Flick 🇬🇧

🐕, 🦆, 🌱

New Spinsters: I’m not going to follow back until you post a bit.

Wider Fedi: I’m not going to follow back if you post too much.

Nostr: 2c60241a778e47057c7b457e8e31750216a924877c8c21637b719ba573568161

Nostr: 2c60241a778e47057c7b457e8e31750216a924877c8c21637b719ba573568161
Also Nostr: @[email protected]

Public Key

npub1lmksrgs7e5w5gz53fgq38py0dw3yfjdyur2nv0vg7rspce6sr4lqqn85vl

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0amgp5g0v682yp2g55qgnsj8khgjyexjwp4fk8ky0pcquvagp6lspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dshgn4zz

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1lmksrgs7e5w5gz53fgq38py0dw3yfjdyur2nv0vg7rspce6sr4lqqn85vl

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-05-07 19:13:50 UTC

Interesting detail:
https://spectator.com/article/how-dangerous-is-the-cruise-ship-virus-outbreak/
> There is a key part of this story that has not yet been told. When the ship docked at Ascension Island, having had one death at sea and disembarked a second case at St Helena (who died on arrival in South Africa), a third person was ill. The doctor on Ascension, Bill Hardy, realised he was seeing a cluster of infections so he called the British Overseas Territories’ on-call infectious disease medic in Britain, Matthew Dryden.
> By chance Dryden and his colleagues had recently got the Foreign Office to equip all the overseas territories with simple-to-use kits to test for rare diseases. So Dryden suggested testing for Legionella and bird flu. Both came up negative.
> Dryden then called Professor Lucille Bloomberg at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and she tracked down the third case to a private hospital in Johannesburg. Bloomberg took the samples to the institute and on a hunch tested them for hantavirus: they were positive. She then found samples from the second case, just before they were discarded, and tested them too: also positive. All within 24 hours.

2026-05-07 16:48:35 UTC

Just when I think I have this car figured out…
Any guesses why this little triangle on the wing mirror randomly flashed orange at me?
Not the indicator, that’s a different light on the side of it.
It did it twice, both on empty and pretty wide (lane and a half) roads. Both times, I was under heavy tree cover: changes to the brightness of the automatic headlights?
https://media.spinster.xyz/987c190a6901725b95bf3dac974608cc1d0e7728242ae2b44034c4b0a344b2b4.jpeg

2026-05-07 09:49:31 UTC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyp4kp687go
> Prior to the war, Ukraine was widely cited as the world's second commercial surrogacy hub behind the United States.
> While the conflict significantly impacted surrogacies, they have nearly bounced back to pre-war levels, experts have told the BBC World Service.
> But Ukraine's parliament is now considering a bill that would introduce stricter oversight of the surrogacy industry and effectively ban access to foreigners, who make up 95% of the intended parents. The proposals have widespread support across Ukraine's parliament.
> The bill aims to regulate more tightly an industry that has been accused of turning reproduction into a commodity and exploiting poor, vulnerable women. Supporters of the bill also argue that Ukrainian women should not be having surrogate babies for foreigners at a time when birthrates have plummeted due to the war - though the number of babies born through surrogacy is a small proportion of births.
> "Because of the war the number of women who are desperate is growing, and clinics offer them this opportunity because Western couples want to buy babies cheaply," says Maria Dmytrieva, a women's rights activist who opposes all surrogacy on ethical grounds and argues the proposed law does not go far enough.

2026-05-05 07:46:09 UTC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yekykrx25o
> Campaigners are calling for a full-scale clean-up of beaches on the Isle of Sheppey following the discovery of a large quantity of illegally dumped clinical waste.
> The "hundreds" of vials, labelled Virus Transport Medium, are believed to be among thousands of tonnes of waste dumped over the cliffs at the north of the island.
> The area is a 750-acre Site of Special Scientific Interest, an important wildlife habitat, famous for its fossils.
> Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey Kevin McKenna, who has a degree in microbiology, said he was "deeply concerned" and called for the Environment Agency to start an "urgent investigation".

2026-05-04 14:07:34 UTC

Finished my mum’s beach bag. Hope she’ll like it!
https://media.spinster.xyz/22d2cb5ecfe21e4c8412555f11e55a1618674001483000752e3d50871a145035.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/8e0878783326048f94e3963f7a189c217702e0ef8e23b5203dd2be49618089bb.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/e34fb716f5a5f55324c7c3e5c9864198df8a743c1b3956fdbcbf07c91f3c4b8e.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/97e2707cc7621264ced893858ce834126a68e694fceb0b29ab39a38f2429e142.jpeg

2026-05-04 10:02:30 UTC

- reply

It’s not just Sheppey, all the coastal towns along that stretch are bleak other than Whitstable and Margate.

2026-05-04 09:25:52 UTC

- reply

Just low cloud, Dog would have refused to go that far if it had been raining!

