Mike
@knottinbotswana.org.bw
Civil and structural engineer via Wiltshire and Yorkshire. Emigrated to Botswana at the turn of the century. Built some roads, built some mines, built a family, building a farm. Runs, cycles, reads. Proudly woke. Cats, dogs and misc. wildlife.
End of year running challenge dreamed up by some running club colleagues: 31 on 31 - 31 Reasons to be Thankful (31km on the 31st December, if you didn't work it out).
I did mine virtually (verified by GPS track) taking a loop around the pastoral periphery of our home village in North East Botswana.
I did mine virtually (verified by GPS track) taking a loop around the pastoral periphery of our home village in North East Botswana.
December 31, 2025 at 6:52 PM
End of year running challenge dreamed up by some running club colleagues: 31 on 31 - 31 Reasons to be Thankful (31km on the 31st December, if you didn't work it out).
I did mine virtually (verified by GPS track) taking a loop around the pastoral periphery of our home village in North East Botswana.
I did mine virtually (verified by GPS track) taking a loop around the pastoral periphery of our home village in North East Botswana.
Reposted by Mike
I agree with the general sentiment (as someone who was born abroad and feels strongly British how could I not), but Spike Milligan wasn’t a British citizen. The laws restricting commonwealth migration left his stateless since he was born in India, and he had to become an Irish citizen
So Boris Johnson, Prince Phillip, Andrew Bonar Law, Freddie Mercury, George I, George II, Richard E Grant, Douglas Carswell, Rudyard Kipling, Cliff Richard, Joanna Lumley and Spike Milligan weren't British?
Interesting
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Interesting
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Number of people who say Britons must be born in UK is rising, study shows
Exclusive: Research finds ‘worrying’ surge in support for hard-right narratives on national identity
www.theguardian.com
December 30, 2025 at 9:39 PM
I agree with the general sentiment (as someone who was born abroad and feels strongly British how could I not), but Spike Milligan wasn’t a British citizen. The laws restricting commonwealth migration left his stateless since he was born in India, and he had to become an Irish citizen
Reposted by Mike
Hey #indieanimation fans and supports and #indiecreators #indiefilm
I made a starter pack of black indie creators ( primarily Animation cuz that's what I know mostly ) that everyone should follow. Folks like to support Indie but make sure you're supporting black voices too
go.bsky.app/AY6B9eE
I made a starter pack of black indie creators ( primarily Animation cuz that's what I know mostly ) that everyone should follow. Folks like to support Indie but make sure you're supporting black voices too
go.bsky.app/AY6B9eE
December 26, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Hey #indieanimation fans and supports and #indiecreators #indiefilm
I made a starter pack of black indie creators ( primarily Animation cuz that's what I know mostly ) that everyone should follow. Folks like to support Indie but make sure you're supporting black voices too
go.bsky.app/AY6B9eE
I made a starter pack of black indie creators ( primarily Animation cuz that's what I know mostly ) that everyone should follow. Folks like to support Indie but make sure you're supporting black voices too
go.bsky.app/AY6B9eE
Reposted by Mike
Beyonce is a billionaire now. If she wanted, she could fund 50 Black writers to take a year off to create and not miss it. She could fund 20 Black indie film makers. Fund 20 Black businesses through their first 5 years. Fund hundreds of full scholarships. +
December 30, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Beyonce is a billionaire now. If she wanted, she could fund 50 Black writers to take a year off to create and not miss it. She could fund 20 Black indie film makers. Fund 20 Black businesses through their first 5 years. Fund hundreds of full scholarships. +
Reposted by Mike
This week's garden visitor: a four foot long rock monitor lizard.
Alerted by incoherent squealing of family members in the kitchen who saw it wandering down the driveway before it ducked into the garden.
#botswana #wildlife #monitorlizard #rockmonitor
Alerted by incoherent squealing of family members in the kitchen who saw it wandering down the driveway before it ducked into the garden.
