iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 6h

I genuinely am looking forward to visiting the USA once again on the other side of all this. Friends to see, places to go. But now? Hard nope.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 6h

Trying to work out how I seem to know every note of Vaughan Williams’ “The Wasps” (orchestral suite) - like perhaps I had it on a cassette? Or did I see it performed? It clearly went in deep at some point… Movement iv is a bit blah, but the rest is cracking.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 29/09/2026

Nah. They had decent Schwalbe tyres tbh. Just needs a new tube, and checking for glass in the tread.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 29/09/2026

It’s just “cheapest possible option” the whole way. Which I suppose at least helps reduce the sunk costs when it comes to ripping it out and doing it properly later, but also nooooooooooo!

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 29/09/2026

In the UK, sounding your horn in any non-emergency scenario (like at lights) is illegal and can lead to a £1000 fine (not that people know/care). So erm. Just don’t. Be patient. Be zen.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 29/09/2026

Sadly I think this a rotten failure of design and forward planning. No provision for double tracking it. They put the platform on top of the former eastbound alignment. 😭 Phhhhh.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 29/09/2026

I spotted a young person who was riding home with a flat tyre… I offered them some air (or directions to a nearby bike shop), and mercifully the air held and they got home. Little things.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 27/09/2026

So while I agree that it must not be a substitute, and that we should crack through the electrification quicker, and we should build a whole new high speed line, having a bunch of battery capable trains is fine.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 27/09/2026

In the case of the Transpennine route, it makes some sense as a stop-gap while they close the gaps in electrification (which *is* happening). If we can deliver a bunch of battery trains quicker (2034) than delivering the whole programme (2041) then woo, we reduce diesel-under-wires.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 24/09/2026

@joshih.bsky.social are you sending anyone to MCC planning ctte today? Expect both items to be interesting 😘

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 23/09/2026

It’s not mycelium it’s everybody’s celium.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 22/09/2026

Standing Orders ctte. They normally put out a call for chairs for both the workshops and plenaries a while in advance (but I can’t see one for this year)

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 20/09/2026

This is good. Enjoying 1812 overture!

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 19/09/2026

Also as a minor factor, had the resurfacing of the curry mile, which made all the junctions a crunchy debris-ridden mess for a few weeks. 😭

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CEEFAUX @ceefaux.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

22.00 FILM: GODCILLA
When nuclear tests off the cost of Merseyside disturb her slumber, a 300ft high redhead with huge teeth and a booming roar brings fear and a lorra lorra destruction to the surrounding areas.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 17/09/2026

And don’t get me started on why we are running diesel trains under wires 😭

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Loz Kaye. @lozkaye.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Is there any kind of tracking of air quality /pollution at Manchester Victoria platforms 4 5 6? It's always chokingly awful in the covered area. Cc @samsterby.com

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 17/09/2026

To my knowledge no… if there is it’s high on my list to get everyone to share the data and aggregate it. As it happens I’ll be speaking about AQ monitoring in council next weds as part of a motion we are bringing.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 17/09/2026

Sadly the tanks won in Chile and they got Augusto Pinochet 💀

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 16/09/2026

I’m out of annual leave from day-job sadly. 😔

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ChinnyVision @chinnyvision.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

National and Internal Borders 2029 might look something like this

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 14/09/2026

I tried to read it many years ago… and gave up. It’s pretty unusual for me to give up on a book. Trudge indeed.

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Carla Denyer @carladenyer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Good news! I made the case for banning adverts for high-carbon products back in 2020. It was important then and it’s even more crucial now. Huge respect to @adfreecities.bsky.social for their years of campaigning, and to my @bristolgreenparty.bsky.social council colleagues for making it happen 👏

Screenshot of an Instagram post by Adfree Cities: Bristol bans polluting ads - ads for fossil fuels, SUVs, flights and fast fashion will no longer appear on council-owned sites. Huge result as Bristol council approves ban on ads for fossil fuels and other polluting products and services.

