Neil Charles
@neilcharles.bsky.social
Owner of sequence-analytics.com and occasional paraglider pilot.
Harsh IMO. Yes the person at the top is ultimately responsible but based on how it was reported to have happened this was a straightforward IT fuck up caused by bad practice. IT should take the fall not the chair.
December 1, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Harsh IMO. Yes the person at the top is ultimately responsible but based on how it was reported to have happened this was a straightforward IT fuck up caused by bad practice. IT should take the fall not the chair.
"I told you. We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week."
YourParty (or whatever it's called) has adopted a "pioneering collective member leadership role"
after a...wait for it...52:48 vote in favour
after a...wait for it...52:48 vote in favour
November 30, 2025 at 11:29 AM
"I told you. We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week."
Probability of a Portugal World Cup win just dropped a couple of points www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Cristiano Ronaldo clear to start World Cup after Fifa suspends two games of his ban
Cristiano Ronaldo will serve the final two games of his ban only if he is guilty of a similar infringement in the next year
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Probability of a Portugal World Cup win just dropped a couple of points www.theguardian.com/football/202...
LOL. That's exactly how I publish drafts of the little newsletter I run for my local paragliding club.
November 28, 2025 at 9:28 AM
LOL. That's exactly how I publish drafts of the little newsletter I run for my local paragliding club.
This has gone very smoothly. I'm convinced the advent of mainstream Linux desktops isn't being held back by the tech, it's being held back by documentation and an insistence on making things much harder they need to be.
I bought my first Windows PC in 1997 and have owned one ever since. Today's the day I move fully to Linux.
November 27, 2025 at 1:49 PM
This has gone very smoothly. I'm convinced the advent of mainstream Linux desktops isn't being held back by the tech, it's being held back by documentation and an insistence on making things much harder they need to be.
Disappointingly unimaginative. I'd claim it was haunted.
November 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Disappointingly unimaginative. I'd claim it was haunted.
"And she says she will not need to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT"
Except for the fact that she has raised both income tax and national insurance. Take our money but please don't call us stupid while you're doing it.
Except for the fact that she has raised both income tax and national insurance. Take our money but please don't call us stupid while you're doing it.
November 26, 2025 at 1:40 PM
"And she says she will not need to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT"
Except for the fact that she has raised both income tax and national insurance. Take our money but please don't call us stupid while you're doing it.
Except for the fact that she has raised both income tax and national insurance. Take our money but please don't call us stupid while you're doing it.
Reposted by Neil Charles
"We are freezing known Russian assets" says Rachel Reeves
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
November 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
"We are freezing known Russian assets" says Rachel Reeves
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
Timing of the budget leak looks very close to one hour early. I reckon somebody at the OBR has screwed up the time zones on their publish trigger.
November 26, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Timing of the budget leak looks very close to one hour early. I reckon somebody at the OBR has screwed up the time zones on their publish trigger.
My fear for 11am is that she's going to try to fix this by ramping tax on small businesses, which is easier than working out where the leaks are. Fits with the floated policy of NI on pension contributions because maxing those is the first thing any small biz accountant tells you to do.
2. Solving the small company tax gap mystery
40% of all corporation tax due from small businesses is now not being paid:
40% of all corporation tax due from small businesses is now not being paid:
November 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM
My fear for 11am is that she's going to try to fix this by ramping tax on small businesses, which is easier than working out where the leaks are. Fits with the floated policy of NI on pension contributions because maxing those is the first thing any small biz accountant tells you to do.
Devolving UK .gov statistics was really, really stupid.
November 26, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Devolving UK .gov statistics was really, really stupid.
Labour have boxed themselves into a stupid corner on tax rises but ramping council tax, even just on very expensive houses, is going to be very unpopular. There's a world of difference between taxing money at source vs. letting people see it in their bank accounts first and then taking it away.
November 26, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Labour have boxed themselves into a stupid corner on tax rises but ramping council tax, even just on very expensive houses, is going to be very unpopular. There's a world of difference between taxing money at source vs. letting people see it in their bank accounts first and then taking it away.
Reposted by Neil Charles
Fun fact: November 28, 2001:
"ENRON, which had been a component of the S&P; 500, was removed at the end of trading Thursday and replaced by NVIDIA Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of computer-graphics chips."
"ENRON, which had been a component of the S&P; 500, was removed at the end of trading Thursday and replaced by NVIDIA Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of computer-graphics chips."
November 22, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Fun fact: November 28, 2001:
"ENRON, which had been a component of the S&P; 500, was removed at the end of trading Thursday and replaced by NVIDIA Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of computer-graphics chips."
"ENRON, which had been a component of the S&P; 500, was removed at the end of trading Thursday and replaced by NVIDIA Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of computer-graphics chips."
I bought my first Windows PC in 1997 and have owned one ever since. Today's the day I move fully to Linux.
November 25, 2025 at 7:57 AM
I bought my first Windows PC in 1997 and have owned one ever since. Today's the day I move fully to Linux.
If I was a journalist I'd go and prod the ownership structure and connections of ParentPay. An app that bad didn't become the default choice for UK schools due to its streamlined efficiency.
