Wikipedia says the 170s are undergoing a mid-life refurbishment which is very much needed. But there needs to be more capacity - at least 2+3 ca units running together
12.03.2026 17:26
👍 0
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Wikipedia says the 170s are undergoing a mid-life refurbishment which is very much needed. But there needs to be more capacity - at least 2+3 ca units running together
Even the newest 170s date from 2005, so are 21 years old. Traffic on these “secondary” routes has grown substantially in the interim and three coaches isn’t enough for a route that connects all 3 major north-south main lines, one of the UK’s major university cities, and the second largest urban area
Apropos of nothing: the CrossCountry 3-carriage units that run on the Cambridge-Birmingham route are desperately in need of both a full refurbishment and strengthening to 6 carriages - or ideally replacement with modern, high spec units like the Stadler FLIRTs bought by Greater Anglia
One for @walkridegm.org.uk @walkridetrafford.bsky.social
My feeling as someone who regularly used this last year is that this should be fully segregated - it feels like there’s enough space to do it.
This issue is well known amongst tech professionals and those in the cultural/heritage sphere trying to keep things online.
But it feels it hasn’t reached mainstream news as a problem yet. This article on attempted mitigations via tarpits is the closest I’ve seen
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Dear everyone,
As per the post from the Bodleian librarian below, AI bots and scrapers are putting just about every website under great pressure, British History Online included.
A lot of excellent tech staff are working hard to keep everything working, but outages and siruptions are inevitable.
(not the best analogy but I’ve not had coffee yet)
The result is that sites are having to impose throttling barriers via captcha prompts or trying to selectively block IP ranges, or even going dark entirely. That degrades the experience for everyone else.
An analogy: if a large firm sent millions of robots into every library and took out all books
In this case it’s the Bodleian Library, but the same principle applies to sites large and small.
Something that I don’t think most mainstream discussion of generative AI is engaging with - the impact of scraping data on sites and services across the web. Total mismatch of resources between the scrapers and everyone else.
That’s a spectacularly low rate - was that transferred from your old house?
(For comparison, we’re at 4.09 - had been hoping for it to drop by the time we renew in 11 months or so but not looking likely…)
Byline photo apparently of a man named Wayne Hall, which looks suspiciously AI generated.
I have my doubts that Wayne is a real live journalist. He managed to pump out 36 stories all on his own yesterday.
He's published 11 articles so far *today*
Once you spot the images are AI, it casts doubt on the words used too. I'm now making the assumption that Wayne Hall isn't even a real person... no more clicks for content, The Traveller is on my spam list. 🙄
Wayne Hall Wayne Hall is a travel journalist for The Traveler, specializing in travel news, aviation updates, and destination impacts.
The Traveler is a global hub of travel knowledge built for readers who want to understand the world in full context. Each guide is researched in depth, written with care, and designed to show how destinations truly live, change, and connect. We combine storytelling and research to create travel content that goes beyond highlights and headlines. From cultural districts and architecture to local traditions and natural spaces, every article helps you see the layers behind each place. The Traveler is independent and growing city by city, country by country. It is an ever-expanding atlas shaped by curiosity and accuracy. Subscribe to explore new destinations as they're published and stay connected with a community that values depth, authenticity, and discovery.
not the only thing about that site that seems false, from the article author looking generated (and not being searchable on google?) plus their About section having a strong ChatGPT tone
It's also not, in fact, *signed* Hielanman's Umbrella.
Wtf are we even doing here. Was this done to avoid paying royalties to a photographer?
If you need it explaining - the fire was at the OTHER end of Union Street, and the building in the photo is, AFAIK, absolutely fine.
I saw this and thought “WTF, that doesn’t look look the the photos last night or what I remember of area of the city”.
Genuinely think society as a whole isn’t prepared for the deluge of fake images caused by generative AI.
Oh, goody, can’t wait for us to roll off an (already high enough) fixed mortgage rate in the next year only for the interest rates to go up… 🤦♂️
a blurry photo of a smiling young woman, holding a pet dog on the dockside in happier times. The only known photo of Madeleine.
black and white photo of a single stack, ex-merchant RN vessel
To mark International Women's Day, meet Lt Cmdr. Madeleine Barclay. First Officer on HMS Fidelity.
To my knowledge, the first woman to officially serve as First Officer on a Royal Navy vessel deployed on combat duty. Achieving this involved a three-way war between Navy, SOE and the WRNS /1 🧵 #IWD
For that kind of money you can do luxury trips to Falklands and Antarctica… which are much more interesting to me, not that I’m likely to be doing anything remotely that expensive in my life!
Oh no! Cc @andrewhoolachan.bsky.social
Aside from all the serious commentary about what this says about *gestures* the state of the world…
…All I can think when reading this nonsense is the clip from Chicken Run. Fowler: “Pushy Americans. Always showing up late for every war”
“Just as the Roman empire survived for two more centuries after it started to decline, the United States isn’t in danger of imminent collapse. But Trump’s rejection of planning, expertise, and diplomacy is beginning to have real-world consequences“
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Or, given the enormous amount of data OpenAI have scraped from the web, are they using this to sign people up for an account unilaterally in a push for users?
Either way, very sketchy. Considering referral to ICO.
Anyone have a similar experience?
Searching my emails, as I’m 100% sure I have never signed up.
Cannot find any sign-up email.
Do, however, find an email from late November announcing GPT-5.1 - which was *not* addressed to me by name, just ”Hi”.
Something seems fishy here. Has another firm has sold OpenAI my data?
I’ve received an email from OpenAI about updates to their privacy policy, addressed to me with my full name.
Only problem: I’ve never signed up for an account with OpenAI.
Details are identical to those in this Reddit thread
www.reddit.com/r/cybersecur...
How did they get my data?
For anyone who hasn’t seen it, especially if you're interested in Manchester/Salford, history, or art, I’d definitely recommend it. BBC at its best:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Just watched “LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes”, and I’m blown away. Not only was the acting/lip-syncing by Sir Ian McKellen and Annabel Smith incredible, but the original audio interviews by Angela Barratt - who was entirely untrained! - are a masterclass. The interplay with Lowry is very moving.
The route in the video is one I’m v familiar with - my old stomping ground. We really don’t have the equivalent of RE trains in the UK, though arguably some cross country services are kind of in that ballpark (eg class 755s, 802s). Issue is partly definition - speed? Comfort vs crammed-commuter?