Fun and uncharacteristically poetic little paragraph in the BBC there

Bit of a headache but I'm not touching paracetamol, I don't want to catch that autism that's going round

I wrote something about older people (ie me) on screen. "Feisty, frail or fiendish: why do film-makers still insist on shoving older characters into stereotypes?"

"I'll feckin' box yous, come ere"

What the hell are you on about, Connections?

The even more unbelievable crime fact (which I learned relatively recently) is that burglary has fallen by more than 90% since the 1990s. Did anyone notice? Nope. Does anyone believe it? Nope. But is is true? It is!

People say "autism never used to exist" and then you go to the Natural History Museum and the exhibit has a caption like "Born in 1762, The Revd [name] was famously irascible, steadfast in his routine, and dedicated his life to collecting 25,000 rare beetle specimens".

You may follow yourself the same Mr Owens here 👇 @damienowens.bsky.social

Repost for Irish Film Classifications by Damien Owens, because it's just come up in FB memories and it's still *brilliant*.

I think it would behove everyone to stop and mention that having a kid with autism isn't the worst fucking thing to happen to a person when discussing the fact they're spreading fake links to paracetamol.

Coronation of the Virgin by Hans Baldung Grien, as it appears installed above the high altar in the cathedral of Freiburg. Magnificent work from 1514. It's Baldung's day.

If you write professionally in the UK, make sure to sign up to ALCS for your fair share of royalties

I always thought supermarket trolleys had evolved to live in water but no. Just seen somebody hurl one into the canal. Turns out they’ve been forced into an aquatic life. Funny old world.

Do message me or contact @eandtbooks.bsky.social if you'd like to give some coverage to my new book #IntoTheGroove, the month-by-month story of pop in the 1980s. The book is officially out in the UK next Thursday, 2 October.

Making an important announcement today that *spins* gaviscon causes *spins* tourette's

Nick Clegg, a man who has spent years becoming a world authority on cringe www.bbc.com/news/article...

we have gone from a world in which we were told not to cite wikipedia because it was unreliable to a world where wikipedia might be the only reliable source left on the internet and we all owe a lot to the pedantic nerds who got us there

Yes, my strength is in solitude. I'm not afraid of pouring rains or great gusts of wind, for I too am the darkness of the night. -Clarice Lispector

they don't want you to joke about a man's death but then they're out there saying things like this

A recording of a podcast from the future about how Bluesky died in a nostalgia spiral

Griffin, Martin Schongauer, ca. 1435–1491 www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Mini skirts.

Rue Jourdan (2014) photograph by Anne Billson

For him was lever at his beddes head Twenty bookes, clothed in black and reed, Of Aristotil and of his philosophie, Than any piddling Chat-GPT.

Bored of Task after two episodes and bored of Black Rabbit after one. So many mumbling men. Honestly, cheer up you knobbers.

If you wrote this as a spoof everyone involved would be FURIOUS about the stereotyping

Michael Eisner, who served as CEO of Disney for 21 years and acquired ABC while he was in charge, slams his successor Bob Iger for bending the knee.

I will top beans but as god is my witness I will not tail them

the shift from free speech absolutism to blasting the first amendment is giving me whiplash

My extraordinary uncle, who is 94, has just given me a copy of his new book which is out next month

Just about to listen - I'm a Tidal boy so have recreated it over there. Have saved it as a public playlist for anyone else that happens to be on that platform tidal.com/playlist/a9a...

Dern Furnitu Sleve McDichael Bobson Dugnutt

There's been lots of really wonderful new music recently, and because you've been good, I've made you a little playlist open.spotify.com/playlist/54E...

This remains one of the underappreciated transformations of our lifetime:

"Everyone knows why Keir Starmer is doing this, and however unpleasant it is to watch, most people seem to accept that he has to do it. He approaches Trump as one might a very rich but increasingly senile relative who is in the habit of changing their will on a daily basis." 👏😆 @roberthutton.co.uk

LAB +8pts

Happy 80th birthday to Alan “Bam” King, guitarist with The Action, the greatest mod band of all time (1 of 2) youtu.be/Dgqn8vvdT0c?...

There's been lots of really wonderful new music recently, and because you've been good, I've made you a little playlist open.spotify.com/playlist/54E...

Think we all need this today

Everyone seems to have forgotten this Trump visit was basically to try and save Ukraine and when Starmer announced it everyone thought it was a baller move

Lovely interview with #NeilHannon up on SDE right now talking about @divinecomedyhq.bsky.social's new album 'Rainy Sunday Afternoon' (thanks to @seanhannam.bsky.social for asking the questions). Have a read > bit.ly/3K2qUqV

It's Your Party and I'll cry if I want to

🍿✊🍿✊🍿

The Blitz Kids exhibition at the Design Museum includes a mocked-up pay phone, where you can listen to (v. entertaining) interviews with assorted former scenesters. The curators put instructions on it for young people baffled by telephone dials.

A gold star to whoever is doing Channel 4's social media today:

A good day to repost this excellent, furious piece

Ultimately the American right's conception of free speech has devolved into "the right to say slurs". This is why they can talk about free speech with a straight face even whilst cracking down on political dissent

I’m old enough to remember when a lot of people on social media told me that Vance’s remarks in Munich about free speech were to be taken very seriously.