Post someone who looks great in a hat… …If you and they aren’t too busy drinking champagne.

OTD 1971: The Goodies – Kitten Kong Possibly the greatest* [Ironically the only episode you can’t watch, as they junked and remade it] *OK, I’d probably vote The Goodies Rule – O.K.?

Congratulations to our Honorary Vice President @joshbabarinde.bsky.social on being elected Party President of the @libdems.org.uk. We're delighted to see this result and look forward to continue working closely with him to achieve liberation for all. 🧡

News is reporting that Keir Starmer has every confidence in Keir Starmer. Ominous.

“The irony is that where a trans kid can’t access a hormone blocker, an intersex child is operated on.” - Holly Greenberry-Pullen, intersex advocate.

OTD 1913: John Smith’s sacrifice / The Doctor defeats the Family But first, wild-eyed Son-of-Mine would steal his other life – and the show! – for super, super fun #DoctorWho Human Nature / The Family of Blood

The Laurent Perrier advert that led to the creation of The New Avengers

'Concern is indivisible and so is selfishness. A society which says 'to hell with famine and disease in Bangladesh, it's all their own fault, isn't it?' is extremely unlikely to balance this with compassion and justice for its own pensioners and its own low-paid' (Roy Jenkins, 11 March 1972).

OTD 2018: #DoctorWho Demons of the Punjab Yaz and her family, love and secret history at the heart of a heartbreaking historical story, Weeping Demons and all-too-topical relevance. Doctor Who, political since 1963 (and, here, 1947)… Off for a walk, and listening to this:

I’d be up for Bond as a period piece and – has been done before – ignoring that death scene to just fight The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The BBC isn't perfect. But it remains an institution defending British values against a populist, Trump-style takeover. Party leaders must unite to defend it.

Robbie Gibb was appointed to the BBC Board by Boris Johnson, was an editorial advisor for GB News, and worked as Theresa May's Director of Comms. He is not impartial or neutral. The government should remove him from the Board immediately to protect the BBC's independence.

OTD 1967: #DoctorWho The Ice Warriors Frozen lizard-cyborgs of Mars’ distant past! Chilly computer-people of the Earth Year 5000! A blatant same-sex couple! No, not those two I meant the bitter exes where one’s gone off with a computer and the other’s picked up a rebound bear.

OTD 1920: Roy Jenkins Probably the most crucial 1960s UK politician and most liberal ever Home Secretary Hard to imagine now an openly pro-Europe Labour MP in power tearing down authoritarianism (harder still, the Home Office being a force for good) He became a founder of the #LibDems.

Are you, like most #libdems, a #libdem who likes leaving things to the last minute? You've got just over an hour left to vote in the internal elections and the list of candidates is LOOOOOOONG. If you want a crib sheet for who to for for, there's one linked below

Oh, go on, then. As it’s likely to be serialised anyway, let alone (too many already overlong) movies being split in half, make the next Bond film an extended Living Daylights opener with several potential 00s co-operating but competing on the mission, and whoever’s gone down best…

Beyond fed up with how MPs have leapt on the chance to turn a transphobic murder into something to do with children's access to mobile phones, completely washing their hands of the transphobic radicalisation of adults that has driven this hate. It's our version of school shootings and video games.

Voted in Lib Dem internal elections, and never have I felt more out of it. Didn’t manage anywhere near all the way down, shamingly. Suggestion for increasing participation: Compulsory sortable questions, so you can press a button to fill in middle choices randomly and, hypothetically, bigots lowest.

OTD 1962: The Avengers – The Mauritius Penny Probably the best of Series 2 Hearteningly, Steed and Cathy stop a fascist takeover of Britain (if only) Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks deliver one of the most striking The Avengers / Doctor Who crossovers: loveandliberty.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-...

The last two weeks have been a tough one for @libdems.org.uk members, through no fault of their own. We're grateful to the huge number of members, internal election candidates, and fellow Affiliated Organisations like @libdemwomen.bsky.social who have stood alongside us. Statement below:

The great Claude Rains was born on this day in 1889. Here's my portrait of him as Sir John Talbot in The Wolf Man (1941). What's your favourite Rains movie? Incidentally, the original portrait is available to buy here: barnabyedwards.co.uk/shop/art-cul...

“No-one would have believed, in the last years of the Nineteenth Century…” From the first quarter of the Twentieth Century, the centenary of Richard Burton A terrific acting career But I’ve heard that magnificent voice most often narrating the Martian invasion, and playing now. #RichardBurton100

Just nipped into shop and was engaged in friendly banter in queue by (eager to impress on me that he is) black cab driver. I laughed heartily and replied with a jovial “Maaaate” and I fear my own body has rejected me with such violent incredulity that several parts of it may now actually be on fire.

