Chris Hill

Yellow male catkins beginning to open with very small, red female flowers above.

The catkins on my twisted hazel are finally beginning to open. The must like the warm weather.

Why do the BBC keep referring to Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor as 'Andrew'? Everyone else is referred to by their full-ish name (Joe Bloggs not Joseph William Bloggs) the first time then their surname after that (Bloggs). AMW just gets called Andrew. Why?

Just saw something in the southern sky, a fiery trail heading east with three main lumps and lots of smaller bits.

Pedestrians (and cyclists and horse riders) have a right to use the public highway, using a vehicle on the public highway is a privilege which can be taken away (lose your licence to operate a vehicle). This right will be fiercely defended.

A few birds at the far side of a big lake.

Lower Derwent Valley is very flooded, as expected. The birds could come closer, but they dont. Lovely to be out in the dry and the sun.

Look North East Yorks and Lincs is going full culture wars recently. Why is Levy still presenting this crap?

Just how far down in the right-wing barrel can Look North East Yorks and Lincs fall. Really scraping the sludge off the bottom of the barrel today.

Is it time for Mr Levy to retire? Or is it an editorial team and Levy is just the mouthpiece?

Starmer's time is up. So who should take over?

A small, green and yellow bird with distinctive black eye patches perched in a tangle of branches and twigs.

A greenfinch blending into the mossy colours of the bushes

Please don't call him Boris,
It's the name for a cuddly toy

He's not dopey or stupid or amusingly ropey.
He's lazy, duplicitous, slippery, wet soapy.

He's no fool, no joker no harmless buffoon.
He's a cynical calculating, racist goon.

Just call him Johnson - another word for Dick!

Hmmm, works on my phone but not on my laptop. YouTube is usually reliable and performs well, so this is unexpected.

Looks like YouTube is down again. Makes me realise how much I use YT to research stuff I want to make.

It seems wood pigeons like ivy berries

You may have said this outside of the clip, but put a PIN on your sim card, so it can't be used in another phone they do the PW to. This prevents getting 2FA auth by text message using an alternate device. If they get access to email they can change PWs and gain access to much more.

If trump continues with his claim on Greenland, all of Europe should boycott his farce of a World cup. Maybe we could hold a few friendly matches in Europe instead.

is there a way to find out which NHS trusts (esp. mine) use Palantir?

Looks like Apple are planning a touch screen Macbook. That doesn't float my boat. Having such a useful touch pad that I use without lifting and supporting my arm is fine. My fear is that apps pivot to touch screen which I don't want. Reliabily is top of my wishlist.

Windows 11 is losing market share. To Windows 10, Mac Chromebook and Linux. People are returning to Windows 10. Now is the time for Apple to concentrate very hard on quality assurance. AI is not as important as a reliable, working machine as MS are learning the hard way and ignoring. Get Tahoe right

It seems that former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi repeatedly pressed to be nominated for a peerage. When that was rejected he has moved his allegiance to Mr Farage's company Reform UK. Was it a deep-seated belief in his new-found chums or just petulance?

I just can't unhear the Flash cleaner advert. It always sounds like "spray, wipe, dung". Every time. I know it means I recognise the product - but there is no chance I will buy it now is there!

Watching AI do ironing would be quite a show.

Don't the BBC News make a fuss about the weather. Fancy, cold and snow in January, whatever next.

Venezuela produces heavy oil, almost all US oil is light (sweet). Canada has cut off heavy oil, which refineries in the US need (v. hard to change). So maybe Venezuela's oil will fill that gap.

A picture of the full moon.

First full moon of 2026. Rising steadily in a clear sky.

Still low in the sky so atmospherics make it not quite sharp.

darktable 5.4 has dropped. I will enjoy looking at my photos and seeing what has changed in darktable.

A robin on a gatepost fluffed up against the cold.

Chrome browser is really pushing AI mode, that I'm not interested in. I suspect that people are generally not interested, that's why they are having to push it so much.
#AIFree

Just to be clear, there is no such thing as a super moon, the phrase is just astrologer BS.

I wonder why at the UK Snooker Championship there is an advert for free WiFi? They want people to turn their phones off!