phil (@philchamp_) header
phil (@philchamp_) profile picture

Curmudgeon, thinker, drinker, adolescent. "Your lack of planning is not my emergency". Designer of physical products. Cats prove that the Earth isn't flat.

Bicester, Oxfordshire
Joined February 2012
Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)Photo by phil (@philchamp_)
🧠 Quiz of the Day - Nov 1 🟩 ⬜ ⬜ 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⬜ ⬜ Score: 6/10 Think you can do better? quizoftheday.co.uk
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You cannot escape Capitalism Food, Energy, Housing, Healthcare, Banking Telecoms... All monopolised by the rich, every time you use them they rob you for as much as they like They claim Socialism gives you no choice But there is no choice under Capitalism except to get robbed
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In 1987, Patrick Stewart refused to unpack his suitcase for six straight weeks. My throat still tightens every time I read why. Every Hollywood insider told the 47-year-old British stage actor that Star Trek: The Next Generation would be a disaster. Even his closest friend, Ian McKellen, begged him not to throw away his Shakespearean career on a television gamble. Stewart kept his bags packed by the door, waiting to be fired and sent home to London. That "six-week failure" lasted 36 years. Watching him late at night here in Japan, we saw something Hollywood never expected. In Japan, we call this quiet, unbreakable spirit "Fudoshin," an immovable heart under fire. Most action heroes scream and fire weapons to look strong. Captain Picard never needed to raise his voice. Born into deep poverty in Yorkshire, terrified of a violent home, he left school at age 15 and lost all his hair by 19, convinced his life as an actor was over before it began. Yet one English teacher, Cecil Dormand, handed that frightened 12-year-old boy a copy of Shakespeare, said "Read it out loud," and secretly paid for his first drama course. Never forget what happened decades later. On the morning Queen Elizabeth II knighted him as Sir Patrick Stewart, he invited that same retired schoolteacher to sit beside him at his knighthood luncheon. No suitcase left unpacked. No rage on the bridge. Just a cup of Earl Grey tea, a tug of his uniform, and three quiet words that commanded the galaxy: "Make it so." He passed away at 86 surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, and laughter. And this December, in Avengers: Doomsday, Professor X will grace the screen one final time. A boy who thought he wouldn't last six weeks in Hollywood gave the world an eternity of nobility. From Japan, with tears and our deepest salute: Thank you, Captain. Engage. ✨🖖🇯🇵
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phil retweeted
Google lost over $500 billion in market value overnight, and now they’re reportedly ending AI Overviews due to high computing costs and declining ad revenue. The AI tech bubble might finally be bursting, and I love that for them.
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Sam Altman thinks RAM sitting in personal computers is a waste when it could be put to better use in data centers. Weird. I was just thinking that all those billions sitting in billionaires’ bank accounts could be put to much better use in our communities.
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I don't want to see politicians milking their expenses for 6 bedroomed farms, gifted with donations, eating subsidised food and alcohol in their work place, or using tax payer money to pay their water and energy bills, when tax payers are struggling. I don't want to see genocide.
'I don't want to see anyone in their 20s on benefits' Andy Burnham insists he does want to cut the welfare bill, in an interview with @DanielHewittITV Watch our ITV Tonight Special, 'Burnham: Inside The First 100 Days' at 1915 on Tuesday 3rd November, ITV 1, ITVX and STV
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💔Tragic: swifts are finding their chicks dumped in skips and their nests blocked up by building work. 🚨We need an emergency system that forces police & councils to act IMMEDIATELY when nests are threatened. Sign the petition now 👇 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitio… via @38degrees
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💔Tragic: swifts are finding their chicks dumped in skips and their nests blocked up by building work. 🚨We need an emergency system that forces police & councils to act IMMEDIATELY when nests are threatened. Sign the petition now 👇 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitio…
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So let me get this right. BP's profits just hit an 18 year high. Meanwhile families are sat in coats at home because they're scared to put the heating on. Why should we keep paying through the nose while they're raking it in? Something is badly broken. Does anyone else feel like this?
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🧠 Quiz of the Day - Oct 31 ⬜ 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⬜ 🟩 ⬜ 🟩 🟩 🟩 Score: 7/10 Think you can do better? quizoftheday.co.uk
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SIR PATRICK STEWART (1940-2026) Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love. We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions. My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in 'Star Trek'. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”. Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes ('X-Men' of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway. America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire. His farewell performance in 'Avengers: Doomsday' is yet to be seen. Ian McKellen 29 October 2026 Photo: University of Huddersfield
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What a heartbreaking week it has been. Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did. Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him. I was filled with affection and admiration for him and his work. My heart goes out to Sunny and his family. He will be deeply missed.
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People will argue over what 'Freedom' actually means. But I will tell you what it isn't, being worked like slaves to make greedy billionaires lounging on their megayachts into trillionaires.
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Peter Mandelson was correctly removed from the Privy Council for bringing it 'into disrepute'. The same action must now be taken against Matt Hancock, responsible for the generational slaughter in care homes during the pandemic. ⬇️Sign our petition ⬇️ c.org/xWgPym5KR7
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Trump is sort of a vampire, sucking adulation at his rallies instead of blood. Hey, that would make a good Steve King story!!!
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I don't expect to see a straight answer on this one...
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