#botswana #wildlife #monitorlizard #rockmonitor
December 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM
This week's garden visitor: a four foot long rock monitor lizard.
Alerted by incoherent squealing of family members in the kitchen who saw it wandering down the driveway before it ducked into the garden.
#botswana #wildlife #monitorlizard #rockmonitor
Alerted by incoherent squealing of family members in the kitchen who saw it wandering down the driveway before it ducked into the garden.
#botswana #wildlife #monitorlizard #rockmonitor
Reposted by Mike
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”
John Muir, who died on this day in 1914
John Muir, who died on this day in 1914
December 24, 2025 at 11:24 AM
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”
John Muir, who died on this day in 1914
John Muir, who died on this day in 1914
Reposted by Mike
Larger point: 45Q is arguably the most perverse energy subsidy from a climate pespective. Govt paying corporations to capture and store CO2, instead of actually reducing emissions, means incentivizing more extraction and combustion of fossil fuels because more emissions means more public $.
December 23, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Larger point: 45Q is arguably the most perverse energy subsidy from a climate pespective. Govt paying corporations to capture and store CO2, instead of actually reducing emissions, means incentivizing more extraction and combustion of fossil fuels because more emissions means more public $.
Reposted by Mike
bro, you can’t pull a Patriot Games while you’re actively doing a Clear and Present Danger 🤦🏻♀️
Trump announces an "unprecedented four-day athletic event" with "one young man and one young woman from each state and territory"
December 18, 2025 at 10:21 PM
bro, you can’t pull a Patriot Games while you’re actively doing a Clear and Present Danger 🤦🏻♀️
Reposted by Mike
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
Reposted by Mike
Steve is nagging at the universe's unanswered fruit-related questions again.
Stop it, Steve. It's a fruitless endeavour.
[#SteveThoughts](https://bsky.app/hashtag/SteveThoughts)
Stop it, Steve. It's a fruitless endeavour.
[#SteveThoughts](https://bsky.app/hashtag/SteveThoughts)
December 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Steve is nagging at the universe's unanswered fruit-related questions again.
Stop it, Steve. It's a fruitless endeavour.
[#SteveThoughts](https://bsky.app/hashtag/SteveThoughts)
Stop it, Steve. It's a fruitless endeavour.
[#SteveThoughts](https://bsky.app/hashtag/SteveThoughts)
Reposted by Mike
"The non-racial and un-colonial world of Bridgerton, which does not account for the colonial origins of Regency opulence, rather than inviting us to work towards the possible, presents to us a complete fantasy world, so near to our own but completely out of reach."
folukeafrica.com/romance-is-n...
folukeafrica.com/romance-is-n...
Romance is not our way out of hell: Of #Bridgerton, representation & imagining a world beyond
The limits of temporary emotional escapes
folukeafrica.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:08 PM
"The non-racial and un-colonial world of Bridgerton, which does not account for the colonial origins of Regency opulence, rather than inviting us to work towards the possible, presents to us a complete fantasy world, so near to our own but completely out of reach."
folukeafrica.com/romance-is-n...
folukeafrica.com/romance-is-n...
Reposted by Mike
Essentially I am saying, enjoy it for what it is, and not what it may appear to be.
"The non-racial and un-colonial world of Bridgerton, which does not account for the colonial origins of Regency opulence, rather than inviting us to work towards the possible, presents to us a complete fantasy world, so near to our own but completely out of reach."
folukeafrica.com/romance-is-n...
folukeafrica.com/romance-is-n...
Romance is not our way out of hell: Of #Bridgerton, representation & imagining a world beyond
The limits of temporary emotional escapes
folukeafrica.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Essentially I am saying, enjoy it for what it is, and not what it may appear to be.
