iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Tom Barrett

Esheru @esherukweku.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

15 outlets published 249 articles about Jason Arday, but there appears to be a partial media blackout regarding Dr Lola Salem, Michael Gove's ex-girlfriend, who has been suspended from Oxford University after being charged with possessing indecent images of children. jamradio.uk/news/2026/10...

jamradio.uk

Lola Salem denies indecent-image charges | Jam Radio

Oxford academic Dr Lola Salem denies indecent-image charges. Her recently reported separation from Michael Gove is a separate matter.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

To add to my previous post about something getting "thrown out" - these are the thrower outers

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Another planning term only used by local newspaper journalists: "thrown out" instead of refused.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I don't think I trust this dude

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

When you're googling planning stuff but it inadvertently tells you what you need to get through Local Plan preparation

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The latest consultation on Liverpool Local Plan makes reference to Liverpool as a "24 hour city". I'm sure I haven't heard this term since the noughties. Or maybe they've taken "15 minute city" to the opposite extreme.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Happy new NPPF day to all who celebrate.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Just to say that if I ever launch a planning podcast (don't worry I won't), I'll call it Reserved Natters.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Restore getting more votes than the Green Party in Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Wigan is concerning*. The same boroughs plus Bolton giving Reform more second pref votes. Labour got a higher no. of votes than Reform and Restore in all boroughs (but v. Close in some boroughs)

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Just drove into the Makerfield constituency to go to the tip and drove past @zackpolanski.bsky.social. By-election fever!

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Watching the Challenge Cup Final in my back yard in Wigan, but backing Rurvers today

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Have been thinking about this from POV of living in Wigan. Would the economy of Wigan have fared any better if there wasn't this level of growth in the centre of the city region? I am not sure of any scenario where it would be.

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Tom Phillips @tom-phillips.com · 21/05/2026

I don't think it's a good idea to legally privilege someone else's discomfort over another person's rights.

13.147 A legitimate aim for excluding a trans person from a separate or single-sex service for their own sex might be to prevent discomfort or distress for other service users.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

After looking on LinkedIn a lot, my question is: What's the point of UK REiiF?

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Excellent stuff on my timeline

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Gah just wanted to listen to the funk and soul show on 6music whilst I got tea ready but the BBC news includes vox pops from racists justifying why they went to that racist march. No thank you.

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Gail Myerscough @gailmyerscough.co.uk · 13/05/2026

If you haven’t got Instagram here’s the whole sorry tale…

Brexit nonsense regarding small UK businesses selling to the EU

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

If Burnham did go (and would he even win a by-election?) what would happen to the GM mayoralty?

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

@reformexposed.bsky.social www.facebook.com/share/1XockQ... how does this not break electoral commission rules??

facebook.com

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

My Instagram algorithm has decided I should buy a rooftop tent for my car. I'm fascinated, they look really impractical and daft.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Feel like this might have been done already

The terrifying truth is that 15 minute cities was always about controlling our daily lives

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

It’s over for this country

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Wigan and St Helens the strategic planning hotspot of the North West, hopefully not at the fringes. Travel by train in 3 different directions from Wigan for about 15 mins and you've hit 4 different SDS areas (including Greater Manchester).

Map showing proposed SDS areas, with a ring around Wigan and St Helens showing the 4 different SDS areas

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Alex Nurse @alexnurse.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The idea that *checks notes* ...stuff like some shops, the park or your doctors... be a short walk from your house is, of course the thin end of the wedge for communism. Or is it every village and small town the length and breadth of the nation. I guess we'll never know.

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

What a time to be alive

The Telegraph

The idea will see a person being able to access amenities within a quarter of an hour, but could result in traffic restrictions for drivers... See more

Labour opens door to 'Stalinist' 15-minute cities across Britain

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Andy Cox @andy-cox.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Driving is a privilege, earned through assessment and retained via acceptable standards. Why should such people ever be allowed to lawfully drive again and share the road with victims? We would never return a firearms licence to someone who unlawfully used a gun to kill. Why is driving different?

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

'Another Warrington has hit the North-West'.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

A 2/10 planning storyline on EastEnders. So Elaine didn't even have an application in, but gets her grandson's connected mate to make a couple of calls to the council to get planning permission... Seemingly on an evening when they're out drinking?

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

"planning chiefs" will always be my favourite town planning related newspaperspeak word.

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

dr. pseudonymity enjoyer @ulycia.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

i hope every single person who still buys harry potter merch or engages with that franchise is happy that they're literally making girl guides cry girl guides uk have been forced very much against their will to exclude trans girls. full statement is here: www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-...

This update includes information you may find upsetting. Please take care when reading.
From today, it is with a heavy heart that we announce trans girls will no longer be able to join Girlguiding. This is a decision we would have preferred not to make, and we know that this may be upsetting for members of our community.
There will be no immediate changes for current young members, but more information will be shared soon. Most adult roles - including unit helpers, district helpers and administrative support - are already open to all, so we are confident that no volunteers will have to leave the organisation.
Girlguiding believes strongly in inclusion, and we will continue to support young people and adults in marginalised groups. Over the next few months, we will explore opportunities to champion this value and actively support young people who need us.
We stand in solidarity with trans girls and women.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

England all out before I wake up 🙄

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Carla Denyer @carladenyer.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

This is a new low from a govt plumbing the depths of performative cruelty in hopes that the public won’t notice they have no answers to the real issues facing this country A sensible, humane govt would focus on safe routes to prevent people making dangerous small boat crossings

Screenshot of a headline reading: "Refugees' jewellery could be seized to pay for asylum costs, says Home Office minister."

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Liz Saville Roberts AS / MP @lsrplaid.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Labour is enabling Farage’s agenda by trading principles for soundbites. Rules and controls are necessary - but rules without humanity corrode trust and fuel division. The measure of a civilised country is not how many people it turns away but how it treats the most vulnerable.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Calverley isn't in Pudsey. Sara Cox has another couple of miles down to the roundabout and down Galloway Lane.

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Axing the cycle-to-work scheme might seem like low-hanging fruit for a cash-strapped Treasury, but it would be a big mistake. Particularly with expensive kid-carrying cargo e-bikes, it's one of the most effective modal shift levers out there. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Rachel Reeves to cut tax benefits for workers using salary sacrifice schemes to buy bikes

Chancellor expected to introduce new limit on how much can be spent on a bicycle through cycle to work scheme

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

He was barely 8 years old at the end of the 1980s.

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Tom Barrett @plannertomb.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

I have absolutely zero faith that this will end will.

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Bethany Black @bethanyblack.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Just went to Westhoughton, and if I could give you a snapshot of the UK at this moment in history in this small Greater Manchester town there was an Italian restaurant next door to a Turkish Barbers next to a Thai Massage place and a Union Flag hanging from the window of the flat above them.

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

The UK suffers from a finance curse. Far from being our economic jewel, the City of London has drained trillions from the economy. That’s lost jobs, lost investment, and a weaker democracy. In this video, I explain why finance is making Britain poorer, and what must change. youtu.be/Ssa_4TqpxVg?...

youtu.be

The finance curse: how the City is destroying Britain

YouTube video by Richard J Murphy

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Reposted by Tom Barrett

Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 23/09/2025

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

How the simmering UK freedom of speech row reached boiling point

How did we reach a point where the UK is being compared to a 'tin pot Third World dictatorship'?

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