2026-05-04 09:14:56 UTC

I can’t imagine why there aren’t any walkers around on this fine bank holiday Monday.
https://media.spinster.xyz/b91b190134b53ac59167bd72b42e74220c64a41f1879ef40d445e23f57d3f737.jpeg

2026-05-02 20:46:55 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/5af83d03b16e208e7eb888d72a03da2c3a5f1cc583db8f4f5419749a2316fdcd.jpeg

2026-05-02 20:31:07 UTC

https://spectator.com/article/the-sensible-class-is-losing-control-of-the-house-of-lords/
> At the height of Tony Blair’s reign of terror, there was a consensus among his revolutionaries that the Lords ought to be elected. But it has become increasingly clear in recent years that the public will not vote as their leaders tell them to. And so the post-Blair establishment reconciled itself to the lack of democratic accountability in the Lords by making the case for its existence as ‘a chamber of experts’.
> The Starmer government was to be the chamber’s apotheosis in this regard. That is why, despite the parlous state of defence and the economy, the ejection of the hereditary peers became a matter of legislative urgency as soon as Sir Keir was in No. 10. Once the Lords had rid themselves of the descendants of people who had done things like been Lord Protector for Edward VI or won the battle of Waterloo or El Alamein, and replaced them with people who ran the DVLA or were related to Labour MPs, they could ascend to their perfected form: Britain’s council of elders. Comfortably smug and comfortably numb. The chamber could be the last resting place for the institutionalist progressives after a lifetime of wearing down the sinews of Britain.
https://archive.ph/SaGVY

2026-05-02 12:22:45 UTC

- reply

Yeah, the spray bottle would be annoying but doable, but you can’t control when and where they wee.

2026-05-02 12:19:55 UTC

- reply

> Their pets are forbidden from urinating near doorways and windows, and especially by the entrances of shops, offices and homes.
How’s that going to work? If dogs want to pee, they pee!

2026-05-02 11:39:21 UTC

How do you remove the woody ends of asparagus spears?

2026-04-30 16:48:57 UTC

Have successfully turned off one and three! Have to do it every trip, but much less annoying now.
#note1064…mduj

2026-04-30 12:18:40 UTC

I’m making some progress in decoding the car.
1 beep is “the speed limit is about to change” (this is woefully inaccurate: over the course of two miles on a national limit road it told me the limit was national, 30, 50 and 80. 80 is never legal here.)
2 beeps has only happened once, not sure.
3 beeps is definitely speed related, and tends to coincide with the displayed speed limit icon flashing red. Only it does it a lot when I’m under the limit but accelerating and not when, say, I’ve been sitting at the limit but accidentally creep over it. You know, when it would be useful. Plus, see above re: accuracy of speed limit.
4 beeps, I *think* is lane assist. It did it earlier when I overtook a tractor. It also does it when I’m on roads with no lane markings and lots of potholes to avoid.
5 beeps seems to be the speed camera warning.
(I downloaded a copy of the manual, hoping it might have a handy little table. It does not, and the text just repeatedly refers to “an audible warning” without saying what that consists of.)

2026-04-30 09:47:18 UTC

- reply

No fear, I’ve been wearing sunscreen for a month already!

2026-04-30 09:15:04 UTC

It’s a bit breezy today, so you’ll have to excuse the shaky camera: my phone was doing all it could to compensate!
https://media.spinster.xyz/3f7a53598dd01a3892b03156aca683f7b318eeb33d529a368774d2d770e63c2b.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/2132ac6434130baf595a5b300d89e1600ce6cbaf612d3a046dee4faa04c0d07e.mov

2026-04-29 20:32:46 UTC

- reply

I would hope you have plenty of maps!

2026-04-29 11:08:39 UTC

- reply

I used to, until I finally convinced them that I don’t drink tea!

2026-04-29 10:50:24 UTC

- reply

Dog Treats. Elderly couple who live up on the moors, I first met them when they started coming outside with a treat for Dog when we walked past the house, and now try to pop in at least once a week to have a natter and let them give him lots of fuss.

2026-04-29 10:35:00 UTC

Went to see the DTs: “Nephew says there was a fancy big car on your drive, have you had a visitor?”

2026-04-28 20:46:13 UTC

- reply

Home vs commercial, thin vs thick crust: (I do not pre-bake!)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ll-gH4Tpg3U
(I wish he’d said the temp of the home oven, but given he had to put the grill on as well I’m guessing significantly less than mine reaches.)

2026-04-28 20:31:18 UTC

- reply

Parchment on a pizza tray (one of those ones with holes in it), yeah. It gets a bit crispy around the edges but it’s ok. A pizza peel onto a stone is better, but overkill for me.
Thin-crust pizza pretty much wants to be as hot as possible, restaurant ovens are 700-900F. Proper wood-fired ovens are around 1000F and take maybe three minutes to cook one.

2026-04-28 19:29:55 UTC

- reply

Pizza is 130g bread flour, 1/4 tsp salt and sugar, 1 1/4 tsp yeast, about 75-85 ml blood temp water. I let it sit for about ten minutes, then roll it out (tip: onto baking parchment that’s had a drizzle of olive oil; roll the roller onto that before you add the dough to avoid anything sticking) then prep and add toppings. As hot as your oven gets; mine goes up to 280°C and it takes 6-7mins. Preheat your baking tray.

2026-04-28 18:54:04 UTC

- reply

It’s not pizza, pizza was last night!
But as it happens, I typed it out for someone else this morning: https://spinster.xyz/objects/361749d6-6551-4802-9d4d-6cdb42dd9462

2026-04-28 18:09:57 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/20a2b86664613cbb6bbd9edbbb4ece0626c6d2653f1f8201bb9586732954d187.jpeg

2026-04-27 19:47:47 UTC

- reply

You’ll struggle unless you smash it.
Scrape off as much compost as you can and put fresh on as a top dressing. Give it a feed as well.

2026-04-27 19:38:13 UTC

- reply

It mostly is kids, but it’s almost turned into a sport, with “show jumping” and “dressage” competitions.

2026-04-27 18:14:37 UTC

- reply

It’s an offshoot of hobby horsing. Only madder.
You can buy special leads with wire to stiffen them so that they stay out in front of you.