Reposted by Mike
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
December 7, 2025 at 8:31 AM
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
Reposted by Mike
Hey @erinbiba.bsky.social I hope this finds you
November 29, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Hey @erinbiba.bsky.social I hope this finds you
Reposted by Mike
I love you so much I have eaten nine photos of you. Call me ❤️
November 29, 2025 at 9:41 AM
I love you so much I have eaten nine photos of you. Call me ❤️
Reposted by Mike
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted by Mike
I have been doing entirely too much earnest posting about deep things recently, I need to do a proper thread about hippo testicles or something just to keep myself sane.
Oh by the way hippos have migratory testicles.
Oh by the way hippos have migratory testicles.
a statue of a hippopotamus with its mouth open and teeth showing .
Alt: A hippo being tossed a watermelon, which it crushes in its massive jaws.
media.tenor.com
March 12, 2025 at 5:33 AM
I have been doing entirely too much earnest posting about deep things recently, I need to do a proper thread about hippo testicles or something just to keep myself sane.
Oh by the way hippos have migratory testicles.
Oh by the way hippos have migratory testicles.
Reposted by Mike
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess...”
Per Danny Kemp via press pool
Trump is at the Halloween party at MAL
“Official theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody’, we’re told.”
Trump is at the Halloween party at MAL
“Official theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody’, we’re told.”
November 1, 2025 at 3:09 AM
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess...”
Reposted by Mike
"Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy what has been invented or made by the forces of good."
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- J.R.R. Tolkien
October 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
"Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy what has been invented or made by the forces of good."
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- J.R.R. Tolkien
Reposted by Mike
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Reposted by Mike
The #comic Hugleikur Dagsson just got kicked off Meta. Let’s make him feel at home here on Bluesky. His work is dark, sarcastic, and absolutely hilarious in my view.
Welcome to Bluesky @dagsson.bsky.social
Welcome to Bluesky @dagsson.bsky.social
Hello Bluesky. I'm here because Meta doesn't want me. Looking forward to post unfiltered, unhinged and un-whatever stuff here. Tell your friends!
October 19, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The #comic Hugleikur Dagsson just got kicked off Meta. Let’s make him feel at home here on Bluesky. His work is dark, sarcastic, and absolutely hilarious in my view.
Welcome to Bluesky @dagsson.bsky.social
Welcome to Bluesky @dagsson.bsky.social
Reposted by Mike
Reposted by Mike
Visited my children’s primary school this week and had parents’ evening and once again just left in awe of the teachers. Can’t imagine there are many more important or worthwhile jobs in the world and sign of how wrong we are as a society that these people are not appropriately rewarded financially
October 17, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Visited my children’s primary school this week and had parents’ evening and once again just left in awe of the teachers. Can’t imagine there are many more important or worthwhile jobs in the world and sign of how wrong we are as a society that these people are not appropriately rewarded financially
Reposted by Mike
Paris-Berlin sleeper: low carbon, 2 years old, constantly full, but currently losing SNCF a few million EUR/yr
Intl Jet fuel tax exemptions are 80 years old and cost the EU 22 million EUR/yr for the Paris-Berlin route alone.
And you're cutting... the sleeper?
www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...
Intl Jet fuel tax exemptions are 80 years old and cost the EU 22 million EUR/yr for the Paris-Berlin route alone.
And you're cutting... the sleeper?
www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...
It’s goodnight Vienna as Paris sleeper train to Austria and Berlin hit by cuts
Some Nightjet services suspended from mid-December after French withdrawal amid public budget crisis
www.theguardian.com
September 29, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Paris-Berlin sleeper: low carbon, 2 years old, constantly full, but currently losing SNCF a few million EUR/yr
Intl Jet fuel tax exemptions are 80 years old and cost the EU 22 million EUR/yr for the Paris-Berlin route alone.
And you're cutting... the sleeper?
www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...
Intl Jet fuel tax exemptions are 80 years old and cost the EU 22 million EUR/yr for the Paris-Berlin route alone.
And you're cutting... the sleeper?
www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...