Jon first with news of the BBC Director-General.

Out walking and, whatever I play on my headphones, I seem to have indelibly earwormed myself with my Red Death torments of old. I have no-one to blame but myself. As this is social media, I therefore blame Andrew and Stephen xx

I’ve become very rusty at reading new books, but actually read this within a couple of months after release and thoroughly recommend, excellent! I should caveat that (though also of Today) it’s related to a story I’ve loved since 1987, so I’m not overdoing it.

Though in the cursed/ blessed cohort, I got a Fleetwood Mac best of, tried to see what the fuss was about and, bar a couple I really like, [shrug] But two Pavlovian responses The Chain: Positive, from TV Sweet Little Lies, Everywhere, Seven Wonders: For many years my Prince Prospero’s Yellow Room…

This is literally impossible though. The only way to read a book is to buy at least two more first.

TRUMPET FANARE ALL THE NUMBER ONES 1952 - ? IS COMPLETE!!! From Al Martino to K-Pop #alltheuknumberones1952 A reminder of how it all began... www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCgm...

I read and listened to Time Lord Victorious, which had varying levels of success, and we bought this just for completism… But enjoyed watching! It worked surprisingly well thematically and – with three of the greatest Doctor Who stories – as a brilliant [not free] sampler for the Blu-ray sets.

Oldest selfies on my phone from *this* phone A lovely pair [Sid James laugh]

Oldest selfie on my phone from an *earlier* phone Summer 2014: We liked this one of us so much we chose it for our wedding invites. Despite being tucked under a highly populated bit of London, this beach is surprisingly secluded enough that when we went down the steps to it…

Dessert: “Unlike the British, we are not tiffin-mad!” Oh, I dunno, though.

Thrilling #Blakes7 double bill and VAM – both on screen and on stage – at the BFI today New effects are ambitious yet sympathetic to the originals: Star One I was most looking forward to; Redemption the most unexpected developments And absolutely delightful to meet so many lovely people.

If anyone is bored this Saturday, here's the colours of the next Doctor Who Collection set! Start your theories now!

Down and Safe at the BFI for #Blakes7

Today is Intersex Day of Solidarity and Remembrance. It's an opportunity to highlight the continued struggles faced by intersex people globally, from unnecessary medical intervention or stigma. We all deserve to be treated with dignity, and live a life free from discrimination.

…And we’ve done it in a week. “Space vehicle will be destroyed.” What happens next?!

Last Saturday, I persuaded my Beloved to fire up the Blu-rays of Blake’s 7 Series 1 at Standard By Seven ahead of Series 2 next week and – if we could make it – the BFI tomorrow. We’ve just passed a crucial milestone: Avon’s first “Well, now.”

Brilliant. The pro business party 🤣

After a 12-year wait (now 20 years ago)… OTD 2005 Kate Bush – Aerial A Sky of Honey climaxes on 17 minutes of gorgeous music: simple beauty, enchanting chanting, pulsing powerful panoramic oomph Though I rarely listen to whole suites, I always play this pair together: Nocturn / Aerial Magnificent.

Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.

Our politicians did more to regulate Prince and Twisted Sister songs than glacier melting chatbots that promote suicide

At the risk of too many delicious Nostalgia Tours for one Friday, on my episode with @whorod.bsky.social recently I picked a Doctor Who dinner guest I greatly admired with the frisson of not one but two massive arguments that might arise!

Excellent debate and, while tempted to give Orbit all the prizes, on the question of best ensemble with no ensembles I’d have found it difficult to choose between for me the most intense Gareth Thomas performance and the most intense Paul Darrow performance, at opposite ends of the show. And yet…

“To hold, in my hand…” You might think pairing a colossus with a grimdark Douglas Adams knock-off would do the latter no favours (not even featured on the moody, memorable, yet wrong cover), but a few years later I went to uni with a cassette player but no TV…

Tune in at 18:10 to see Thora Hird founding Antifa in Went The Day Well

That was surprisingly absolutely great television. Edge of seat viewing (well, standing up and moving closer to the TV) and a brilliantly delivered F-bomb that deserves to be clipped over and over. Laughed when I realised too late #TheTraitors wore Servalan-white.

Oh FFS. Masked mob of flagshaggers putting up even more f—ing flags on the street. A mob I had to shoulder through but every one of them heavily masked! How f—ing brave.