It’s been a while..and it might be a while again…but it feels right to get back into weeknotes. I’ve had a week away from work although I suffered from a nasty wee cold/covid bug all week which went from tickly throat to full on “taps to the max” cold. I’m on day 10 and still a bit sniffly. Annoying.
Andy Burnham’s conference speech this week felt important. Instead of pushing topics on to the back burner, or spending much of the time talking about how bad things are and how bad a hand he’s been dealt, Burnham spoke with passion and listed off the area’s that he would change for the better and took some brave steps. Not sure I buy into the hope tag fully, but I can now get behind Starmer being hopeless. Caught in a trap that he couldn’t politic out of. It was a refreshing change. Key will now be on delivery and paying for it but he’s certainly off to a good start. Even following up a day later on rejoining Europe, which until last week had been unmentionable for Labour, was another positive step.
I’ll also shout out Comment is Freed. A politics blog from Sam and Lawrence Freedman which has been excellent over the last couple of months. It’s paywalled but well worth the price…the only downside being it’s on Substack.
Everyone’s Packing Up was a post that did the rounds this week and I found myself nodding with most of it. For me its the slow death of social networks I no longer want to be part of, the rise in almost every app or service wanting a significant yearly subscription cost and the step change in capability of AI assistants so you can roll your own app/service and do it yourself. I really need to get a post done on my self built NAS – it’s only been a year!
Photo Dump
All from the iPhone, still amazes me what our phones now capture.
Media
We’re in peak TV season. Celebrity Traitors got off to an amazingly great start. Strong cast, a bit of a day one meltdown and some early paranoia. One of the best british TV shows in years is Blue Lights. Season 4 started this week…and the full series is on iPlayer which I devoured. Felt like the end of the show not just the series – if it does come back then needs to start fresh. Such strong storytelling and this season was more current than any other. The Wargame on Sky Atlantic took modern day ex-politicians and played out an attack on the UK with them making the key decisions. A good watch and pretty realistic take on how fecked the UK would be in a war today.
Surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed Lanterns which finishes next week…and also finishing is Ted Lasso which has been in the whole pretty underwhelming punctuated by one or two good bits. I’m probably in the minority but Apple should let it go. Star Wars: Galactic Racer is out next week and I’ve pre-ordered. Reviews are great, and it has real WipeOut and Burnout vibes.
Linkage
- Drumcree march standoff: protesters and Orange Order both vow to stay ‘as long as it takes’ – this came out of nowhere but shows how much tension still exists in Northern Ireland, even if it is the minority that have these feelings. This has legs unfortunately.
- Every lighthouse in the world – what a wonderful website. I’d love to have this as a screensaver for the Mac. Maybe one for Santa Claude.
- Apple in Color – another great datavis. A shame this years Pro phones don’t seem that colourful.
- Meet the ‘burglars’ paid to break into businesses – in another life I’d quite like to do this for a living. I’m still surprised at how many times people have easily given me their passwords. Clearly a trusting face.
- NuGlasgow – great way to see roadworks and planning consents vis a 3d view of the city. Lots of road markings being painted in Kelvindale in the next few weeks ahead of RPZ being switched on.
- iPhone 18 Pro Camera Review – Austin Mann’s yearly review of the pro iPhone is always spectacular – this is no different.
- Mike Tomlin’s Minecraft City – This is amazing. A 12 year Minecraft build – so much detail.
- Destroy Any Website – This is fun…I may have spent too much time picking on some websites this week.