2026-04-27 17:57:27 UTC

https://amp.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3333042/what-hobby-dogging-trend-training-imaginary-dogs-goes-viral
> Believe it or not, a new leisure activity called “hobby dogging” is becoming popular among animal-lovers in Germany who do not want hairy carpets, drooling or expensive vet fees. There is also no need to pick up poo or deal with aggressive behaviour or barking when leaving your pet at home.
> Hobby dogging – essentially dog training without dogs – follows in the wake of “hobby horsing”, a previous trend that saw children and a surprising number of adults gallop through obstacle courses on stick horses. In Bad Friedrichshall, north of the German city of Stuttgart, you can even get professional guidance in walking your imaginary dog.

2026-04-27 10:17:07 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/b2d1464110a6f8ec72e5433816478b20dc558d6d1c248deeada6f90749201ef9.png

2026-04-27 09:49:08 UTC

- reply

No, it’s some sort of air freshener that the hire company use when they clean it between rentals.

2026-04-27 09:34:09 UTC

- reply

I do not doubt that most people campaigning for online age restrictions are doing so in good faith. We can all agree that children deserve a childhood where their online experiences are as safe as their offline ones. Having grown up on the internet myself, I know first-hand that the online world has real dangers. But just as we expect parents to teach their children how to cross a road or to call 999 in an emergency, we must expect more from parents when it comes to teaching children online safety too. Currently, only a third of parents use parental controls on their children’s devices, and it is not uncommon to see children as young as 2 experiencing their first years in front of the flashing screen of their very own iPad.
Banning children from social media by putting everyone’s privacy at risk will not solve the fundamental reason why young people spend so much time online. They do so because generations of adults above them have eroded away their youth centres, libraries and parks; have created a school system rife with impossible pressures; and have turned the offline world into something inaccessible, unaffordable and filled with chronically ‘unprecedented’ political and economic events.
Rushed, sweeping laws like those being voted on tomorrow are the result of a political landscape too keen to impose restrictions based on a gut feeling to do ‘something’ rather than the result of well-thought-through policy. Our children’s digital safety and the security of our democracy are too important to fall victim to this kind of self-congratulatory lawmaking.
Whatever form of restrictions MPs pass tomorrow, make no mistake: this is the end of anonymity online and the birth of a digital nanny state.

2026-04-27 09:34:02 UTC

- reply

This week parliament will attempt to conclude legislation allowing the government to ban young people from social media. It’s taken weeks of ‘ping-pong’ to land on the specific form that these restrictions will take, and there has been no shortage of ideas. Tory peer Lord Nash’s proposals would introduce a blanket ban on all social media for under-16s, while the government is angling to implement restrictions on features and even introduce online curfews.
We’ll soon find out what the final compromise will be. But from an online safety, privacy and civil liberties standpoint, the details hardly matter. The wave of a legislative wand will not magically banish children from social media. The only way to do this is to force every single user to submit to invasive biometric face scans or digital ID uploads.
It is not hard to see that for all the good intentions, age-based restrictions to social media amount to a Trojan horse for a de facto mandatory digital ID system. Biometric face scans, often falsely presented as a privacy-safe method of age verification, will fail for millions of people: no algorithm can tell the difference between a 16-year-old on the day of their birthday and the day before. Many more users – adults with facial disabilities, young-looking women, or anyone who isn’t white – will face a significantly higher risk of being prompted to upload an ID document because the algorithm cannot accurately verify their age. And so, a biased and inaccurate algorithm will be the arbiter of who does – and who does not – need to upload their ID to unlock huge swathes of the internet.
Many people across the UK, particularly teens, don’t need or have IDs. But conveniently, the government’s national digital ID scheme is waiting in the wings. This multi-billion-pound solution in search of a problem may have just found one to solve.
Monitoring and managing children’s internet use is vital to keeping them safe. But children’s online safety includes more than protection from harmful content or addictive algorithms – it includes their cybersecurity, data protection and freedom of expression as well.
Since the introduction of the Online Safety Act, there have been many examples of just how vulnerable age-verification platforms are to data breaches and cyberattacks. Only this week, the government confirmed that the medical details of 500,000 participants of Biobank, one of the UK’s landmark scientific programmes, were offered for sale in China after a massive data leak. This data included full body scans, medical records and even DNA sequences. The mass gathering of biometric and ID information by age-verification platforms would mean that similar breaches, now on a national scale, would become more common. One can only imagine the devastating impact of such a breach on national security and democracy itself.
Rather than taking these risks seriously, it is all too likely that the government will present a national digital ID system as a ‘safer’ alternative. But any giant database full of sensitive ID information is simply a honeypot for hackers and hostile states.
It really is remarkable, watching hundreds of parliamentarians talk about how dangerous it is when children put personal information about themselves online and then, in the same breath, create a system that asks everyone in Britain to do just that. Even if banning social media would benefit children – which an alliance of 42 children’s charities and bereaved parents strongly dispute – the truth is there is simply no privacy-friendly way in which it can be done.
Comparisons are often made with the requirement to present an ID when buying items like kitchen knives. But in those cases, you flash your ID to the cashier, who checks your age and that’s the end of that. But social media is connected to a personal account, which means that ID information you submit risks being linked to your online activity. A more accurate analogy then, would be that the cashier checks your ID, follows you home, stands in your kitchen, and carefully logs every time you chop a carrot.
By relying on age-verification technology, all proposals to restrict social media for children pose an acute threat to the freedom of expression upon which our democracy rests. A future government could easily age-gate online spaces based on what political content they host, requiring users to pay for their right to free speech along with their right to privacy.

