Ella Baron on the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis – cartoon

This is how not to write a headline. The story is that *the videos show agents killing an unarmed man.*

Federal law enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 according to local police officials. DHS told Fox News that the man was “armed with a gun”. A video of the shooting appears to show that a gun was taken from the man before the first shot was fired. x.com/BillMelugin_...

@theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ja... Ah! "Groundhog Day 2" the film they couldn't make! 🤪

Experts warn of threat to democracy by ‘AI bot swarms’ infesting social media

@somersetccc.bsky.social It is interesting to see that Mark Stoneman ("Rocky") has joined us as a coach. I hope his discipline as a batter rubs off on our top order during the season. Solid batting, particularly in the first innings, could really propel us to the top.

Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images this month, research says

"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace". It's not said often enough what a very small man Trump is.

Can anyone give me an update on how this new stability is going? Ta.

History ... repeating itself .... www.historyandheadlines.com/history-augu...

Today at 34 & Park in Minneapolis, a woman tried to drive down the street where a protest had broken out in front of a home ICE was raiding, saying she had a doctor apt to get to. ICE agents busted out her windows, cut off her seatbelt, and pulled her out before arresting her.

This is not the language of the government of a free country.

Drugs and gangs exist in Venezuela, but don’t be fooled. Trump arrested Nicolás Maduro to plunder our wealth | Andrés Antillano

... Minneapolis or Tehran?

He was doing his best to do his job, and the fact that he called a woman a fucking bitch shortly after he killed her should absolutely not, in any way, cast any doubt on this.

Astonishing both-sidesing in The Times

Reform UK accused of ‘betraying’ election pledges after council tax rises

If a human was being paid to create this material, we’d rightly throw the book at them. So why should X get a free pass? Fine them to the hilt and if they won’t comply, shut it down. We wouldn’t tolerate this offline. Why online? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 2/2

@somersetccc.bsky.social I'm delighted to see a report that James Rew has signed a new contract. I hope he will stay with the Club far beyond the end of this year.

Excellent analysis of yesterday’s shooting including ICE refusing to let a doctor check the victim and the ICE agent who shot leaving the scene of the killing soon afterwards. This killing will live in infamy.

X basically industrialized the creation of fake porn of women who don't consent. Others did it first, but Grok made it normalized and centralized: publicly visible, instantly creatable by anyone, regardless of who's being targeted and dehumanized. Only question now is will X suffer any consequences

@georgedobell.bsky.social @melindafarrell.bsky.social @thecricketer.com #AskGeorge & Mel In future years will you refer to this series as "Starc's Ashes", "Head's Ashes" or "Carey's Ashes"?

Full White House statement to the BBC:

@theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j... Tired? After a day in the field? Bethell and his England colleagues need to play long form cricket for a season rather than flitting around the wack-a-ball leagues. Beaten teams always look more tired than winning ones. In this case well beaten.

A prescient comment, considering the graphic of bowling accuracy you posted today.

@georgedobell.bsky.social #AskGeorge and @melindafarrell.bsky.social One for tomorrow maybe. Joe Root has bowled 9 overs in this Ashes series, do you think this is lack of opportunity or is he choosing to only bat?

An Inuit greeting #greenland

Mission Impossible 9: Donald Trump must speak for twenty seconds about Venezuela without mentioning the word "oil".

The Donroe Doctrine: If you send us cocaine, you sure as hell better send us oil too, or we will replace you, although not with someone who beat Trump to the Nobel Peace Prize.

"if you are pronouncing a new law that wherever Communism reigns against the will of the people, even though it's happened internally, there the United States shall enter, then we are going to have really terrible wars in the world". Margaret Thatcher, 1983. www.margaretthatcher.org/document%2F1...

Worst idea of the year has already dropped

2025 was the warmest year on record for Central England in a dataset that starts in 1659. (Daily data available since 1772.) www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadce...

Winning when it matters (Australia) and winning when it couldn’t matter less (England) is the difference between a mentally prepared team and one with a false and unrealistic sense of its own abilities and the task it is facing

Number crunching: Telegraph editorial columns in December highlighting ‘the unreliability of social media’ v corrections the Telegraph has had to publish so far this year due to inaccurate reporting From the new Private Eye, out now.

FIFA's no worse than the Olympics

I did not understand this: one of the five Europeans the US has barred from traveling to the United States...is a permanent resident who lives with his family in the US. Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...

Current special relationship is that Britain gives Donald Trump two state visits, and he attacks bans British citizens from entry to the US www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The richest 0.001% (that's 60,000 people) hold 3x the wealth of the poorest 50% (that's 4,150,000,000 people). It's time to #TaxTheSuperRich. 🔗 www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...

@rafnicholson.bsky.social I'm pleased to see more support for multi-day, red ball cricket. Test cricket needs players to play competitive long form matches. This applies equally to men and women players. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

The bit that gets missed in the scandal around Farage's schooldays is that his school made him a prefect - despite warnings from staff about his conduct. It's a recurring theme for Trump, Johnson, Farage & co. We can't be surprised at the way they behave, when their behavior is constantly rewarded.

Matthew Goodwin objects to prosecuting this: ‘I think it’s time for the British to gang together, hit the streets and start the slaughter. Violence and murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head off to MPs’ houses and Parliament, we need to take over by FORCE.’

As Jewish communities celebrate Hanukkah, the heartbreaking incidents in Sydney have cast a shadow of shock and grief over many. The entire Somerset CCC family extends condolences to those who have lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with everyone impacted by this tragedy. #YouAreSomerset

just catching up with this - an amazing example of misleading statistics. Badenoch tries to blame the government for teacher numbers falling, but the fall was between November 2023 *and November 2024* (it's just that the figures were published in 2025). we don't have 2025 figure.

“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.” Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻

@theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle... I do so agree. Nor can I offer much useful information about a product immediately after unpacking it. A pair of shoes - I might be able to offer a useful view after a year. A utensil maybe after a month.

@theguardian.com What is an "escort defender"? New terminology. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...

"Like a child who realises too late they should have started their revision months ago, England are about to head into three almost back-to-back Tests knowing they need a miracle to pass" | ✍️ @georgedobell.bsky.social

@somersetccc.bsky.social Both Rew brothers in the Lions team at Canberra. Bravo! I see James is playing solely as a batter and Thomas is keeping. A sign of their future cricketing careers?

"For the Kremlin, the Miami talks were the culmination of a strategy, hatched before Trump’s inauguration ... By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies".

Diplomacy as real estate. Everyone from Putin to FIFA knows that you no longer need to appeal to American interests, let alone values; you appeal to the greed of its president and his circle. A more honest slogan than MAGA would have been "Make Donald Rich Again". www.wsj.com/world/russia...