Matt Andrews
@mattandrews.info
Engineering manager at GitLab. Formerly Economist, BBC, Guardian etc. Music nerd, cyclist, tired dad. Run a 20+ year old music webzine and still blogs sometimes, too! https://mattandrews.info/
Amazing Reddit thread where someone is looking for recommendations for London pubs with "really bad vibes" because they want to friendzone someone and don't want to risk "romantic auras": www.reddit.com/r/london/s/d...
(Spoilers: the answer is basically "any Wetherspoons")
(Spoilers: the answer is basically "any Wetherspoons")
Spiritual_Power_7659's comment on "Pub/ dinner locations in London that have really bad vibes"
Explore this conversation and more from the london community
www.reddit.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Amazing Reddit thread where someone is looking for recommendations for London pubs with "really bad vibes" because they want to friendzone someone and don't want to risk "romantic auras": www.reddit.com/r/london/s/d...
(Spoilers: the answer is basically "any Wetherspoons")
(Spoilers: the answer is basically "any Wetherspoons")
Partner just looked outside and said "the binmen are coming!" with the same level of excitement as when the Eagles arrive at the Battle of the Black Gate
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Birmingham bin collections resume after Monday's pickets
A petition to end the strikes launches signed by 115 Labour politicians as agency staff return to work.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Partner just looked outside and said "the binmen are coming!" with the same level of excitement as when the Eagles arrive at the Battle of the Black Gate
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Excited to share my Spotify *Artist* Wrapped, because, well, look at these figures, baby.
It's not too late to join the literally dozens of people who helped improve on my 2024 numbers - go listen here: open.spotify.com/album/59sDve...
It's not too late to join the literally dozens of people who helped improve on my 2024 numbers - go listen here: open.spotify.com/album/59sDve...
December 3, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Excited to share my Spotify *Artist* Wrapped, because, well, look at these figures, baby.
It's not too late to join the literally dozens of people who helped improve on my 2024 numbers - go listen here: open.spotify.com/album/59sDve...
It's not too late to join the literally dozens of people who helped improve on my 2024 numbers - go listen here: open.spotify.com/album/59sDve...
I'm sick of how articles about How Spotify Wrapped Is Taking Over Our Feeds are taking over our feeds
December 3, 2025 at 2:18 PM
I'm sick of how articles about How Spotify Wrapped Is Taking Over Our Feeds are taking over our feeds
Just added a new thing to my keyring (it's all kicking off here etc) and it occurred to me that there must be some new hipster way of keeping keys together besides a cheap ring which keeps expanding/splitting...? Is there some expensive trendy replacement for a keyring that I can pointlessly buy?
December 2, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Just added a new thing to my keyring (it's all kicking off here etc) and it occurred to me that there must be some new hipster way of keeping keys together besides a cheap ring which keeps expanding/splitting...? Is there some expensive trendy replacement for a keyring that I can pointlessly buy?
Reposted by Matt Andrews
The ever-thoughtful @frankchimero.com captures a lot of the subtlies of the current moment. Embodies a lot of what is swirling around in my own brain, but in a much clearer and better designed way.
frankchimero.com/blog/2025/be...
frankchimero.com/blog/2025/be...
Frank Chimero · Beyond the Machine
Frank Chimero’s Personal Website
frankchimero.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The ever-thoughtful @frankchimero.com captures a lot of the subtlies of the current moment. Embodies a lot of what is swirling around in my own brain, but in a much clearer and better designed way.
frankchimero.com/blog/2025/be...
frankchimero.com/blog/2025/be...
A former colleague once (innocently, from a place of genuine interest) asked our then-CTO what he did all day during an internal Q&A and the man was flummoxed, stammering, unable to even parse the question or understand what he was being asked. Was incredible to watch.
one of the main reasons that C suite chuds think AI can replace all jobs is that they know that AI can replace THEIR jobs
November 30, 2025 at 8:06 PM
A former colleague once (innocently, from a place of genuine interest) asked our then-CTO what he did all day during an internal Q&A and the man was flummoxed, stammering, unable to even parse the question or understand what he was being asked. Was incredible to watch.
