Skating in the Bois de Boulogne, 1913 by Swiss artist Alice Bailly #womensart

😂

I'm not an electoral strategist but if I were Reform trying to win a key by-election in Labour's heartlandI'm not sure I'd put up one of the most divisive talking heads of the rightwing bubble who lives in Kent. Like, I'd have gone for a Manchester dad who coached the local 5-aside on Saturdays

Really not sure how wise it is of University of Oxford to keep taking this guy's money. cherwell.org/2025/11/29/l...

This doesn’t really strike me as dining across any sort of divide other than generational (which is not what the column is about). On the other hand, the supply of properly right wing people willing to be in the Guardian must be just about exhausted… www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

No-one should trust Reform with our NHS. It's like the £350m on the bus - if people had actually realised it was a lie they might have thought twice about voting Leave. We need to take EVERY opportunity to tell people Reform want to rip up the NHS and show them what it might cost them.

Brilliant painting.

But will the benefit of these outweigh the benefit of a Customs Union (much easier trade) with 27 markets on your doorstep? "Re-joining EU customs union means losing benefit of trade deals, Reeves says | The Standard" share.google/UvPRxKyb3P0N...

At some point the UK government is going to have to get off the fence and pick a side. And if that’s Europe (as over 2/3rds of the country believes), then it needs to be as a member of the EU. Why is this so difficult for our politicians to understand?

Thousands of gannets swoop off the towering cliffs of the island of Boreray, Outer Hebrides, photo by Jim Richardson, National Geographic photographer.

Just reflexively oppositional, YOU NEGOTIATED THIS DEAL! If you'd not held the election when you did, Rishi would have signed it. YOU WERE IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE AT THE TIME.

In Brandenburg!

Putin smirking

Tonight on Kremlin TV: pundits rejoiced about Trump's approach to Greenland, which they surmised is "delivering a catastrophic blow to NATO" and is "truly tremendous for Russia." It's the successful culmination of a decade-long influence operation by Russian intelligence.

My point is..,,there’s no point clinging onto hope that the alliance can be saved, US still be relied upon in extremis. It can’t. So, what’s holding us back from retaliating?

Something for Donald...

Palantir, which Wes Streeting is giving your health care records to, and which Labour has given a contract for military analytics to, is working with ICE in the United States to work out who to raid. www.404media.co/elite-the-pa...

And it was men who gave birth to those men. Oh, hang on…

And don't forget it was (& largely still is) women who make all body coverings (thread, yarn, cloth, clothes, blankets) to stop the poor men from freezing to death while they're busy setting said world ablaze

If you do not already love Lucy Worsley ...

We have an ageing population, struggling public services, and climate change. People might want low taxes, no migrants and cheaper energy, but they also don't want to lie in a hospital corridor for hours or have their house flooded. You can win elections with magic thinking but can't govern with it.

A petition for Oxfordshire to get anti-migrant flags removed ASAP and costs of removal recovered from those responsible forms.gle/wVzxmLNuVoJh...

Current poll analysis suggests that Reform are better off with FPTP, though just a few percentage points either way can make a big difference. In terms of fairness, the case for PR is now stronger than ever, with 5 UK parties polling at 10+%, and two more strong parties in Scotland and Wales.

This is on par with Trump annexing Newfoundland to secure the Gander Airport for geopolitical security reasons.

A reminder of what a pathetic but dangerous bully Trump is - and why the UK and EU need to stand up to him

But tell us again how Britain and Europe are suppressing freedom of speech.

I wasn't looking and I sat on him. It was very squashy.

❤️‍🔥Tory sources confirm that Nadhim Zahawi made approaches to senior members of Kemi Badenoch's team about getting a peerage just weeks before defecting to Reform UK - but was turned down.

“Around six months after the cyber incident I talked to the then chair of the science select committee, who was not aware of this incident” w o w

And who can blame them?

Two-thirds of UK voters wrongly think immigration is rising, poll finds. Net migration to the UK fell by more than two-thirds to a post-pandemic low in the year ending June 2025, but 67% of the people polled thought it had increased www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

This overlooks two points, the first being that Elon Musk exercises a lot more power than Isaac Newton, and secondly, Elon Musk is in no way intellectually comparable to Isaac Newton.

Granted I’m biased but I actually don’t think that looking like a lesbian should justify summary executions.

The immigration doom loop in full swing. Chasing the xenophobes is a doomed strategy both economically *and* politically. (1/3) archive.ph/pyVLg

In case you missed it, Nigel Farage said Reform would vote against scrapping the two-child benefit cap because some of the families who will benefit include people who are “foreign-born”. Imagine being so racist that you would rather keep 450,000 children in poverty.

I've said it before, but one of the privileges of my job is being present at the end of a PhD viva when the candidate learns they've passed. (This viva included a surprisingly lengthy discussion of camel milk. Never two days the same round here.)

The alternative Real Farming Conference, at Jesus College, is for “people in the UK and around the globe who want to transform our food and farming system”. Speakers include Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics, and campaigning eco-lawyer Paul Powlesland. orfc.org.uk

Pretty sure that once upon a time, digging up an ancient war trumpet associated with bloody resistance to an overbearing empire would have been seen as some kind of omen. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Happy birthday to the University of Glasgow, founded in this city because Pope Nicholas V had heard good things about the weather and the food.

'Vote Reform they say. Trust in Nigel Farage. Give him a chance. "Why not, What have we got to lose" Only the NHS Only the state pension Only workers’ rights Only human rights Only council services Only Benefits Only protections people fought decades to build Nothing important then' via Anti-Reform

Sounds like Labour at the moment

New research has confirmed that the first year of a project to reintroduce wildcats to Scotland was highly effective, with survival and reproduction rates "exceeding expectations". www.heraldscotland.com/news/2570419...

Auntie Freeze, Skid Vicious, Icetalavista Baby, Sir Andy Flurry, Licence to Chill....love the Scottish gritters. Can't see my favourite, though - Gritsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Anti-Slip Machiney.

Finally snowing in Oxford - Queen's Lane.

Another example of the fact that there are very few technically difficult questions of economics; "difficult questions" are just difficult because you don't like the obvious answer

Jeez

Read it and shiver in contemplation of the monstrous consequences of this immoral and profoundly dangerous world view, the one that now guides the most powerful nation on the planet.

My niece in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, has made a snow dalek that's featured in the Aberdeen Press and Journal. #proudaunt