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Syd E

@syd-e13.bsky.social
570 followers 1.3K following 1.4K posts

Programmer; Swiftie (Paris N1); the other one from @crickether.com. Probably somewhere to your left.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 3h
Ah yes - the famous English town of “Cheshire”!!
A Netflix screenshot - the show is Leaving and it says “In the English town of Cheshire”!
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Swifties: not to read this piece - it’s not worth the brain cells you will lose from having to bang your head repeatedly against a brick wall afterwards.
theguardian.com
Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore review – flashes of humanity and bafflingly vindictive love songs
This four-track addition to a critically maligned album works hard to remind fans what they love about Swift, with some sweet highs and galling lows
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It turns out the one thing worse than VAR is… no VAR!
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You can't hate on Cleveland for being a glitter pen song - that's like hating on this tree outside my window for being a tree. Also… c'mon - the delivery of "You only need to find one person in this entire world who doesn't find you completely insufferable!" - that's a 10 right there!
The tree outside my window - it's a tree - a medium-sized horse chestnut, to be more precise. Most of the leaves are fallen to the grass below.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I reckon Taylor saw my recent Apple Music Replays and was like: "Who the freak does Jax think she is? I'll show her!"
May top artists for August:

1. Jax (1,016 minutes)
2. Taylor Swift (344 minutes)
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Watching Ludwig after having watched Star City. Keep expecting Anna Maxwell Martin to shoot someone in the head.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Looking at getting a heat pump in outer-London and every company we have spoken to want £250 up-front to do a quote (“survey”) so to get just two quotes is going to be £500! Is this normal?
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Charging my laptop from my sofa like I’m living in the future!
My MacBook attached via a USB C cable to a charging port in my fluffy sofa
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I get where this is coming from, but… * The lesson of sports is that banning ads for things you don't like just leads to more ads for genuinely bad stuff - gambling; crypto; etc. * There should be an equivalent of Godwin's Law for falling back on mentioning tobacco ads in these conversations!
bristol247.com
Council bans advertising of fast fashion, flights and cars
Adverts for high carbon products will no longer appear on council-owned ad spaces
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Boarded up shop fronts for rent/sale in Spain. None of it is real - they are illusions and everything you see is intricately painted on to the boardings.
A blue door with a lamp above and a flower pot by the stepsA wooden door with brass bars and a shuttered window
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
How it started vs How it’s going
Two glasses of drink - a tinto y lemon and a beerMe with a slice of melon in my mouth
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
“Peaceful protesters expressing their legitimate concerns.”
A Nazi rally from the 1930s
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
FWIW Google Maps in the UK is still showing "Lake Ontario".
A Google Maps screenshot from today (2 September 2026) showing "Lake Ontario".
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Donald Trump sure does seem to be keen to name things after a 15th Century Italian explorer - I wonder why he is such a fan? * Checks Wikipedia * Oooooh - he was a fantasist who probably didn’t do half the thing he claimed, and was involved in the slave trade. Right. Makes sense now.
en.wikipedia.org
Amerigo Vespucci - Wikipedia
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The Government: You can have plug-in solar now! Also The Government: You can fit it all yourself. Except for the bits you can't and which you almost certainly don't already have. Also-also The Government: You might need Planning Permission too! Who knows? Not us, we are merely the government!
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
“Second Hand Greggs” in Newcastle
Greggs Bakery Outlet - a slightly run down looking shopA shelf selling milk chocolate shortbread offcuts A bag of broken shortbreadsA sliver of broken shortbread
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
What is the difference really between "mandatory insurance" and tax? Especially as it would have to be highly redistributive? It's just semantics, isn't it?
The other is that you decide we need to take a leaf out of our peers’ books and decide that more of the cost of healthcare and of an ageing population will be paid for out of private spending — whether through mandatory insurance, a mixed model or something else entirely.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Something feels off about this supposed AI map that is doing the rounds - my guess is that it is NOT actually AI - not all the way down, anyways - it has been created by someone with an agenda to make AI look silly/bad.
The (aledged) AI UK political map everyone is talking about
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Watched the first ep of Star City last night. Thoughts… * It’s very grim; possibly too grim - we’ll see! * I’m not sure it works as “alternate history” because I don’t know the real history… and I did 2nd/3rd year modules in modern Russian history at uni, so I’ve got a head start on most people!!
tv.apple.com
Watch Star City - Apple TV
Step into a thrilling chapter inspired by For All Mankind. Same alt-history universe. Different perspective: the Soviet Union’s. Go behind the Iron Cu…
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Pet Shop Boys, actually.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Computer Programmers 🤝 All My Single Friends Dates are a Pain in the ****
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
This is dumb - sorry! You can't do "security through obscurity" - someone will always know which house is his, so you have to assume everyone knows.
national.thelead.uk
Exclusive: Andy Burnham’s Northern home address easily available since becoming Prime Minister
National security concerns deepen after some basic sleuthing from The Lead saw Number 10 act swiftly, reports Michael Holmes
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Crazy the extent to which Netflix's Little House on the Prairie was so clearly trying to ensure that the girls looked as much as possible like the girls in the 70s adaptation.
A still from the 70s show, showing the two girls
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
In a hotel lounge, and there is a Boomer using phone banking on speakerphone. If I'd recorded it, I'd have all his login deets via the touch-tones.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
It's a great idea, but if I did this the Shame List would be longer than the lifetime of the universe by the end of Day One! (Screenshot because I suspect OP is going to be drowned in notifications and it didn't seem fair to add to that.)
I have started a new todo list system where each week if something fills me with a sense of immense dread and guilt it goes on a separate Shame List and as soon as I've done one thing from the Shame List each week I don't have to look at it or think about it again until the following Monday
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
If really feels like we've collectively decided that even if an AI agent does something that would be unambiguously illegal* if a human did it… that's fine? (*Certainly unambiguously illegal in the UK.)
abc.net.au
How a simple request for AI to book a gym class exposed a major threat
When Andrew asked his AI personal assistant to book him a spot in a gym class, he had no idea he would accidentally initiate an autonomous cyber attack.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
That’s the dream - a rich Italian!
A coffee bag that says “Rich Italian”
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
When you want to name your new road after your favorite American singer, but you’ve had a few beers when you fill out the form.
A road sign that says “Taylour Close”
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
At Great Malvern station every pillar has a unique floral design.
A pillar with a floral design at the topA close up of one of the designs with green leavesAnother close up with yellow flowers
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
This totally misses the *actual* problem. You can only “fix” housing for the young by substantially reducing prices. But this would be catastrophically bad for many existing home-owners (negative equity) and *perceived* as a disaster by all of them. So no government will do this. It is unfixable.
ft.com
How to fix Britain’s housing crisis
We need to find ways to lift the financial and resource constraints on new homebuilding
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Richmond Hill
Me, from behind wearing a broad brimmed Tilley hat, looking over the Thames valley
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
London wildlife this morning in Hampton.
A juvenile deer with impressive antlers Bright green parakeets clinging to an old tree
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
So… I think this is really good. And I think the reason it is really good is because the writers “know we know” - we *all* know how this ends! So we know something the characters don’t, and the writers lean into that and create a dramatic tension that feels really different to most shows.
netflix.com
Watch Little House on the Prairie | Netflix Official Site
The close-knit Ingalls family builds a new life on the Western frontier, where the joys of nature and the struggle for survival are deeply intertwined.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
"A brilliant young person I know left school, took up an internship… now she’s in her early 20s with no debt and a great position at a big fashion house." TLDR: If you are brilliant *and* well connected enough to know a Guardian columnist (the plot twist will shock you!) you'll be fine!
theguardian.com
I’m torn by the hard hat v graduation cap debate. Is it wrong that I want my kids to go to university? | Emma Brockes
As Andy Burnham intervenes, it’s clear that the shine is coming off higher education. But is society ready for this mindshift? Am I? asks Guardian columnist Emma Brockes
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
In 1926 I'd still be in London - either at prep school (en route to City of London + Oxford) or selling newspapers outside a tube station, having left school at 14. (My two grandfathers may have lived in the same city but they had *very* different lives.)
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Feel like I'm seeing a lot more jobs in cricket advertised (and paid) as "part time" when everyone knows they will effectively be full time in practice. I guess another unintended side effect of the ongoing uplift in the minimum wage while salaries more generally stagnate?
Location: Remote/home-based, with evening and weekend work and regular travel nationwide essential to support programme delivery and operations

