Ed Bridges

Social science policy wonk, pacifist, dysgwr Cymraeg, talk a lot about Newport County, more fun than I sound. Views ≠ my employer’s.  North Cardiff, via South Oxfordshire.

About me:: https://toot.wales/@DrEdBridges/110802853442050349

Last Notes

2026-02-22 13:26:02 GMT

Lovely springlike and picturesque morning doing the #BourtonOnTheWater 10k with my old buddy Hedley. Quickest time of the year so far for either of us, and had a lovely coffee and croissant afterwards too. What a middle-aged, middle-class Sunday!
#bourtononthewater10k #running #Gloucestershire
https://toot.wales/system/media_attachments/files/116/114/499/895/400/962/original/730f22bf877f573c.png

2025-11-17 13:58:48 GMT

Seen on Bluesky. Perfectly put.
#UKpolitics #UKpol #migration #immigration #UKLabour
https://toot.wales/system/media_attachments/files/115/565/388/196/688/535/original/7c84cc0e54ab7554.png

2025-10-25 11:15:47 GMT

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Quite. I was making the point yesterday that the old maxim of FPTP ("Win from the centre, then move the centre") still applies, but UK Labour are seemingly moving the centre RIGHTWARDS where the territory is much less favourable towards them. Why on earth would a party do that?!?
 #UKpolitics #UKpol
https://toot.wales/system/media_attachments/files/115/434/513/480/040/832/original/6d320ca62d63427d.png

2025-09-02 06:17:38 GMT

All three top stories on the BBC News app are about migration. The top story on #R4Today just now was also about migration.
Is this (as the #R4Today presenter has just claimed) the media reflecting the public’s interest, or is it in fact the public parroting back a media obsession?
Personally, I’m sick to death of this one issue crowding out everything else going on in the world. Repost if you agree.
#UKpolitics #UKpol #migration #immigration
https://toot.wales/system/media_attachments/files/115/133/222/833/324/912/original/6c4d0847afa05406.png

2025-05-31 19:05:25 GMT

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Champions* League** Final isn’t on proper telly, I now switch on the wireless to find that those of us listening via @npub1s5u…z55a have to endure the whining voice of Chris Bloody Sutton. 📻
* not exclusively contested by champions
* not a league
#MastodonFC #football #PêlDroed

2024-12-07 09:41:56 GMT

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I don’t get why every day deliveries are the thing that gets scrapped rather than the concept of second class mail. Putting letters to the side to be delivered later seems mad. Just have one class for everything and do it properly.

2024-11-26 13:46:45 GMT

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https://cdn.masto.host/tootwales/media_attachments/files/113/549/560/902/371/174/original/26ecaef2f0b1f60b.png

2024-11-05 09:53:24 GMT

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I know, right? The picture below was the final straw for me. I cannot comprehend the cognitive dissonance which has to have happened for this to be seen as normal and okay.
https://cdn.masto.host/tootwales/media_attachments/files/113/429/731/724/258/844/original/e7a64a8c6c0d1791.jpeg

2024-11-05 08:15:48 GMT

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And don’t forget that if you want to buy a #WhitePoppy, remembering all victims of war (civilian as well as military) and resolving to strive for a more peaceful world, then you can do so from here:  
https://www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-poppies 
#peace #pacifism #quaker #remembrance #EverydayMilitarism
https://cdn.masto.host/tootwales/media_attachments/files/113/429/347/018/701/037/original/abb79b621ecbe560.png

2024-11-05 08:13:52 GMT

Good article, this: “Has Poppymania gone too far?” in today’s Guardian.
This particularly resonated:
“Once a modest sign of remembrance, the poppy has increasingly been used as a prop for performative patriotism, and a way to gauge others' loyalty to an ideal of national sacrifice.”
#Remembrance #RemembranceDay
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/05/has-poppymania-gone-too-far

2024-10-30 14:30:16 GMT

Regulated rail fares to rise by 4.6% next year. Bus fare cap in England to go up by 50% to £3. But fuel duty frozen, and no incentives for active travel.
A very, very car-centric #budget.
#Budget2024 #UKpolitics

2024-10-23 16:24:41 GMT

This is interesting. The suburb of #Cardiff / #Caerdydd in which I live (a place called #Gabalfa) apparently had a type of apple (“the Gabalfva apple”) named after it at the turn of the last century. The species is to be reintroduced, with trees being planted in the park round the corner. How very lovely and wholesome. 🍎 🍏
https://www.rhiwbina.info/post/rare-gabalva-apples-will-be-reintroduced-to-north-cardiff

2024-10-01 06:37:39 GMT

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Exactly this. #R4today keeps referring to “an incursion”. If it looks like an invasion and sounds like an invasion, it’s an invasion. Of one sovereign nation by another. The sort of thing that the UN exists to prevent.
#lebanon #israel #politics #middleeast

2024-09-16 06:09:26 GMT

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Not interested in whataboutery. It is unacceptable. This government promised to be better than its predecessor, not just “less bad”.

2024-09-15 12:51:20 GMT

This is desperate stuff. The only thing people hate more than corruption is the denial or downplaying of corruption. A PM should not be taking donations off of anyone, least of all for buying clothes for themself or their partner.
#ukpolitics
https://cdn.masto.host/tootwales/media_attachments/files/113/141/652/053/848/503/original/0112efdf10043887.png