Richard Fairhurst
@richardfairhurst.bsky.social
Building the world’s best bike directions at cycle.travel
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
"average french person arrested 3 times a year for corruption" factoid actualy just statistical error. average french person arrested 0 times per year. Corruptions Sarko, who lives in le XVIe arrondissement & has over 10k convictions a day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
November 26, 2025 at 2:27 PM
"average french person arrested 3 times a year for corruption" factoid actualy just statistical error. average french person arrested 0 times per year. Corruptions Sarko, who lives in le XVIe arrondissement & has over 10k convictions a day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
beginning to believe I would actually vote for a dead pigeon on a stick if it just promised to restore the fuel duty escalator
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
beginning to believe I would actually vote for a dead pigeon on a stick if it just promised to restore the fuel duty escalator
For at least ten years, every music recommendation engine has been telling me “you should listen to Boards of Canada”. I finally listened to them and am now wondering why I didn’t do so ten years ago www.youtube.com/watch?v=St-m...
Boards of Canada - Aquarius
YouTube video by MaxMalbi
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:31 PM
For at least ten years, every music recommendation engine has been telling me “you should listen to Boards of Canada”. I finally listened to them and am now wondering why I didn’t do so ten years ago www.youtube.com/watch?v=St-m...
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
Walter de Staplecat, Simpkin IV, Teabag, Balthasar and Benny D Cat take the stage as we meet the college cats of Oxford. And, of course, Magdalen’s Ozymandias. Read on for our photo special. (Includes a cat map.) oxfordclarion.uk/college-cats...
College cats of Oxford
Once upon a time, we featured an image of Magdalen's kitten, Ozymandias, in our newsletter. We figured it might be a gentle contrast to our regular diet of planning and local politics.
The grey ball ...
oxfordclarion.uk
November 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Walter de Staplecat, Simpkin IV, Teabag, Balthasar and Benny D Cat take the stage as we meet the college cats of Oxford. And, of course, Magdalen’s Ozymandias. Read on for our photo special. (Includes a cat map.) oxfordclarion.uk/college-cats...
cycle.travel has a bunch of code to handle this specific elevator! (Otherwise it really wouldn’t want to route up a hill quite as steep as that…)
The Pfaffenthal Panoramic Elevator in Luxembourg City, an interesting piece of vertical public transport between the Alzette valley and the main city.
#FridayFun
#FridayFun
November 14, 2025 at 12:42 PM
cycle.travel has a bunch of code to handle this specific elevator! (Otherwise it really wouldn’t want to route up a hill quite as steep as that…)
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
George Monbiot - "We should never underestimate the extent to which the BBC changed this country by giving endless airtime to Nigel Farage, other far right extremists and the Tufton Street junktanks, while shutting out progressive voices."
November 11, 2025 at 11:42 AM
George Monbiot - "We should never underestimate the extent to which the BBC changed this country by giving endless airtime to Nigel Farage, other far right extremists and the Tufton Street junktanks, while shutting out progressive voices."
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
I really like the Oxford Clarion which doesn’t get enough mentions when people write about local news startups.
Oxfordshire County Council has clarified that the Ghostbusters hearse would not be exempt from the city’s Congestion Charge. A spokesperson told us “It’s not as simple as buying a hearse. In order to qualify for a permit, you must also be a funeral care business.”
November 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
I really like the Oxford Clarion which doesn’t get enough mentions when people write about local news startups.
Pshaw. It’s biased in favour of a deeply regressive set of small-C social conservative views. It doesn’t have the imagination or the coherence to be either left-wing or right-wing.
New YouGov poll: Is BBC News politically biased? 50% of Britons say yes.
