@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

simon_brooke

@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot

Anarcho-syndicalist, autistic, crofter, cyclist, depressive, entrepreneur, geek, searchable, Zapatista. Politics & environment, especially #LandReform. he/him.

Twitter: https://mastodon.scot/@simon_brooke
GitHub: simon-brooke
FetLife: Simon_Brooke

Credo: Life is harsh. What we can do - and what we should do - is strive to make it less harsh for the people around us.

Addendum: you would not deliberately block a wheelchair ramp. Do not post images to social media without alt text.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

floorboards loaded up to go up to site.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

And all the boards are now in the and stacked. I'd estimated that at a day's work, and the two of us did it between 4pm and 6pm this afternoon, so feeling pretty virtuous.

simon_brooke, (edited )
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@adrianfry it's a reciprocal roof we're building on my land with timber from trees which were blown down in , for an old friend who is one of the / heroes and so can't really afford to own anything. It's about 7 metres diameter over the pillars, about 11 over the eves.

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

First cuckoo at 55°N 4°W

ShredderLivesOn, to random
@ShredderLivesOn@mastodon.scot avatar

I wasn't surprised that George Galloway made his comments about not viewing gay relationships as normal.

What is surprising is the fact Aaron Bastani, who calls himself a journalist, actually was. And that until he heard these remarks, he would have voted for Galloway.

Anyone who has paid any attention to Galloway at all in even just the last five years would know how much of a poisonous lurch to the right he's taken.

https://novaramedia.com/2024/05/01/i-would-have-voted-for-george-galloway-but-then-he-said-gay-people-arent-normal/

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@ShredderLivesOn Galloway is a large province, formerly an independent principality, in what is now southern Scotland. What relationship, if any, 'Gorgeous' George', the compulsive self-publicist from Dundee, has with the place is (perhaps fortunately) lost to history.

I put it to you that if there were a mendacious politician-wannabe whose name just happened to be 'Surrey', you would not refer to them simply as 'Surrey'.

simon_brooke, to random
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"the people reporting the metric are so interested in making the numbers look right that they lie. The metric becomes worse than noise—it’s outright disinformation. Things look like they’re getting better when they’re getting worse" -- Eric Normand

https://ericnormand.substack.com/p/measuring-dev-productivity

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Andy Burnham (still Mayor of Manchester) on social housing:

'One of the main reasons why the country has not built enough social homes for decades is because of the right-to-buy policy. Councils do not have an incentive to fund the building of new homes if they can be sold off cheaply & quickly. In the face of a desperate housing crisis, the existence of right to buy means we are in effect trying to refill a bath without being allowed to put the plug back in'!

Yup, that's about it!

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 It sounds to me an excellent idea. It might be taken forward as part of a more general restriction of all human rights to natural persons.

simon_brooke, to random
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The itinerant bike mechanic and his travelling workshop, off to fix more refugees' bikes.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

And at the end of the day, six serviced and test-ridden bikes loaded up to be delivered to their new owners tomorrow, and another four ready. It was a long day, but a useful one.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

Among other bikes handed in to pass on to refugees was this classic 1982 Carlton. However, the refugees don't like drop handlebar bikes, and we probably won't hand it on. Instead it will be sold to raise funds to do up other bikes. I admit I'm tempted.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@urbanmicrofarmer there's something very classic about the last generation of mainstream lugged steel bicycle. It is the end point of 100 years of evolution of a concept, and although modern bikes are better to ride in almost every way, there's still a certain grace that has been lost.

I had a custom Carlton frame made for me – I was unusually tall in those days – in the early eighties, and this example brought it powerfully to mind.

RichardJMurphy, to random
@RichardJMurphy@mas.to avatar

The Greens were the biggest winners in the local elections, so why aren’t they getting fair air time? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/07/the-greens-were-the-biggest-winners-in-the-local-elections-so-why-arent-they-getting-fair-air-time/
Proportionately, the Greens won most seats at the recent local elections, but they are denied airtime, and we get Reform instead. Why?

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@RichardJMurphy the aren't getting airtime because, as you know, the owners of the British media (and I explicitly include the BBC) see the Greens as a much more serious threat to their status and privilege than .

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@OliverNoble @Kellys the ought to be a far bigger challenge to the status quo than the SNP. The SNP want a change in governance structure to less than half a percent of the planet, while leaving corporate interests largely unaffected. The Greens want – and need – and entire overthrow of the global economic system.



Redpedals, to random
@Redpedals@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@simon_brooke I thought you'd be interested in seeing this. My first upright bike in a very long time, and the end point of looking into electric assist options that properly started after you showed me your electric gravel bike.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@Redpedals excellent! I have to say me electric gravel bike has been such a success that I no longer ride it much – but only because it has built up my fitness to such an extent I no longer need the assist and use my acoustic bike instead. Without the electric bike I probably wouldn't be riding at all any more.

I wish you the best of luck with it, and should not be surprised to hear your riding fitness recovers much better than you expect.

RejoinEU, to random
@RejoinEU@mastodon.online avatar

The Daily Heil doesn't approve of our choices of elected representatives.

This fash-rag supported the Nazis, and evidently nothing has changed except the first name of the Rothermere-of-the-day.

