Andrew Bowden 🐀
@andrewbowden.me.uk
Found where the Metropolitan Elite gather. Mostly Mancunian, bit Londoner, pos British, definitely European. Brews own beer. Likes the radio. Swims too much. All views mine, and only mine. He/Him. #RatVerified.
Pinned
Andrew Bowden 🐀
@andrewbowden.me.uk
· Mar 14
Thoroughly enjoying this photograph of the "food served" at a nearby pub.
Shocked I am at this news, shocked I tell you...
I worked on Blackpool pier in the 90's on the bust a balloon with a dart stall. Very rarely did anyone win because we used lightweight darts with the tip's blunted and the balloons only blown up a 3rd. Now you know why you didn't win.
October 2, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Shocked I am at this news, shocked I tell you...
I appealed for this for the sake of what I expected to be a £1.20 refund from a £9.60 return ticket. But they have given me £4.80 instead which makes absolutely no sense and does nothing to persuade me that Northern are utterly useless. Even if it is in my favour.
Northern, being a completely fit for purpose railway company, have rejected my delay repay claim on the basis I "did not use my ticket" which is completely untrue. And I should claim a full refund from the retailer. The retailer being the ticket office run by Northern.
Big up to Northern rail who, two minutes after I arrived at the station, cancelled my train. Woop woop. So much for getting to the office early.
October 1, 2026 at 9:32 PM
I appealed for this for the sake of what I expected to be a £1.20 refund from a £9.60 return ticket. But they have given me £4.80 instead which makes absolutely no sense and does nothing to persuade me that Northern are utterly useless. Even if it is in my favour.
Reposted by Andrew Bowden 🐀
If you're in my GP's office any time soon, prepare yourself for what many are calling the greatest mnemonic of all time.
Come for E and P, but sit down and clap for I.
Come for E and P, but sit down and clap for I.
October 1, 2026 at 11:13 AM
If you're in my GP's office any time soon, prepare yourself for what many are calling the greatest mnemonic of all time.
Come for E and P, but sit down and clap for I.
Come for E and P, but sit down and clap for I.
When BBC Radio 6music Indie Forever was announced, one of the shows that intrigued me was City Soundtracks - a two hour deep dive into music from a particular area. Listened to the Greater Manchester and Wrexham editions over the last few days, and it's great.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
BBC Sounds - City Soundtracks - Available Episodes
Listen to the latest episodes of City Soundtracks on BBC Sounds.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 1, 2026 at 3:28 PM
When BBC Radio 6music Indie Forever was announced, one of the shows that intrigued me was City Soundtracks - a two hour deep dive into music from a particular area. Listened to the Greater Manchester and Wrexham editions over the last few days, and it's great.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
Turns out sheep like to sleep in the middle of the road.
September 25, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Turns out sheep like to sleep in the middle of the road.
Tonight's high school visit: the small one with really old and quirky buildings, a library with stained glass windows, and an area of the site where pupils can learn bricklaying.
September 24, 2026 at 6:37 PM
Tonight's high school visit: the small one with really old and quirky buildings, a library with stained glass windows, and an area of the site where pupils can learn bricklaying.
Reposted by Andrew Bowden 🐀
*extremely tired voice*AI agents don't "go rogue". They are not sentient; they don't have agency. They work within guardrails set by humans. If the humans are so shit at building secure sandboxes for the agents to work within, that's on the humans. Stop using this framing.
OpenAI’s artificial intelligence went rogue this year at least four additional times, trying to break into government and university sites, according to researchers and government officials.
OpenAI’s A.I. Tried Breaching Four Other Targets, With No Prompting
In each incident, the technology appeared to be conducting mundane data collection and resorted to hacking techniques to get it, researchers said.
nyti.ms
September 24, 2026 at 1:17 PM
*extremely tired voice*AI agents don't "go rogue". They are not sentient; they don't have agency. They work within guardrails set by humans. If the humans are so shit at building secure sandboxes for the agents to work within, that's on the humans. Stop using this framing.
£22 per 500ml. It's a no from me Gordon.
September 24, 2026 at 2:13 PM
£22 per 500ml. It's a no from me Gordon.
Reposted by Andrew Bowden 🐀
Calm down, Gordon.
September 24, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Calm down, Gordon.
Someone's kicking themselves now having just spotted the typo.
