Ofcom's annual report on UK media trends was released yesterday, packed with fascinating insights about how we consume audio, video, news and all kinds of on-demand streaming. [94 page pdf] Over a typical month, (85%) than live TV (67%) (68%) than streamed music (62%) (53%) than an ebook (28%) (35%) than read a printed newspaper (25%) Of UK households... As a priority, public service broadcasters should work urgently with YouTube, to ensure that PSM content is prominent and easy to find on the platforms, and on fair commercial terms. This is particularly important for news and children’s content, and we believe there is a strong case for Government to legislate to enable the change. So today I'm making the leap to sharing my posts as video-based content, ensuring that more youthful audiences can discover and embrace my ongoing Public Service Media output. Now you can enjoy this blog on your commute with your pods in, and all without having to read that tiny text on the horrible grey background in a non-mobile friendly template any more. Come back at 8am for the grand launch!

O2 to host regular-season clash.

I'm pleased to announce that your daily diamond geezer blogpost is now available on YouTube. Here's yesterday's bus route post presented in video format. My thanks to Ryan, the AI voiceover bot, for doing the commentary. And wow, who realised a single 1200-word post could take up seven minutes of your day?

According to someone who grew up there.

London's newest bus L10: Horseguards to Buckingham Palace Location: London central Length of bus journey: ½ mile, 14 minutes The route is relatively straightforward, running from a temporary bus stand at the northern end of Horse Guards Road to a terminus outside the front gates of Buckingham Palace. No other scheduled bus route goes this way so the new L10 offers an exciting way for anyone with a fractured tibia to reach the royal heart of London without hobbling. As is fairly typical with a new route the TfL website provided no information, nor was a timetable provided at bus stops, but the BBC kindly provided a route map enabling tens of thousands of excited enthusiasts to line the route and cheer on the driver and his passengers. You could tell that the intended passengers were true afficionados of bus travel because they arrived in two hi-spec coaches, one a Van Hool the other an Irizar, provided by Ellisons Travel Services of St Helens, Merseyside. Unfortunately both coaches had polarised windows and proceeded to park between two privacy screens so it was not possible to see anyone alight, nor to gain access to the queue preparing to board. There was a brief moment when one of the pony-tailed passengers climbed onto the shoulders of a colleague and waved some silverware around, but it soon became clear that nobody without official clearance would be boarding the inaugural service. on the top deck, which could have got ugly but instead they cheered loudly and exuberantly, and occasionally called to them by name. Unexpectedly the bus departed two minutes early, as if nobody at the bus company had any sense of timing. Unfortunately the traffic was awful, the Band of His Majesty's Royal Marines Portsmouth insisting on proceeding at a walking pace in front of the vehicle, so the L10 crept ever so slowly into the Mall. And ridiculously it was immediately followed by a second service, a vehicle packed out with hangers-on nobody appeared to recognise, but lapping up the adulation all the same. I was not able to track either of the vehicles on any of the apps, which seems an unfortunate oversight. But how typical that when it comes to special buses, you wait for years and then two come along at once. five deep, which isn't normal behaviour on a new bus route, not even Day One on the Superloop. What's more the majority of them appeared to be female and that's very much exceptional for what's essentially a bus-spotting event. Even the passengers on the top deck, grinning with glee at the situation they found themselves in, weren't the usual men the nation used to think of in these circumstances. What was particularly encouraging to see was the number of young people present, easily into the high thousands, all agog to be here and recording reels to share on their socials as is so often the case with new bus launches today. Even with a heavy police presence the open-topped service was making slow progress. It's often said that "you could walk it faster" and on this case I actually did, nipping marginally into St James's Park to avoid a throng increasing in density as the journey proceeded. Some families appeared to have travelled for many miles and all because their youngest child had insisted on dragging them here simply to see a particular bus, as is so often the way. They cheered in collective adoration, they waved flags name-checking an online bank and they screamed adoringly at the excitement of a converted Alexander Dennis Trident (or perhaps at the historic gathering on the open deck, it was hard to be certain). A huge bus shelter had been constructed beneath the Queen Victoria Memorial, ideal for shielding passengers from the elements had there been a return journey. It was so large you could almost imagine Heather Small coming out and singing Proud, the inevitable finale to any significant bus-related gathering. Instead the passengers were brought forward one at a time to relate how the 14 minute trip had made them feel, in one case confessing to crying all the way, and seemingly exhausted from all the waving. The entire nation was impressed by how far they'd come, and as Sweet Caroline boomed out were left dreaming that they might one day make the same journey again. It was a day that generations of fans will never forget. first journey yesterday, and plainly ecstatic at what they saw, confirming that collective endeavour and London buses can always bring the nation together. It may be many years before the same team are back on The Mall with another inspirational success to share, maybe even the men rather than the women next time, but let's hope pride returns to our streets and this becomes a regular service.