Kemi Badenoch:                                                  On herself, Sep. 2024: “I don’t have gaffes. I never have to clarify, because I think very carefully about what I say.”        On Brexit, Oct. 2025: “The last time I checked, Northern Ireland did vote to leave”

RIP Brian Patten

Ryder Cup ………….

Northern Powerhouse Rail plans delayed This Government is all about London and the South East. When will the northern MPs push for equality in investment? @teamlabouruk.bsky.social www.bbc.com/news/article...

LibDems have 72 MPs and control more councils, yet biased and gutless BBC treat them as a novelty act #BBCbias #LibDems

Man U are 2-0 up, playing 10 men, with a referee uninterested in Chelsea dives - and Bruno Fernandes is still complaining that the whole world is against him #epl-live

“Why I’m demonstrating against Trump’s visit” Good on Max Hastings - where’s the demo? www.thetimes.com/article/db35...

You have to respect the stubborn contrariness of the British public

Yesterday Ellen van Dijk raced for the final time on the road in the Netherlands! Throughout her incredible career, Ellen has been a pillar of women’s cycling & she shared some of her immense knowledge with us!

Banksy Mural, Royal Courts of Justice, London. Uncropped image in comment.

A great article #StGeorge #England #Yorkshire

Given importance of health to the voting public, it seems politically naive of Nigel Farage and Reform to have their health policy so closely tied to Dr Aseem Malhotra, whose speech today confirms his switch from once respected clinician to conspiracy theorist quack: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The most important news from today's reshuffle:

Nigel Farage looks uncomfortable as Jamie Raskin uses his opening statement to absolutely demolish him

I know I know: most people who follow me are not interested in Taylor Swift and would much rather I just go on about Springsteen but this is a really thoughtful piece from The Atlantic on Swift. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

japanese govt releases ai generated eruption of mt fuji in awareness campaign:

📌 Leagues pulled into the feed using the hashtag format #UCL-Live: UCL, EPL, EFL, WSL, MLS, NWSL. And ✨new✨: #Footy-Live #Soccer-Live Have fun watching games, be courteous to folks you don't know bsky.app/profile/mark...

23rd August 2025 05.58

Welcome to Reasons to be Cheerful, a place to stay informed about smart, effective solutions that make the world a better place. Stop by at reasonstobecheerful.world to stay informed about positive changes that don't always make the news.

Andy Bunday @bundaycartoons on #Putin #Trump #Zelensky #RussiaUkraineWar #RussiaUSSummit #BilateralSummit #PeaceTalks #JamesGillray - political cartoon gallery in London original-political-cartoon.com

For those who don't know - it's a new social media, that could be a lotta ya! - I've written about football data and the surrounding industry for the past 5 years. This is a good piece about how football got to this moment in time: www.getgoalsideanalytics.com/the-path-to-...

The UK's land is owned by a tiny number of people – just 1% of the population own 70% of land. Huge amounts of public land have been sold off since the 70s and the price of land has skyrocketed, encouraging the housing and climate crises and hurting our entire society.

Romani people have a rich and varied culture that is not easily understood, sometimes even by ourselves, writes Madeline Potter.

I love all this article, especially the final words

Amazing! Never give up! #Lionesses

Yeeeeeeay!!! #Lionesses

I’m already nervous, over-exited and jabbering at the TV and we’ve not reached 10 minutes #Lionesses

Some exciting games to start the new season www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Ben Jennings @BJennings90 on starvation in #Gaza @Guardian - political cartoon gallery in London original-political-cartoon.com

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v Sweden 🇸🇪 #WEUROS2025 #Lionesses

Well, this week’s @economist.com made me feel better about my relatively low pay and underperforming country 🙁

Nothing says “old fart”, like a tie-wearing PM criticising acts at Glastonbury. Just say you have more important things to handle and let the Home Secretary deal with it. #Glastonbury #Starmer #dodgyleadership

Leicester City should be embarrassed at a pitch that looks like a mouldy carpet, even if it has been rolled flat and dampened to make it playable #Lionesses #LCFC

What a fascinating stage!!! Simon Yates 🤯🩷👏 #GirodItalia

What a race, what a champion 🏆 Simon Yates wins the 2025 Giro d'Italia. 📸 Sprint Cycling

There’s an article about (mostly UK) #poetry in The Economist. It includes this snarky paragraph. I don’t like it, but I have read more published poems I didn’t rate recently. Any thoughts on the current quality of UK poetry?

I found pavement poems like this one in Manchester. I’m trying to write one a day as a writing exercise #poetry #shortpoems #pavementpoems

#Eurovision voting is usually predictably idiosyncratic, last night (other than douze points for Greece from Cyprus, etc), it was unpredictably idiosyncratic

Warm up playlist on #Eurovision

I keep remembering our time at #Eurovison Liverpool, summed up in my poem

I hope everyone has as much fun in Basel as we had in Liverpool #Eurovision

Manchester United (and The Times) apparently unaware that they have a successful women’s team

It’s normally annoying when traffic holds up my cycle ride, but its OK when it’s a country lane blocked temporarily by lambs and their mothers #cycling #NorthYorkshire #Yorkshire

Tricky Wordle today #poems #shortpoems #wordle

The US constitution: a guide From the new Private Eye, out now.

18th April 2025. 06.21

It’s just over 5 years since this newspaper was published. I can’t decide if it feels a very long time ago or a more recent memory