September 24, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Someone's kicking themselves now having just spotted the typo.
Reposted by Andrew Bowden 🐀
Good old Doctor Who: simultaneously too childish AND too scary for children
[1987] Ten people called the BBC after the broadcast of Doctor Who's 'Dragonfire' Part 3. These were their complaints.
September 24, 2026 at 10:54 AM
Good old Doctor Who: simultaneously too childish AND too scary for children
Reposted by Andrew Bowden 🐀
Back in the day, people used to phone their Tweets into the BBC, where someone would type them up using a manual typewriter.
[1987] Ten people called the BBC after the broadcast of Doctor Who's 'Dragonfire' Part 3. These were their complaints.
September 24, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Back in the day, people used to phone their Tweets into the BBC, where someone would type them up using a manual typewriter.
Reposted by Andrew Bowden 🐀
#TBT to this from 2012 in honour of Michael Gove starring as an invasion-battling leader in Sky's new show The Wargame. If you don't know what or who this comic is about... just count yourself lucky and scroll on, no worries.
![[Opening scene is WESTMINSTER, LONDON. Over Downing Street a huge ALIEN SPACECRAFT hovers, silent, still, filling the whole sky a la Independence Day].
[Cut to INSIDE 10 DOWNING STREET. The (then) prime Minister DAVID CAMERON is looking out of his office window at the ship.]
VOICE FROM OFF-SCENE, BEHIND CAMERON:
Prime Minister…
CAMERON [addressing the person behind him, still keeping his eyes fixed ahead in dread at the spaceship]:
Yes?
[We see the speaker is MICHAEL GOVE, then Education Secretary]:
GOVE:
Let me do it.
CAMERON:
For God's sake, Michael, you're the Education Secretary! You've never flown a fighter plane in your life!
GOVE:
But I know I could do it, David. I could fly a fighter plane into the big space- ship...
...and shoot all the aliens.
CAMERON:
But you have no military training!
GOVE:
David
I haven't told you this, but...
I used to be a journalist. For The Times.
[Cameron reacts, turning to look at Gove with awe and respect, as if only now truly seeing him for the first time].
GOVE:
I wrote two articles about planes, David.
I've got strong opinions about aliens.
I know I can do this job.
[Cut to a title card panel]:
AND SO:
[Then cut again to Cameron on the roof of Number 10, watching a Michael Gove pilot a fighter jet up towards the spacecraft, and then completely miss it, careering towards Earth, as Cameron buries his face in his hands].
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreictdw36myuavccr5oqqgsfb2jzkicnjrxhcexhned7ux7ws6oq5ny)
September 24, 2026 at 10:17 AM
#TBT to this from 2012 in honour of Michael Gove starring as an invasion-battling leader in Sky's new show The Wargame. If you don't know what or who this comic is about... just count yourself lucky and scroll on, no worries.
Studying our new chickens, have concluded that they can be individually summed up as follows:
- extremely nervous
- nervous and incredibly hungry
- absolute tyrant.
- extremely nervous
- nervous and incredibly hungry
- absolute tyrant.
September 24, 2026 at 7:58 AM
Studying our new chickens, have concluded that they can be individually summed up as follows:
- extremely nervous
- nervous and incredibly hungry
- absolute tyrant.
- extremely nervous
- nervous and incredibly hungry
- absolute tyrant.
Always remember a friend saying four was a daft number of children to have because you need bigger houses, you need special cars, and all sorts of other reasons.
I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to guess how many children they now have.
I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to guess how many children they now have.
My husband thought that three babies was enough but I demanded one more because I couldn't stand the thought of having an odd number of children.
September 23, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Always remember a friend saying four was a daft number of children to have because you need bigger houses, you need special cars, and all sorts of other reasons.
I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to guess how many children they now have.
I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to guess how many children they now have.
Reposted by Andrew Bowden 🐀
who's up for robbing banks while shouting "stop the boats" so no-one arrests us?
September 22, 2026 at 10:23 PM
who's up for robbing banks while shouting "stop the boats" so no-one arrests us?
Got to say it, the Ocado run Morrisons home delivery really has gone down the pan recently. Loads of products randomly disappearing from sale, ongoing stock shortages, substitutions getting worse. Probably time I ditch them so I can get annoyed by someone else.
