Tom Hadley | Exodus 25

Every time a newspaper columnist portends a "febrile atmosphere" I remind myself that a lack of febrility is a bad thing for newspaper sales/clicks.

If indirectly funding Infowars is the price of getting a solid conservatory, so be it ;)

He's cue-resistant, Will. A T-1000 of unasked for banter. Trust me, you don't know what he's capable of...

Our window cleaner is here. He's so incessantly chatty I have to hide indoors or suffer at least 45 mins of him talking at me. British politeness is a curse.

I largely avoid politics podcasts, but for Doctorow + Behr I am glad I made an exception.

The Stranger Things S5 release schedule feels designed primarily for Netflix shareholders, not customers. Brands barely bother to hide their motivations anymore. The addict will suffer it for their fix.

I'd just like to see the same focus that Brexit and Covid got, to fix what seems our major foundational problem.

What part did you get in the school nativity play, Timmy? Shepherd?

Nah, Turkish ICE agent.

2025 primary school problems.

a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a desk with a pen in his hand ALT: a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a desk with a pen in his hand

Worse is "what is this the behind-the-scenes of?" cos they've tried to use it as a half-assed trailer for a campaign that isn't even out yet. Cue strategist reaction of

Its only in startups where the 'creator' is really visible (or a brand where the founder's personal brand remains out front). For most businesses there is no creator to care about (but they try to use the principle anyway). Hence they get in a muddle.

If there's one thing endemic in moderm marketing it's brands' desire to show "how they did it", as soon (or even before) showing what they did, or how well it worked. The creep of "building in public" into marketing. But it's psychologically so weak, signalling the output needs explaining.

It's one of those movies where second-screening Wikipedia and discussing the true events and wider context is half the fun :)

If I could be PM for a day my first decision would be the creation of a specific ministry for taxation and the appointment of Dan Neidle as its Chancellor.

Weekend kinda ruined :(

Did you see my repost of Lionel Page's graph of "unkind truths vs kind lies"? My perspective on that is what I'm suggesting you're up against with this feature!

My questions are: How does the customer calculate this cost of ownership? And who gets to do it? You can help them add it up, but if no one believes the validity of the accounting method it doesn't change behaviour.

And if you keep pestering me to tell you, welcome to my hostile attribution bias kicking in and skewing my feedback ;)

Of the optimal kind, Dave? Would we rather the direction of travel for creators be ad-funded, or fan/community-funded?

Hey cinephiles, what would people who couldn't give a toss about movies pick? Strange choice of social content for our community, kinda undermines the whole premise of 4 faves, no?

Consultants will look at this and sigh. Knowing the inverse of this pattern often determines their hiring. Human biases ensure companies often choose kind liars. Designers of AI also know this. In humans, want trumps need.

Interesting question: Do the British people have a deep faith in the jury system, given the terrible practical issues with dispensing justice? Seems to me, as with many things, people want to see it get done effectively more than handwringing about how it's done.

Mountain of waste dumped in Oxfordshire field contains rubbish from councils Evidence of waste from primary schools and local authorities in south-east England points to possible large-scale corruption, expert says

This is the kind of incident that drives the "broken Britain" narrative. Incompetence upon incompetence from multiple authorities and still, when the scale of the problem is clear, no one actually doing anything.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

What perfect album came out the year you turned 16?
Only one possible answer for me (even though 1990 was a damn good year for rock albums).

"Small govt" is a fashionable idea, I'm told. Is "small enough to fit all its buildings and people into an urn" the intent?

AI firms must be clear on risks or repeat tobacco’s mistakes, says Anthropic chief Artificial intelligence will become smarter than ‘most or all humans in most or all ways’, says Dario Amodei

Probably a bit late to tell everyone your product is dangerous, after getting everyone hooked on its promise. Perhaps the fact I'm a smoker helped me not be fooled twice in one lifetime.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

YouTube video by Whitesnake TV Whitesnake - Fare Thee Well (Important Announcement) - Official 2025 Remix 'Forevermore'

Classy from Mr Coverdale. What a speaking voice as well as his mighty singing one. Very fond memories of seeing Whitesnake live 3 times between 1994 - 2008. He's on my Mt Rushmore of British rock singers.

youtu.be/GNTRgkd4gB0?...

While I'm commenting on news: Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul during panto season. LOL. I was mulling cancelling my Netflix subscription anyway, but this seals that decision.

According to Chat-GPT:

Suppose average office running cost ~ £1.8 million per PCC per year. For 39 PCCs: ~ £70 million per year
Over ~13 years (2012-13 to 2024-25) → ~ £900 million (nominal)

Police and crime commissioners to be abolished, government to announce System introduced in 2012 across England and Wales has faced criticism from police chiefs

First NHS England, now Police and Crime commissioners. What a fucking waste of enormous amounts of time and money.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

The irony that the triple lock will go just as people start to actually need it.

According to the English Housing Survey, just 6% of households headed by someone over 65 are privately renting. But the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) forecasts that this will almost treble to 17% by 2040.