White: RS Black: AM MEEEEEEEE!!!! 1. d4 e6 2. c3 d5 3. f3 c5 4. dxc5 Bxc5 5. e4 Qb6 6. Na3 Bxg1 7. Rxg1 Qxg1 8. Qe2 Qxh2 9. Qb5 Bd7 10. Qxb7 Qh4 11. Kd2 dxe4 12. Qxa8 exf3 13. gxf3 Qf2 14. Kd1 Qxf1 15. Kc2 Ke7 16. Qxb8 Qxf3 17. Bf4 Qf2 18. Kb3 Kf6 19. Qe5 Kg6 20. Qg5#

I’m listening to the @theresthistory.bsky.social back catalogue in order, up to mid-2022. They’ve just covered Boris Johnson’s defenestration. Chuckling at what is to come.

My goodness, Donald Trump is so charmless. They wrote him a fairly nice is largely unimaginative speech, and he managed to read it out like an awkward kid at school.

Palestinian statehood is a worthy aim, but I think it is wrong for Starmer to use it as a negotiating lever. Either there is a moral case for recognition or there is not, this is not a policy you pick up and drop like trade tariffs.

Watching @vicderbyshire.bsky.social on @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social saying that she is ‘beholden’ to put the Israeli point of view, after hearing how the Gazans are being starved and corralled and shot. She looked sick, could barely get the words out.

Watching a BBC report on anti-Hamas protests by Palestinians in Gaza. A crucial, under-discussed aspect of the crisis there. The collective punishment of Palestinians is justified and accepted because it is assumed they are all Hamas supporters, which is just untrue.

Wonderful news as Field Court Chambers join the Chambers Pro Bono Framework for 2025! 🎉 Thank you for renewing your set's support to helping us improve access to justice. 🔗 Find out more about #TheFramework & sign your set up this year: bit.ly/3xtZ2Cj

Flipping through Family Law textbook, an area that necessarily has a lot of anonymised case. But there are no less than 57 citations with the title ‘Re: A’. Petition to adopt the @legalstyle.co.uk suggestion of deploying full throated pseudonyms in www.legalstyle.co.uk/2022/12/styl...

Went to see Kyoto play in London last night - it's an excellent play & v timely for the current age. And it offers hope - of countries across of the world coming together despite vast differences and of new alliances and blocs being formed for the climate change crisis. sohoplace.org/shows/kyoto/

The utter absurdity of Russia and the USA meeting to discuss the future of Ukraine… without Ukraine. Neville Chamberlain-level mis-step. A disgusting betrayal. And the worst feeling is, I don’t really know what I can do about it.

Look, I know Duncan is an awesome artist in his own right. But just imagine being the person who *blocks* David Bowie’s son. I would seriously examine my life choices at that point.

Fascinating comment in a threat about Agatha Christie over on LinkedIn. I wonder if anyone can identify the article Graeme mentions?

Curious distancing phrase in the GUARDIAN @theguardian.com write up of Trump’s ridiculous plan to clear out Gaza: “Some human rights advocates liken the idea to ethnic cleansing.” That’s because it’s the very definition of ethnic cleansing. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Offerings like ‘Stromatolites’ are my favourite kind of @xkcd.com comic. xkcd.com/3046/

2000 days!

Abusive legal threats can weaponise the British courts against anyone who dares raise their voice. Following yesterday's debate, the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition has launched this petition calling on the public to join the call to #stopSLAPPs www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/st...

‘The Impact of the Cessation of Blogs Within the UK Police Blogosphere’ www.researchgate.net/publication/... 10 years old, but a v.good example of how anonymity and pseudonymity can advance freedom of expression in the public interest. I find it abhorrent when journalists break a pseudonym.

antislapp.uk/2025/01/28/s... The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition is highly critical of the decision by the SRA to close the complaint brought by Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins against the firm that represented Russian warlord Yevgeny Prizoghin. h/t @nikwilliams.bsky.social + @indexoncensorship.org

Idea for THE TRAITORS season 4: *Two* teams of Traitors, unaware of each other’s identities. Faithfuls unaware of the schism. The teams take it in turns to murder.

This Holocaust Memorial Day, I am reminded that I should learn more about my own family history and in particular the Russian Pogroms of the 1880s. Can anyone recommend a good book on this subject?

“Even when the Second World War ended, the colonised world still had an entirely different project confronting it, than the European societies under whose flags they had fought.”

Rest in Peace. I spent a marvellous evening with him a few years ago when he was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize. Watching him drink whiskey, listened to him recount tales, and then his incredibly powerful, lyrical acceptance address @englishpen.bsky.social

CANCEL CULTURE FROM THE RIGHT. At the other place I would post haphazardly on this theme. Here I’ll start a methodical thread. To begin, here’s Facebook censoring some rather vanilla complaints about Elon Musk.

I'd forgotten the disconnect. The odd mental juggling act where you are at once witnessing the behaviours of the most inane, childish collection of adults on the planet, while also having to remember how incredibly dangerous it all is.

Watching Trump’s rally with the ‘ruling family’ in a long bank of seats. It looks a bit like the People’s Republic of China politburo. Or North Korean generals. Or Blankety Blank.

I went to see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 exhibition at the National Maritime Museum over the weekend. Some awe-inspiring images in a beautiful part of the city.

open.substack.com/pub/planetoc... “Reuse is simply becoming the way rockets work in the 21st century, and expending them after a single launch is going to be seen as wasteful madness before long.” — @peterrhague.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/theeggan... Maybe universes *evolve*?

The British version of “Sir, this is a Wendy’s”…

Let’s start a 2025 films thread. First of the year is 65 (2023) www.imdb.com/title/tt1226... Simple premise, Adam Driver is watchable.

Wonderful articulation by CS Lewis of a phenomenon we have all experienced. Useful advice for avoiding the siren call of professional cliques. www.lewissociety.org/innerring/

Britain was not unique in profiting from the slave trade, and we were early abolitionists, says Nigel Biggar. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/coloni... So why, he argues, should we make reparations when other countries do not? It’s a frustrating argument…

I love Gavin & Stacey but it’s sort of weird how the BBC keeps banging on about how the show has been running for 17 years. Hardly. It was a show that ran for three seasons between 2007 and 2009. Then there were two Christmas specials in 2019 and 2024. It’s not Doctor Who.

Re: the convictions in the murder if Sara Sharif: is it me, or has there been more media focus on the step-mother Beinash Batool than on the father Urfan Sharif?

THE CITY (Palindrome-Haiku) Go flat, urbanised.... A cradle here held arcades in a brutal fog.

Onx

This is the year I started listening to audio books. I admit to previously being snobbish: an aversion to consuming the art first as an adaption, like watching the movie instead of reading the book. But why let the best be the enemy of the good. I’ve got through more books this year than last.