Leigh Jones
@leighsus.bsky.social
13K followers 450 following 1.9K posts
Freelance journalist. Investigations, writing, broadcast, newsreading, BBC Radio Newcastle etc Editor, The Teesside Lead. 🔗 https://theteessidelead.substack.com Used to work in music. Ex-Yorkshire Post Teesworks expert. Oh, and once I saw a blimp.
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leighsus.bsky.social
Forgive me for indulging myself with some self-promotion.

I edit The Teesside Lead, a twice-weekly newsletter providing original news, investigations and features from the area.

Sign up on Substack to get it for free.

Teesside is a bit of bellwether for the UK. Maybe useful if you live elsewhere!
Subscribe to The Teesside Lead
The Teesside Lead is news that's on your side - a new voice to connect, enable and help find solutions. Click to read The Teesside Lead, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
teesside.thelead.uk
Reposted by Leigh Jones
junoryleejournalism.com
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
leighsus.bsky.social
Truly incredible lore for this character.
mrpostsgood.bsky.social
Don't forget his classic cousin/sister shagging GB News appearance and subsequent article
The Spectator: Charles Amos

What my GB News incest row critics fail to understand

22 December 2024

Screen grab of GB News "First Cousin Marriage Row" with the two gormless-looking presenters looking at an even more gormless Charles Amos, dressed like an extra from Quatermass and The Pit

Charles, in the article, goes on to quote an argument with his mother about his belief it's okay for a brother and sister to have "double-protected sex"
Reposted by Leigh Jones
petermitchellnhsn.bsky.social
This month in Newcastle I'm going to be in conversation with two of my favourite writers! First with Owen Hatherley, discussing his new book, a history of how British culture was transformed by the exodus of artists and intellectuals from Central Europe in the 20th century: bsky.app/profile/lort...
lortburnspecials.bsky.social
LORT BURN SPECIALS: 3

Featuring OWEN HATHERLEY, ANDREW HANKINSON, KATE LISTON and music from BEN LOWES-SMITH

SATURDAY 18 OCTOBER 7PM

@alphabettitheatre.bsky.social

MAKE NEWCASTLE MITTELEUROPA AGAIN
leighsus.bsky.social
I love the Mad Max films which is probably why this 20 year period of his career is so truly insane.
leighsus.bsky.social
The guy behind Happy Feet believes in computer-generated money machines?
leighsus.bsky.social
I met Brian in 2010 and got a CD-R with "Darsombra" written on it in pen off him.

It led me onto his old band, Meatjack, who were amazing.

He seemed to grow incredibly as an artist when Ann joined him, and this is just incredibly sad.
US rock musician killed in tragic crash with New York State Police car
A music star travelling to the first gig of her band’s US and Canada tour has died in a crash with a New York State Police car.
www.nationalworld.com
leighsus.bsky.social
There's the possibility of prejudicing the case as well as disseminating material that ends up being found to be criminal.
leighsus.bsky.social
Her defence is absolutely wild.
Reposted by Leigh Jones
peter-butler.bsky.social
Bloomberg research found wholesale electricity up ~270% in areas near data centers

It doesn't seem like nearly enough people are taking it seriously

One A.I. image isn't too much energy, but 5 million videos? Per day/hour/minute whatever. It's not sustainable

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring
Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.
www.bloomberg.com
Reposted by Leigh Jones
adambienkov.bsky.social
"15 years ago, Polish workers came here to find opportunity. Now Poland is growing twice as fast as we are," says Kemi Badenoch.

Any ideas what may have happened in the interim?
Reposted by Leigh Jones
lortburnspecials.bsky.social
Lort Burn Specials understands that man knoweth no greater love than his passion for graphic design
Reposted by Leigh Jones
bearlypolitics.co.uk
So, the plan is to cut English, the arts, and sociology - the degrees that actually study culture - while on another part of your platform claiming to “defend” British culture.

It’s performance nationalism with a reading age of seven.
Badenoch: Curb students taking 'rip-off' degrees such as English
The performing arts, sociology and anthropology are among the subjects the Conservatives would like to cut
leighsus.bsky.social
Independence Day (1996).
The sun rises above the sea beneath the edge of an overcast sky. One side of the sky is blue, the other is grey and foreboding. Between the two the horizon is a band of gold. The sun reflects on the sea and lights the fronts of buildings overlooking the seafront.
Reposted by Leigh Jones
irenetsherit.bsky.social
Finally!!! The real scandal of the asylum hotels. Why, instead of shining the light on these parasites, months were spent on demonising vulnerable people at their mercy?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Asylum hotel provider makes £180m profit despite claims of inedible food and rationed loo paper
Asylum seekers and charities tell BBC of
www.bbc.co.uk
Reposted by Leigh Jones
leighsus.bsky.social
Only two weeks until our next Lort Burn Specials event at @alphabettitheatre.bsky.social in Newcastle.

We've got Owen Hatherley talking about his new book and the impact of European emgires on 20thC Britain plus the usual other great stuff.

Tickets: www.alphabettitheatre.co.uk/lortburnspec...
Reposted by Leigh Jones
clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social
“I left my wife, Nicole Kidman, because I was sick of her, Nicole Kidman, needing me to have sex with her, Nicole Kidman” do you hear yourself man
Tweet from Daily Mail Celebrity @DailyMailCeleb
How Nicole Kidman's 'bottomless need for sexual attention' led to the end of her marriage to country music star Keith Urban: Nashville insiders open up to
ALISON BOSHOFF
Reposted by Leigh Jones
leighsus.bsky.social
You may have noticed there hasn't been a Teesside Lead put out for the last fortnight. It's because I'm completely burned out and need to take a break.

More info here.
Taking a break
You’ll notice the past two Sundays have been and gone without new editions of The Teesside Lead (or at least I’d hope you’ve noticed).
teesside.thelead.uk
leighsus.bsky.social
Missed a vote on the Senedd budget this year (which passed by two votes) because he and a colleague were at the National Prayer Breakfast in the US.
Tory Senedd leader Darrren Millar defended after Trump trip criticism
A colleague of Darren Millar's says attacks on him for missing a vote on Labour's budget are unfair.
www.bbc.co.uk
leighsus.bsky.social
Key subtext here is Millar is an Evangelical Christian.
leighsus.bsky.social
You may have noticed there hasn't been a Teesside Lead put out for the last fortnight. It's because I'm completely burned out and need to take a break.

More info here.
Taking a break
You’ll notice the past two Sundays have been and gone without new editions of The Teesside Lead (or at least I’d hope you’ve noticed).
teesside.thelead.uk
leighsus.bsky.social
I changed careers to become a journalist and was made redundant three months later.

Just great stuff!
leighsus.bsky.social
Guys is it normal to experience burnout every 18 months?
leighsus.bsky.social
Love being a journalist where you have to know lots about what's happening and even when you take time off you need to catch up with the horrors of late capitalism.

Just a great period of history to be in such a great job 🫠🫠🫠
jonnelledge.bsky.social
I was having a lovely weekend - bit drunk with friends friday, hungover brunch, did some writing, went to the theatre - and ten minutes on the internet this morning has been enough to me realise I was only in a good mood because I hadn't looked at the news. We are so fucked. Turbofucked.
leighsus.bsky.social
Got to tell you the thrill of doing your first tax return and finding out you paid loads too much tax in that year because you lost your job halfway through it is pretty good 🍻🍻🍻