Screenshot of second page of Instagram post by Adfree Cities: In a massive win against polluting advertising, Bristol City Council has introduced restrictions on ads for SUVs, fossil fuels, airlines, cruises and ultra-fast fashion on council-owned and sites. The policy aims to make rim for the promotion of more sustainable forms of transport, travel and holidays.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 14/09/2026

Since I found myself on the Manchester City Council planning committee it has become more salient than ever 😉🐆

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Real Gaz on a proper bike: gazza_d@toot.bike @gazza-d.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I'm all in favour of cars in principle but idiot drivers who park like this give the rest a bad reputation. It only needs a molecule of common sense* *pavement parking is normalised & socially acceptable, despite the fact that it's virtually impossible to get past. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Driver wedges Kia SUV on Wales Coast Path at Mumbles

It was jammed between a concrete fence post and a bench, and had been abandoned by the driver.

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Dave Morton @dmonbeer.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Click every box that contains Lancaster (Forton) Services so we know you are human.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 12/09/2026

I have had zero reasons to use the DLR for many years, but I absolutely love that they have done this.

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Karl-on-Sea @karlonsea.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Mesmerising!

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 10/09/2026

This is how the school run should be.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 09/09/2026

(Whispers) mastodon is where all the real cool AI haters are. This place was always a compromise imo.

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Mags Campbell @magscampbell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

If you don't know about the Battle of Cable Street, and other times we stood up to British fascists, you can learn about that now, before it's too fucking late. History is not boring and it's definitely not irrelevant.

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Andy Scollick @andyscollick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

If MI5 and SO15 were aware of the operation being planned, then they clearly either chose not to inform Kent Police and withheld vital operational information needed for adequate policing.* OR If they were unaware, which indicates a massive intelligence failure, undermining UK national security.

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Dr Phoenix CS Andrews @thatdocphoenix.com · 07/09/2026

No, you don’t understand. It’s 4D chess so they can catch them properly next time. It’s definitely not a failure of public order

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 07/09/2026

I was thinking of joking earlier that the far right can get in the sea… And they actually did… 🙄

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 07/09/2026

@aptshadow.bsky.social really enjoyed Preaching to the Choir. The name does sound familiar, but we definitely aren’t quite that posh. 😉

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Tristan Grayford @tristangrayford.scot · 05/09/2026

Mélenchon vs Le Pen would be a disaster and I really hope that we see the French left come up with someone, anyone else. Or Mélenchon sinks himself so much that Glucksmann can step into the gap. He's not great, but he's not Mélenchon.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 04/09/2026

Indeed. Shall crack on with asking exactly that, while also figuring out how we can seek to replicate their work.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 04/09/2026

👍👍 Was thinking I should tag you and ask how it happened!!

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 03/09/2026

What’s really impressive here is the sheer density of air quality monitoring in London. They have the London Air Quality Network for high quality reference data, and have that padded out by sensors from BreatheLondon and loads of NO2 diffusion tubes. Manchester has nothing on this scale.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 03/09/2026

Dealing with fraud is only a fraction of my main day job at the bank. But all the years of mandatory training was very useful today in a real-world scenario as a cllr.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 03/09/2026

In small acts of kindness, today I helped someone *not* get defrauded of several hundred pounds. They were trying to buy an item on FB, and the seller had asked for an upfront payment. The buyer was already suspicious but we were able to establish that the seller wasn’t who they said they were.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 03/09/2026

(Reads an article about the latest Reform donations scandal) ah well they might all legit be in Birmingham, courting business at their conference. Or drowning their sorrows. Anyway whatevs.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 03/09/2026

Of course, one party decided to not show up. They seem to be making a habit of this. They walked out on the last meeting too. Perhaps they don’t want to be there any more?

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 03/09/2026

We had a Full Council meeting this evening to elect my ward counterpart Garry Bridges as the new leader of Manchester City Council. In his speech he spoke of a collaborative approach - and we Greens very much welcome that. We’ll be keeping them honest, robustly and politely.

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Jon @jontafkasi.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Where's my bike shed gone? And more importantly, my fecking bike lock???

Some empty concrete surrounded by barriers where a bike shed ised to be. No sign of my bike lock.

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Cllr Sam Easterby-Smith @samsterby.com · 01/09/2026

Is this also the minor TV celebrity? I was going to guess Cheggers but realised he’s dead.

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The Seldom Seen Kid @seldom-seen-kid.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

They're all dead, Dave.

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