Amanda Gorman is a treasure

No I’m just tired! - carved into a tree seen on my walk today. Or is it Know?

Scottish trip this week to see family. Taking in Linlithgow Palace and Tinto cafe.

Happy Christmas All

What an emotional final for Strictly. I love the sheer joy of this show and the kindness and support that goes hand in hand. Well done Kaz and Carlos, all the finalist and Tess and Claud, to the BBC for delivering a brilliant show and everyone involved. Thanks.

How about this great luggage tree at Marylebone station? It talks too.

Christmas shopping in Liberty’s - gets you right in the mood!

Some photos of the beautiful Keble College chapel

From Sam’s instagram

I went to a wonderful concert by the Arcadian Singers at Keble College chapel in Oxford last night. I took a photo of this first painting of The Light of the World and the third painting by William Holman Hunt is in St Paul’s cathedral. 50 years between them.

Tim Downie at Macbeth

Looks like an early party for the Macbeth cast - Dirty Duck? x.com/bouvydany630...

Such a small space. I was on Sam’s side

From Insta

From my thank you email today

The Crazy Gang

So pleased the photos are coming. Gorgeous people.

So pleased someone got a photo of Ian and Sam - I’m afraid I don’t know who to credit.

Final round up of notes taken from The Other Place Panel

Incredible fun night at The Other Place. So much laughter, jokes and riffing off each other. No photos allowed even though we were told there would be time at the end. Took lots of notes.

Well I saw Macbeth tonight and it was superb. Fantastic cast and impactful staging. Going to see Sam,Lia, Judy Dench and Ian McKellen on Tuesday. Very lucky.

Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran has the most stunning gardens but this little decorated garden house is a highlight

Birmingham - not pretty but interesting

Oh wow - do I do it?

The first step towards saving our precious BBC: remove Robbie Gibb from the board. It’s a simple matter of good governance, you have to work in the best interests of the organisation as a director, how can the board have open discussions with him in the room?

If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end - well said @pollytoynbee.bsky.social

The seasons are really wonderful, I’m glad we have them so distinctively.

Here is the first press review (behind paywall) for Macbeth

Ok what if so some reason Ellen and Brian adopt Jamie’s elder brother William from Julia and Henry?

Ah Battersea power station here - never done MPC but each year think I should!

Amid all the stuff about ‘dangerous London’ and ‘broken Britain’, new figures show the homicide rate in London is at a 10-year low. Killings dropped by 26% over the last year, from 78 to 58. No one under 25 was murdered during the school summer holidays.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... here’s the link

Took so many screen grabs of Sam talking about Macbeth with Elizabeth Hurley (Outlander superfan) on the One Show. Also Ian McKellan popped in with some advice - your best friend is the audience!

France is so picturesque #Annecy

BOMB: Peter Mullins is fantastic as Red Jacob; Good Scottish day for a funeral; Theme song 🥰Omg Jamie is Brian Fraser; Henry and Julia meeting! Henry’s ptsd 😢

‘The world is on edge’: five tumultuous weeks with David Lammy, foreign secretary at a time of crisis. Really good insight into David Lammy. I agree he is in the right place at the right time.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... Great listen from a seasoned traveller

‘Long-lived and lucky’ ship wrecked off Orkney was at siege of Quebec, experts find. Lord John Grey was on this ship!

Got tickets for Macbeth today as RSC members booking opened. The notice said the system was down probably due to a Europe wide issue but we know Sam Heughan broke it 😂

For one week a year this bedroom looks like a fairy bower

I do feel so conflicted about Eurovision now. I’ve been a fan forever and just want it to be a song contest but it is possible that the ‘tribal’ voting may just be shoring up rather than tearing down barriers. I honestly don’t know. In the current world context it doesn’t feel that funny anymore.

Been a busy few weeks. Recent weekend exploring Monaco and partying with my lovely friend for her birthday celebrations

Looking at Battersea Power Station from inside a chimney. Glad to finally see how Battersea has been transformed.

Just seen The Amateur and a lot of improbable things happened but I enjoyed it and Catriona really brought the heart to this film. Wish she hadn’t been left in that car though 😕

Magnolia night and day for a short time of glory

So many souvenirs for JD Vance to take home from Greenland: oil, gas, minerals – and that’s just the start - OMG Marina nails it. So 1984; who are we at war with now?

JAMMF can wink 😉

Donald Trump: the president making anywhere but America great again. Marina doing her thing brilliantly here on Trump the nation builder (not the US)

Omg this tanker situation is starting to feel like a #thediplomat situation - was it Russia or America wanting us think it was Russia?!! 😱 Terrible that somebody died.