Steven Heywood

"It's the internet I was promised in 1996. It only took thirty years and the complete collapse of American journalism to get here."

https://matduggan.com/boy-i-was-wrong-about-the-fediverse/

After the excitement of the local election results the real story of the elections will begin, starting next week, and will be scarcely reported. Whatever the party panjandrums, pundits and psephologists say, in real life it's messy and sometimes neither publicly acknowledged or admitted.

Back when I worked in local government we had a time when one council was administered by a coalition that dare not say its name as the Labour and Tory politicians discovered they hated the Lib Dems more than each other. Or themselves. Which reminds me of the council where the party in power was Labour and the largest opposition group was also Labour. As was the second largest… Even before the ravages of Austerity so much of the local authorities' powers were micromanaged from Westminster and so much of the budget hypothecated that these shenanigans had marginal effects on front-line services unless a departmental reorganisation was visited on us as Something To Be Done.
#UKPolitics
#UKLocalElections

I'm old enough to remember the promise that information technology was going to usher in a new Golden Age, the weary drudgery of everyday life would be cast aside and we could spend our days smelling the roses and catching the sunlight. Instead we are spending 16 hours a day trying and failing to dodge advertising, being asked for passwords and being required to set up and account for every little thing.

Katherine Argent summarises our brave new world.

#Enshittification

https://www.thepoke.com/2026/05/03/this-writers-viral-post-about-how-everything-online-is-now-just-endless-ads-subscriptions-log-ins-and-ai-absolutely-nails-our-current-digital-anti-human-hellscape/

The lessons learned process is immensely important after any experience, especially one as catastrophic as the second Trump administration.

For me, the lesson learned is that Trump voters didn't just make the same mistake twice, they did it aggressively and actively bought into the whole rancid package. If they have buyer's remorse now, then I don't see how they can just expect forgiveness, they have to earn it. And the least they need to do is to fo the post mortem, identify and learn the lessons about how and why they voted for Trump (and that they dont look for easy off-the-peg answers, it really won't be about Biden or Harris), and then they do something about what they have done in the light of the lessons they've learned. Because whether they like it or not, at the moment they're the dog that bit the child.

[Apologies that this is a FB reel.]

#USPolitics
#Trump
#BuyersRemorse

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14abEyC3EM6/

Big data is the accumulation of lots of small data. I'd encourage anyone to submit data to one or more of the citizen science projects kicking about. I use Birdtrack and iNaturalist, there are plenty of others to choose from. Even if the only thing you record is your first swallow or cabbage white of the year, a lot of people doing that helps scientists pick out patterns and variations over geography and time that feed into bigger pictures about the natural world around us.

Study highlights value of casual contributors to wildlife data - BirdGuides.

#CitizenScience
#NaturalHistory

https://www.birdguides.com/articles/study-highlights-value-of-casual-contributors-to-wildlife-data/

A stroll from Hindley to Wigan via Amberswood and the Wigan Flashes.

#Birdwatching
#Amberswood
#WiganFlashes

https://heywoodbirdwatching.blogspot.com/2026/04/wigan-bumper-bundle.html

Merry Sunday. I hope everybody found where The Easter Hamster has hidden their chocolate teapot.

A gloomy day visit to Leighton Moss.

#Birdwatching
#LeightonMoss

https://heywoodbirdwatching.blogspot.com/2026/04/leighton-moss.html

One of those visits to the lavatory that conclude with that moment of fearful indecision: do I flush the chain or put its name down for Eton?

I can't be doing with the responsibility. What if I do irreparable damage to the space-time continuum?

I'd best start rehearsing my responses for when the time travellers call round. "Well, yes, young lady, your century is ending in flames but it would have been strangled at birth had I not flung half a bottle of Domestos down there afterwards."

Mostly ruffs at Marshside and avocets on Crossens Marsh.

#Birdwatching
#Marshside
#CrossensMarsh

https://heywoodbirdwatching.blogspot.com/2026/05/marshside-and-crossens.html

I'm re-watching the 2005 Ashes series. I'd forgotten just what a nail-biter that second Test was.

#Cricket

I went on a bit of a local twitch to Pennington Flash and struck lucky then had a stroll through Byrom Hall Wood.

#Birdwatching
#PenningtonFlash
#ByromHallWood

https://heywoodbirdwatching.blogspot.com/2026/05/leigh-bumper-bundle.html