish until we remember that this kind of hardline action is part of our country’s fabric, says George Monbiot
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JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The BBC and other broadcasters have swallowed the right's small boat invasion narrative hook, line and sinker. They have no interest in reporting a fall in crossings - especially as the weather cannot be blamed. Normal service will be resumed if numbers start rising again.
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Colin Randall @salutsunderland.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Continuing Salut! Folk’s occasional series acclaiming Martin Carthy’s great career - and his phenomenal contributions to folk and folk-rock @elizacarthy.bsky.social While there, see also @nextwavef.bsky.social’s superb retrospective on the classic Morris On album… salutfolk.com/2026/07/06/m...
salutfolk.com
Martin Carthy: the folk-rock years - Salut! Folk
Colin Randall writes: we recently had wretched news that Ashley Hutchings had suffered a stroke. He has cancelled appearances, as you’d expect, but is in good
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Colin Randall @salutsunderland.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Look this up. If you didn’t already know, @katherinepriddy.bsky.social is a priceless singer, songwriter and musician with her heart in the right place @nextwavef.bsky.social #folkmusic
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Your regular reminder that the UK Home Office is feral and no longer fit for purpose. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... @ukparliament.parliament.uk
theguardian.com
Jamaican man who has lived in UK for 26 years facing deportation
Case of Mark Nelson, 46, is one of first since new measures were announced in last week’s immigration bill
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Prof. Ian Walker @ianwalker.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I shall watch this with interest. There's no way to get 60% of kids actively travelling to school without disrupting current patterns of car-based mobility. This includes making all urban streets safer, not just those right outside schools www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Ministers want 60% of pupils in England ‘actively’ travelling to school by 2035
Exclusive: Transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, says cycling and walking plan focuses on ‘everyday travel needs’
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Christopher @cekent.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Every four years non-sports media and casual sports fans learn about how corrupt FIFA is, but then the tourney ends and everyone forgets.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Amazingly there is no limit on how much money can be donated to politicians. This benefits billionaires more than the rest of us. Encourage your MP to support the amendments that would limit political donations. #Politics action.electoral-reform.org.uk/page/192730/...
action.electoral-reform.org.uk
Sign now to demand an end to big money in politics
It takes 30 seconds
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Nick Wray @nickwray.com · 04/06/2026
The penalties of not thinking - and of thinking too much? #AI #Football. Andrew Curry (@nextwavef.bsky.social) scores a goal in his latest #JustTwoThings... Cognitive debt” is the price of letting an AI ‘think’ for you open.substack.com/pub/justtwot...
open.substack.com
4 June 2026. Thinking | Penalties
“Cognitive debt” is the price of letting an AI ‘think’ for you // How the penalty kick became the penalty shoot-out [#665]
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Your regular reminder that the UK Home Office is feral and no longer fit for purpose. It excels itself here. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Home Office sends letters to children as young as five saying they must leave UK
Children of those on care worker visas – who came legally before rule change – told to leave even if parents can stay
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Colin Randall @salutsunderland.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Like Irish music? Appreciate top-quality singing and arrangement when you hear it? This great review of Mary Black in concert for nearly the last time is worth reading … Salut! Folk’s @nextwavef.bsky.social is the author
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Colin Randall @salutsunderland.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Happy 85th #bobdylan To mark the birthday, Salut! Folk’s @nextwavef.bsky.social delves into the strange story of the murder ballad Duncan and Brady . It’s an excellent read salutfolk.com/2026/05/24/b...
salutfolk.com
Bob Dylan and ‘Duncan and Brady’: Cover Story 77 - Salut! Folk
Bob Dylan is 85 today, and to mark the occasion—and also to nod towards his Neverending Tour—we’ve picked Duncan and Brady, which he included in his live sets
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said there was "no obligation" to declare a £5m gift he received from a billionaire backer before he became an MP. Sky’s Beth Rigby points out the rules
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
More than 3,200 lawyers including 300 top barristers and retired judges have called on Keir Starmer to drop his plan to restrict the right to trial by jury.
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Alasdair Cameron @alasdaircameron.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Reform are down 6% on their local election results in 2025. This corresponds to all the polling showing they are having a gradual decline. Fight them on all their batty ideas, don’t let them pick the narrative (all about immigration), increase the salience of the areas where they are weakest.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 09/05/2026
There are lots of questions I want to ask Reform people, mostly starting "about that five million quid", but it would be a shame to let this moment from Robert Jenrick slip past unnoticed. thecritic.co.uk/toda...
On Jenrick ploughed, trying to ignore the chuntering that was now coming from the woman at his side. “The most important thing in politics is to be honest with the public, and being honest means saying what needs to be done and actually doing it, not a sham scheme like Rwanda.”

Let’s just press pause there. It was understandable, in the wave of words pouring from Jenrick’s mouth, that this line passed without comment, but it’s barely two years since the plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was so important to him that he resigned over moves to water it down. “I genuinely believe, having immersed myself in this issue for 14 months, that this is a good policy,” Jenrick told parliament at the time. Now it turns out it was a sham.