Incredible end to this date:
Did you go on somewhere?
No. Russell stayed behind to pick at the cold leftovers, insisting I was fine to go.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Did you go on somewhere?
No. Russell stayed behind to pick at the cold leftovers, insisting I was fine to go.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Blind date: ‘I hadn’t been on a date for nearly 15 years and it showed’
Sarah, 53, a psychologist, meets Russell, 61, a behaviour officer
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Incredible end to this date:
Did you go on somewhere?
No. Russell stayed behind to pick at the cold leftovers, insisting I was fine to go.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Did you go on somewhere?
No. Russell stayed behind to pick at the cold leftovers, insisting I was fine to go.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Posted a mildly-viral (by my standards) LinkedIn post as I pondered the one year anniversary of redundancy, and I've achieved the dubious LI milestone of having two strangers arguing in the comment section about something one of them said. Think this means I'm an influencer now?
November 28, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Posted a mildly-viral (by my standards) LinkedIn post as I pondered the one year anniversary of redundancy, and I've achieved the dubious LI milestone of having two strangers arguing in the comment section about something one of them said. Think this means I'm an influencer now?
As someone who fell in love with making things for the web all the way back in the 90s, I've always been a bit of a purist about experiencing it unfiltered, "as the maker intended it" – eg. with ads, popups, banners, whatever. I wanted to experience webpages like they were designed to look.
November 27, 2025 at 3:30 PM
As someone who fell in love with making things for the web all the way back in the 90s, I've always been a bit of a purist about experiencing it unfiltered, "as the maker intended it" – eg. with ads, popups, banners, whatever. I wanted to experience webpages like they were designed to look.
Reposted by Matt Andrews
Realised recently that lots of Simon & Garfunkel lyrics would make excellent titles for H.P. Lovecraft stories:
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
November 26, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Realised recently that lots of Simon & Garfunkel lyrics would make excellent titles for H.P. Lovecraft stories:
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
Realised recently that lots of Simon & Garfunkel lyrics would make excellent titles for H.P. Lovecraft stories:
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
November 26, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Realised recently that lots of Simon & Garfunkel lyrics would make excellent titles for H.P. Lovecraft stories:
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
• Through The Corridor Of Sleep
• Twisted Sightless Wrecks Of Men
• Suckled By The Night
• A Vision Softly Creeping
• A Most Peculiar Man
• Impaled On My Wall
• In Darkness I Must Dwell
One year ago today, I released my second album of singer/songwriter/indie/whatever music. I play all the instruments ('cept drums) and think there's a couple of decent tunes on here. Give it a spin today on its first birthday! unfuture.bandcamp.com/album/masks
Masks, by Unfuture
11 track album
unfuture.bandcamp.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
One year ago today, I released my second album of singer/songwriter/indie/whatever music. I play all the instruments ('cept drums) and think there's a couple of decent tunes on here. Give it a spin today on its first birthday! unfuture.bandcamp.com/album/masks
Just misread the phrase "rage room" as "reggae room" which I'm treating as as a subliminal hint to listen to Jimmy Cliff.
November 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Just misread the phrase "rage room" as "reggae room" which I'm treating as as a subliminal hint to listen to Jimmy Cliff.
Agree x1000. Automated transcripts are like videos of gigs: thoughtless content produced for nobody.
The way we do meeting agendas at GitLab changed my working life: handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/com... - you finish the call with a useful, representative doc that *everyone* contributed to.
The way we do meeting agendas at GitLab changed my working life: handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/com... - you finish the call with a useful, representative doc that *everyone* contributed to.
If people in your team or organisation are using AI notetakers as a way of coping with too many meetings and a culture of presenteeism, there's not a technological fix for this. The answer is to have fewer, better organised meetings www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
November 21, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Agree x1000. Automated transcripts are like videos of gigs: thoughtless content produced for nobody.
The way we do meeting agendas at GitLab changed my working life: handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/com... - you finish the call with a useful, representative doc that *everyone* contributed to.
The way we do meeting agendas at GitLab changed my working life: handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/com... - you finish the call with a useful, representative doc that *everyone* contributed to.
