iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 1h

Good job Bluesky was down during last night’s Scotland match, that would have been doubly depressing.

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Tim Richards @timrichards.aus.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026

Today is the publication day of my new book from Hardie Grant, Train Europe, so I dropped by Readings Emporium to see if it's in stock yet. It is! Nicely placed facing outward on the shelves too; I approve. #train #trains #Europe #book #books @bookstodon

Tins holding a copy of his book, Train Europe.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

To cross streams a moment, Mulhouse’s city population is just over 100,000 and the agglomeration nearly 250,000. It’s considerably smaller than Preston and it has three tram lines and one tram-train. The trams seem well-used (60,000 passengers a day). Why can’t we have nice things too?

A yellow tram at a stop on a tree lined avenue There are green hoops over the tramway.

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Andi Zeisler @andizeisler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

As fallout from the Cornell story continues, do you want to hear some history about the rape-on-campus/false-accusation panic from someone who was starting college as it took shape? Because this isn’t new, and it’s going to get ugly

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Perry Byrne @evilflea.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I have vowed to get back into the habit of regular silly doodles. So in honour of the cooling weather...

A door is open in the background. A man in a cardigan is telling off a remorseful looking cow. Caption: "Were you born in a barn?"

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I love how this implies “New York Bill” is Mamdani’s new nickname.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I can’t say strongly enough that these are not realistic scenarios for the people I observed and, based on data about family lives, almost anyone else we might consider normal and/or not rich.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Out for a walk. What a lovely evening. I’ll miss summer, but autumn does good sunsets.

A view across a field to some houses, trees and - in the distance - hills. The sun is low, just still above the horizon, a burning yellow orange, casting beams over the scene.

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Charlie Connelly @charlieconnelly.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is insane. Local radio is the bedrock of the modern BBC. It is near the top of the things it does best: serving local communities.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

And what if you doggedly refuse to sing from anything other than CH3?

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New-Cleckit Dominie @ncdominie.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Great moments in Scottish engineering history: James Watt tries to work out how his phone attaches to his selfie stick.

Statue of James Watt. In his right hand he holds a telescopic stick with a frame at the top; in his left he holds a flat object about the size of a large smartphone. He is scowling at the possibly-not-a-smartphone as if he is tempted to yeet it into the sea. On that basis, it probably _is_ a phone.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A metaphor for something. bsky.app/profile/dlbo...

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Da moonah. Not the greatest shot but it did look spectacular this evening while out for a walk.

Trees, silhouetted against a dark blue sky. The moon is low in that same sky, a bit blurry.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Been making flapjack this weekend. Never made it before, delighted how easy it is and how well it turned out. Slightly terrified by how much sugar and syrup is in it, though.

A few slightly crumbled pieces of flapjack, up close, on a sheet of grease proof paper.

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Becca Harrison @beccaeharrison.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

So I’ve just written a whole 90k-word book about why Lucasfilm definitely 100% should not do this. It has nothing to do with story arcs or Star Wars fan service and everything to do with ‘maybe we’d like a not-dying planet of our own instead of more samey-samey resource-intensive fantasy ones.’

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A very lazy day of eating and chilling and watching football. Sometimes that’s just how days need to roll.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Chefs from the west of France who are good at porridge and flapjack have a real oat savoir.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

That’s was alright, eh? Missed chances but a good performance and some encouraging signs of what’s to come. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ⚽️

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Heather Burns @heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

if you as a parent are publishing tiktok videos asking why your adult child is not adequately adulting in your humble opinion, from which your adult child could be identified, you're soon going to be publishing tiktok videos asking why your child has gone no contact and cut you out of their life.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Mi neniam aliĝis, sed ĉi tio estas bedaŭro. Esperantejo malbeniĝas per aĉkvalitaj aŭ nedaŭraj retejoj.

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Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

we need chicago pope to step in and say "you will follow the rules or you will get a visit from [pulls down sunglasses] the Batican"

Pope Leo with a black baseball bat. Do not mess with Chicago Pope!

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

What happened when Nelson said something contemptible on social media? He got horatio’d.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Intrigued by the news of a bit of a political crisis in Maribor, Slovenia, where apparently a large number of people are wanting - for historical reasons all locked up with the Austro-Hungarian Empire - to break away and become a part of the Austrian province immediately to the north.

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Andy Arthur💃🏰⚓🦌 Threadinburgh 🧵 @threadinburgh.scot · 25/09/2026

I'm not sure what's more surprising, that this row of shops and flats in West Granton has been left abandoned for over 16 years, or that it's not yet mysteriously burned down in all that time 🤔

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.

theintercept.com

DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.

