Al Hatch

@alhatchauthor.bsky.social

574 Followers 1673 Following

Slice of life novel "Meltdown Expected" coming soon. Set over 3 decades from 80s, about punk rock, coding, philosophy, radicalisation, love, weakness, growing up. Also write poetry, songs and non-fiction. #actuallyaustistic #leftist #lgbtq ally UK he/him

New York sculptor spent $100,000 to make a Charlie Kirk statue no one wants to buy Sergio Furnari said he thought the lifesize sculpture – which no one commissioned – would raise ‘millions’ of dollars Story in the Guardian, link provided Image shows two angles of the sculpture, it's vaguely like Kirk, in a grey sweatshirt that says "Freedom" and he's holding a microphone. But it's a bit off and the expression is like he's holding in a fart.
Tweet thread (warning - profanity) Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao @SECNAV Flight debrief complete. No reprimands. No firings. No problem. That’s the sound of Freedom! Semper fi and Hooyah. (video of the flyover.) Crazy Fenak @CrazyFenaker Dude you need to resign. Clearly violating every safety protocol in the book - could have killed 200 people on the beach. Ree Gurgle @GurgleRee PUSSY BITCH AND COWARD
Screenshot of bin liners on Amazon, I have circled the "Used - Like New" option. New is £12.89, Used price is £11.60. I wonder what a "used bin bag" is like?
Screenshot from credits of Animal Farm Trailer: SETH ROGEN GATEN MATARAZZO STEVE BUSCEMI GLENN CLOSE LAVERNE COX KIERAN CULKIN WOODY HARRELSON JIM PARSONS ANDY SERKIS KATHLEEN TURNER IMAN VELLANI
Screenshot of a recent X post that says "this has been talked about extensively you're just 21"
Whatsapp conversation: Daughter: on the bus now, about to set off Me: Great. Air con? Daughter: Yep, and little screens Me: They're called windows! Laughing emoji. No reply to last message. She left me on read!
A white wire-haired terrier (possibly a Parson Russell - we're not sure!) standing on top of Hadrian's wall at Housesteads fort's Northern boundary.
Cover of book "Teenage Kicks: My life as an Undertone" by Michael Bradley. Features a picture of the band against a brick wall, all aged in late teens or early 20s. Bradley was the Bass Player in the band from Derry, Northern Ireland.
Sleeping dog. Mostly white Patterdale Terrier cross, bigger than a Jack, smaller than a Beagle. Sound asleep on his bed next to the radiator which is not on. Laid out on his side, toe beans facing us.
Five homemade pizzas and a side salad on a dining table. Pizzas are all weird shapes because the bases were hand made by an idiot. Topped with home made tomato sauce with garlic and oregano, then red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, mozzarella and some with ham and chorizo.
Screenshot from BBC Sport website... Marc Guehi is eligibile to play for Manchester City in the FA Cup despite already playing in the competition this season for Crystal Palace during their shock defeat by non-league side Macclesfield. The England centre-back, who captained Palace in last season's final victory, has been given a second chance at glory and can feature against League Two side Salford City following a refresh to the rules before the 2025-26 season. Under the old rules Guehi would have been cup-tied, but the Football Association now deem that "a player may play for a maximum of one other club in the competition proper", but cannot play for two different teams in the same round.
WhatsApp conversation Me: Bab for tea? Her: on a Thursday??? Me: In this economy?
Victorian marble urinal labelled The Adamant.