2026-04-27 09:32:46 UTC

https://spectator.com/article/a-social-media-ban-for-kids-puts-all-our-privacy-at-risk/
> It is not hard to see that for all the good intentions, age-based restrictions to social media amount to a Trojan horse for a de facto mandatory digital ID system. Biometric face scans, often falsely presented as a privacy-safe method of age verification, will fail for millions of people: no algorithm can tell the difference between a 16-year-old on the day of their birthday and the day before. Many more users – adults with facial disabilities, young-looking women, or anyone who isn’t white – will face a significantly higher risk of being prompted to upload an ID document because the algorithm cannot accurately verify their age. And so, a biased and inaccurate algorithm will be the arbiter of who does – and who does not – need to upload their ID to unlock huge swathes of the internet.

2026-04-26 06:54:42 UTC

- reply

I know Trump’s not a fan of the correspondents’ dinner, but this seems an excessive way of getting out of it.

2026-04-25 20:07:27 UTC

- reply

Hmm. Maybe, but I would have to drive to a supermarket to get one. And I am very much hoping to be rid of this barge before the next planned trip to one!

2026-04-25 19:48:41 UTC

Despite having had the windows open all the time today, my clothes again stink and my eyes are sore.
One has to wonder what is in that stuff.
#note1nq8…tqw7

2026-04-25 19:45:26 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/f11178d4053e5d0a79df63969aa293b0c037f120d9e2741240dc8ca7d985b08e.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/410c570e5a6334c465a231aff801cb0776a758955afda0835c6f57388749b55b.jpeg

2026-04-25 13:59:01 UTC

Quilt show pics:
https://media.spinster.xyz/05315137d7c30d02190fd5122e30a86d761b8e6b933f657dc5cdead3eabff044.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/84f287a8e3f8aed44cdd9f81625d986813e2d24986525ce9c43808300342d933.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/43770af1190e2695141e26ae75dc1a2910dc374c2a85c0bed28595da9d4080a5.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/359af0bf08af64885eb8ef86cbd804e47709f8357a54b303e40a2f0d4c0c529d.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/19ccbcf2e998c7f2ae733265bb784ef19bc68b5f77e731ff5be38ad28275a6fa.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/8a7da898045746c1d2bd8829ffacc9f82fb1fb5d1d0020cadbc703c3ea61c55d.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/6a61bbf544819f1e66b8458aa3d94d403f733fd7caba2cea57d2083eb98f74b0.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/28fa88e5dbbd37733322efd6984bcbb6f3399b5223780609971fcedd38775c6f.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/db53d83c25a8347670a6a1b1bfc5928c1bb607584ed106a9e057a466efe2faa0.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/e3ed8ae379a4a6c9071291635044b31a6bc4d3583980486076861a67b7d05d56.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/9dc369b2f3af6e5a3ea18a615eea9277764756cfd2d1c9d2699e765ff51b1cbc.jpeg

2026-04-24 19:32:44 UTC

Also, the courtesy car stinks of plastic perfume. To the extent that my clothes are impregnated with it after a half hour drive. Definitely going to have the windows open tomorrow.

2026-04-24 19:28:05 UTC

- reply

Brighton beach, swelled by sun-seekers on hot summer days, becomes one big after party after dark. Revellers from the seafront nightclubs will spill out on to the shingle to smoke, or share another drink, before staggering home, arm in arm. When it’s warm enough, they might go for an ill-advised dip in the briny. But on a cold autumn night last year, the hum of drunken chatter gave way to the screams of a poor, unsuspecting victim, and the depraved cackling of her tormentors.
Yesterday, three men were found guilty of ‘repeatedly raping’ a woman on the beach in the early hours of 4 October. Iranian Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, Egyptian Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, and Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, also from Egypt, were ‘on the lookout for women’ to use ‘for sexual purposes’. They went to bars and clubs. They came across a woman in her thirties at a fast-food joint. She had been separated from her friends. She was ‘highly intoxicated’, vomiting on her hands and knees. She couldn’t stand or walk unaided. They took her to the beach and raped her. They laughed. They filmed it. ‘Frankly, to these defendants, the complainant was meat’, prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC told jurors. ‘They wanted sex and that could be achieved by being with someone who was in no state to resist them.’
The victim sobbed as she gave evidence behind a screen: ‘It’s the filmer’s face I see every time I close my eyes, laughing at me.’ That was Karin Al-Danasurt, who tried to claim he was only recording to help the woman, to provide evidence of her ordeal. The court also heard he spat in her mouth, and called her a ‘dirty bitch’. His demonic grin is now burned into the nation’s psyche, too: a photograph of him leaving Hove Crown Court is splashed across today’s newspapers. A sweatshirt is draped over his eyes. He is smiling from ear to ear.
The three men were ‘asylum seekers’, a euphemism we should probably no longer indulge. They were staying in a Home Office-approved hotel in nearby Horsham. Ahmadi and Alshafe actually met on a dinghy, as they entered Britain illegally in June 2025. Al-Danasurt had arrived a year earlier. The prosecution claimed he had been convicted of murder in Egypt. After the verdicts were handed down, the judge heard that the three men were in the process of appealing against their refused asylum applications. It is ‘not a foregone conclusion’ that the defendants will be deported following their convictions. Welcome to Britain, where we import rapists and struggle to get rid of them.
Yes, we have plenty of woman-abusing scum of our own. But that’s all the more reason not to throw open our doors to anyone with the cash to pay a people smuggler and the will to weather the Channel. Britain is routinely offering refuge not only to those fleeing war and persecution, but also those fleeing charges in other countries; not only to those looking for a better life, but also warped men who have been floating around Europe looking for the softest touch. Horror story after horror story, from the Clapham acid attacker to the Hartlepool terrorist to the Afghan teens who raped a girl in Leamington Spa last year, have made this grimly clear.
We do not have women’s toilets because all men are rapists and sex pests, just as we do not have borders because all migrants are murderers, or jihadists, or gang-rapists. We have them because some of them will be. Arguably more so if no documentation is needed and a bed in taxpayer-funded accommodation is offered. Arguably more so if they hail from nations in which sexual violence is rife. Nations like Egypt, in which the sexual harassment and assault of women by mobs of men at protests, and even Eid celebrations, periodically scandalises the international press. Nations like Afghanistan, in which a rape can result in the victim being punished, even killed, and which sits at the bottom of the table on every measure of women’s wellbeing.
A free, secure society is a fragile thing. It requires a state willing to enforce laws, patrol borders, draw lines. A beach. A park. These are places in which women should not expect to encounter evil, even if they have had one too many. But safety long ago took a backseat to phoney virtue and the diktats of international treaties. The Brighton beach gang rape is what happens when the walls of the walled garden come tumbling down.

