Mark Bennett

My two favourite bands these days are Drug Church and The National, and, honestly, I think that’s all you need to know about me.

@postsgradually.bsky.social is where I am these days folks

Far right violence made easier to organise by *checks notes* dodgy social media and… national print journalism. express.co.uk/news/uk/193257…

Life Hack for cat owners,

I’m going to enjoy it with family as usual. Because it’s good. But it could be better because it HAS been better - and there are people (including @SheffCouncil) who could do something about that. Have a good weekend if you’re also going! 🎉

I’m sure there will also be some cynical PR with spurious claims about economic benefits (with no data and a nebulous time period). And there won’t be any reference to the horrendous damage to the park last year. But there’s nothing I can do about that either.

I have no idea what the price of a pint or a naff burger with a silly name will be this weekend. It’ll probably annoy me, but there’s nothing I can personally do about it.

A lot of people hand-wave that, including local entrepreneurs and musicians with a big following. That’s a shame because the festival doesn’t have to do these things. For a long time, it didn’t.

But… the no re-entry, bag restrictions and vendor mark-up aren’t good. They’re designed to maximise revenue at the expense of customers and community.

Right, this is going to be my only semi-serious #Tramlines tweet this year - from the POV of a local resident who’s been going on and off since 2014. It’s a good festival. It’s fun. Ticket prices are reasonable for a three-day festival.

And local businesses are obviously in support of #tramlines. None of them have complained about the no re-entry and they all think it's a great idea.

Like, you don't HAVE to buy the more expensive food and drink during the time when the no re-entry policy is active. You can just have lots before you go in and then it's fine. Honestly. Some people just complain about everything.

And the best thing is, most of these local businesses will be charging less for food and drink over the weekend, so it's basically a discount scheme promoted by Tramlines in advance. And yet people will STILL complain about the price of beer and food inside the event. 🙄

Look at the awesome work @tramlines are doing to promote local businesses around Hillsborough. Really don't understand why people complain about the no re-entry policy when stuff like this is happening 😍

B-Sides comp'

When I am supreme ruler of the universe I will make it a criminal offence to (1/n): Ban people from stopping or slowing down in shop doorways. Punishment will be to have all the entry points in their homes fitted with really slow and overly-sensitive revolving doors.

At the same time, he restored (created?) a genuinely positive atmosphere around (and seemingly within) the team. It felt good and a lot less embarrassing to be an England fan over the past eight years. So cheers for that Gareth.

Sure, he didn’t win anything with supposedly excellent players - but nor has anyone else for almost 60 years. And he got closer than anyone, multiple times.

On a serious note though, Southgate has been one of the best managers the national team has ever had - on several levels. Progression through competitions better than anyone bar one. Probably similar for penalty shoot-outs too.