Mist, copper, and British comedy that isn't a panel show.

18th May 2026

Hello! Straight into the newsletter this week, I've been busy. As always, if you see a link that'd fit here, please do hit reply and tell me about it, because I've got a bit less time to watch YouTube these days!

First of all, what have I been up to? For Nebula subscribers, I'm heading to Durham and under a river, to see the mist that keeps the Tyne Tunnels safe.

And then, over on YouTube: oh no, I sympathised with a Victorian arms dealer. (Although, as ever, that video may have any one of a dozen other titles by the time you see it.)

And then, of course, there's this week's Lateral! Sage the Bad Naturalist, Evan Heling and Katelyn Heling face questions about disruptive droughts, moved moments and sneaky snaps.

Good videos from this week, then:

Bill Hammack is the Engineer Guy, and this ten-minute talk about the engineering copper extraction is a masterclass in science communication. A great script, a great delivery, just the right amount of props, and zero yelling or explosions. (Thanks Oliver for sending this over!)
Here's something I didn't expect to say: I think Saturday Night Live UK might be good? There was so much cynicism about the series, and of course any sketch show is going to have hits and misses. But at a time when British TV comedy seems like it's had nothing but panel shows for years (maybe decades), it's a pleasant surprise to see stuff like 45 Seconds with Fouracres, or a David Attenborough sketch that... well, don't read the comments for spoilers, you will not guess where this one is going. Not only did these make me laugh, but they also reminded me a lot of the Vic-and-Bob style aggressive surrealism of some of the 90s TV comedy that I grew up with.
The British Film Institute is archiving online media! Not just YouTube videos, but also Flash. This means that, yes, Badger Badger Badger is in a professional archive for posterity now; it's great to hear the curators talk about their work. And wonderfully, this video also includes the legendary "I can't believe you've done this" clip in far higher quality than the original YouTube upload.

And then, articles and web toys from around the rest of the internet:

Goodbye, Radio 4 Long Wave: it's been on the cards for a long time, but the old 198kHz frequency is finally ending. With it goes an odd quirk of the British electricity market: the radio teleswitch.
Details of the Daring Airdrop at Tristan da Cunha. There was a link about this remote, inhabited island in the newsletter a while back; this week, the British Ministry of Defence deployed a small support team, including medical staff, by parachute airdrop. This article, compiled by a local, includes footage of the jump from the plane and a helmetcam.
Searching for angels in automata is, perhaps, a very niche game. It doesn't require a basic knowledge of cellular automata or computer science... but those might help. And it has the most profound instruction I've ever seen in a game: "find the Angel by noticing the abnormalities in the simulation, and click on her".

And finally: yllanif dnA.

All the best,

— Tom

« Previous

Index