2026-04-24 19:27:05 UTC

https://spectator.com/article/the-evil-of-the-brighton-beach-gang-rape/
> We do not have women’s toilets because all men are rapists and sex pests, just as we do not have borders because all migrants are murderers, or jihadists, or gang-rapists. We have them because some of them will be. Arguably more so if no documentation is needed and a bed in taxpayer-funded accommodation is offered. Arguably more so if they hail from nations in which sexual violence is rife. Nations like Egypt, in which the sexual harassment and assault of women by mobs of men at protests, and even Eid celebrations, periodically scandalises the international press. Nations like Afghanistan, in which a rape can result in the victim being punished, even killed, and which sits at the bottom of the table on every measure of women’s wellbeing.

2026-04-24 16:43:34 UTC

Courtesy car is a hybrid, and has a very confusing graphic on the dash that I *think* is telling me when I’m on petrol and when electric, and when the battery is charging and discharging. It’s very distracting when I check my speed, which I’m doing constantly because the quietness is catching me out.
It slows down (both actual braking and just not actively accelerating) a lot faster than I’m used to, which I’m guessing is a hybrid thing.
It beeps a lot (it *really* hates reversing onto my drive, not helped by having a turning circle like a bus), and mostly I have no idea what it means. I wish it would beep when I’m over the speed limit (see above); I may be the first person on the planet to say this and will have a play with the massive flat screen panel tomorrow to see if I can turn it on.
I phoned the hire place because I couldn’t figure out how to get the boot open. “Oh, yeah, it took me ages to figure out. I think there’s a little button. I had to watch a YouTube video.”

2026-04-23 12:35:39 UTC

I really hate this newish trend for websites to email you a link/code to log in rather than letting you just enter a fucking password.

2026-04-23 09:55:22 UTC

Signs of spring….
https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/emergency-incident/fire-crews-from-across-derbyshire-called-to-scene-of-wildfire-near-peak-districts-ladybower-reservoir-with-people-warned-to-avoid-area-this-afternoon-7170256

2026-04-22 21:38:57 UTC

- reply

FWIW, I see your posts. May just be a federation issue. Sleep well, hopefully ok tomorrow.

2026-04-22 16:08:28 UTC

The post I was planning to make when I got home….
I’ve been to a lovely little textile exhibition this afternoon: one of my sewing ladies said it was worth a look, and there’s a Denby seconds shop on the same site where they had a big enough stack of my dinner plates that I could go through it and pick out all the ones with no visible imperfections. I do hope Denby gets saved, but if not then I am well stocked.
Some pictures from the exhibition. Best one in the comments.
https://media.spinster.xyz/31c12fc482a56244aae5ff52587ae31ea620d950ef358ac1075275147ac0b3ce.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/ed1e6ce031db8062d8c4d262b985149fee85e53c48331f95a42504b826c74dc6.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/c2a52c5dc911cd8826358b43dcd68c93bdb6be2344cf2ca091e78c0fb3d12fe7.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/1cb620e99f818a437f485c6f8c76eeaa3ab558e79cc52c6c2b48cdf78cfcbdae.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/2411ecfe076a2b2d5ab1b2191f7edb4e825c09f647c733ff1b2b333275a71bf5.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/fa7c0f178d8d53587ca94a892035810d734d4aac2e1a7ef063d4bec44408c083.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/079ce215e570fa010e0184bd6d83e11a12db3920efe757d1dbd88c5cbb10a0a5.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/3ddac9f0e40b1a4173dc7f9e598e173c193386dbab2b12b13082e555d9ee0f05.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/bd30f7419e8431c92ef422f23f581a475916fe274d58f698eb2a4d743192c284.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/923114e3c6548a84f15abe10f05a9de84a25743705f006e96d3eced1d31eb864.jpeg

2026-04-22 15:10:12 UTC

Well, lost my never-had-an-accident driving record.
(Assuming we don’t count the time I drove into a hospital.)
Am ok. Car is a bit sad. Other driver ok, car sadder.
On hold while my insurance checks local garages, very much hope my usual is on their approved list.

2026-04-21 09:37:18 UTC

- reply

It’s either random coincidence or something big, and we won’t find out either way.

2026-04-20 07:13:54 UTC

Points for trying, I guess.
https://media.spinster.xyz/ac1bf8b1f932991ece9068d198ca1c13ff70ea6dbe12890b5d5a3c882638b584.jpeg

2026-04-19 19:37:52 UTC

- reply

Do they have a particular clothing dislike? Or housework like?

2026-04-19 19:28:48 UTC

Oh, that’s interesting. Inspiration for house elves in HP?
https://media.spinster.xyz/961503090d1082865c8dea7b3c88075af9c5815d6773e1fcc22e9c8fb192e6b5.jpeg

2026-04-19 15:46:49 UTC

- reply

Older people who aren’t confident using the internet, or younger people who are perfectly capable but lazy?

