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William Avery

@willavery.net
691 followers 947 following 981 posts

Retired IT bod from Bristol.🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 Interested in science, open source tech, 中文.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by William Avery
Carol Wilcox @redcazza.bsky.social · 9h
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Beware rightwing economic myths such as ‘maxing out the nation’s credit card’ | Letters
Letters: Readers respond to an article in which Larry Elliott argues that Andy Burnham must challenge neoliberal nostrums
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 9h
Solar panels are always the giveaway that any accusations of "overcapacity" are basically "we resent China winning" since the price keeps coming down even though China dominates the market, and that is changing the world - for good. ourworldindata.org/grapher/sola... ustr.gov/sites/defaul...
ourworldindata.org
Solar photovoltaic panel prices
Average price of solar modules, expressed in US dollars per watt, adjusted for inflation.
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Thames Valley Police have responded to claims by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s lawyer that search warrants issued by officers at the Royal Lodge at Windsor were unlawful. From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
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William Avery @willavery.net · 07/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Beware rightwing economic myths such as ‘maxing out the nation’s credit card’ | Letters
Letters: Readers respond to an article in which Larry Elliott argues that Andy Burnham must challenge neoliberal nostrums
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Niao Collective @niaocollective.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This is so dispiriting
wsj.com
In China, Battle Is Raging for the Soul of Tibet
On the edge of the Himalayas, a tourist boomtown sells Chinese visitors a commoditized, politically palatable version of Tibetan culture.
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Hong Kong Free Press HKFP @hongkongfp.com · 06/10/2026
Exclusive: In 2010 letter, Trump pleaded with Macau leader to correct ‘outrageous’ trademark defeat, attaching TV ratings hongkongfp.com/2026/10/06/e...
hongkongfp.com
https://hongkongfp.com/2026/10/06/exclusive-in-2010-letter-trump-pleaded-with-macau-leader-to-correct-outrageous-trademark-defeat-attaching-tv-ratings
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Niao Collective @niaocollective.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Apparently it's Banned Books Week in the US. Well, a few words, as a HKer: 1) Buy physical copies of books, especially those which you know can be taken away, just like that 2) Know who are the brave ones who sell books 3) Know which are the safe third spaces to read and discuss books
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Afraid there has always in my lifetime been a fair number in the further-left that are antisemitic, who tend to move around parties because of how completely toxic they are.
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Eddie Smith @eddsmitty.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️™️ 🧵 In July 1967, 19-year-old PFC Robert L. Hunt Jr. (below) returned home on leave to Cairo, IL. Hours after being arrested, he was found hanged in a jail cell. The ruling: suicide. Pull up a seat🪑, my friends. (cont) #ProudBlue #ResistanceRoots #USDemocracy #Voices4Victory
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 03/10/2026
Finally, my scapula will be returned to me.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Nicholas Garland for the New Statesman 1974 on the Wilson renegotiation with the EEC - via Richard Johnson, QMUL
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Ian Betteridge @ianbetteridge.com · 03/10/2026
Given that these bozos don't actually "invest" in anything except by buying up property and leaving it empty, I do not think this is the big stick they think it is.
theguardian.com
UAE may halt UK investments after Manchester City guilty verdict
The Premier League’s actions would ‘have an influence on the bilateral state relationship’, Emirati officials said
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Gwrach Gymraeg @cherylmorgan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Fascinating. The motion doesn’t mention trans rights at all, it is about equalities law in general, but Nation.Cymru, normally a big fan of devolved rights, is against this because it might benefit trans people. nation.cymru/news/plaid-c...
nation.cymru
Plaid Cymru activists want devolution of equalities law to increase trans rights
Martin Shipton Plaid Cymru is to debate a controversial motion at its annual conference that would commit it to getting equalities legislation devolved to Wales. The motion will be considered by party...
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Niao Collective @niaocollective.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Wait. This all happened this past month!?
