gcb

A picture of Phil Ellis and I looking very suave, wearing 70s-ish clothes, sat like we’re having a school photo. Above us text reads “Early Worms with Phil Ellis and Anna Thomas” the logo in the bottom left reads “A Lovely Time”

🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱
EXCITING NEWS! 📣🦡♥️

The wonderful Phil Ellis and I have started a podcast called ‘Early Worms’, produced by the gorgeous ‘A Lovely Time’.

Episode 1 is out on 17th October, but you can find the show on Spotify and Apple now!!!!!!!!! Go immediately!!!!!! If you want!!!!!
🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱

In 60 minutes I saw 172 cyclists run these lights – it’s a matter of time before they kill someone The offenders included Lime bike riders, school children and a woman in high-heeled boots

One day - *one day* - a UK newspaper will do a similar count of motor vehicles speeding inside a 20mph zone.

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Arts degrees are only “worthless” because tech cunts revalued the highly desirable product of freelance artists at close to zero, cos it made running the digital supply pipes look cheaper on the spreadsheets. Pay properly for the arts, and see how worthless artists are.

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

This is what creating "psychological friction" for drivers looks like. The changes in pavement height, color, and texture break a driver's autopilot mode. It sends a clear message that "You are entering a space designed for people. Slow down. Be alert."

Design details do the work that signs can't.

One of the best list jokes ever committed to broadcasting.

Where nobody knows your name... Tracing the anonymous faces at the start of Cheers.

Ever wondered where all the Cheers title photos are from? I did. And I've gathered everything I can find into this post. That was fun.

joelmorris.substack.com/p/where-nobo...

Yes, there are other things to be worrying about in the world but, as a historian, I find this editing of history to be deeply flawed. John Grimshaw was not one of the founders of Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, he was one of the founders of Sustrans!

Paaaabs

i will strangle a horse by BRAINMAGE A comedy twine-based choose-your-own-adventure game where it's your first day on The Farm, and you have One Job

I have updated i will strangle a horse!

It now has DEATH TRACKING! So you can see which ones you've missed in the Stats page! A Secret Thing that shows on your stats for when you get the Good ending! Nothing added to the infinite door knocking loop! But soon!

brainmage.itch.io/i-will-stran...

You might think that the mayor of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's vast Northwest Territories, would be a fan of giant pickups.

Nope. He's disgusted by car bloat.

www.linkedin.com/posts/benjam...

England's 'first official Cycle Street' being built in Cambridge It aims to make one of the city's busiest routes safer by giving cyclists priority over motorists.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis City of Madrid significantly boosted the takings of its shops and restaurants last Christmas by banning cars from the CBD, finds an analysis by Spain's second largest bank.

Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY.

There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.

Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople

Last night was just lovely. Manchester (and looking how far some people had travelled, the North West) is so lucky to have XS Malarkey. You can see big names, rising stars and absolute freaks for insanely low prices every Tuesday night. The comedy fan's comedy club. Very precious.

FOR FUCK'S SAKE JUST MAKE TRAINS WORK

Useless government (the Treasury in particular) cannot even provide an electric railway between these cities.

This is the SMALL bike parking garage next to Utrecht Centraal Station. Free for 24 hours. With a bike repair shop, a few hundred OVfiets rental bikes, and a 24/7 secure, staffed parking lot for 4,200 bikes.

The new lot on the other side of the station holds 11,500 bikes.

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer.

This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Now in Waterstones

You can't joke about anything anymore. Because you signed a multi figure contract with the Saudi government that said they wouldn't pay you if you did.

People's Choice Award | Comedy Women in Print Vote now for the People's Choice Award!

If you’ve read and enjoyed Don’t Make Me Laugh, you could vote for it in the @cwip.bsky.social Comedy Women in Print prize People’s Choice award. But only if you felt like it. I thank you. #BookSky

It’s hard to think of a mayor in recent decades anywhere in the world that has stepped down with a more important city-building legacy than Mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social in Paris. People often think that one city can’t do much on a global scale, but that ignores the remarkable power of inspiration.

paved sidewalk with grey squares next to green space on left and cafe tables and trees on right.

Light brown sand/park with trees overhead.

Grey pavement and green space and picnic tables.

Here's one of Barcelona's famous superillas, or superblocks, on Rocafort-Consell de Cent. All of this used to be asphalt and space for moving and storing cars. Now it's green, quiet, calm, and safe.

I attended a big local authority conference on Midland Main Line electrification on my first ever day at work in 1986. I retired this year before it has been delivered.

Remind me what makes Britain Great?

Spending a decade watching a dedicated high speed railway between several of the UK's largest cities get repeatedly downgraded to what can now be described as an "electrified link" (currently being delivered on the existing line and delayed since the early 1990s) is radicalising.

Today was one of my favourite lectures, on how evidence influences debates.

Case A: 79 people died as a consequence of smart motorways (2010-2024). That's sufficient to pause the policy.

Case B: In the first year of the Welsh 20mph scheme 900 fewer people were injured. There's still contestation.

Retro RHLSTP with super cool Eleanor Morton. Full video available for free www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVwZ...
Or listen here shows.acast.com/rhlstp/episo...
Support us if you can for loads of cool benefits gofasterstripe.com/badges

🤔 Are Cybertrucks as ridiculous and as unsafe (for pedestrians) as they look? Is an electric Hummer really better for the environment?

🏙️ City planner @brenttoderian.bsky.social joins us on The AmberMac Show podcast with some answers.

Get full conversation here; it's a good one: bio.site/ambermac

YouTube video by Alasdair Beckett-King The Nightmare Before Michaelmas

It's that time of year again. Happy Michaelmas to all who celebrate.
youtu.be/WDXLxpQdIUQ