2026-04-19 10:55:50 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/ff306431e24b2a892d3fc65409b9be5919ba6304b8e6516a4d524b0d2aa1e89c.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/e550baa5308b55ab2a17caa1ab685c073e8bf514d3d229902cb9adf8efc11eaf.jpeg

2026-04-18 20:28:48 UTC

Oh gawd, hopefully the Yanks can’t figure out a way to get HFCS or other shite into Marmite, of all things….
Mayo worries me more, given what I’ve heard for the local variety.
https://spectator.com/article/americans-will-never-understand-marmite/
> So its sale to an American conglomerate leaves an especially – ahem – bitter taste. In a $45 billion deal with American spice-maker McCormick, Unilever is selling off its food brands – which also include Colman’s mustard, Pot Noodle, Knorr stock cubes, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Bovril – to focus on health and personal care products. According to Unilever boss Fernando Fernández, Marmite will join McCormick stablemates French’s mustard and Schwartz herbs, a ‘global flavour powerhouse’.
https://archive.ph/EQWRN

2026-04-18 19:21:12 UTC

These Iranian LEGO videos are incredibly good. I’d not seen this one before: “tiny hands, tiny everything”!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXC3G2SDe5o/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjd8jrd1vnyo

2026-04-18 10:30:05 UTC

- reply

> In an investigation by De Stentor, reporters placed GPS trackers in garments deposited into suspected illegal textile containers. The trackers followed the clothing from multiple locations in the Netherlands through Belgium, where large volumes were sold to a legitimate collection company. That company then exported the secondhand textiles to countries in Africa.
If they’re being sold to a legitimate company, I’m not really sure why it’s such a big issue.

2026-04-16 19:18:42 UTC

- reply

I reposted it, probably my fault ;)

2026-04-16 15:55:37 UTC

- reply

Fortunately she’s pretty safe as an indoor (and balcony) cat.

2026-04-16 14:41:47 UTC

- reply

It is horrible stuff, but it also kills ticks which is why I use it on Dog.
This is very worrying in that context:
> only if there is an infestation of a pet's fur

2026-04-15 18:16:08 UTC

- reply

Maybe it means for making giant bowls of mash for a big family dinner?

2026-04-15 18:07:02 UTC

- reply

Do the German terms mean anything other than “this type of potato”, like the english ones do?

2026-04-15 17:21:59 UTC

- reply

I suspect festkochend is the equivalent of the english term “floury”, as opposed to “waxy”, to categorise potato varieties into those better for mashing/baking and those for salads/boiling.

2026-04-15 07:53:12 UTC

https://spectator.com/article/the-dangerous-lesson-from-australias-social-media-ban/
> For too long, government ministers and campaigners alike have looked to use the law to avoid debates they might lose. Rather than discussing why children use social media, whether all use is harmful, and what role parents should play in determining rules for their family, ‘change the law’ is the battle cry. Rather than trusting adults to decide for themselves whether or not to smoke, the law is wielded and derided. Rather than having a national conversation about speed limits, new regulations are introduced and ignored.
> When the desired effect is not achieved, legislators and campaigners up the ante, with calls for ever harsher restrictions. So, instead of enforcing a ban on selling vapes to children, they call for a ban on all disposable vapes and sweet flavours. And as laws banning under-16s from social media look likely to fail, there are increasing calls to restrict online content for everyone. The law becomes a way of responding to fashionable panics rather than something to adhere to at all costs.
> Cowardly adults are telling children that the law is not meant to be taken literally. This risks dangerously eroding the social contract for generations to come.
https://archive.ph/10iP2

2026-04-14 18:34:02 UTC

- reply

x all the time if I’m not in bed or the shower
(I ticked the most maximalist option.)

2026-04-14 14:58:17 UTC

- reply

Still look pretty damn good to me!

2026-04-14 14:40:58 UTC

- reply

This was a very interesting series about waste dumping. A few years old but worth a listen.
https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2023/bbc-radio-4-podcast-buried-secret-million-tonne-dump

2026-04-13 19:28:19 UTC

USA, 1959, military speaker.
Does “seven-carbon” mean “faint and a poor quality copy of the real thing”, as in the result you would get if you had seven sheets of carbon paper in the typewriter?
https://media.spinster.xyz/b46e1a1ccc18f19b02e4975ec14c0ddfa72f8691b20aa6e1741c3669f8c45b4f.jpeg

2026-04-13 18:16:18 UTC

- reply

https://www.thetinnedfishmarket.com/

2026-04-13 18:10:08 UTC

I was worried this might be too spicy for me, but once I pulled out the actual chillies and put it in white sauce it was fine.
https://media.spinster.xyz/85bee188ce81be654cd73d0af64d16ce54a8a46c093616a21f6ed90ab015d125.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/3461977ff5e9e47c00241c33c62f7505df539d8c27af1ee50b11dca558ba5ee8.jpeg

2026-04-13 16:55:22 UTC

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/04/13/farmers-threaten-protests-unless-reeves-cuts-fuel-prices/
> Farmers for Action, a campaign group, has warned ministers of protests unless the Chancellor cuts tax on red diesel.
> The threat comes after similar protests in Ireland crippled the country, forcing Dublin to send in the army.
Farmers for Action were instrumental in organising protests against Ms Reeves’ family farm tax.
> The group wants the Chancellor to cut the price of red diesel, which farmers use to fuel their tractors. It has soared since war broke out in Iran and is currently as high as 135 pence per litre, up from 60 pence per litre before the war.
> Howard Cox, the founder of the campaign group FairFuelUK, told The Telegraph: “I am in discussions with farmers and others to hold fuel protests in London and other places as drivers and businesses are sick to death of being used as Labour’s cash cows.
https://archive.ph/gsaRO

2026-04-12 20:24:06 UTC

- reply

Phew: somewhat more rational!