Screenshot of Amazon showing USB C to USBC-in and 3.5mm headphone jack adapter
I have a game in mind I need to write. At school we've been playing a simple strategy game called "Yellow River Kingdom" on the BBC Micros. As the ruler of the Kingdom you decide how much rice to plant, then divide the villagers between farming, dyke repairs and guarding the grain against thieves. Get the numbers wrong and you might lose everything through floods, famine or night-time raids. It's a simple game but it has inspired me to write my own version. I'll add many new variables: weather events, different crops, livestock, new threats. Hungry or bored villagers might defect to the thieves with the grain so I need to keep the people fed and entertained. I'll add sports facilities, a theatre and a library, and a town hall where the simulated people can gather and make their own decisions. I just need a name. Gavin has suggested "SimTown" which sounds a bit clunky. I'll work on that. I just get the Speccy set up and working when the phone rings. I run downstairs to get it before my brother Carl, but he's too quick. "It's for Yoo-Hoo", sings Carl, imitating a stupid British Telecom advert off the telly. "Get on your bike and I'll meet you at Concordia, geeky boy" Caitlin giggles. We’ve been going out for six months now, but I still catch my breath at the sound of her voice, as if while we’ve been apart I wasn't quite breathing properly, and her voice is CPR. "On it, swotty girl," I reply, and head down to the shed to drag out my battered old Raleigh Grifter. Designed just before BMX bikes came out, the Grifter is like a motocross bike but if it was made of solid lead. It looks for all the world like a BMX, but tricks are impossible on the bugger because it's the weight of a small cow. That said, it works just fine to get a 14 year old from A to B once you get the damn thing going, so I head off to the new, pretentiously named leisure centre to play some video games and of course, hang out with my girl.
I ain't reading all that I'm happy for u tho or sorry that happened (it's a meme)
Screenshot of Camptosaurus A real dinosaur
Screenshot from The Guardian... Crowds cheering, laughing and hugging each other as Budapest celebrates opposition win. Flora Garamvolgyi at Tisza’s election night party at Batthyány Square in Budapest Lots of people cheering, laughing, and hugging each other here at Tisza’s election watch party. Budapest will not go to sleep early tonight. Photo here Captioned Supporters celebrate at the election party of the Tisza in Budapest, Hungary. Photograph: dts News Agency Germany/Shutterstock
Set of ornate carved feet for furniture, in the style of lions feet with scroll above. Probably stone.
Screenshot of 2 tickets to see Project Hail Mary at 8pm March 24th
Screenshot from Jewish News from 17 Dec 2025. Crowds gather in Trafalgar Square for ChanukahLIVE!, marking the festival of lights with a public celebration in central London. Credit: Mark Thomas One of the evening’s centrepieces was a mass children’s choir formed by pupils from four Jewish primary schools – Clore Tikva, Mathilda Marks-Kennedy, Etz Chaim and Wolfson Hillel – who joined together to perform Maoz Tzur and We Know a Man, conducted by Stephen Melzack.
The sound is typically played by combining a bass drum beat with a rimshot on the snare, followed by a cymbals crash, often using a "choke" technique to end the sound quickly. Ba (Bass Drum): A quick hit on the bass drum. Dum (Snare Drum): A hit on the snare drum, often a rimshot (hitting the head and rim simultaneously). Tish (Hi-Hat/Cymbal): A crash on a cymbal or an open-then-closed hi-hat to create a sharp sizzling sound. One common method for the final "tish" is to hit an open hi-hat and immediately close it for a short, snappy sizzle.
Stroopwafels. Dutch sweet snack made of two waffles with caramel syrup between them. Place on top of hot coffee to enjoy melty goodness.
Homer Simpson "... So Far" meme
Caption from Michael Spicer's spoof TV travel show intro, it reads "A White Middle-Aged Man Travels Around Again"
Screenshot of Amazon app showing two messages... "Hello, I'm trying to deliver your Amazon package" and "I will arrive with your delivery soon. Please secure pets if you have them and turn on a light if it's dark."
I condemn the horrific acts we are seeing unfold today in Israel against children, women, the elderly, and the unarmed people who are being slaughtered and taken hostage by Hamas. Such senseless violence will only repeat the back and forth cycle we've seen, which we cannot allow to continue. We need to call for deescalation and ceasefire. I will keep advocating for peace and justice throughout the Middle East.
TheHill.com Live: Trump warns Iran Trending: US servicemembers killed Middle East conflict Clintons testimony Sponsored: Content from Google Cloud Senate Kelly says it’s ‘unlikely’ he backs war powers vote by Ashleigh Fields - 03/01/26 11:12 AM ET Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) on Sunday said it was “unlikely” that he would vote in favor of a war powers vote after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran. “I’m going to have to take a close look at it. I want to hear from the White House what their strategy is going forward. I will say at this point, it’s rather unlikely that I would be [a yes],” Kelly said during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They went into this without any discussion with us ahead of time, and by the way, why on Tuesday during the State of the Union, didn’t the president make a case to the American people on why he’s going to conduct an attack on Iran?” the Arizona senator added. Kelly’s statements follow Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) push to check President Trump’s military authority in the House while Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is backing a resolution in the Senate. The Arizona senator said he would back Kaine’s resolution. “The Senate needs to vote immediately on Tim Kaine’s War Powers Resolution. I’m voting yes, because it’s clear that Trump has no plan to avoid escalation into a wider conflict that puts more servicemembers in harm’s way,” Kelly wrote in a Sunday post on the social platform X. On Saturday, Kaine questioned if the president learned nothing from “forever wars” in the Middle East and asked if he was “too mentally incapacitated to realize that we had a diplomatic agreement with Iran that was keeping its nuclear program in check, until he ripped it up during his first term?”
