Unbelievably, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas generates such good will on social media that over the years we've raised somewhere approaching a quarter of a million quid for homeless charities. If you can spare a bob or two, sling some to Centrepoint, and here's the link: www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

IT'S TIME

It's that time again! Merry Christmas everybody!

I welcome King Charles III (Britain) and King Filipe VI (Spain) joining together to save money to film their respective speeches to their nations, though a bit surprising they chose Carol Vorderman's country pile to do it(it has a fully serviced studio I guess) Here's to many more Kings From Carol's

The tiny tub of Celebrations is officially open

Right then, no one asked for it (everyone seems quite happy with last year's!) but here we are anyway, your #DuvetKnowItsChristmas 2025 bingo card! Some returning classics, some we missed last year and some new ones. Enjoy team, donation link below once Rhodri posts it!

tl;dr: GenAI and game design concepts traditionally referred to as "AI" (enemy behaviors, pathfinding, etc.) are not the same thing, and I'm on my knees begging people to learn the difference, lest we see more bullshit claims like what The Escapist put out re: Blue Prince.

i had to drop what i was doing to make this

This year, across 45 posts about the history of 45 different UK chart #1 games, my blog has gone from June 1983 to March 1986. A thread of some highlights...

Santa told us that people that don’t add alt text are getting coal in their stocking this year.

ACAB includes the boys of the NYPD choir.

POV: You just read a book on the history of Liverpool.

Calling someone a blockhead is known as "adding insult to Ian Dury"

If you like cryptic crosswords repost this

IT’S TIME

this is the greatest feeling, when the cord box proves its utility to a family member

I also want to say thank you to the person who introduced me to the French word 'beaucoup' this year. It means a lot.

grimch

For your collective delectation this holiday season: Quite possibly the silliest thing I've ever written (and definitely the most ridiculous graph I've ever made!) loreandordure.com/2025/12/16/j...

This might be construed as a tedious 'awareness raising' thread, but Xmas can be a decidedly mixed bag for autistic & ADHD children & adults. The change in routines, the amped-up sensory stimuli, the flood of semi mandatory social gatherings, the unusual food, the unpredictability around gifts...

—I’ve been asked to baptise the King of Spain’s daughter —Infanta? —No, holy water as usual. Weird thing to ask honestly

Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama. Us: Across your entire career? Reiner: In a 6 year period. Us: That sounds- Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.

Me making my bed: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck. Me laying in it: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

While the Divorced Sitcom Writer continues on his decade-long tantrum that nobody wants to work with him & listen to his bile any more, Robin Ince voluntarily resigns with dignity from his show because he wouldn't just be quiet in his support of marginalised people. What a world.

Happy 100th birthday Dick van Dyke, inventor of the DVD player.

Focus mash up two of their hits at speed and throw in a festive message on Whistle Test today in 1972.

absolute bargain if any of yous have a use for 7,949,020,598 wasps

Tonight Stekkjastaur, the first of Iceland's 13 Yule Lads, comes down from the mountains. He likes to sneak into the sheep shed to drink milk from the ewes. All the children put a shoe in the window for him to put a treat or a little gift in – if they have been good! The bad children get a potato.

all those pics of Mickey doing 9/11 are now fully approved by Disney

Iceland joins Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Netherlands in Eurovision 2026 boycott #Eurovision #Eurovision26

Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :) The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used > neal.fun/size-of-life/

ALTMAN: And so you can use Sora to generate interesting videos of you and your friends, all with AI. FALLON: (giggling) So, heh, so that's a video of me in space, wow! ALTMAN: Exactly. FALLON: Could you generate a video of me where I'm not just a useful clown for fascism? Where my work has meaning?

ONE LAST PUSH! Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. If you haven't, and you are able, every little helps and IS DOUBLED until lunchtime tomorrow! More details about the Trust below but basically WE ARE ACE!

RIP Martin Parr, who captured Britain on film more vividly than anyone www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/mar...

It is incredible to me how made up this issue is. No one gave a shit ten years ago. Sure there were your individual mad, ignorant bigots but *Theresa May* was pushing for self-ID because it was the last little bit of logistical sorting out of a settled question: we're ok with Trans people

And also, life is not supposed to be *permanently* stressful. We're adapted to short periods of stress. If you maintain that kind of thing for weeks, let alone months or years, with no respite or hope, that's putting people into PTSD territory.

you know how i know im a 44yo dad? how much i laughed at this shit

Gingerly eating a bag of Hula Hoops and noticed the “no msg ✔️” on the packet. So I just went and added some MSG and shook the bag and they taste infinitely better. I recommend this to all foods that brag they’re MSG free

Hey friendos, it's BIG GIVE CHARITY CHALLENGE WEEK which means your donations are DOUBLED! I am the Chair of the Ruth Hayman Trust, we give grants for education to Asylum Seekers, Refugees and others who have come to settle here... donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...

that's right

The EBU dropped plans for a vote on excluding Israel because of the ceasefire This is the point of the pretend ceasefire. Not to stop the genocide but to allow countries & organisations to more easily resist calls to put pressure on Israel & to reverse actions already taken

Good on everyone for withdrawing and shame on the spineless EBU

my LRB blog-post on the weird kingston mural: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

Your seasonal reminder that Quality Street chocolates are a cash-in on a hit play by J M Barrie, and used to feature the characters on the box. So a bit like people in 2100 buying 2.22 A Ghost Story chocolates every Christmas with Lily Allen on the tin. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality...

(living an unexamined life) yaaaaaay haha yay wheeeeee

This is such a mess. The HBO Max "remastered" version of The Simpsons reveals that Duff, Duff Lite, and Duff Dry all come from the same pipe. 🙄

You want there to be a legal challenge to this? Support the one that's already in progress that, if successful, will remove the risk of legal action against Guides and WI, or other organisations, for being trans inclusive goodlawproject.org/crowdfunder/...