Morrisons delivery man (actually employed by Ocado) tells me he can't take my carefully sorted soft plastic and carrier bags because he's been told not to take "rubbish", despite the fact Morrisons/Ocado say they take back anyone's carrier bags and soft plastic. So someone did some good training.
September 22, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Got to say it, the Ocado run Morrisons home delivery really has gone down the pan recently. Loads of products randomly disappearing from sale, ongoing stock shortages, substitutions getting worse. Probably time I ditch them so I can get annoyed by someone else.
Morrisons delivery man (actually employed by Ocado) tells me he can't take my carefully sorted soft plastic and carrier bags because he's been told not to take "rubbish", despite the fact Morrisons/Ocado say they take back anyone's carrier bags and soft plastic. So someone did some good training.
September 22, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Morrisons delivery man (actually employed by Ocado) tells me he can't take my carefully sorted soft plastic and carrier bags because he's been told not to take "rubbish", despite the fact Morrisons/Ocado say they take back anyone's carrier bags and soft plastic. So someone did some good training.
New chickens are still separate to the old chickens, but they can see each other and attempts to create a new chicken power hierarchy are in progress.
Hendini (old number 2) has asserted her dominance over two of the new ones by the process of winning an intense staring competition.
Hendini (old number 2) has asserted her dominance over two of the new ones by the process of winning an intense staring competition.
September 22, 2026 at 8:37 AM
New chickens are still separate to the old chickens, but they can see each other and attempts to create a new chicken power hierarchy are in progress.
Hendini (old number 2) has asserted her dominance over two of the new ones by the process of winning an intense staring competition.
Hendini (old number 2) has asserted her dominance over two of the new ones by the process of winning an intense staring competition.
Today's annoying tedious pointless admin to sort out. Plumbers have taken payment for the work they did last night twice. Once on the card I paid the deposit on, and once on the card I used when I paid the invoice on the link they gave me.
September 22, 2026 at 5:10 AM
Today's annoying tedious pointless admin to sort out. Plumbers have taken payment for the work they did last night twice. Once on the card I paid the deposit on, and once on the card I used when I paid the invoice on the link they gave me.
Payments on my credit card bill described as "Medical Services and Health". The payments? Purchases of beer at the first ever Marple Beer Festival 🤔
September 21, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Payments on my credit card bill described as "Medical Services and Health". The payments? Purchases of beer at the first ever Marple Beer Festival 🤔
ust been for my annual asthma review, and apparently combined preventer/reliever inhalers are the latest thing. No need for two inhalers - the one does everything. I am quite excited by this.
www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/symptoms-tes...
www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/symptoms-tes...
Combination inhalers
Find out more about combination inhalers, and how a combination inhaler could help you manage your asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
www.asthmaandlung.org.uk
September 21, 2026 at 8:55 AM
ust been for my annual asthma review, and apparently combined preventer/reliever inhalers are the latest thing. No need for two inhalers - the one does everything. I am quite excited by this.
www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/symptoms-tes...
www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/symptoms-tes...
New on my blog: Wandering round high schools
https://blog.andrewbowden.me.uk/2026/09/21/wandering-round-high-schools/
https://blog.andrewbowden.me.uk/2026/09/21/wandering-round-high-schools/
September 21, 2026 at 7:00 AM
New on my blog: Wandering round high schools
https://blog.andrewbowden.me.uk/2026/09/21/wandering-round-high-schools/
https://blog.andrewbowden.me.uk/2026/09/21/wandering-round-high-schools/
There's a school bus that starts in Marple and goes past our house. I have just noticed it zoom past nearly ten minutes early so good luck to all the school pupils trying to get to school today.
September 21, 2026 at 6:26 AM
There's a school bus that starts in Marple and goes past our house. I have just noticed it zoom past nearly ten minutes early so good luck to all the school pupils trying to get to school today.
The Smoking Room is currently on the BBC iPlayer and I didn't watch it at the time so why not. Got completely baffled as to where I have seen Selina Griffiths before as I am sure I haven't. And then I read she's Annette Crosbie's daughter and the marbles suddenly fall into place.
September 20, 2026 at 9:41 PM
The Smoking Room is currently on the BBC iPlayer and I didn't watch it at the time so why not. Got completely baffled as to where I have seen Selina Griffiths before as I am sure I haven't. And then I read she's Annette Crosbie's daughter and the marbles suddenly fall into place.