In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Feliĉan - and I do not say this lightly - semajnfinon.

A glass of whisky and an Islay Ales mug. There’s also a bottle of McEwan’s Champion and another of Tamnavulin whisky.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

All entirely subjective. I've only fully watched 7 (Veep), 16 (UK Office), 22 (Lost), 26 (Black Mirror), 32 (Andor) and 34 (Schitt's Creek) from the first 50; and a handful from the second 50; and dabbled in only a handful more. And obviously disappointed no Firefly!

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I saw the original headline and immediately knew this would be a good one.

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Mark McIntyre @markjmcintyre.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There's something amazing about being in a peloton of 40+ bikes on the cycle lane heading home. Every driver at the front of a queue of side-street traffic... every person peering out of a bus window... every passer-by gets the message: "Oh wow, yeah, people are using this stuff". Never gets old.

My view travelling home by bike: Loads of people cycling on the South City Way cycle lane on Victoria Road in Govanhill in the Southside of Glasgow, during evening rush hour. A woman in front of me wears an incredibly fetching gold coloured helmet.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

On my way into work this morning I thought of a brilliant joke. Worried I’d forget it, I just told myself to remember the punchline and the build up would come back to me instinctively. Got into the office. I’d forgotten the punchline. Ah well.

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badly drawn bee 🐝 @soapachu.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Happy 42nd broadcast day to this cheery piece

Radio Times (TV listings magazine) cover advertising Threads. A terrifying vision of a nuclear attack on Sheffield, UK.

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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Ah man. The men he will help by disclosing this. I hope it helps him heal too.

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Miss Havishambles @misshavishambles.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Equinox? No they are bovine I believe.

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Mike Foster @swanmore.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Can I go slightly off-topic? Why are bomb disposal operatives always described as bomb disposal EXPERTS? I mean, is there a lower level of personnel called bomb disposal CLOWNS? Or bomb disposal NOT VERY GOOD STAFF? Do they use these when it doesn't matter if there's an explosion and people die?

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

One an anglophone land known for its politeness and in no way a part of Europe, and with a frozen north and over-populated south, and the other…

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Read the headline as an American.

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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

30 years ago Spitting Image dared to broadcast the truth about Israel. Now no one dares.

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The Victorian Society @thevicsoc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

We're reaching for our smelling salts. A new vape shop will be opening on Sauchiehall St next to the world-renowned Mackintosh Tearooms. This follows the devastating fire at Union St earlier this year caused by a vape shop that destroyed a Victorian building + took the Station out of use for days 🧵

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Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.com · 23/09/2026

Okay, a niche and minor win, but I'm thrilled to have spotted something on a rewatch of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the great 1979 TV series. Glasgow doubles up as Brno in most scenes, but they must've also got some shots of the actual border crossing towards Brno, because that is Mikulov Castle.

Screenshot of a TV scene with an empty road heading towards a distant castle

Screenshot of Google Streetview and the road towards Mikulov

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Gill Steele @squirreltower.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026

This is a huge blow to local communities across Scotland where no one else is building affordable homes This charity provided a huge public service I would ask the Scottish government who do they think will help community volunteers build homes now????? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Highland housing trust facing closure amid financial challenges

The Communities Housing Trust has helped build affordable homes in the Hebrides and rural areas.

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David Whitley @mrdavidwhitley.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I would like our Government to be outlawing, vociferously speaking out against and ruthlessly prosecuting members of what is clearly a paramilitary fascist organisation.

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Misread this as painting a cranachan which would’ve been something.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Am raglenni hyfryd iawn! Diolch o galon @cwmnida.bsky.social. Honoured to be part of such a lovely, vivid portrait of my great hero Jan Morris, 100 years from her birth, by her son, the poet Twm Morys. Full of amazing archive and insight. English subtitles available. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

bbc.co.uk

Chwedl Jan Morris

Rhiant, ffrind, cymydog, Cymraes. Portread personol ac unigryw o'r awdur byd-enwog Jan Morris gan ei mab, Twm Morys. A personal portrait of the world-famous author, Jan Morris, ...

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Zora O'Neill @zoraoneill.com · 21/09/2026

This genuinely makes me want to go to Peru just to party.

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christhebarker @christhebarker.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

21st September

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Simon Varwell @simonvarwell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Ok this is… not an awful start? Could’ve been hugely worse. Depending on details the headline could be misleading: it’s not necessarily 6 but 100. Where power will lie between them will be crucial. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Scotland's 32 councils could be cut to six under government plan

Between six and 10 regional bodies would replace local authorities under proposals submitted by ministers.

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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Am speaking at a fringe event at Lib Dem conference- about extreme wealth Spot the typo on the sign 😬

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