I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.

And so it begins.

Since a blood draw last Wednesday I am looking increasingly like a junkie. Hrm.

Major Richardson's Dogs at the #Bristol International Exhibition, 1914. Major Richardson trained the first official British police dogs, later founding the training programme for dogs serving in both World Wars. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_H... WH Smith postcard.

On this day in 1983, #siouxsieandthebanshees released "Nocturne" - their live double album featuring material from 1981's Juju and 1982's A Kiss in the Dreamhouse as well as their newest song, "Dear Prudence". #RobertSmith of #TheCure was on guitars for this recording.

If you see this, post your getaway vehicle.

Emotionally Distant Husband Would Rather Watch ‘Stargate SG-1’ Than Have Honest Conversation About ‘Stargate SG-1’ https://theonion.com/emotionally-distant-husband-would-rather-watch-stargate-sg-1-than-have-honest-conversation-about-stargate-sg-1/

Scared for a moment that the product recall was for the very electric throw I was wrapped in while reading it. But no. It’s my first product recall for a phone I bought three years ago. Odd.

Watching the AI bubble burst ought to be funny. But it'll probably tank the global economy and wipe out my pension, which takes the shine off it somewhat.

Truly smart devices would choose not to connect to the internet.

How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.

Doctor says, 'Dont worry, parser design is simple. Great programmer Kate Compton has written the parser you seek’

It's a great cosmic joke that neurodivergence both runs in families and gets diagnosed based on parent reports. I was diagnosed at 30 because a man who has eaten potatoes every day for 57 years and a woman who collects loose buttons decided I was a perfectly normal child.

Roses are red Lilies are chaste

Oooh. New Series B Blu-Ray just dropped through t'letterbox. #blakes7

Wednesday

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

In one episode of the second series of Stuff, the first five minutes consisted of what appeared to be an episode of Juliet Bravo, and really the only initial clue is that Juliet Bravo was never on BBC2. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHmX...

Starting to get the feeling that AWS might've gone down...

Anyway. That London. Museums, galleries, bookshops, the theatre, some great pubs and last night I even managed to have a drink with the Crossword Editor of the Times. It doesn't get much better than that, let me tell you.

The more I look at 16-year-old me's bedroom the more I can believe I was raised by parents who met when they were chairman and secretary of the Ilford Young Conservatives. Even the Pet Shop Boys poster is neatly pinned to the colour-coordinated noticeboard (next to Carol Decker, obvs.)

In which JB Priestley goes all Hunter S Thompson on us.

Borough Market, 2pm Saturday. Where *everyone* has Resting Will-Everyone-Else-In-The-Whole-World-Please-Fuck-Off Face.

You may call it ‘Chatfishing’, but I shall only refer to it as ‘Cyrano de Berger-App’ www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

That doesn't mean I didn't spend a whole lot of moolah. London prices are mad. Though after the first day I didn't pay more than £8 for a pint; thanks to the CAMRA app for directing me to the Golden Eagle in Marylebone, the Ship & Shovell in Charing Cross and the Old King's Head in Borough...

Back from That London with a surprisingly small amount of swag. Oh, and a library card from the Museum of Freemasonry, which I shall nestle alongside last year's one from the National Library of Wales in the hopes that I get to use either one again...

🧵Thread. I collect photos that people took of their TV screens (in the days before video) because they wanted to capture a historical moment, or at least something that meant something to them.

So. Time to wander out and try one of the local restaurants that I noted last night on the midnight walk back to the hotel as still having happy-looking punters.

I’m staying in a hotel advertised by booking.com as being in Notting Hill. I am growing increasingly of the suspicion that it’s being advertised as being in Notting Hill because nobody has yet produced an international smash hit rom-com about Bayswater.

So far I have visited the Tate Britain, the British Museum, the Museum of Freemasonry, got a flu jab, visited Daunt, Watkins, Atlantis and Treadwells bookshops, tried several CAMRA-rated pubs, taken in a show at the Bloomsbury Theatre and I’ve only been in That London since Wednesday. My feet hurt.

Strangely delighted to notice earlier that among all its esoterica the archive of the Museum of Freemasonry has a copy of The Da Vinci Code 😂

Well, if you’re going to do research, do it in style…

Well for a last-minute ticket I really lucked out…

Also visited: the lovely Daunt Books, Marylebone.

Ironically, while my girlfriend is in Cyprus I’m in the British Museum looking at a small selection of the many things we stole from Cyprus

In That London. Tate Britain for Ithell Colquhoun exhibition, plus my first-time looks at Waterhouse’s _Lady of Shalott_ and (for Bristol interest) Henry Wallis’s _Chatterton_. Have also, to my chagrin, just experienced paying more than eight fecking quid for a pint of Brixton Atlantic.

I fear the AI slop ads in the Evening Post might be getting to the point where they could kill vulnerable people.

RISQUE GALORE

normal person: i just want a place to hang out with my friends tech weirdo: and shitheads np: no just my friends tw: but what about hearing alternative views on race and gender? np: we just want to hang out and goof around tw: so where do the shitheads fit in then np: no shitheads tw: not following

Oh, do piss off, Instagram. I shall continue to do what I’ve always done: see interesting thing. Attempt to take photo of interesting thing. Does it seem like some of my friends might like it? Maybe put it on Instagram. Not everyone’s a fecking influencer.

Apparently I have somewhat over-ordered at the research library. They are suggesting that I halve my request list and double my session to an all-dayer. Oops.

Hell of a thing to put next to a statue of Joan of Arc. (h/t David Pilling)

Smug Mode: Enabled. (Or, the tale of how the National Grid started having short blackouts in my area today, two days *after* I moved the Wi-Fi router onto the UPS.)

"Look, the entire rest of Europe has this so why don't you put up with it too?" isn't necessarily a compelling argument in itself, since the same could be said about rabies.

‘The police watched it to catch criminals who’d jumped bail’: how we made The Hitman and Her

this exists it is called thinking

The first episode of The Tripods was broadcast on this day in 1984.

Somewhat lucky. #Wordle 1,547 3/6 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