Speaking of Great British Menu: the theme this year is celebrating British movies, so naturally we expect contestants not to have picked things WE think would hit the brief.

Masterchef: The Professionals is back on telly. So is Great British Menu. Two programs with multiple episodes per week. Why are their broadcast periods overlapping? (This very much a #me post.)

So we’ve established that the trans panic in media and government was driven by billionaire pedophiles, as revealed in the Epstein files. And yet the media and governments are still doing it anyway? Might be time for some self-reflection.

Regret to announce that we’ve reached Wrong Coat season. Every coat you wear from now til mid April will be The Wrong Coat for the weather

We’re into season four of our viewing of the original Columbo, and I can’t get over US cars. it’s like everyone is driving a long, wide, flat plank with a cabin in the middle.

On the one hand, yes, it’s terrible that the US president is directly interfering with government relationships with specific businesses. On the other hand, I am happy to drop this admin and an AI company into a sack and let them fight it out.

Reform is arguing that the dangerous extreme Muslims forced their wives and daughters to....vote for.....a white working class woman who believes in trans rights. Sounds great to me, my crying chums.

“Look, don’t you understand we’re supposed to manipulate the plebs into voting for what Murdoch demands?”

I remember in 2017 as Labour unexpectedly rose in the polls, Theresa May whined on telly that "Corbyn's trying to get in to government via the back door!" and her reasoning was: he was trying to win the election and people were in to what he was saying. Same now with the Greens.

This might surprise people who aren't from the UK, but over here there's a publication that, in order to write for it, you have to be a sex offender.

Yes, the world is terrible and everything is awful, but @katwhen.bsky.social and I are doing our Saturday night roast chicken and spuds thing, so there are some things to be grateful for.

Wow! H/t Kristin Thompson

Take two seven year olds in a primary school in the Prime Minister’s constituency. His Dad is a banker Her Mum is the cleaner at that bank Is the Government’s Ipoproposal that richer child gets permanent status at age 10 while in primary school & working class classmate not until they are 22?

This week I learned there is an upcoming Scottish bank holiday because Scotland got into the final of a sportsball thing What. The. Fuck? Livid.

Sounds very similar to my afternoon, which was also lovely. Mind you, I did have lovely company, so that helped.

In which outstanding Queen Cassandra @sarahkendzior.bsky.social explains how comprehensively fucked everything is, and how deep the tentacles of the thoroughly evil ruling class go.

“There is something very wrong with the way Americans trust criminal elites to be more reliable sources than the people they hurt.” This whole Q&A is a must-read, as usual, but I’m particularly grateful for the segment ending “don’t smack bystanders with your shovel on the way down.”

I’m a bit late to the ”list five female authors by whom you’ve read five books” meme. Still. Lois McMaster Bujold Georgette Heyer Elizabeth Moon Sheri S Tepper Mary Gentle Julian May Laurel K Hamilton. (And Enid Blyton, of course, but that doesn’t count.)

“Negotiator”. This was more likely a shakedown than a negotiation.

It's been a long time coming. Canadian independent bookstores have banded together to create an online book buying source so you can avoid the behemoth in the room. (Here are the titles published by CMU Press, which I run.) Spread the word #booksky! www.booksellers.ca/publisher/cmu-press-18021

Obviously (a) many people COULD have stopped him, legally, and (b) they chose not to.

What he said after losing Runcorn to reform

Last night’s dream: @soozuk.bsky.social was in charge of accounts and credit card payments for the Olympics. No, me neither. I mean, I only know Sooz from her posts.

Farage says there was “cheating” in the by-election. That’s a serious offence. Any interviewer should be asking him for his evidence, and asking him to confirm that he’s presenting it to the police or STFU.

Lots of people saying Gorton and Denton represents this and that in ideological, policy terms. But, really, I don't think I can stress enough how much of a draw "a normal person who lives round here and has a normal job" is compared to "careerist toady bussed in from the Westminster circle-jerk".