Every Big Tech product aimed at kids that I've ever used has been so obviously, shamelessly full of absolute shit that I've immediately uninstalled it. You cannot hand off your parenting judgement and care to companies who demonstrably *do not care* about child wellbeing – just do the work, instead.
YouTube getting rid of the dedicated YouTube Kids app and allowing pure slop to overrun its filters in the main app is an excellent reason for every parent to drop it entirely, as @allisonjo1.bsky.social points out www.theverge.com/tech/824556/...
I’m officially done with YouTube Kids
The slop is on.
www.theverge.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Every Big Tech product aimed at kids that I've ever used has been so obviously, shamelessly full of absolute shit that I've immediately uninstalled it. You cannot hand off your parenting judgement and care to companies who demonstrably *do not care* about child wellbeing – just do the work, instead.
I was a pushy parent at today's swimming lesson: kid has been doing Stage 2 since September 2024 and the last update on his swimming record was months ago. I gently asked the instructor how much longer he'd be in this stage. 30 minutes later, every kid in the class miraculously passed Stage 2.
November 16, 2025 at 12:26 PM
I was a pushy parent at today's swimming lesson: kid has been doing Stage 2 since September 2024 and the last update on his swimming record was months ago. I gently asked the instructor how much longer he'd be in this stage. 30 minutes later, every kid in the class miraculously passed Stage 2.
Just had a cringe flashback to undergraduate English in 2005 and the sheer number of young men in blazers submitting essays titled "I'm On The Pavement Thinking About The Government"
November 16, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Just had a cringe flashback to undergraduate English in 2005 and the sheer number of young men in blazers submitting essays titled "I'm On The Pavement Thinking About The Government"
Reposted by Matt Andrews
The FT writing a headline that makes it sound like Starmer is going to strip to the waist and have it in the car park with anyone who wants it
November 13, 2025 at 8:23 AM
The FT writing a headline that makes it sound like Starmer is going to strip to the waist and have it in the car park with anyone who wants it
Google Photos has just cleverly notified me about this memory, which is a video of me practicing piano. Google has helpfully overlaid the sound of generic piano music over the top of the piano I'm actually playing in the clip, leading to a pointlessly broken video with double audio #enshittification
November 12, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Google Photos has just cleverly notified me about this memory, which is a video of me practicing piano. Google has helpfully overlaid the sound of generic piano music over the top of the piano I'm actually playing in the clip, leading to a pointlessly broken video with double audio #enshittification
Reposted by Matt Andrews
Amazing thread on the submarines subreddit where someone admits to adopting a live shrimp as an onboard pet when it somehow crept in via a torpedo tube: www.reddit.com/r/submarines...
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
From the submarines community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the submarines community
www.reddit.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Amazing thread on the submarines subreddit where someone admits to adopting a live shrimp as an onboard pet when it somehow crept in via a torpedo tube: www.reddit.com/r/submarines...
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
Amazing thread on the submarines subreddit where someone admits to adopting a live shrimp as an onboard pet when it somehow crept in via a torpedo tube: www.reddit.com/r/submarines...
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
From the submarines community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the submarines community
www.reddit.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Amazing thread on the submarines subreddit where someone admits to adopting a live shrimp as an onboard pet when it somehow crept in via a torpedo tube: www.reddit.com/r/submarines...
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
The kicker is the comms update when crewmembers began emailing each other about the shrimp's "burial at sea".
On the train and a bunch of people carrying bagpipes in hard cases got on. A few minutes later the carriage is regaled by the sound of what appears to be a Nokia 3210 monophonic ringtone playing the unmistakable sounds of Scotland The Brave.
November 8, 2025 at 8:47 AM
On the train and a bunch of people carrying bagpipes in hard cases got on. A few minutes later the carriage is regaled by the sound of what appears to be a Nokia 3210 monophonic ringtone playing the unmistakable sounds of Scotland The Brave.
Just saw a man carry four pints across the pub with two in each hand and I feel like we all should have stopped whatever we were doing to applaud him for his dexterity
November 7, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Just saw a man carry four pints across the pub with two in each hand and I feel like we all should have stopped whatever we were doing to applaud him for his dexterity