Jenrick is on the very short list of politicians who have complained about appearing in this sketch, something that cheers me up even on the lowest days. He shares with Farage a total lack of shame, a naked concern only with his own interests, and a level of
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
'Reform UK are a limited company backed by millionaires, but we have been backed by the ordinary, wonderful people of Wales' Delyth Jewell MS, Deputy Leader of Plaid Cymru, spoke to #BBCBreakfast after the party won the elections for the Welsh Parliament with Reform UK in second
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Keir Starmer has an instinctive political ability to waste political capital on the wrong fights.
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Alex @mornflake.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
🕰️ One year ago today - and what an away day this was! ELF's assist for Isidor 😍 Mayenda's pounce 😼 Ballard's bravery 🦁 The doubters were silenced, the Coventry fans stunned. The Sunderland fans celebrated, but the players kept their cool, knowing it was only half-time. @safc.com #SAFC #TilTheEnd
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Today’s issue of Just Two Things: the connection between unhappiness and #populism; and in praise of brief writing. justtwothings.substack.com/p/9-may-2026...
justtwothings.substack.com
9 May 2026. Unhappiness | Writing
The rise in unhappiness is a predictor of populism // 100 words and an image [J2T#664]
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
There’s no conceivable policy reason why the UK Home Office has introduced the ridiculous new rules on dual national citizens. Except that it is feral and not fit for purpose. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Scottish mum stuck abroad after baby falls foul of UK dual nationality rules
Sarah Schloegl was unable to board flight home from Spain as 11-month-old lacked documents needed under new rules
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Colin Randall @salutsunderland.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Beverley Martyn put up with a lot in life, especially when married to the musically gifted but horribly abusive John. Here, a week after her death, Andrew Curey - aka @nextwavef.bsky.social - looks back on Beverley’s achievements as well as the misogyny and sexism she faced
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Marking May Day at the Salut #Folk site by celebrating Ed Pickford’s classic The Workers’ Song, “We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die/ The first ones in line for that pie in the sky…” salutfolk.com/2026/05/01/t... @salutsunderland.bsky.social
salutfolk.com
Celebrating The Workers’ Song — a song for May Day - Salut! Folk
Andrew Curry writes: It is May Day today, international workers’ day, and what better way to mark it here than with Ed Pickford’s song The Workers’ Song.
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Colin Randall @salutsunderland.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
This really is a lovely review of three great musicians in concert at the Irish Cultural centre in London. Salut! Folk’s @nextwavef.bsky.social was lucky enough to be there @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social salutfolk.com/2026/04/25/m...
salutfolk.com
McGoldrick, McCusker and Doyle — top tunes from a trad supergroup - Salut! Folk
It’s the end of March, on the last night of a 35-gig tour, and McGoldrick, McCusker, and Doyle are clearly enjoying themselves up there on the stage of the
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Ann Pettifor @annpettifor.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
1/2 Surely Yvette Coooer must resign too? From the Guardian today. In September 2025 in a letter to the FcFCO select committee Yvette Cooper and Robbins said the process had “concluded with DV clearance being granted by the FCDO in advance of Lord Mandelson taking up post in February”.
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
If the UK government is serious about closer ties to Europe, it could just instruct the @ukhomeoffice.bsky.social to introduce a simple set of rules for the 3 million people with settled status that allow them to travel normally in the same way that citizens do. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Woman stranded in Dusseldorf after return UK flight blocked over Home Office admin error
Liza Tobay, who lives in UK, was told her settled status had been ‘red flagged’ after trying to make a connecting flight from Munich to Edinburgh
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Your regular reminder that @ukhomeoffice.bsky.social is feral and not fit for purpose. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Sri Lankan student could be deported from UK after one-day student fee delay
Coventry University reported Navodya De Silva, 25, to Home Office after £8,000 arrived late, causing termination of visa
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Andy Extance @andyextance.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
"[T]here’s no evidence that anyone is earning a return" on AI, says @nextwavef.bsky.social. Companies are planning big bets on building data centres - but half of them are cancelled or delayed, *because they have no path to profitability*! Madness! thenextwavefutures.wordpress.com/2026/04/09/a...
thenextwavefutures.wordpress.com
What kind of business is the AI business?
The economics of the AI business are basically the economics of data centres. That’s a tough business model to make money from.
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🦙llama🦙 @igguana.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
An article from @nextwavef.bsky.social that's feels made for @michaelhobbes.bsky.social and @notalawyer.bsky.social on Airport Book Brain!! justtwothings.substack.com/p/1-april-20...
justtwothings.substack.com
31 March 2026. Business | Change [2]
Quick, shallow, and over-confident: business books, management and politics // The early cultural signs of change [#661]
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Andrew Curry @nextwavef.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
The @ukhomeoffice.bsky.social is feral and unfit for purpose. (See also: chasing Reform on immigration measures is a stupid political strategy.) www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Six students challenge Home Office visa ban on four countries
Sudanese and Afghan students with offers to study in UK say government’s ‘emergency brake’ is discriminatory
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Prof. Peter Madden, OBE @thepmadden.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Fab new Senior Academic Futures Role at Cardiff University. Closing date 3 April. Please share. @nextwavef.bsky.social @wendyinfutures.bsky.social @idilgaziulusoy.bsky.social @riveong.bsky.social @amywebb.bsky.social @anthonymobile.bsky.social krb-sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Sear...
krb-sjobs.brassring.com
Job Search | Cardiff University
Search for Internet job results.
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