I don't know what the opposite of nominative determinism is. But Matt Goodwin does.

Shire Reckoning coming to you live from Gorton and Denton this morning.

“Fired”, note. Not “arrested”.

Stop pre-negotiating. Stop telling voters they have to sacrifice minorities and the marginalized to have a chance of winning. Stop telling voters to settle, to not ask for everything, to be reasonable. Don't be reasonable. Demand the world. The world belongs to us. They don't have more right to it.

Rep. Al Green is a consistent courageous voice in Congress and an old-school Texas Democrat. The Texas legislature *intentionally* drew him out of the 9th congressional district, which he has represented since 2005. He has said he will run for the seat in the newly configured 18th district.

It's a reminder that Brexit had nothing to do with our interests. It was an elite project backed by extreme rightwing billionaires and their concierges, many of whom had no vote or standing in this country. Yet it was packaged as patriotism by the very people collaborating with foreign interests.

cant.stop.laughing

Do you like Derry Girls as much as I do? Do you want to see the Derry Girls as adults solving a murder mystery (in a show written and created by Lisa McGee, who made the aforementioned Derry Girls)? Yes, you do. How to Get to Heaven from Belfast is IT. WATCH IT. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6flC...

A delightful gem in an already-fun thread. (Read the whole thing.)

We watched Columbo s4e1, “An Exercise in Fatality”, at the weekend. To my mind, the most impressive part is Columbo explaining how to tie shoelaces.

England water company bosses raked in £15m+ in pay/perks last yr. £900m dividends paid. Customer bills up 26%. Companies have 1200 criminal convictions. Fines not collected. Sewage dumping killing people. No exec prosecuted. End the scam. Must Nationalise.

Only the best Irn-Bru in THIS house.

No shit. Starmer’s Labour repeatedly threw its base to the wolves, onto a grenade, and under a bus. Don’t let “evil stuff” slide. Ever.

Some of the discussion in the opinion points at (though doesn’t directly address) an important distinction: ICE and CBP are charged with *civil* enforcement. Why does that unquestionably justify armed agents and use of force at all? Are elevator inspectors and bank examiners routinely armed?

I see the University of York is offering a fixed-term post in public history for the same salary (£37k) I earned for a fixed-term post in public history, also in Yorkshire, in 2012. Had the rate risen with inflation it would now be £53k.

Gonna post it again... Please give it some exposure. It might not result in anything even if it got 100K signatures, but if it doesn't get any it definitely won't and we're seeing more and more evidence rather than conjecture around these murky, opaque orgs. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75...

FML. There appears to be an issue with scam calls to the families of people kidnapped by ICE. The callers claim to be immigration lawyers, say that they’re going to help, and demand an up-front payment over WhatsApp or similar. Real lawyers don’t do that!

#WutheringHeights Sweepcliff.

Hmm. Despite efforts, I have several albums on my MacBook that aren’t syncing to my phone (settings say “entire music library”). Might need to unsync the lot and try again.

the UK paperback for Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil, which some people have called "why" and "a fantasy book? I thought I raised a doctor or a lawyer" and "I only like the talking donkey, the rest is garbage" is out in paperback in june! and today it's 25% off (link ⬇️)

Not the key point, but all the 'Andrew Mountbatten Windsor' coverage shows how quickly and easily the entire UK media complex can switch to someone's new name/title, even after using their old one for decades, when it's an incredibly pampered white male deviant. So, you know, it's not *that* hard...

If you are a plant person living in the UK, the RHS is asking for help saving a rare daffodil variety: www.gardensillustrated.com/plants/rhs-r...

Important news! I am delighted to announce the launch of my new podcast: The Untitled History Podcast. It's me, and guests, falling down all the history rabbitholes you can imagine. Please, please spread the word, subscribe and listen. Because... SHIPS CATS!! cms.megaphone.fm/channel/the-...

I cannot believe how many colleagues struggle with “if you need to release a new version of the software to fix a bug, it should have a new version NUMBER.”