Tom W

@thomaswilliams.bsky.social

397 Followers 345 Following

On the quiet side. A bit peculiar. A good companion, in a weird sort of way.

A gif of a scene from Airplane!, with a queue of people holding weapons
A screenshot of emails from Bulk received on 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 11 May 2025
Photo of Robert Kilroy-Silk presenting the terrible ITV show “Shafted”
Photo of two capybaras edited to look like one is holding a knife to the other one’s throat
At the end of the event Union president Luke Tryl, who had invited Griffin and Irving, said his only regret was that some people had been intimidated.
Cartoon from xkcd: HOW STANDARDS PROLIFERATE: (SEE: A/C CHARGERS, CHARACTER ENCODINGS, INSTANT MESSAGING, ETC.) SITUATION: THERE ARE 14 COMPETING STANDARDS. First person says to second person: “14?! RIDICULOUS! WE NEED TO DEVELOP ONE UNIVERSAL STANDARD THAT COVERS EVERYONE'S USE CASES.” Second person: “YEAH!” SOON: SITUATION: THERE ARE 15 COMPETING STANDARDS.
A man’s hand holding a elegantly letterpressed card, like an invitation to a fancy party, with the words “You are a HOMOSEXUAL”
Advert from Instagram “We Spent 1k P/M on Meta Ads (Media Walls). £75,000+ Sales in Just 3 Months. Do you own a media wall company? Scale Your Media Wall Company Now”
A man’s hand holding a card printed with the words “You are a HOMOSEXUAL”
Prescott, the son of former deputy prime minister John Prescott, was suspended from his role by Corbyn in 2017 following allegations of harassment. He was subsequently cleared following an investigation by the Labour Party.
• Income 10 • Employment 95 • Education, skills and training 118 • Health deprivation and disability 181 • Crime 43 • Living environment 42 • Barriers to housing and services 10
That meme with an angry woman on the left pointing at a cat on the right sitting at a table with some food
Post on Twitter from @Markgatiss: Tom on Mastermind. Hot.
A video clip from Mastermind, featuring me saying the words “soggy bottom”
A screenshot from Only Connect. It’s the missing vowels round; the topic is “Animals and their noises”, the clue is “CCK NDC CK”. The closed caption shows the answer being given is “Cock and cock”.
We did not derive assistance from the two Members of Parliament who appeared before us. Both gave glib evidence, appearing supremely confident of the rightness of their positions. For Dr MacShane, it seemed that all answers lay in the MacPherson Report (the effect of which he appeared to misunderstand). Mr Mann could manage without even that assistance.
A clip-art style drawing of a pile of bricks
Front of a menu. It has the text “Amadeus Café” in a flowing script typeface, and below that a staff of music - the opening of the theme tune from The Flintstones
A line graph showing rates of higher education participation in the UK, 1950-2010. It starts off low, climbs until 1970, then approximately plateaus around 15% until about 1990 - at which point it very quickly rises over a few years to 35%
In his speech in Washington DC on 6 January 2021, Trump said: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women." However, in Panorama's edit, he was shown saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell." The two sections of the speech that were edited together were more than 50 minutes apart. The "fight like hell" comment was taken from a section where President Trump discussed how "corrupt" US elections were. In total, he used the words "fight" or "fighting" 20 times in the speech.
Screenshot of Trustpilot ratings for Diana Jewellery: 90 reviews with an average rating of 1.2 stars
Mike Wendling is a BBC journalist, with the job title US National Digital Reporter, and author of the book Alt-Right: From 4chan to the White House
Tiffany "New York" Pollard from the reality TV series Flavor of Love in which she reacts with astonishment to a fellow contestant saying they think they look like Beyoncé
A tweet from Wes Streeting on Twitter, quoting another tweet from Dawn Butler: Why did the Labour Party's Race and Faith manifesto, which you published, include a reference to making the EHRC 'truly independent' if not to discredit it? What, if anything, have you said and done as Shadow Equalities Secretary to address our own toxic antisemitism crisis?
The bridge variation of the trolley problem: a runaway trolley is racing towards five people tied to the railway track, but the subject is on a bridge with another person, who they can push off the bridge to stop the train
The bridge variation of the trolley problem: a runaway trolley is racing towards five people tied to the railway track, but the subject is on a bridge with another person, who they can push off the bridge to stop the train
Screenshot from the results page of the More in Common website, which has been altered to use parts of the generic psychological profile from the Forer experiment. It reads: Which segment are you? Sceptical Scrollers You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. Security is one of your major goals in life.
Screenshot from the Simpsons Stonecutters episode of the "No Homers Club" treehouse, with Charles III's face crudely pasted over Homer Glumpett's. The caption reads "It says no kingS, we're allowed to have one"
The toy “Wooly Willy”, an old game where you could use a magnet to drag iron filings onto a drawing of a bald man to look like hair