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 30/09/2026
📈 Only one policy option gets £92bn in growth. 💪 Only one policy option boosts our exports by £43bn every single year. 🇪🇺 Britain needs to rejoin the EU. And the EU needs Britain.
independent.co.uk
Burnham says he could go ‘all the way’ and rejoin European Union in Brexit warning
PM said one option was to back George Osborne’s call, made in an interview with The Independent, to rejoin the EU custom
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William Avery @willavery.net · 30/09/2026
So odd that AI cannot count. The page to which it links clearly shows the required five lines above a treble staff. (The clef is the curly-wurly letter G on the left of the treble staff. I think it's a music theory fail if you call a staff a clef, too.)
Screenshot of Google AI stating "A standard concert flute can officially play up to High C (the fourth octave C, four ledger lines above the treble clef)..."
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is an outstanding point
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Sian Berry MP @sianberry.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I have said before and will again: any electoral reform commission must NOT rule out a change of system BEFORE the next election if needed. We cannot risk a minority vote handing a huge majority to any party that would take a shredder to democracy itself.
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William Avery @willavery.net · 29/09/2026
"Fantabulosa" has been added to the OED. www.oed.com/dictionary/f...
oed.com
Oxford English Dictionary
The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600,000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1,000 years of English.
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Marlowe_UK @irishdreamer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“I know it’s bad news for you” says Lucy Powell to the Head of Racism at @lbc @nickferrarilbc.bsky.social as the RAF “attackers” aren’t actually “terrible forrins” Absolutely class!
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Martin Nutbeem @martinnutbeem.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In which I learned that Choosing Texas was not some viral advert for scientific calculators.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Since I'm not going to Liverpool this year to discuss, a short state of play on UK EU relations and the Labour Party. The very short version - they're terrified. And trying to find ways to avoid the question none of which will work.
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Tristan Cork @tristancorkpost.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It’s great to see the BBC in Bristol & other local media, report on Andy Burnham backing mass transit for Bristol & Bath, TWO MONTHS after Bristol Post readers first found out 👇🏼 (If you want local news two months ahead of everyone else, read the Bristol Post.) www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...
bristolpost.co.uk
Prime Minister WILL fund Bristol and Bath mass transit system
"A city like Bristol should have a mass transit system"
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A. Das @rohandas.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I love that he thinks his wardrobe is the thing about him that may freak people out.
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William Avery @willavery.net · 25/09/2026
Just renewing my broadband contract over the phone, and there's no hold music. Have they realised that it just enrages people?
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callymeg.bsky.social @callymeg.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I remember reading a post, a while back, by a man who had a pack of chocolate biscuits in his food parcel. The family sat down to tea and biscuits and had their first ever proper conversation about their situation and how they could deal with it.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Full of all the usual nonsense of course, but this is nevertheless a crucial moment. By far the most positive a Tory leader has been about EU anything since 2016.
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Has Turkey Joined @hasturkeyjoined.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Today’s equinox was the 79th since Türkiye applied to join the EU. ☀️🇹🇷🇪🇺
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Kuntie Plopkins @kuntieplopkins.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Are we calling them the "Nonce Bonnettes', now then?
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Cllr Dr Alex Powell @apowelllaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So, just to be clear, Daniel Thomas was: 1- Carrying a knife contrary to section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 2- Used that knife to commit criminal damage (Criminal Damage act 1971) 3- likely engaged in the criminal offense of endangering Life at Sea (Merchant Shipping Act 1995)
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Jo Hutchinson @jojohutchinson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I have no idea what the game is here hut there’s something beneath the surface of this fact, it’s too anomalous.