Messages from school to my parents in the 90s: Fill in the slip at the bottom & bring in £2 for the trip to the zoo
Messages from school now: Your child's exam schedule is on Zoop, login via the LernPortal to access it, the results will be on HoneyTree, their homework is on Zappp & NumberHub
Messages from school now: Your child's exam schedule is on Zoop, login via the LernPortal to access it, the results will be on HoneyTree, their homework is on Zappp & NumberHub
November 24, 2025 at 2:53 PM
If I was a journalist I'd go and prod the ownership structure and connections of ParentPay. An app that bad didn't become the default choice for UK schools due to its streamlined efficiency.
"This money has already been taxed". No it hasn't, the story says it came from house price inflation. We redistribute some of the enormous gains from property or having baby boomer parents who lived in the SE will be the Temu version of having an ancestor who was mates with William the Conqueror.
I don't think this was actually deliberately published as ragebait, but the entitlement contained within is remarkable and a classic example of the sort of sentiment governments sometimes just have to face down inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...?
We were hit with a £148k inheritance tax bill when mum died at 97 - it's disgusting
Jill Lemon has labelled inheritance tax as 'cruel', 'horrible' and 'unfair'
inews.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
"This money has already been taxed". No it hasn't, the story says it came from house price inflation. We redistribute some of the enormous gains from property or having baby boomer parents who lived in the SE will be the Temu version of having an ancestor who was mates with William the Conqueror.
Reposted by Neil Charles
Oh hello
November 23, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Oh hello
Smart of Man U to leave that cursed monkey paw behind when they played at Anfield IMO. Should have done it sooner.
November 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Smart of Man U to leave that cursed monkey paw behind when they played at Anfield IMO. Should have done it sooner.
Played the fantasy league free hit and have very predictably made my team worse.
November 22, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Played the fantasy league free hit and have very predictably made my team worse.
Reposted by Neil Charles
Farage can now be easily boxed in to a corner where his only ‘defence’ becomes: “Yes I spouted Kremlin propaganda & Putin worship but, unlike Nathan Gill, I didn’t need bribes to do it.”
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
November 22, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Farage can now be easily boxed in to a corner where his only ‘defence’ becomes: “Yes I spouted Kremlin propaganda & Putin worship but, unlike Nathan Gill, I didn’t need bribes to do it.”
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
As some tech commentators have pointed out, it's more than 10% because Meta ads are an auction and more bidders in an auction means higher prices. 10% revenue from scams is only the winning bids.
"Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10 per cent of its overall annual revenue — or $16bn — from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show" - Reuters www.ft.com/content/4560...
We have to be able to hold tech platforms accountable for fraud
Algorithms ensure that people who click on scams are likely to see more of them
www.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:11 PM
As some tech commentators have pointed out, it's more than 10% because Meta ads are an auction and more bidders in an auction means higher prices. 10% revenue from scams is only the winning bids.
Exactly this. The Silicon Valley's game is to rush for scale and then say the service you're running is so big that you can possibly be asked to police it.
re: roblox dude's interview crashout. the thing he wants to say but can't is "at scale, kids are gonna get hurt. that is the price for scale." the thing nobody wants to say out loud is "maybe scaling to a level where harm isn't manageable is bad, and scale should be contained"
November 21, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Exactly this. The Silicon Valley's game is to rush for scale and then say the service you're running is so big that you can possibly be asked to police it.
Bought my first brand new bouldering shoes. Transition complete from rubbish middle aged man in rental shoes, to rubbish middle aged man who's bought his own kit and should really be much better at this by now.
November 21, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Bought my first brand new bouldering shoes. Transition complete from rubbish middle aged man in rental shoes, to rubbish middle aged man who's bought his own kit and should really be much better at this by now.
Reposted by Neil Charles
1/ What a Russian breaking of the ceasefire will look like, step by step.
There are far better experts on this, but I was an Australian diplomat in Ukraine in 2014 so I've seen this play out up close.
So join me, brothers and sisters, as we count down to a fullscale re-invasion.
There are far better experts on this, but I was an Australian diplomat in Ukraine in 2014 so I've seen this play out up close.
So join me, brothers and sisters, as we count down to a fullscale re-invasion.
November 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
1/ What a Russian breaking of the ceasefire will look like, step by step.
There are far better experts on this, but I was an Australian diplomat in Ukraine in 2014 so I've seen this play out up close.
So join me, brothers and sisters, as we count down to a fullscale re-invasion.
There are far better experts on this, but I was an Australian diplomat in Ukraine in 2014 so I've seen this play out up close.
So join me, brothers and sisters, as we count down to a fullscale re-invasion.
Tip for tradespeople, if you're cold-call knocking on somebody's door, leading with the line "honest, we're not gypsies!" isn't the strongest sales tactic. Didn't think you were. I do now though.
November 21, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Tip for tradespeople, if you're cold-call knocking on somebody's door, leading with the line "honest, we're not gypsies!" isn't the strongest sales tactic. Didn't think you were. I do now though.