This front page is (yet another) subversion of our democracy, demonstrating that the time has come to take the UK print press out of the hands of press-baron "proprietor" oligarchs, in favour of Boards of Trustees.

simon_brooke, (edited )
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@HighlandLawyer @RejoinEU I note they don't say how many years it's taken Police Scotland to spend that £2.4 million on diversity. I know they had a officer doing diversity work sixteen years ago, because I knew her; £2.4 million over 16 years is £150,000 per annum, or roughly two salaries, and that really doesn't sound like a lot to me.

simon_brooke, to random
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Last night, I was thinking that Kuenssberg wasn't really a journalist, she was more a groupie; this morning, The Bunker is talking about politics as fandoms. I think this says a lot about modern political discourse in the UK.

There is little serious interest in, or analysis of, policy; the focus is on who is briefing against who, sleeping with who, plotting against who, winning arcane popularity contests.

This is essentially unserious.

https://pod.link/1496246490/episode/1974664bc579725097d9cb038c45092d

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@petealexharris Particularly at this point in the Earth's history. We have a very few years to make major systemic change. If we fail, the consequences will be catastrophic.

Obviously, those who resist change benefit by steering the discourse into trivia, which is why people like Kuenssberg (she is not alone, but she is a sort of Platonic ideal) are hired.

But it is staggering to me how few people in modern politics approach the issues we all face with any sort of seriousness.

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

Very curious, vivid dream last night. I was one of a large party of aristocrats gathered in a palatial country house. A revolution was in progress. The house was besieged by a huge assembly of common people. There was no help coming for us; we expected to be slaughtered.

As you'll know, in real life my own sympathies would be very much with the commons, so this dream from the other perspective was... curious.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@jenselbaek No, indeed. I'm just surprised about how clearly and convincingly my brain presented what was for me very much the other side of the fence. I experienced the real fear and desperation of these people.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@jenselbaek I don't believe in 'evil people'. People do evil, certainly; and in the present state of the world we have a plague of very powerful people doing great evil. But I don't think even Elon Musk or Donald Trump is inherently, irremediably evil. I think harm done to people, especially in their childhoods, leads them to do harm; and I think elites have developed systems over centuries to desensitise their children to the harms they do -- systems which can reasonably be seen as abuse,

alshafei, to privacy
@alshafei@mastodon.social avatar

Disappointed to see The Markup share advice for people to use WhatsApp in its post about preparing your phone for a protest, and that it's coming from "digital security trainers."

Metadata literally kills, and WhatsApp is swimming in it. The metadata they collect includes:

Groups you're a member of, location, personal info (email, phone number, user IDs), contacts and their phone numbers, in-app search history, when you use the app & how often you use it. E2EE alone doesn't guarantee

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@alshafei aye. Do not use any Meta (or Microsoft , or Google , or ex-Twitter) infrastructure if you're intending anything subversive. None of these businesses are to be trusted.

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

"There’s a democratic problem, too. Ironically, by introducing democracy into the antique 1707 union, devolution showed why it no longer works. “Partnership” in a democratised union where 85% of the citizens belong to one member, England, can only be a fiction" -- Neal Ascherson on the need for

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/04/the-snp-may-be-laid-low-but-the-call-of-scottish-independence-is-loud-and-clear

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

It's amazing to me to think that Ascherson has lived through more than a quarter of the entire history of the union, and yet he can write of it with this much clarity, insight and vigour.

I have no real wish to live so long, but if I could be promised his degree of energy and alertness when I reached 92, I might be persuaded to make the effort to stick around for it.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/04/the-snp-may-be-laid-low-but-the-call-of-scottish-independence-is-loud-and-clear

TheDailyBurble, to random
@TheDailyBurble@mastodon.social avatar

Imagine opening your window and not hearing a car. Or going out for a walk and not hearing a car. Or sitting in a restaurant and not hearing a car. Or basically doing anything and not hearing a freaking car.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@TheDailyBurble the thing about my house is that I almost never hear a car here. There is no road to my side of the hill. I hear farm tractors sometimes, but by no means every day. I can go for days without hearing an internal combustion engine.

And it is very nice.

kim_harding, to climate
@kim_harding@mastodon.scot avatar

Big oil privately acknowledged efforts to downplay climate crisis, joint committee investigation finds
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/30/big-oil-climate-crisis-us-senate-report
Internal documents revealed by committee show companies lobbied against climate laws they publicly claimed to support.

OK, so what is going to be done about it? We know there is a problem, but still aren't taking the actions needed. Firstly, stop all fossil carbon extraction. NOW!

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@kim_harding secondly, put the senior decision makers of those companies on trial for .

https://www.journeyman.cc/blog/posts-output/2023-05-22-Climate-Change-as-Crime/

FolksVelo, to random
@FolksVelo@mas.to avatar

While I can appreciate the aerodynamics and the ability to go quickly without e-assist, I found the upper end of the velo-world to be hilariously challenging to get in and out of. Certainly a great option for long distance but maybe less practical for city use and quick trips. (i think of short trips as being 5km or less)

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@FolksVelo Are you familiar with the Mosquito velomobile? It seems to me a very promising design. Being able to have a short front wheel drive power train without having to cope with front wheel steering seems to me a big win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44_CzZDD_08

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