Letter from Dale Cox to the Cleveland Browns: Gentlemen: I am one of your season ticket holders who attends or tries to attend every game. It appears that one of the pastimes of several fans has become the sailing of paper airplanes generally made out of the game program. As you know, there is the risk of serious eye injury and perhaps an ear injury as a result of such airplanes. I am sure that this has been called to your attention and that several of your ushers and policemen witnessed the same. Please be advised that since you are in a position to control or terminate such action on the part of fans, I will hold you responsible for any injury sustained by any person in my party attending one of your sporting events. It is hoped that this disrespectful and possibly dangerous activity will be terminated. Very truly yours, ROÉTZEL & ANDRESS Dale O. Cox
I am one of your constituents (although I have only recently moved into the area and my electoral registration may not show up yet) and I am gravely concerned about the recent Supreme Court judgement in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers and the guidance since published by the EHRC. The 2010 Equality Act was a landmark piece of legislation. I myself worked for a government MP for a period during Gordon Brown's time as Prime Minister, and was proud to be doing my small part for a government that was one of the most forward-thinking in the world on equal rights. The Supreme Court judgement, and the EHRC guidance, tears this legacy to shreds. I am not going to attempt to relitigate the decision itself, though I find it unconvincing. It may be that, legally, the intent the words of the 2010 act are deemed to have by their lordships is correct. But it is clearly not the true intent of the legislation. This has been confirmed by civil servants who worked on drafting the bill and shepherding it into legislation (eg https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/18/ruling-on-woman-definition-at-odds-with-uk-equality-acts-aim-says-ex-civil-servant). The then Solicitor-General, Vera Baird, in the committee stage of the bill, confirmed similarly that a trans person with a GRC would be treated under the act as being of their "acquired gender" (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmpublic/equality/090623/pm/90623s07.htm#09062415000272). Your colleague Chris Bryant, who was Deputy Leader of the House of Commons when the bill was introduced, has made clear he disagrees with the court's interpretation.
A tweet from Wes Streeting from 2019, responding to Dawn Butler: “Why did the Labour Party's Race and Faith manifesto, which you published, include a reference to making the EHRC 'truly independent' if not to discredit it? What, if anything, have you said and done as Shadow Equalities Secretary to address our own toxic antisemitism crisis?”
Screen cap from the Simpsons, “Lisa’s Rival”, where her rival’s dad gives her a ball after she struggles at making anagrams
Peter Walker ‪@peterwalker99.bsky.social‬ For the annoyed correspondents, I’d suggest reading the whole story. It’s not making any sort of moral judgment - that would be very odd - merely using a comparison to show the huge and fast-rising financial burden on councils under the current system.!
Screenshot of an article from the Guardian. Text reads: ‘Receiving his “frothy coffee” in Pontypridd’s Prince’s cafe, Owen Smith stopped mid-sentence to express some amusement. “I tell you it is the first time I have ever been given little biscuits and a posh cup in here,” Smith said, looking up at the owner David Gamberini, as his order was placed on the table. “Seriously, I would have a mug normally,” the MP added, examining the refreshments in front of him.’
A still from the Simpsons showing Marge, Lisa and Maggie. The original subtitle text of "It's true, but he shouldn't say it" has been crudely edited to become "It's true, and he should say it".
Image from 30 Rock with caption "Lemon, it's Wednesday" and image from Mean Girls with caption "On Wednesdays we wear pink"
Tik Tok, a very rotund shiny robot with a moustache, from the film Return to Oz
Graph showing Keir Starmer’s favourability rating, which is consistently negative until the first poll taken after the 2024 general election, at which point it becomes almost a dead heat.
Screenshot from @notanandamide on Twitter. Image in post shows newspaper headline “to beat the 5p bag charge… just say NO and bring your own”. Tweet says “getting people to do this is literally the whole point of the charge you lobotomised shitlarks”.
A model pig made from lemon, with cloves for eyes, a tin foil tail, cocktail stick legs, and a penny in its mouth. It is generally wonky and ill composed.
Screenshot showing a perfect result on today’s NYT Connections game
Screenshot from Google AI overview. The full quote for the idiom "blood is thicker than water" is "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". The phrase is often used to imply that family ties are stronger than other connections, but the original meaning was different. The original meaning was that bonds formed through shared experiences and loyalty can be stronger than family ties. The phrase was used to describe the stronger ties between people who had made a blood covenant, such as soldiers who shed blood together in battle.
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