2026-04-12 20:06:16 UTC

Does the Catholic Church still do this kind of thing? It seems so bizarre to me.
https://media.spinster.xyz/41182e9b03e3425c30ce062611672bcdef3b7b8df56c878bdf36d5c987daa328.jpeg

2026-04-12 18:11:48 UTC

- reply

It’s much too pretty to actually cut up!

2026-04-11 21:02:16 UTC

- reply

Is it literally cream cheese without additives, whipped up? Even whipped cream has sugar (and often booze) added to make it taste better!

2026-04-11 20:45:08 UTC

- reply

I have seen this in videos but never encountered it irl.

2026-04-11 20:22:14 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/5bf501482f54325419811ec6ccfda132e6776eed7c2973f3da7480a6c8e65593.jpeg

2026-04-11 19:57:16 UTC

https://spectator.com/article/the-conversion-therapy-we-should-really-ban/
> In due course, we’re likely to recognise this fetishisation of fake sex change as a medical scandal of historic proportions. For there’s one form of a conversion therapy ban I’d support. Make it illegal to pretend to ‘transition’ minors who may be disturbed mentally but have nothing physically wrong with them. Prohibit scientifically illiterate teachers and counsellors from inculcating children with the idea that sex is anything other than permanent and that there are any more sexes than two. This issue tends to focus on minors, but if it were up to me I’d also ban all cosmetic surgeries on adults that result in loss of function, which would preclude elective mastectomies and vaginoplasties. I’d stop as well the issuance of cosmetic prescriptions for cross-sex hormones to adults in demonstrably damaging dosages. Let’s encourage the ‘dysphoric’ to go back to playing dress-up – harmless, painless, reversible fun.
> My version of a conversion therapy ban remains a distant prospect. In the absence of the politically infeasible, then, let’s at least nix a law that would get anyone who urges caution – you know, ‘Sweetie? I know that five of your friends have also just decided they’re “trans”, but doesn’t that strike you as a wee bit suspicious?’ – thrown in jail.
https://archive.ph/gDK8r

2026-04-10 21:02:36 UTC

- reply

Literally on their website. Stop talking shite without bothering to check,
https://yougov.com/en-gb/topics/issue/Judaism_Jewish_People
https://media.spinster.xyz/a6f90e7ed0ab938de67e4d94e84b01f654f7b0a13559b1f2673f4ddab020e22a.jpeg

2026-04-10 20:54:05 UTC

- reply

It’s not a meme, it’s an infographic from a magazine that I generally trust.
And: you could just have looked it up.
https://antisemitism.org/extremism-rife-as-antisemitism-rises-to-highest-levels-on-record
> The YouGov survey was designed in collaboration with Campaign Against Antisemitism using the Generalised Antisemitism Scale, more on which below.
Raw data: https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/CAA_Results_250902_w_EJU8Eud.pdf

2026-04-10 19:49:16 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/a76a65221b3ea0f5b48b847c042ff8c030734e27a51e9bdc6d19a463f6388e2b.jpeg

2026-04-10 18:36:04 UTC

Oh ffs. Give it less food!
https://media.spinster.xyz/8f8d29ac14ba8838b5d755344019eb18cf3c5ab914b157334522e018bf17daaa.jpeg

2026-04-09 11:55:05 UTC

:(
RT: https://spinster.xyz/objects/91706e6d-0dae-4c71-b038-5206a3f971e4
https://media.spinster.xyz/4a06d94212a584adbe056aac164423717fc4ecd304238e10152db97a1f3a1740.jpeg
#note1tln…zd5l

2026-04-08 20:57:09 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/b34a12e43876d6c41640c61114d870ec467f9c0f4f934f6f5766ac1686e8a1ca.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/1d2783197f7af6ea7089c51b8ad97672ba912f359281a3422f1a85ff892b0d98.jpeg

2026-04-07 18:12:25 UTC

- reply

wtf is a pizza bowl?
It’s *a* pizza, on a plate.

2026-04-07 18:02:51 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/d144dde7110f39dcfef2af0a7c0312233841edb332c96ac643ae834f39b9168d.jpeg

2026-04-07 09:58:11 UTC

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/04/06/sacked-for-tackling-a-shoplifter-britain-is-so-lost-right-now/
> We have decommissioned heroism. We have made it tantamount to a crime – or at least a sackable offence – to feel a sense of social responsibility. Self-preservation has become the most celebrated virtue. You don’t have to be a sociologist to see how savagely such fretful hyper-individualism tears at the social fabric. A society where shop assistants are taught to let shoplifting happen, where Tube workers watch as entitled shits leap the barriers, and where even police and medical staff hold back from the site of terror attacks until a risk assessment has been carried out, is a society in name only. Our ‘betters’ have birthed a post-social hellscape where standing up for your fellow citizens is now seen as the maddest thing you can do. Won’t you think of yourself!
> Yes, confronting a thief or telling anti-social arseholes to behave themselves is risky. It has consequences we cannot always predict. But you know what else has consequences? This ceaseless discouragement of bravery. It alienates us from one another. It tells us other people aren’t worth the effort. It elevates the self over the citizenry. And it green-lights crime. Today’s virtual decriminalisation of shoplifting and fare-dodging and phone-snatching – not to mention bike theft and even burglary, crimes that are rarely solved – emboldens the lowlifes who want to make the most dishonest of livings. We aren’t safer by being dutifully anti-social – quite the opposite.