Biased in favour of left-wing views: 31%
Biased in favour of right-wing views: 19%
Not biased: 19%
Belief in bias by party
Reform: 73% biased to left / 4% biased to right
Con: 52% / 5%
Lib Dem: 19% / 22%
Labour: 16% / 31%
Biased in favour of left-wing views: 31%
Biased in favour of right-wing views: 19%
Not biased: 19%
Belief in bias by party
Reform: 73% biased to left / 4% biased to right
Con: 52% / 5%
Lib Dem: 19% / 22%
Labour: 16% / 31%
November 10, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Pshaw. It’s biased in favour of a deeply regressive set of small-C social conservative views. It doesn’t have the imagination or the coherence to be either left-wing or right-wing.
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
Everything good that's happened in UK rail in my lifetime has been stuff that's occurred despite the resistance of the Department for Roads, and the thing that the GBR structure does is to consolidate total power over rail in the hands of those bastards
November 8, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Everything good that's happened in UK rail in my lifetime has been stuff that's occurred despite the resistance of the Department for Roads, and the thing that the GBR structure does is to consolidate total power over rail in the hands of those bastards
Very sorry to hear of the death of Terry Darlington, the endearing nutcase who took his narrowboat across the Channel (and various other entirely unsuitable places) as chronicled in ‘Narrow Dog to Carcassonne’.
November 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Very sorry to hear of the death of Terry Darlington, the endearing nutcase who took his narrowboat across the Channel (and various other entirely unsuitable places) as chronicled in ‘Narrow Dog to Carcassonne’.
Another thoughtful piece about Adventure Cycling’s travails in the bikepacking age. Some suggestions in the comments that “it’s a bit more complex than that” but the core is: long-distance TransAm cycling is a rapidly ageing market. theradavist.com/whats-next-f...
What’s Next for Adventure Cycling Association? – Hailey Moore
If you've been following the trajectory of Adventure Cycling Association, it's no secret that the non-profit has been facing challenges, including significant membership decline, underfunding, and a m...
theradavist.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Another thoughtful piece about Adventure Cycling’s travails in the bikepacking age. Some suggestions in the comments that “it’s a bit more complex than that” but the core is: long-distance TransAm cycling is a rapidly ageing market. theradavist.com/whats-next-f...
Welp. Turns out the kid I used to sit next to at school aged 10 is actually Lord Voldemort collider.com/harry-potter...
Harry Potter’s New Voldemort Actor Speaks Out on Taking on the Iconic Role
Harry Potter's new Voldemort actor, Matthew Macfadyen, speaks out on what it's been like taking on such an iconic role.
collider.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Welp. Turns out the kid I used to sit next to at school aged 10 is actually Lord Voldemort collider.com/harry-potter...
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
Absolute scenes in Oxfordshire. LABOUR voting WITH TORIES and the car brained IOA to remove a traffic intervention designed to speed up buses, and was recommended by 74% in the citizens assembly THEY ASKED FOR, AND that has already been praised by the BUS companies, after SIX days.
The vote on Oxford’s Congestion Charge is taken and goes broadly along party lines.
For removing the charge: 22 (Con, Lab, Ind)
Against removing the charge: 36 (LibDem, Green, Henley)
Abstain: 2 (Will Boucher-Giles, LibDem for Chesterton; Emma Markham, Green for Shrivenham)
For removing the charge: 22 (Con, Lab, Ind)
Against removing the charge: 36 (LibDem, Green, Henley)
Abstain: 2 (Will Boucher-Giles, LibDem for Chesterton; Emma Markham, Green for Shrivenham)
November 4, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Absolute scenes in Oxfordshire. LABOUR voting WITH TORIES and the car brained IOA to remove a traffic intervention designed to speed up buses, and was recommended by 74% in the citizens assembly THEY ASKED FOR, AND that has already been praised by the BUS companies, after SIX days.
