Alastair MacIntosh
@alastairmac.bsky.social
Archaeologist after a fashion.
This is the flaw with two-tier advice and service level agreements. All the benefits of the advice thatbyou identify are felt by the districts, so if the county is minded to cut posts there's no real downside to them apart from a very minor loss of income from the SLAs.
February 14, 2026 at 9:49 AM
This is the flaw with two-tier advice and service level agreements. All the benefits of the advice thatbyou identify are felt by the districts, so if the county is minded to cut posts there's no real downside to them apart from a very minor loss of income from the SLAs.
Surely the district councils will have something to say about that! How are Hampshire going to deliver on their existing Service Level Agreements?
February 13, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Surely the district councils will have something to say about that! How are Hampshire going to deliver on their existing Service Level Agreements?
To be fair, even Abaddon would take one look at Vance/Miller and say "get away from me you grubby little freaks".
February 6, 2026 at 11:57 AM
To be fair, even Abaddon would take one look at Vance/Miller and say "get away from me you grubby little freaks".
Reposted by Alastair MacIntosh
old enough to remember this
February 2, 2026 at 4:24 PM
old enough to remember this
Just ugh. It breaks any kind of immersion to have beautifully (or at least painstakingly) painted armies fighting over a table full of Homebase offcuts. Just so soulless.
February 2, 2026 at 12:05 PM
Just ugh. It breaks any kind of immersion to have beautifully (or at least painstakingly) painted armies fighting over a table full of Homebase offcuts. Just so soulless.
The imperialis kits are absolutely god tier. For the benefit of a complete casual - what's driving the lack of availability? GW not carrying the sets because professional rules lawyers won't buy them?
February 2, 2026 at 11:29 AM
The imperialis kits are absolutely god tier. For the benefit of a complete casual - what's driving the lack of availability? GW not carrying the sets because professional rules lawyers won't buy them?
*knapped* - stupid autocorrect.
February 1, 2026 at 12:19 PM
*knapped* - stupid autocorrect.
That was in a tiny bit where they had to dig a drain. The rest of the site is "preserved" under about half a mile and half a million tons of embankment and road. I daresay that decision was made on cost grounds using the need to preserve the archaeology as a veneer.
February 1, 2026 at 12:19 PM
That was in a tiny bit where they had to dig a drain. The rest of the site is "preserved" under about half a mile and half a million tons of embankment and road. I daresay that decision was made on cost grounds using the need to preserve the archaeology as a veneer.
There was a field not far from me, now under a dual carriageway, where the archaeologists found a massive scatter of late stone age flints. The one bit they actually dug revealed a spot where guy had sat and snapped a flint tool - you could tell from the pattern of chips that fell between his legs.
February 1, 2026 at 12:16 PM
There was a field not far from me, now under a dual carriageway, where the archaeologists found a massive scatter of late stone age flints. The one bit they actually dug revealed a spot where guy had sat and snapped a flint tool - you could tell from the pattern of chips that fell between his legs.
That's exactly why it's part of planning in the first place, but we seem to have wrapped it round our necks for the last thirty years to the extent that the really good stuff almost never gets dug.
February 1, 2026 at 12:13 PM
That's exactly why it's part of planning in the first place, but we seem to have wrapped it round our necks for the last thirty years to the extent that the really good stuff almost never gets dug.
Thats the dream! Personally, I didn't get into the biz to leave stuff in the ground under a hundred thousand tons of concrete and steel and pretend its somehow preserved, but that's where we find ourselves at the moment.
February 1, 2026 at 12:04 PM
Thats the dream! Personally, I didn't get into the biz to leave stuff in the ground under a hundred thousand tons of concrete and steel and pretend its somehow preserved, but that's where we find ourselves at the moment.
There's a new planning policy framework out for consultation right now that flips it on its head. Instead of forbidding you to treat archaeological knowledge as a public benefit at all, it now seems to say that you can, but it can't be the deciding factor in an approval. Completely changes the game.
February 1, 2026 at 11:56 AM
There's a new planning policy framework out for consultation right now that flips it on its head. Instead of forbidding you to treat archaeological knowledge as a public benefit at all, it now seems to say that you can, but it can't be the deciding factor in an approval. Completely changes the game.
In terms of planning policy, all of that archaeology is a byproduct, and an unwelcome one at that. We're meant to build round it if at all possible and leave it in the ground for all-powerful future archaeologists to dig instead.
February 1, 2026 at 11:50 AM
In terms of planning policy, all of that archaeology is a byproduct, and an unwelcome one at that. We're meant to build round it if at all possible and leave it in the ground for all-powerful future archaeologists to dig instead.
One step up from asking an octopus I suppose.
January 28, 2026 at 7:34 PM
One step up from asking an octopus I suppose.
Putting legal and moral obligations aside, I dont see why we should pay the rent for an American airbase that we don't use. Let them make their own arrangements with Mauritius, if they can.
January 23, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Putting legal and moral obligations aside, I dont see why we should pay the rent for an American airbase that we don't use. Let them make their own arrangements with Mauritius, if they can.
The problem is that the things that would be most effective for disentangling us would also need to be super super secret. Like, for example, re-engineering the missile compartments on the new Dreadnought subs to take French slbms.
January 21, 2026 at 10:49 AM
The problem is that the things that would be most effective for disentangling us would also need to be super super secret. Like, for example, re-engineering the missile compartments on the new Dreadnought subs to take French slbms.
Jenrick reaping;
January 15, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Jenrick reaping;
It does mean that the odds of him becoming PM have lengthened dramatically, so there's that at least.
January 15, 2026 at 11:15 AM
It does mean that the odds of him becoming PM have lengthened dramatically, so there's that at least.
I don't know how you feel about audiobooks, but there is a truly excellent rendition of James's work available (Spotify, audible etc.) by Jonathan Keeble - his Count Magnus is really terrifying. I think it works so well because a lot of MRJs stuff was intended to be read aloud at Xmas by the fire.
January 14, 2026 at 6:50 AM
I don't know how you feel about audiobooks, but there is a truly excellent rendition of James's work available (Spotify, audible etc.) by Jonathan Keeble - his Count Magnus is really terrifying. I think it works so well because a lot of MRJs stuff was intended to be read aloud at Xmas by the fire.
From my limited understanding, the point of these hypersonic weapons is that you can manoeuvre them in flight to defeat countermeasures. Not sure how many countermeasures Ukrainian apartment blocks or schools are packing these days.
January 9, 2026 at 11:05 AM
From my limited understanding, the point of these hypersonic weapons is that you can manoeuvre them in flight to defeat countermeasures. Not sure how many countermeasures Ukrainian apartment blocks or schools are packing these days.