TheHill.com Live: Trump warns Iran Trending: US servicemembers killed Middle East conflict Clintons testimony Sponsored: Content from Google Cloud Senate Kelly says it’s ‘unlikely’ he backs war powers vote by Ashleigh Fields - 03/01/26 11:12 AM ET Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) on Sunday said it was “unlikely” that he would vote in favor of a war powers vote after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran. “I’m going to have to take a close look at it. I want to hear from the White House what their strategy is going forward. I will say at this point, it’s rather unlikely that I would be [a yes],” Kelly said during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They went into this without any discussion with us ahead of time, and by the way, why on Tuesday during the State of the Union, didn’t the president make a case to the American people on why he’s going to conduct an attack on Iran?” the Arizona senator added. Kelly’s statements follow Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) push to check President Trump’s military authority in the House while Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is backing a resolution in the Senate. The Arizona senator said he would back Kaine’s resolution. “The Senate needs to vote immediately on Tim Kaine’s War Powers Resolution. I’m voting yes, because it’s clear that Trump has no plan to avoid escalation into a wider conflict that puts more servicemembers in harm’s way,” Kelly wrote in a Sunday post on the social platform X. On Saturday, Kaine questioned if the president learned nothing from “forever wars” in the Middle East and asked if he was “too mentally incapacitated to realize that we had a diplomatic agreement with Iran that was keeping its nuclear program in check, until he ripped it up during his first term?”
Hannah Spencer speaks following her victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters In an emotional victory speech, Spencer – who becomes the fifth Green party MP – said people were being “bled dry”. She said: “Instead of working for a nice life, we’re working to line the pockets of billionaires. We’re being bled dry. And I don’t think it’s extreme or radical to think that working hard should get you a nice life”. Spencer emphasised community solidarity and said she would call out politicians “who constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all the problems in society. My Muslim friends and neighbours are just like me – human.”
The Donald Trump baby blimp in London. The orange-skinned baby with Trump hair wears a nappy.
Poster for Bugsy Malone featuring Jody Foster in a fur wrap and makeup, plus a young Scott Baio as a gangster
Cover of The Beach by Alex Garland. (Was made into a film starring Leo Di Caprio but I didn't like the film)
Cover of Go the Fuck to Sleep. Features a family of sleeping tigers and a sleeping toddler
WASHINGTON, DC—Frustrated with the United Nations’ “consistent, blatant regard for the will of its 188 member nations,” the U.S. announced Monday the formation of its own international governing body, the U.S.U.N. “The U.N. has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to act decisively in carrying out actions the U.S. government deems necessary,” U.S.U.N. Secretary General Colin Powell said. “Every time we tried to get something accomplished, it inevitably got bogged down in procedural policies, bureaucratic formalities, and Security Council votes.”
Android setting dialogue "Notifications on lock screen" with setting "show sensitive content" marked in red pen.
Cat trying to hide behind curtain. Lower body, feet and tail clearly visible.
Conversation with the Copilot chatbot. I asked "what was the dog called in the dambusters film?" Copilot replied: "The dog in *The Dam Busters* (1955) was called N****r, a name that was used in the film because it was the real name of Wing Commander Guy Gibson’s black Labrador. Modern broadcasts often censor or replace the name because it is now recognised as a racial slur." Then there's a link to Wikipedia with the full N-word visible underneath!
Screenshot from Reelstreets | Likely Lads, The https://share.google/xGN7uQV2ANHykHUhU Image shows scene with Bob and Terry on Whitley Bay promenade with Spanish City behind.
Goofy terrier with lolling tongue. White dog, close up, looking adorably stupid, on grass.
