Our stick blender’s motor recently died and we bought a new one. The old attachments sat in a cupboard gathering dust. I decided to list them on eBay. eBay’s ai works out what the item is and estimates a value. I’ve now sold three attachments and made £28. I was just going to throw those things out!

It’s only taken us 12 years, but we have finally unpacked the last of our boxes shipped back from our time in the UAE - four boxes of books tucked away in the loft! Arrietty was sad to lose her impromptu cat tree when we finally sorted them. The contents we didn’t dispose of are now shelved.

Should this mark the extreme extent of a bubble, let no one say there weren't some absolutely gigantic red flags www.ft.com/content/9528...

The Elizabeth line has really taken the sting out of tube strikes in London. I’ve even got a seat on my way in on both this train, and the Windrush line before it this morning. Somehow I think things will be a bit busier for my return journey at 6pm though…

Good advice from the Dalai Lama.

We went to Pangbourne Meadow today for a swim in one of the newly designated dozen or so safe outdoor swimming spots across the country. It was amazing!

Found in one of the many piles I’m sorting through, a signed Gloria Hunniford photo!

Glorious garden roses!

@microbear.bsky.social random question but I’m sure I saw a post from you talking about a cooling fan you’d bought. Wondering which one it was as it looked great

I just had a lovely catch up after many, many years with former colleague Giles @blogmywiki.bsky.social at the Blythe Hill Tavern in #se23

This double bassist in London Bridge station was v cool, playing to a Herbie Hancock-esque backing track!

#BBCNews - New BBC director general Matt Brittin warns that 'tough choices are unavoidable' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

😃

Minnesota serves up some of the best regionally-specific motorway / freeway signs I’ve seen anywhere in the world!

It’s a home-made brioche bun day!

Lola our youngest has been doing Kawaii-inspired sketches of our three cats. She’s really captured their essence, I think!

We needed to order something from a US website for delivery to my partner’s family in Minnesota. For some reason, Hollister blocked us browsing from the UK. I did some digging and found the totally free Windscribe VPN enabled us to appear like we were in the US. Order finally placed!

A lunchtime stroll to the new QE2 memorial garden in Regent’s Park - it’s absolutely lovely, and much quieter than my first visit a couple of weeks ago

My first news summary of the day for our listeners across the US on NPR stations. Donald Trump is travelling to Beijing. Tens of thousands of Argentinians marched to protest budget cuts to universities. And two teenage sisters from Gaza have won a prize for turning rubble into reusable bricks

eg I’ve been experimenting with how to do original reporting in a video format on various platforms. You go “cool, 1.3m people saw a video I uploaded to TikTok in two months!” Oh hang on it earned me £135 in that time and is a massive loss leader, I should just be churning AI ragebait instead.

A treat for anyone who’s never seen the lovely Whitechapel Elizabeth Line platform art by Chantal Joffe that Stephen is referring to here.

It’s like an attack of the killer wheelie bins when I leave home on a Wednesday at this time of day.

Interesting thoughts from Deborah Turness, the former head of BBC News and ITN, who’s also a former president of the NBC News division

A spectacular London skyline sunset from the top of Westwood Park in Forest Hill tonight!

My first story of the day is a bit cheerier than the usual doom and gloom: Plans have been unveiled for a new Beatles-themed visitor attraction in central London. The building where the band made their final public performance on a rooftop in January 1969 is set to open to the public next year.

@fnblair.bsky.social @annabelleroberts.bsky.social Congrats on your victory! Contacting you here as I figure you won’t have council email addresses yet. Following the announcement of TG Jones closures I’m a constituent concerned about the future of our FH branch and PO. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Some sights of London on a (not so) sunny Sunday afternoon! I couldn’t resist the Eton mess ice cream, which is apparently a special recipe for the royal parks.

Chatting to my Ghanaian taxi driver Paul this morning about our kids, he told me this great Ghanaian saying: “I’ll look after you while all your teeth are growing, you’ll look after me while all my teeth are falling out!”

wandering the Sonora desert in a carefree fashion like

This is a masterful piece of storytelling, that would appeal to anyone with an interest in the origins of global telecommunications, and an ear for a shocking tale. Giles writes his own short stories then turns them into beautifully crafted multi-part tales. Tales of the Unexpected for 2026.

Last July, the pope called his bank in South Chicago. He wanted to update the phone number on his account. The teller told him that any changes had to be made in person with an ID. Knowing that was impossible, he asked: “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?” She hung up on him.

Good advice found in the pocket of my relatively new Lucky Brand jeans.

Arrietty loves to occupy boxes!

Always call your insurer to discuss renewal quotes. My policy had increased by £170 annually for home cover. The cheapest available online was £250 cheaper than the new premium. But that policy didn’t include flood coverage! However, Admiral matched that quote with flood coverage included.

My friend Jonathan Mayes has just completed a superhuman effort, by cycling over 3,000 miles to visit more than 100 cathedral choirs, in just 50 days. He’s been raising funds for the Cathedral Music Trust.

For any followers in the Twin Cities, there is an exhibition of my mother-in-law Susan Horn’s paintings, at Lowry Hill Gallery in Minneapolis, running til 23 May. lowryhillgallery.com/show/lowry-h...

Every time I went into Facebook, if I was playing music or audio, my music would stop. I asked Claude AI why. It said switch off FB’s auto microphone access. I did that and it fixed the problem. I didn’t realise FB had that access, but it made me wonder about rumours FB listens, to target ads.

Numbers matter in London’s financial district; the sense that its buzz is back matters more

Like a number of people here, I think AI has the potential to do a lot of good. But it also brings huge challenges, not least this jaw-dropping story. Musk's AI told me people were coming to kill me. I grabbed a hammer and prepared for war “xAI didn't respond to a request for comment.”

So proud of my eldest daughter Ivy who wrote this song, First in Line, and performed it at Brixton Jamm JOM a month or so ago:

Luna keeping me company after a fairly quiet, yet busy day on the WS bulletins desk, learning how to carry out some new responsibilities.

‪Here’s one of my favourite family breakfast recipes. We always called them Barney Bannocks, though I think they may have been intended to be called Barley Bannocks - despite the key ingredient being oatmeal. Delicious with sweet and savoury toppings, especially marmite..! Recipe in 2nd pic alt text

I bumped into a colleague who was on the way to the British Museum yesterday, to visit the Samurai exhibition, which closes on Monday. I went today. It was absolutely brilliant. Go if you have the time! Always lovely to pay a quick visit to the Parthenon gallery and see the Rosetta Stone as well.

As my friend & onetime colleague Giles @blogmywiki.bsky.social puts it at the start of each of his crafted stories, “because grown-ups need story time too”. I heartily recommend listening to his “Listen with Other” stories - here: blogmywiki.github.io/listenwithot... (& on major podcast platforms)

I saw a guy rifling through a bin earlier. His eyes lit up as he pulled out a near empty carton of chocolate milk, removed the straw and tipped the meagre contents into his mouth. One of the most depressing things I’ve ever seen. I tried to give him some cash but he dashed off before I had a chance.

Another Day of Sun just popped up on a music shuffle, and it always makes me smile. Surely one of the best movie openings ever!

This amazing statistic begs the question why the price of natural gas is the primary determining factor in UK electricity prices - particularly with the Strait of Hormuz as it currently is.

In China battery electric trucks and hybrid trucks now outsell diesel trucks for the first time.

I watched the Danish film “The Promised Land” on BBC 4 last night. Well worth a look if you enjoy depressing and slightly bonkers Scandi-noir movies.

Oh, the irony