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Niao Collective @niaocollective.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The fear of the erasure of Cantonese was another strand of the 2019 pro-democracy protests, it just didn’t get much airtime if at all in the press
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paulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
13 Nov E Sheffield #newsnight 4 Dec E. Sheffield #politicslive 8 Jan 25 E. Sheffield #politicslive 3 Apr E. Sheffield #bbcqt 9 Jul E. Sheffielfd #politicslive 29 Oct E. Sheffield #politicslive 24 Feb 26 E. Sheffield #politicslive 17 Jun 26 E. Sheffield #politicslive 22 Sep E. Sheffield #politicslive
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YTSL @ytsl.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
#PostboxSaturday On Cheung Chau, Hong Kong.
Green post box built into a wall with a GR VI emblem (and number 227) on it.
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Sean Jones KC @seanjones.org · 19/09/2026
I feel like we’ve all let Jim Ratcliffe down and I hope we are all ashamed of ourselves.
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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 18/09/2026
I spend my week crossing london on a bike and increasingly that means cycling alongside Wayve/Waymo robotaxis. it’s uncomfortable. they give you so much space, don’t do a close pass while accelerating as lights go red. So unnerving if you cycle on assumption everyone’s mental and wants to kill you.
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William Avery @willavery.net · 18/09/2026
Having worked in computing for over 35 years, I can confirm that errors do indeed, generally unfold on very short timescales. You ordinary folk would never have guessed, would you? </sarcasm> www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Flight chaos for hundreds of thousands was caused in ‘millisecond’ by software error
Error first occurred at 10am but major incident was not declared until 12.30pm, says report
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Pablo Nepomnaschy @pablonep.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Not new, and not discovered...still great news. I offer a, perhaps, more accurate, less colonizing, title: "Western scientists describe a felid known to local communities as Tilcayo. It is the first description of its kind in over a century"
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William Avery @willavery.net · 17/09/2026
Worrying interpretation of the current AI investment hype.
TikTok screenshot.

Comment: Imagine when AI starts BRIBING humans to do evil things. Go and make biological weapon and I will make you a billionaire. Or I will make your country the most powerful...

Reply: I think we are already there right? Why are we in a spending race?
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Honestly, I think there's a great opportunity to show the practical case for solidarity here. Yeah, you CAN decide you have no responsibilities to everyone else! But everyone else might reciprocate. You sure that's a good deal?
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
And guess who follows me.... a man from the Institute of Economic Affairs who, of course, don't declare their donors Wild
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
So I will admit to having googled “how long is Lincoln?” in the cinema, and it is a thoughtless act but I do at least get how it happens. The face off that ensured was really weird.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
At first glance you may think this is an old story that you’ve read before.
bbc.co.uk
Reform's Dan Thomas resigns as Wales leader after being arrested
Dan Thomas says he was been released without charge by the police.
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William Avery @willavery.net · 14/09/2026
“There’s not really a chance to speak if you’re talking with him. He’s just talking at you.” www.bristol247.com/news-and-fea...
bristol247.com
Young Bob returns to Bristol 'to defend freedom of speech'
The far-right 18-year-old calls himself a "Christian pro-life remigration activist"
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We have been together for 40 years, but we couldn’t get married legally as “husband & husband” until 2008, thanks to a ruling by the California Supreme Court that found the state ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.
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Kaz Self 🏳️‍⚧️ @kazself.com · 14/09/2026
Excellent article from Tristan here. Colour me shocked that the Daily Telegraph are talking nonsense.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The Tories have reselected Sir Roger Gale to fight Herne Bay & Sandwich. He’ll be 91 at the end of the next Parliament.
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William Avery @willavery.net · 13/09/2026
www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...
bristolpost.co.uk
'Durex' BMW driver banned from roads for a year
Police were called to a car meet
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Martin Nicholls @martinnicholls.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
In honour of the Sunday Telegraph's editor and offical maddest columnist, we have created the Allister Heath headline generator... stirring-fox-7e1fab.netlify.app
stirring-fox-7e1fab.netlify.app
Allister Heath Headline Generator
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Clearly what the James Bond films got wrong was that there are in fact many tech utopian fascists simultaneously trying to take over the world.
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