Reports to: Head of Operations

Salary: £22,000–£25,000, dependent on experience (for 3 days per week / 0.6 FTE).
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Well this has fucking broken me 😢
youtube.com
Jax - An Airport Bathroom (Lyric Video)
YouTube video by JAX
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The wait for “First PM to go to Essex” continues 😕
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Counterpoint: The Argentina players are obviously NOT going to face any meaningful action. (With the operative word here being "meaningful".)
bbc.co.uk
World Cup 2026: Argentina could face disciplinary action for displaying Falklands banner after beating England
Argentina face the prospect of disciplinary action from Fifa after their players celebrate the World Cup semi-final win against England with a banner in support of their country's claims to the Falkla...
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
So much to love about The Other Bennet Sister but above all the title sequence is a delight.
bbc.co.uk
The Other Bennet Sister
The spirited Bennet sisters navigate the minefield of the marriage market – but for bookish Mary, another path beckons. A new spin on Pride and Prejudice, starring Ella Bruccoleri.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
The year is 2038. The Cricket World Cup is 2 teams. India are ranked 754th in the world. They still qualify.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Have decided that these are just 3 seasons of the same show, called “Bad Things Happen To Rich People At The Beach”!
Posters for The Five Star Weekend, The Perfect Couple & We Were Liars
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Honestly… probably because their train was cancelled?
A security poster asking: “Why have they been hanging around for so long?”
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Watched Voicemails for Isabelle last night. Didn’t hate it but ethics aside (the behaviour of the guy in About Time is arguably far worse; and everyone seems to love that movie) it is basically a rom-com without the “com”. The only time I laughed was a very niche joke based on a Taylor Swift lyric.
netflix.com
Watch Voicemails for Isabelle | Netflix Official Site
A young woman's hilariously confessional voicemails to her late sister are unknowingly redirected to a stranger, who begins to fall in love from afar.
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
The Lib Dems: We are a serious party. Also the Lib Dems: …
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
DELETE * FROM tblWaitingList?
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I’ve just seen the future of entertainment and it scared me The New York Philharmonic make it seem as if Mozart is conducting the orchestra in front of you in flesh and blood. But this technology could smother culture as we permanently revisit the past and never look to the future
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
We need a YouTube ban to protect kids from the evils of *checks notes* county cricket and free World Cup highlights!
youtube.com
India v Pakistan | Match Highlights | Women's #T20WorldCup 2026
YouTube video by ICC
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I'm veering wildly out of my lane here, but was it… nicotine addiction?!?!
A screenshot from The Guardian, asking "what was behind David Hockney’s lifelong love of smoking?"
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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I write credit card payment systems for a living. This is absolutely insane. (Also lots of unanswered questions about where liability lies when (because let’s face it, it is “when”) it goes wrong.)
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