I used my lunch break to write about the far right's plastic patriots, and how they are Putin's men. Also some thoughts on where we are re the threat from Russia to the UK. open.substack.com/pub/sianushk...

Nice work if you can get it. Rishi Sunak received £128k for a 5hour speaking gig

There can’t be a more horrific insight into the sickness of the US’s gun crime epidemic than the fact two survivors of Brown University had already survived school shootings. One was shot in the abdomen in 2016, while her best friend died. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This photo of Brentford’s stadium has, weirdly, made me think of Old Trafford. No point in ManU making the new stadium look fancy, as it’ll just be engulfed by tower blocks soon enough

A+ trolling from Zelenskyy

Just one of a number of eye-opening graphs in this brilliant piece (as per) from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com (www.ft.com/content/8252...) on "How redefining special needs rocked education". I'm posting this one because it's most relevant to what I do, but the one showing measures vs diagnoses is amazing.

Each World Cup has its pre-tournament thing: 2010 and 2014: you'll all get mugged or murdered 2018: Hooligans and dictators 2022: Human rights and rainbow flags 2026: Lunatic President won't let anyone in who makes fun of him

Did my usual update of MPs second jobs from the latest Register of Financial Interests An additional £109k for Nigel Farage since the last Register, taking him to over £1.5million since the election Jeremy Hunt the next highest earner since the last Register, making £62k from speaking engagements

This is INSANE www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/t... and these are our closest allies!

A good point people are bringing up — if they need to pretend that making this commercial was hard work to avoid getting yelled at, they are also undercutting the propaganda that A.I. will give you a ton more free time. Which fake story are you sticking to. bsky.app/profile/cult...

Still can’t quite get over how sinister the fifa peace prize looks. Something quite Guernica-esque about those grasping dying hands

Hoping to see some England fans wear this fancy dress to the Panama game

Donald Trump's unpopularity is unparalleled

Best thing about this is Trump being ratioed on the BBC Sports live page

I see the casting director of the World Cup draw is a fan of the Brit Awards

Decided on a change of scenery for my World Cup planning. Mexico City here we come!

These draws take long enough without that gasbag waffling on about Joe Biden for two hours

Farage has been dismissing evidence of Russian ties to the Salisbury Novichok attack since 2018 🧐

Tory spox: "Nigel Farage just called a press conference and used it to rant at journalists over historic allegations of racism and antisemitism - allegations he has just admitted are true."

USA determined to host the least craic World Cup in history

GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament

This guy always reminds me of Barry Bostwick in Spin City. Always has that same gormless look on him

Ouch. I guess listening to lots of Sabbath isn’t popular with the kids these days

Absolutely disgraceful and dangerous. He and his supporters constantly talk about rhetoric that gets people killed…that’s what this is.

Senior MPs including Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and Darren Jones are claiming tens of thousands of pounds a year in taxpayer-funded rent expenses while either calling for or implementing benefit cuts on the poorest By me, for the Big Issue www.bigissue.com/news/politic...

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Just put the Christmas tree up. The Bielsa bauble still doing well

Don't worry MyBuilder, there's a 0% chance of me pouring Baileys down the sink. None whatsoever. Never gonna happen.

I wrote about the profoundly depressing response to a decision to take hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty

The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?

Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.

The annual gambling stats report from the regulator, the day before a Budget in which the industry is trying to resist a tax grab on online gambling. Online gross income up 13%.

This has happened against my wishes, and I’m genuinely dismayed by it. Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us. /3

Bit of alright this Tangier. Great to getaway from the ice and cold in Manchester

Even the text of the alleged "peace agreement" between Russia and Ukraine being touted by the Trump administration betrays its Kremlin origins. They were in such a such a rush they didn't even have it properly translated.

Back in Manchester Airport. Heading to warmer climes. Airfare cheaper than a return train to Leeds

“We’ve smashed 240 organised immigration gangs” Bloody hell lads, kept that quiet #bbcqt

Elon Musk appears to be the most insecure human being in human history. Money can't buy you love.

“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.” —trump two months ago

So much of Uefa’s promotion of the Champions League is based around it being a tournament that is watched in homes across the world and yet, in reality, they continue to make it harder and harder for people without a gazillion TV subscriptions to watch any of it. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Renters would be £211 a month better off had rent prices continued to increase at their pre-pandemic rate. Rent inflation is thankfully down in many places but is still in double figures in some parts of the country. See how your area compares: www.mirror.co.uk/money/horror...

Andy Burnham's massive £1bn Greater Manchester growth plan revealed www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Let’s have a look at a crazy Twitter to newspaper pipeline story and debunk as we go! 🔎👍🏼 16th Nov the “Britain is Broken” account shared the following post claiming “Tesco are no longer celebrating Christmas” With a picture of their “Evergreen” Trees 2.2Million views to date🙄 🧵1/26

The average cost of renting a house in the UK rose by 5% over the last 12 months to £1,360 a month. The surged post 2020 always shocks me. Had prices risen as they had been doing up to then (an average of 2.1%), then the average cost of renting would be £211 cheaper a month.

The government recently started publishing the immigration status of Universal Credit claimants. It showed that EU claimants are more likely to be in work than their UK counterparts. 46% of EU citizens claiming Universal Credit are in work compared to just 31% of those from the UK and Ireland.

Man City building a right carbuncle onto their stadium. Like something out of Bradford in the 60s

Tree down in Longford Park after the storm

“Goodbye to the Strange Quarter, Manchester city centre's last vestige of grit” www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round