John Keats, was a helleva poet. Ode to a Nightingale, blooming marvellous.

www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f... Interesting read. I loved sport as a child and I still love it. Admittedly, I'm mainly swimming and walking now with yoga thrown into the mix too but it keeps me going!

Saw my first brimstone butterfly of the year this morning. What a welcome sight.

Looking like a half decent day. Think that means I'm up a ladder pruning the wisteria.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... The teenage years are hard enough without having to cope with this awful degrading content.

The wreckers of Britain party. Absolute shysters.

Morning Bluesky. Radio 3 playing Clair de Lune. Beautiful. Grandchildren coming in 30 mins No lazing around with a cup of tea! We're off! Have a good one.

Well, Arcadia, absolutely the best play I've seen in quite a while. It left my brain fizzing. A lot to think about. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Tom Stoppard, take a heavenly bow.

Right, off to see Arcadia today at the Old Vic, which is our Christmas present to each other. Looking forward to it!

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... Totally predictable from the man baby.

It’s out of Trump’s hands now. chadbourn.substack.com/p/terror-in-...

In other news today, the curling!! Nail biting stuff.

Farage’s economic agenda is basically a manual in how to crash the economy

Thinking about cooking tonight and remembered it's Shrove Tuesday! Pancakes, yes please!

This is just incredible investigative work. Absolutely amazing work www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Well last night just showed how exposing an ice rink is when you are on your own and it just isn't your night. A tough place to be indeed . But great to see Shaidorov from Kazakhstan win gold. I don't think I've ever seen anyone more shocked by their success. 🥰

I had such a nice meet up with two old colleagues I spent many years working alongside. They helped to make, what could be a very challenging job at times, so worthwhile. Two really wonderful teachers and beautiful humans. Lucky to have them in my life.

Blimey, short track speed skating relay, is madness and I'm totally here for it!

This!! 👇👇

I think we need a few chill pills given out today.

Anas Sarwar, demonstrating naked, political opportunism today if you ask me.

Thank the lord for the Winter Olympics. It's a very welcome distraction from the absolute hot mess of news right now.

Pity the media in U.K. ( Mason, LK, Rigby , Channel 4 .. Guardian etc ) , the opposition parties and the FEW Labour MPs making their own naked ambition to remove Starmer so clear , aren’t as reasoned and straightforward! She shames them all !!

I find the solar system totally fascinating.

I suggest @theguardian.com start an, Epstein Fall Out, weekly supplement.

Ah Lebedev makes an appearance. Well we might have known. Why did Johnson give him that peerage?

“Brexit was just the beginning” for Bannon, Epstein, Musk et al in their bid to fund & support the far right, to destabilize & rip Europe apart. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

There’s a v cynical media and political blindspot in the Epstein shitshow. A feeding frenzy to get rid of Starmer while red-carpeting Farage into No10. Who is named in the files. As is Candy, Reform’s treasurer. With Bannon. And Brexit. Don’t cry about abuses of power and then do nothing about him.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Spot on Marina.

Finally, got back in the pool this year. Enjoyed it too! But even though I've showered, that chlorine odour is still persisting.

I sort of feel world politics needs a bloody good deep clean. Like I give my fridge once a month . Throw out the stuff that's clinging on and rotting at the back . Scrub it all out right through and reinstall the stuff that's still usable. Job done.

I went to this beautiful exhibition of paintings by the Danish Artist, Anna Ancher today at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. An artist I knew nothing about until a couple of months ago. I highly recommend. It's a real gem.

I hope everyone here in the UK is taking note, because I 'm pretty sure Reform are just using the Trump's Administration as a blueprint.

Don’t pay any attention to a Finditoutnow poll which shows Reform winning in the Gorton & Denton byelection. The sample is just 143 people and the top three are blurred into margin of error.

Happy #ThoughtfulThursday lovely phone family. I hope your week is going well. I've always believed this, I just didn't know it had a name. Hatred, anger and violence are never the answer. I hope one day we find the ability to live together in harmony 🥰 Have a beautiful day ☕️🐈‍⬛ HaveCourageAndBeKind ❤️

From the Chartists to the suffragettes, and from the civil rights movement to the anti-apartheid struggle, every great protest movement has found strength in song. There is extraordinary power in music. More than one injustice has fallen before a hail of ballads.

I was a teenager when Neil Young first broke through. He was on my bedroom wall. He's still in my record collection and I still play him. What a top bloke, as we say in the UK.

Something to cheer the start to your day!

The main thing is not to get caught🤣🤣🤣

Hamnet,imo, overall a solid good. Great performances and Jessie is excellent. Beautiful cinematography that I found immersive. Loved Richter's score. It did move me, which the book didn't. Trying too hard at times? A little. But, I'm glad I've seen it and it's something I'll ponder further.

Going to see Hamnet later. I didn't like the book much, nor the play, but I do very much like Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, so let's see if it's third time lucky!

I know it was different times, but when you think how Attlee kept the big egos in different wings of his party together, and you look at where we are today, you realise what a skilled politician he was.We need a good drama series about Attlee,he's not appreciated enough in the national psyche imo.

January may not have a lot going for it but it is Seville orange marmalade time!

Stormy night, but blue skies this morning. Hooray. Do hope everyone is ok. Localised flooding in parts here around the Arun.

Good decision!👏👏🇪🇸🇪🇺

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... This story is a wonderful achievement. So nice to read a positive story.

Me too.

Goodnight Bluesky. To quote Bilbo Baggins," It's a dangerous business Frodo, going out your door." Take care everyone, the world feels very wobbly at the moment.

New report from doctors shows the Iranian regime slaughtered 16,500 protesters during the communications shutdown.

youtube.com/watch?v=Nv2G... Playing now on Radio 3, this absolute classic from Bill Evans. Gets right into my soul.