Wonderful stage production of I Daniel Blake @thedukeslancaster.bsky.social last night.
It was a powerful reminder of the devastating impact poverty and distant bureaucracy can have on people just trying to do their best.
“The reason why the Artemis mission has everyone so fascinated is because it is a showcase for the efforts of people who are very, very good at their jobs, at a time when the news cycle is dominated by people who are not merely terrible at their jobs, but awful human beings as well.”
Illustration of people looking at balloons and a sign saying 450,000 children lifted out of poverty.
Today is a good day for children!
450,000 will be lifted out of poverty thanks to the end of the two-child limit.
We're celebrating this along with 17 other orgs with an advert in The Times.
The advert has been funded by hundreds of small donations from people supporting @38degrees.bsky.social.
The daily news is bad, so in contrast it's great to read about Artemis II. Bill Anders as a crew member of Apollo 8 made the same journey 58 years ago.
He said "We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The wonderful art deco Burton building at 1 Manchester Rd, Burnley. The foundation stone was laid by Montague Burton in 1933. It's been empty for some time now, and sadly failed to meet its guide price of £395k at auction last year. Any wealthy architectural conservationists out there?
This is a very good read. I'd describe the company I work for as 'mid'. We are an effective stable business. We manage 38,000 affordable homes & do regeneration work in places like Halifax and Blackburn. Not skyscrapers in London. Not radical tech start ups in Manchester. We are the capable middle.
The old and new Manchester contrast.
"more than 90 per cent of new renewable power is cheaper than building new fossil fuel plants. Investors see it. Governments see it. Communities feel it. Clean energy is faster to deploy, cheaper to run and more resilient in an increasingly volatile world."
www.un.org/en/un-chroni...
Photo taken by wife on her Google Pixel 8 of the Moon emerging from Pendle Hill earlier tonight.
#supermoon
#wolfmoon
#pendle
Great view of the Moon captured by my wife on her phone as we drove on the A59 earlier this evening.
Happy New Year!
#supermoon
#wolfmoon
December 24
Christmas Eve
And this moment: 12-24-1968; #Apollo8 watched "Earthrise"; the astronauts read from the Book of Genesis.
CMP Jim Lovell said:
"The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth."
contactlight.de
One of our values is to work as one @togetherhousing.bsky.social team. Parochialism is put aside for the good of the group. I could even display a magazine promoting the magic of Burnley in our Blackburn office without negative response!
Thanks for all your posts on the Apollo 17 mission. I was six years old in 1972, and this is the mission I remember the most. Looking forward to Apollo 8, if you are following the calendar!
Does anyone else listen to albums only at a particular time of the year? I only play "and then there were three" by Genesis in December. It's a house rule. I got it in December over 45 winters ago and it reminds me of this season.
A helpful and informative article. Very relevant too given the attempt to bring Christian nationalism to the UK.
BBC News - Tommy Robinson supporters are turning to Christianity, leaving the Church in a dilemma
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Working from home means I can be flexible, focussed and productive.
Should I include my best pal in my work station assessment?
Shocking. I used to admire him. Great work with Space X and he genuinely disrupted the market to make EV's mainstream. I'm on my 2nd Tesla, but it's my last. I've abandoned X and I can no longer buy stuff from a company led by a person with his extreme political views.
"That net zero scam is adding so much to our electric bills"
Windows 10!!!!
This highlights the problems government (local and central) has recruiting good tech staff on sub market salaries. But it increases the reliance on costly external contractors.
www.theregister.com/2025/11/05/u...
This is a great article on men's mental health, but I think it also applies to mental health services generally.
I'm flabbergasted that someone is writing in defence of landlords letting damp and mouldy homes.
thecritic.co.uk/against-awaa...
Sorry £1.1m
Watching the final series of #brassic. Series 7 Episode 2 was supposedly filmed in Germany, but in reality it was filmed in the iconic Domus near Burnley @wowhaus. It's for sale if you have £1.25 m. : www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
My music tastes are metal prog & jazz in that order. But it's sad to hear the passing of Dave Ball of Soft Cell. He brought humanity to synth pop. His electro album Photosynthesis is worth a listen #RIPDaveBall
BBC News - Soft Cell's musical force Dave Ball dies, aged 66
www.bbc.com/news/article...
@togetherhousing we have an award winning Business Improvement, Data and ICT service. But I do wish our help desk looked a bit more like this.
Good luck on the trains. Never used them in that locality but I do know from personal experience that the area covered by the neighbouring #Torridge council has very poor EV charging facilities. I went as an early EV adopter in 2020 & it's bucked the national trend and got worse since then #bideford
Changing our diets is one of the best things we can do for ourselves … and for the planet.
Here is our assessment of how modest changes in diet could have big impacts on climate change.
drawdown.org/explorer/imp...
People should be able to study history, music, literature, drama, dance, languages, art, religion, social sciences & philosophy at Uni. But in the understanding that this won't always translate into what was known in the past as a "graduate job". Over supply, AI & automation has put a stop to that.
