Alastair Wilcox
@awilcox.chalmere.com
IT by profession. Interested in education, politics, economics and sport. Based in South Oxfordshire, UK, originally from the Wirral.
We must maintain a cattle-proof fence. That sort of makes sense as it's farmland behind, but with 500 houses being built on that land (2 of which will back onto ours), it's going to look awfully strange in future.
December 10, 2025 at 8:14 PM
We must maintain a cattle-proof fence. That sort of makes sense as it's farmland behind, but with 500 houses being built on that land (2 of which will back onto ours), it's going to look awfully strange in future.
I'm about 5 miles from where he used to live in Goring on Thames. There are loads of local stories of his generosity. Here's one: www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/1499742...
December 4, 2025 at 8:00 AM
I'm about 5 miles from where he used to live in Goring on Thames. There are loads of local stories of his generosity. Here's one: www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/1499742...
I'm 92 (actually 59). I think it's because I listened to a bit of Tom Lehrer when he died in July.
December 3, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I'm 92 (actually 59). I think it's because I listened to a bit of Tom Lehrer when he died in July.
Ours got re-banded a couple of year or so ago (14 years after we bought it). It was the only band D house amongst similar properties that were all Band E. We got moved up to Band E. I suspect it had been turned up by some sort of automated search for anomalies like that.
November 27, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Ours got re-banded a couple of year or so ago (14 years after we bought it). It was the only band D house amongst similar properties that were all Band E. We got moved up to Band E. I suspect it had been turned up by some sort of automated search for anomalies like that.
Just run it against the planning application you're about to submit and it will tell you which holes you need to plug. Could be used by both sides and the end result could be faster planning decisions if there are no valid grounds for objection.
November 9, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Just run it against the planning application you're about to submit and it will tell you which holes you need to plug. Could be used by both sides and the end result could be faster planning decisions if there are no valid grounds for objection.
I suppose they think it's better to have him inside the tent at the moment and that promising him rewards that he can never achieve does that. The risk is that he takes ever more insane gambles to hit those targets. They must be confident they can jettison him when it all starts to blow up though.
November 7, 2025 at 6:56 PM
I suppose they think it's better to have him inside the tent at the moment and that promising him rewards that he can never achieve does that. The risk is that he takes ever more insane gambles to hit those targets. They must be confident they can jettison him when it all starts to blow up though.
And also if they are valued enough by their employer. I've seen a lot of redundancy amongst former colleagues in their mid to late 50s. Some voluntary, some not. Also radicalising...
November 7, 2025 at 9:33 AM
And also if they are valued enough by their employer. I've seen a lot of redundancy amongst former colleagues in their mid to late 50s. Some voluntary, some not. Also radicalising...
Of course this is less relevant at the younger end if GenX which highlights why such a broad age range may not be a good unit of analysis.
November 7, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Of course this is less relevant at the younger end if GenX which highlights why such a broad age range may not be a good unit of analysis.
It's those whose sense of self was wholly embodied in their jobs who seem lost. They appear prone to radicalisation in either direction whether by Telegraph Comment writers, Facebook groups or X (OK those 3 definitely lean right, not left).
November 7, 2025 at 8:44 AM
It's those whose sense of self was wholly embodied in their jobs who seem lost. They appear prone to radicalisation in either direction whether by Telegraph Comment writers, Facebook groups or X (OK those 3 definitely lean right, not left).
I'm an older GenXer (59). I think part of the turn to the right is about loss of status as people confront the brutal truth that they were entirely expendable to their employer. Those with post-work projects, volunteering roles, strong family and friendship groups etc are fine.
November 7, 2025 at 8:44 AM
I'm an older GenXer (59). I think part of the turn to the right is about loss of status as people confront the brutal truth that they were entirely expendable to their employer. Those with post-work projects, volunteering roles, strong family and friendship groups etc are fine.
There will never be a second winner because no one would accept such a tainted prize. Well maybe Infantino would...
November 5, 2025 at 11:11 PM
There will never be a second winner because no one would accept such a tainted prize. Well maybe Infantino would...
Hmm...and how much did VPN use in the UK rise at the same time?
October 23, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Hmm...and how much did VPN use in the UK rise at the same time?
Setting the trigger to 'airplane mode' on and the action to locking the screen also works. So these useful iPhone tips from @stuallen.bsky.social can also work on Android.
discostu (@stuallen.bsky.social)
This profile requires authentication to view.
stuallen.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Setting the trigger to 'airplane mode' on and the action to locking the screen also works. So these useful iPhone tips from @stuallen.bsky.social can also work on Android.
My curiosity got the better of me and I tried it just now. Setting the trigger event to a key phrase in an SMS and setting the action to 'Screen Off' does the trick.
October 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
My curiosity got the better of me and I tried it just now. Setting the trigger event to a key phrase in an SMS and setting the action to 'Screen Off' does the trick.
Just in case it's not well known. MacroDroid does some really useful automation on Android. Tomorrow's project for me is going to be seeing if it can automate these iPhone security measures. I'd also be happy to hear about other Android automation tools or ways of achieving this.
October 21, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Just in case it's not well known. MacroDroid does some really useful automation on Android. Tomorrow's project for me is going to be seeing if it can automate these iPhone security measures. I'd also be happy to hear about other Android automation tools or ways of achieving this.
It may well do - I use Unifi Wi-Fi (not switches). Whenever it reports an issue but there's no apparent loss of service, leaving it to sort itself out seems to work fine. I've only had to factory reset anything once or twice in something like the last 6 years. Switches may of course be different...
October 20, 2025 at 12:37 PM
It may well do - I use Unifi Wi-Fi (not switches). Whenever it reports an issue but there's no apparent loss of service, leaving it to sort itself out seems to work fine. I've only had to factory reset anything once or twice in something like the last 6 years. Switches may of course be different...
If something's not working now, however, I'd move faster.
October 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
If something's not working now, however, I'd move faster.
My experience with Unifi is that it often pays to be patient. If everything appears to be working, I'd leave it a couple of hours and only then (and when I could afford some time to do diagnostics), click the "click to resolve" buttons (and then I'd do one at a time with some patience in between).
October 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
My experience with Unifi is that it often pays to be patient. If everything appears to be working, I'd leave it a couple of hours and only then (and when I could afford some time to do diagnostics), click the "click to resolve" buttons (and then I'd do one at a time with some patience in between).
Weirdly, my children's phones appear to be able to use either, mine can only use Vodafone masts. We're all on Vodafone.
October 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Weirdly, my children's phones appear to be able to use either, mine can only use Vodafone masts. We're all on Vodafone.
This has reminded me of a glorious headline and terrible closing line in this story: www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/6642246...
Nuns beaten in pub fight
Nuns hoping for divine intervention fear they will now suffer sleep deprivation after an Oxford pub was granted an extension of its opening hours.
www.oxfordmail.co.uk
October 9, 2025 at 6:08 AM
This has reminded me of a glorious headline and terrible closing line in this story: www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/6642246...
I'm only partly joking when I say my ideal use case for AI is to extract the script from a podcast so that I can just read the text.
October 6, 2025 at 8:41 AM
I'm only partly joking when I say my ideal use case for AI is to extract the script from a podcast so that I can just read the text.