2026-04-06 14:09:23 UTC

https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-bangladesh-border-crocodiles-snakes-fencing-b2952385.html
> India is considering releasing venomous snakes and crocodiles into its river border with Bangladesh as an alternative to building a physical barrier along parts of its eastern frontier.
> Prime minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist party has ploughed significant resources into building a fence along the 4,096km border with Bangladesh, but around 20 per cent remains largely open. Of the 850km unfenced stretch, some 175km is considered unsuitable for a physical barrier due to the marshy terrain and the risk of flooding.
> Now, the idea of dispatching dangerous reptiles into this riverine environment is being discussed in meetings and internal memos from the Border Security Force, according to local media reports.

2026-04-06 14:01:16 UTC

https://www.thetimes.com/article/b52af465-f370-4c6f-9ff2-3d98bd919b33
> The group, known as Bash Back, told activists to form “independent local cells”, “identify a target” — including MPs, organisations and political party conferences — and “ensure your target can be hit repeatedly until they desist” from their “transphobic” activities.
> The group set out tactics for what it described as direct action, admitting it would be “rarely legal”, and warned participants they could face charges including criminal damage, possession of an offensive weapon and aggravated trespass. The document also included practical advice on carrying out attacks and how to escape detection afterwards.
> An equipment section listed items such as a hammer and advised activists to clean tools with alcohol or dispose of them after use “in unsurveilled residential bins”. It suggested stealing the equipment to avoid being traced.

2026-04-06 13:59:12 UTC

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/04/06/labours-islamophobia-ban-spells-the-death-of-english-liberty/
> The most important feature of this debate is who the critics of the government’s definition are. Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s own terrorism-legislation reviewer, warned he was ‘against an Islamophobia definition because it’s directed at a thing, at religion, rather than an anti-Muslim hatred law, which is about protecting people’. Fiyaz Mughal, founder of Tell MAMA – an organisation that records anti-Muslim hate in the UK – warned the process could be exploited by ‘Islamist groups and those affiliated with Muslim Brotherhood front groups’. The National Secular Society called it ‘unnecessary and misguided’.
> These are not GB News talking heads. They are liberals, secularists and Muslims who understand something the government will not grasp: that the people most harmed are not comfortable commentators but the vulnerable: ex-Muslims facing death threats for apostasy, Muslim women suffering from honour-based violence, grooming-gang survivors whose testimony was buried because professionals feared the accusation. For these people, the free criticism of Islam is not an intellectual luxury. It is a matter of physical survival.
> No religion deserves its own tsar. To assault a Muslim is a crime. To discriminate against a Muslim is unlawful. But to say Islam promotes the subordination of women is not a crime. To mock the proposition that a seventh-century Arabian merchant received the final revelation of the creator of the universe is not a crime. The capacity to give offence is not an unfortunate byproduct of free speech. It is its essential purpose. This is not about protecting Muslims from hatred. It is about protecting Islam from criticism. Those are two completely different things.

2026-04-06 12:02:53 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/b0d76f2c235d32fd5d892e72417d6aeccd2645ea6e354342d612df98600671db.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/59c89b74925fe6e3b5f6d313e6fb5af914f661e4da321891009cc6075bc85432.jpeg

2026-04-04 10:27:40 UTC

The Swiss link is interesting.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/apr/04/foods-to-stockpile-emergency-store
> One shock could spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK, according to a report from dozens of the country’s top food experts, published in February. They said chronic issues like low incomes and fragile “just-in-time” supply chains have left the food system a “tinderbox”. The Iran war, hitting vital fuel and fertiliser supplies to farmers, has added to the pressure.
> Lang warned in early March that the British government should be stockpiling food – unlike Switzerland and many others, it is not. A recently uncovered government report from 2024 also warned that hits to the nation’s food security from the climate crisis and geopolitical instability meant it could be “at strategic risk of catastrophic failure” by 2030. UK glasshouse growers have already warned of shortages of cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers in supermarkets due to soaring gas prices.

2026-04-03 14:09:31 UTC

I win the “stupid hotel toilet/bathroom door” contest!
(It is a single room, in their defence.)
I’m away this weekend, behave yourselves.
https://media.spinster.xyz/ed55c879a19ae56a2cc88a630129a0c01aff67e2711039f5a66dc4c97c527b42.jpeg

2026-04-02 13:31:06 UTC

I’ve been doing a lot of driving (by my standards) this week, because obvs that’s what you do when petrol prices are surging.
About 1.5hrs on Monday, 2hrs on Tuesday, and by the end of the drive on Tuesday I was getting a sharp pain in my dodgy shoulder. It went away when I stopped, so I thought nothing of it, but I woke up this morning with it very stiff and sore, and it’s still uncomfortable now.
This evening is supposed to be Pilates, which would probably help but it’s 1.5hrs driving, and then I have to do another 2+hrs tomorrow, and I really don’t want to spend the weekend in pain.
So I guess I’m not going :(

2026-04-02 08:45:09 UTC

Signs of spring: squashed toads on the roads :(

2026-04-01 19:05:50 UTC

- reply

2026-04-01 18:50:13 UTC

UK: Tesco is doing 15p veg for Easter. Not sure about other places.

2026-04-01 10:37:49 UTC

- reply

Yeah, the weekend looks a bit grim, doesn’t it?

2026-04-01 09:52:59 UTC

- reply

Bit of both. When he zones out like that, it means he’s gone far enough but it’s not so bad that he’s going to just turn around and leg it home.