Given that our local River Learning Trust primary has got through five heads in five years, I’m not convinced they need any help from the congestion charge for staff to start leaving
October 29, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Given that our local River Learning Trust primary has got through five heads in five years, I’m not convinced they need any help from the congestion charge for staff to start leaving
The New Yorker wrote about the app I’ve spent most time in over the last 20 years: TextEdit, Apple’s bare-bones WYSIWYG text editor. Always works, never gets in the way. Less nonsense than Word 5.1, less nonsense than ChatGPT. Thank you, whoever maintains it. www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
TextEdit and the Relief of Simple Software
The bare-bones Mac writing app represents a literalist sensibility that is coming back into vogue as A.I. destabilizes our technological interactions.
www.newyorker.com
October 24, 2025 at 9:46 PM
The New Yorker wrote about the app I’ve spent most time in over the last 20 years: TextEdit, Apple’s bare-bones WYSIWYG text editor. Always works, never gets in the way. Less nonsense than Word 5.1, less nonsense than ChatGPT. Thank you, whoever maintains it. www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
KOM MAAR OP
Oxfordshire’s street design should be influenced by best practice in Amsterdam and Oslo, according to a new commission by the County Council. A revised Oxfordshire Street Design Code is being drawn up with the support of consultants Create Streets.
October 21, 2025 at 10:44 AM
KOM MAAR OP
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
Café ride to test the upcoming version of the cycle.travel app ☕️
October 15, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Café ride to test the upcoming version of the cycle.travel app ☕️
Headed out on the Bike Friday to explore some bridleways around Oxford.
October 8, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Headed out on the Bike Friday to explore some bridleways around Oxford.
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
The Bluesky theory of moderation is one of those “I’d really like to believe in this, but I am dubious”, but I will put that aside for the iconic reply to “people who have convinced themselves that they are the boss of people they don’t give any money to“, a curse of social media.
October 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
The Bluesky theory of moderation is one of those “I’d really like to believe in this, but I am dubious”, but I will put that aside for the iconic reply to “people who have convinced themselves that they are the boss of people they don’t give any money to“, a curse of social media.
Even after 35+ years of Providing Free Stuff To Strangers Using Computers (late 1980s public domain software for the Amstrad 8-bits ftw), the sheer entitlement of 5% of those strangers never ceases to amaze me
October 3, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Even after 35+ years of Providing Free Stuff To Strangers Using Computers (late 1980s public domain software for the Amstrad 8-bits ftw), the sheer entitlement of 5% of those strangers never ceases to amaze me
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
In one of those wonderful coincidences, the code to display cycle.travel’s app map yn Gymraeg was finished today just as the Welsh Government announced a project to crowdsource Welsh placenames for OpenStreetMap https://media.service.gov.wales/news/new-priorities-to-help-protect-welsh-place-names
September 30, 2025 at 1:52 PM
In one of those wonderful coincidences, the code to display cycle.travel’s app map yn Gymraeg was finished today just as the Welsh Government announced a project to crowdsource Welsh placenames for OpenStreetMap https://media.service.gov.wales/news/new-priorities-to-help-protect-welsh-place-names
Reposted by Richard Fairhurst
just bored and thinking about how Freud's, the cocktail bar in a defunct Grade II listed church in Oxford, has been closed since 2023 'for renovations' but they haven't applied for any listed building consent and now it's the last remaining real estate in Radcliffe Observatory Quarter
September 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
just bored and thinking about how Freud's, the cocktail bar in a defunct Grade II listed church in Oxford, has been closed since 2023 'for renovations' but they haven't applied for any listed building consent and now it's the last remaining real estate in Radcliffe Observatory Quarter
Dobrinka Tabakova’s Truro Canticles are just full of gorgeous harmonies and you should listen to them, very very loud listeningproject.blog/2024/01/22/t...
Tabakova – Truro Canticles (2016)
Dobrinka Tabakova (b. 1980), a contemporary Bulgarian-British composer, has emerged as a distinctive voice in the classical music scene of the 21st century. Active during the same period as other c…
listeningproject.blog
September 26, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Dobrinka Tabakova’s Truro Canticles are just full of gorgeous harmonies and you should listen to them, very very loud listeningproject.blog/2024/01/22/t...
AI instant answers have their uses but “is it safe to cycle across Sudan right now” is probably not one of them
September 21, 2025 at 4:08 PM
AI instant answers have their uses but “is it safe to cycle across Sudan right now” is probably not one of them