Giles Sparrow
@gswrites.bsky.social
520 followers 900 following 670 posts
Pop science writer/editor consultant for hire, specialising in astronomy and its history. Regular nerd with @somethingwho.bsky.social
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gswrites.bsky.social
Hold yer horses - judging by his past GB News appearances, this guy is even dodgier than my time-travelling adulterer near-namesake
gswrites.bsky.social
Have to admit that one of my first semi-coherent thoughts in between hitting snooze on the alarm this morning was "I wonder how Pepys is doing?"
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social
You ain’t no Doctor Who fan, bruv.

My culture is not your cosplay.
Some Tory bellend in a question mark pullover, famously sported by Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor Who.
gswrites.bsky.social
I'm just not sure how many pubs have the will or the custom to stretch their hours? Maybe I'm just unfortunate in my choice of boozers, but these days in London it feels like you're lucky if they don't roll up the pavement by 10.30, and drinking up time is a thing of the past...
gswrites.bsky.social
Now fully expecting some director to see this and come up with a production where the audience walks out one by one as the play continues until...
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
karlbode.com
twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross
photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)
gswrites.bsky.social
Feel like there's a case to be made for Ben Folds...
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
iainjclarkart.com
Wife suggests the new Conservative slogan should be "BRITIAN DOESN'T NEED ENGLISH DEGREES."
ottoenglish.bsky.social
Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow
gswrites.bsky.social
HRFloofness been reading her own press this afternoon and getting ideas.
gswrites.bsky.social
Blimey that sounds dramatic! Sorry to hear - hope you're better soon!
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
keithwdickinson.bsky.social
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.
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
I don't want to get all Chesterton's Fence here, but if you don't understand that a "microscopic snail" is an indicator species that's protected for the health of the entire ecosystem, you probably shouldn't be forming "good relationships" with developers
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer
Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
omaromalleykhan.bsky.social
Here's the relevant chart from the above report. It's rare to see such a clear, consistent slope in any social trend. That segregation is decreasing is perhaps the best evidence, least controversial social fact of modern Britain
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
bookshop.org
$41 million: The amount of money we’ve raised for indie bookstores since 2020.

$0: The amount of money Amazon has raised for indie bookstores since 1994.
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
lottelydia.bsky.social
This is depressing in and of itself — property developers are capitalists who only care about profit! Why are you helping them??? — but it’s also depressing because of the complete lack of curiosity it seems to betray. No sense of *why* these elements of the planning system might exist.
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
I don't want to get all Chesterton's Fence here, but if you don't understand that a "microscopic snail" is an indicator species that's protected for the health of the entire ecosystem, you probably shouldn't be forming "good relationships" with developers
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer
Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
robfordmancs.bsky.social
It is also deeply unhealthy to have local govts who don’t provide many visible/valuable services for most residents (because they lack the resources). Encourages distrust and populism - “what am I paying my council tax for? The council does nothing for me.”
stephenkb.bsky.social
Amazed this is still going ahead - basic and obvious problem is that essentially everything local government does now is for the poor. You can’t move it around without really hurting poor people somewhere!
cjayanetti.bsky.social
Some of London’s poorest areas could see their share of the children’s services funding formula halved under Labour’s plans to reform local government grants.

By me, for Politics Home: www.politicshome.com/news/article...
gswrites.bsky.social
How did I know who this was going to be before I opened the abstract? 😂
gswrites.bsky.social
"We're sorry but due to a policy change support for taps from 2024 and earlier has now been discontinued."
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
iainjclarkart.com
We seem to live in a world where the UK has a thriving service economy, a renowned HE sector, booming green energy, flexible working -- and a constant barrage of politicians promising to undo it.
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
amndw2.bsky.social
I couldn't resist. #pleasingterror
A bingo card for the ghost stories of M.R. James. Boxes read:
"Spiders
Terrible hotel stay
Narrator makes fun of golf
Latin passages
Eerie disembodied voices
Confirmed bachelor main character
Vengeful spirit
Evil magician
Working-class character as comic relief
Bleak East Anglian coast
Visit to an archive
Narrator in guidebook mode
FREE SPACE
Unholy doings in a church
Frogs or toads
Queen Anne style house
Cursed artifact
Don't buy that rare book!
Something hairy and horrible
Someone gets too curious
Tentacles
Story told via old manuscript
Research trip gone horribly wrong
Beds are scary
Tactile horror
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
mrjamesob.bsky.social
Not to make light of the editorial failure, but look how far Twitter lies now permeate in to normal discourse. We think we know about the racism but the utter contempt for truth since Musk bought the platform is deliberate & very dangerous. You can’t foment racism with fact checkers in the building.
zoecrowther.bsky.social
Oh my god.

Have I Got News For You just referred to this completely false claim as a fact!!
Reposted by Giles Sparrow
mattgreencomedy.com
“I’m not somebody who peaks on day one!” I scream, as I cross the finish line three hours after all of my competitors
politicshome.bsky.social
EXCL: “I’m not somebody who peaks on day one”

As Tory conference prepares to get underway, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch talks to @siennarodgers.bsky.social about being "proved right" on culture wars, hits back at briefings against her, and reveals the limits she has put on her screentime
Kemi Badenoch: “I'm Not Somebody Who Peaks On Day One”
Can she turn her party’s fortunes around? Kemi Badenoch talks to Sienna Rodgers about being ‘proved right’ on culture wars, hits back at the briefi...
www.politicshome.com