Steve Baxter

ME: Now Mom, just remember, there's a lot of disinformation and AI in your social feed and your friends' Facebook.
MOM: I know! My friend sent me this crazy post where someone used AI to make an image of a giant frog fighting Army troops!
ME: ... okay, no, that one's ... goddamit, Portland.

Check out my list on Amazon

It's apparently Amazon Prime Big Deals Day, or something?! If you've finished buying shiny things and would like to treat some homeless moggies to a meal, here's our wishlist. Thank you 🫶

Fishy biscuits on their way!

Held Hostage by Cartoon Villains: Notes from the Decline Now Featuring Russian Bribes and MAGA-Grade Madness In the UK Spin-Off Nobody Asked For

How much more of this bllocks are we supposed to take?

Trump’s clearly demented. Reform’s a bin fire of bad ideas and Russian fingerprints.

And still, it feels like the left are turning up to a gunfight with a dildo.

My thoughts here:

open.substack.com/pub/marinapu...

The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration It’s not hard to see how so many came to worry about the issue. But the data isn’t there

The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration on.ft.com/46p3BPl

Interrail sale: All the best European train route itineraries according to an expert Exclusive: Author of Europe by Rail, Nicky Gardner, believes that train travel offers “a chance to think”

Book an Interrail pass by next Tuesday, 9 September, and save 20%. Prices start at €226 (£197) for 4 days of travel within a month, 2nd class. 3-month continuous pass in 1st class costs €971 (£845).
Under-28s: further discount of 25%
60-plus travellers save 10%
www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-...

Buy a used one! That's what I did.

Next level rice cooker.

Ex-service people have problems like the rest of us, but pitting their needs against asylum seekers feeds a toxic narrative.

All in all not too bad - left Hamburg at 0706, got to Copenhagen at 1354, so only a couple of hours slower than the high speed route (and much less busy).

Next train Maribo to Nykoebing, and finally train Nykoebing to Copenhagen.

Next the 720R bus from Rodby to Maribo. It goes from outside the ferry terminal. I bought a ticket online for 30 DKr (about £3.50).

Then Pottgarten to Rodby ferry, €21 as a foot passenger www.scandlines.com/prices/puttg.... Buy the ticket in advance so you can race on to the first available ferry. Tickets are valid all day (I got on an earlier ferry than I was booked for).

There is another route though. Train from Hamburg Hbf to Luebeck, then the x85 bus to Pottgarten. This is a rail replacement bus so the Interrail is valid.

@seatsixtyone.bsky.social - had a small Interrail adventure today that might be of interest to other travellers. I was supposed to be going from Hamburg to Copenhagen but had forgotten to book a reservation - all seats on the direct train booked out for days (even 1st). Disaster.

I'm hoping it features a comically inebriated Baroness

Is this QM2 inspired?

This is very cool

~£150-200/month

Anon Polypin

Imagine how difficult it would be if you had two colleagues, one called Ian and one called Iain, but Iain only had one eye.

Nothing beats the thrill of going for a wee on a train that has stopped at your platform but isn't going to your destination.

Last call for my latest, which argues that actually the government has a very simple, easy set of decisions to make assuming it actually wants to make decisions.

Seven unrelated thoughts about Labour's first year in power A torrid week in Westminster made it a uniquely inopportune time to celebrate an anniversary. What the hell is going on?

Happy birthday, you've fucked it: Seven unrelated thoughts about Labour's first year in power

iandunt.substack.com/p/seven-unre...

Our council has an app. It's pretty good.

They kind of do - if you pay early they pay interest

“Our trains are routinely patrolled by Tory leadership hopefuls desperate for publicity”

From the new Private Eye, in shops now.

As a tech person I'd definitely like a physical card to be available alongside any digital version. That may reduce the single point of failure issue a bit. Totally agree re Windrush etc.

And who bears the brunt of this daft neurosis of middle class liberals in nice houses? Well, the Windrush migrants for one, who would not have been deported to misery and death if they had had access to a simple and universal method for proving their rights to the state.

That's a really interesting point, I'd not thought about it like that before.