Since 1999, Larson has objected to his work being displayed on the internet, and has been sending takedown notices to owners of fan websites and users posting his cartoons.[27] In a personal letter included with the requests, Larson claimed that his work is too personal and important to him to have others "take control of it".[28][27] In 2007, he also published an open letter on the web to the same effect.[
Screenshot of two posts by Effin' Birds that say... Jesus butt-humping Christ I am so fucking exasperated
Park scene. Frost on the ground and on a rockery. Evergreens and reddish brown deciduous shrubs and bare trees. Blue Sky and low winter sun behind.
Photo of cat hiding behind curtain. I've ringed a small black object near the skirting board. The cats legs and tail remain very obvious.
"So have you written your essay?", Nat asks, out of the blue. "The character study of Julia?" "Are you always thinking about books, Nat?", says Ryan, using the Zippo to burn off a loose thread from the hem his frayed jeans. "Not always. I think about photography as well – sit there!" She produces the Kodak from her bag, puts it down on the waste bin facing the bus shelter, depresses the clockwork timer switch, runs back to sit next to Dan and says "smile!". Ryan groans a "what are you like?"-style groan but puts an arm around Nat anyway and pulls a cheesy grin as the clockwork stops ticking. She'll have to send the photos off to be developed before she will spot Ryan's fingers held up like rabbit's ears behind her head. "So, the essay. What did you write about Julia? Did Winston corrupt Julia or the other way round?" "They were both corrupt already, before they got together. In their minds anyway, which is all that matters to the Thought Police." "But Julia wears the red sash", Nat protested, "of the Anti-Sex League!" "That's just for show, innit? She needs to keep up pretences. She's just the same as Winston, she hates the Party and how crap life is for everyone. And has needs, just like Winston. She works out he feels the same, and decides to have some fun. So what if it can never last? Life's crap for them anyway, they might as well go out with a bang. So I wrote this. 'In Orwell's dystopian future where the only permissible choices all lead to misery, man has a moral obligation to reject authority and seek pleasure, even if this takes him outside the law. Even in Oceania in 1984, man is not absolved from the pleasure principle'” Ryan blushes and turns away. This is the side he keeps hidden from his mates. It's not cool to be a swot. But Natalie loves this side of Ryan and is glad he shows it to her, and only her "Freud, right?”, Nat queries, recognising the reference. “But Freud also requires us to delay gratification, you can't just go seeking pleasu…
Caitlin Trent lives on the posh new estate which lay across the railway from me. She is literally from the right side of the tracks. Our two-up-two-down terrace had housed miners until the last shaft closed in '54, shortly after being used to train some of the "Bevin Boys": the largely forgotten young men conscripted in their thousands straight out of school to boost coal production in the last years of the war. Caitlin's 4-storey townhouse with off-road parking is an eye-opener to me. The huge, detached red-brick pile towers over me, as I stand on the pavement outside, wondering whether my Dad's Viva could fit in the boot of the Trent family Mercedes W126. Mr. Trent ran us all in the "Merc'" to Whitley Bay ice rink for Gavin's birthday once and I got a chill because the damn thing has cooling fans in it. Mr Trent calls it "air conditioning". Imagine being too posh to wind down a window? That's the Trents. I hear shouts from the back garden, and the funky bassline from David Bowie's China Girl, currently number two in the charts. Wishing Caitlin and I were still alone, but reasoning that being in her company with others and some decent music is a good second best, I push through the gate. There are three separate sprinklers running on the lawn between the house and a shed at the end they call the "Summer House", about 45 yards away. Of course, the garden is oversized, like the house. Rhododendrons dominate, crowding out less aggressive blooms, but have been neatly lopped around a massive copy of the Trevi fountain in one corner. "I stumble into town, just like a sacred cow," sings Bowie and the fearful, Iggy-Pop lyrics and sweet, sentimental Nile Rodgers arrangement mingle with the twin aromas of mown grass and rose-tree oil, until the overwhelm of floral scents and leafy aldehydes and the incongruity of the ridiculous baroque water-feature causes me a wild disassociation and I urgently look for somewhere to sit. Caitlin and her little brother Sean are running thro…
Dad and two kids at a junction of two country lanes. A vintage road sign reads "Ham one half mile, Sandwich 3 miles"
Close up of Galaxy chocolate bar showing text "smooth caramel"