Status:
Rest day, after yesterday’s mild exertions, helped by sunny weather so we’re in the garden in the dome under the giant shade sail. Got a hammock, a beanbag and wifi and everything’s groovy. No major crash but definitely feeling a bit fragile so taking things easy.
Wally spend a nice amount of time with us this afternoon, just hanging out in our vicinity. He had another brief not-eating moment earlier in the week, which we sorted out with no great drama, but I have been noting that he is suddenly looking old. Until quite recently I would remark that both rabbits still looked like babies to me, compared with previous rabbits who always showed some kind of maturity. But I think this is the year they visually age into senior buns.
Lav has a chunkiness about her, especially when viewed from the front, which is striking as she always had that skinniness of a runt. And for the first time Wally flopped on the lawn and I saw Bunminster, our original rabbit who excelled at looking like a patchwork sack of old rabbit. It was nice to see the ghost of Bunminster, who I dearly miss, but after 6 years of their company we are definitely entering a new chapter with these guys.
Reading:
- Good Law Project’s what-you-need-to-know report on the EHRC’s code of practice — Takeaway is “big changes since the previous, transphobic draft – but it’s not good enough”.
- How to build a good prime minister — I’m generally of the opinion that leaders (kings, presidents, prime ministers, CEOs) are a bad idea, but then I’m a co-op head so of course I think that. One flaw in the leader model is it assumed said leader will have the ideas and framework necessary to do the job, when the ideas and framework are way more important than the charismatic figurehead. I think that’s broadly what’s being said here.
- Andy Burnham’s Manchester has a defining spirit – and Britain could do with a lot more of it — More “Manchesterism” stuff, this time from John Harris who I have plenty time for when he’s doing his Anywhere but Westminster stuff but will concede he has a blind spot when it comes to Manc pride, as evidenced by starting this piece with a Smiths song, so I’m not reading too much into his thoughts, just noting them.
- Boots Riley: ‘Theft is not outside of capitalism, it’s what it was built on’ — Always have time for Boots Riley.
- ‘I want to hit 100’: Derek Jacobi on Aids, ageing and failing to boil an egg — Fantastic, hilarious interview with Jacobi and his husband, a couple of proper old theatre queens.
- How America turned against AI according to the poll data — This is a pretty wide compilation of surveys and it mostly comes to one conclusion: USAmericans don’t like AI or the people pushing it on them. Even if you think polls are stupid (and they often are) given the torrent of pro-AI media messaging this is quite striking.
Watching:
Listening:
- If Books Could Kill: Think and Grow Rich — Like many books in this podcast I remember selling it back in my Hatchards/Dillons/Waterstones days, assuming it was bollocks but hey, it subsidises stocking the good stuff. Here’s the referenced Gizmodo story about how insanely corrupt the author was.