This is how I would end the news if I was reading the news.

Does the UK have the deepest Christmas Day shutdown in the world? Public transport shut down, only the smallest shops even allowed to be open. ONS says *3.4%* of workers were working on Christmas Day 2016

Always feel a bit bad for Elton, who brought his A game with the music, being let down by Bernie Taupin (“welcome to my Christmas song”)

Always enjoy the slow descent of 6Music at this time of year, they hold out as long as they can but by Xmas Eve they’ll be playing Wham just like everyone else

Add - since 1986/87 England have won 6 Tests in Australia and Australia have won 35. There's a structural problem with the modern Ashes. Piece for The Observer below..

Seeing your London 2012 Mini and raising you an Italia 90 Fiat Panda

Stephen Bunting 🤝 Arsenal “A win is a win”

🎄 Flying into Christmas with five home league wins on the spin! ⌚️ FT | 🔴 2-1 🔵

A very Threads moment. NB there is no indication from their timeline that they are joking.

Whooooooo remembers LadBaby

Our US affiliate CBS News reporting the Epstein documents will be released by the DoJ at 3pm Washington/8pm UK time

"Good afternoon, do you have a moment to talk about your broadband supplier?" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Harper Collins spox says they've dropped author David Walliams: ‘After careful consideration, and under the leadership of its new CEO, HarperCollins UK has decided not to publish any new titles by David Walliams.’

Society of Editors decries Starmer’s plan to reduce media scrutiny of No 10

Putin, taking a question from Steve Rosenberg of BBC News, just said he thinks President Trump is right to sue the BBC

well this is quite embarrassing isn’t it

I tell you what, that Santa Claus has got real presence about him

You so expect certain standards buying from Fortnum & Mason and their title dropdown does *not* disappoint

Wins today in the afternoon session of the World Darts Championship for Motomu Sakai of Japan and Kenyan David Munyua. Global game 🇯🇵🇰🇪 🎯

Presume when they show the darts on Japanese TV they have a British cultural expert explaining the historical significance of chanting about the Touré brothers or the origin of “Chase the Sun” by Planet Funk

A latte in America costs £6.70 🤷‍♂️

Has anyone worked out how much cash Springsteen has made *just* from having covered Santa Claus is Coming to Town at a gig once.

Do like seeing Jofra having fun with the bat to be fair

'I can't believe 1956 Christmas lights still work' #Lincolnshire #BBCNews 🔗: https://www.bbc.com/news/arti...

Celtic are THE story in football atm imo. What a wild few months

A graphic from Football Supporters Europe showing how many tickets FIFA's new $60 tier actually accounts for.

Starmer says Roman Abramovich must "pay up now" to victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Says a licence has been issued for the transfer of £2.5bn from the sale of Chelsea FC that's been frozen since 2022. Says govt will go to court if he doesn't honour the "commitment" he made on selling.

Starmer's Christmas message for Reform UK at PMQs: if mysterious men from the east come bearing gifts, this time report it to the police

Americans really, really don’t use WhatsApp huh

A Fifa climbdown? A new cheaper ticket tier has been introduced for qualified teams

Wes Streeting tells broadcasters President Trump has “every reason to be angry” about an edit in a BBC Panorama program and “he may well want to proceed with a court case, that’s for him to decide and for the BBC to answer”

Great piece of work from the NYT on the origin of Jeffrey Epstein's money www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/m...

Can report that the tractors are in Westminster honking their horns again

Matilda

Victim impact statements from the Liverpool parade attack are harrowing reading www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c8...

Streeting in the Commons: "since this strike represents a different magnitude of risk to previous industrial action I am appealing to ordinary resident doctors to ignore the BMA’s strike and go to work this week”

Starmer tells Liaison Committee that the work to reduce the size of the House of Lords is "ongoing" – citing the removal of the hereditaries. Yet the Electoral Reform Society notes he has already created 96 peers in 18 months – more than the outgoing 92 hereditaries.

Asked how "gutted" out of 10 he is by the resident doctor's strikes the PM says "very gutted, 10/10" and goes on to call them "irresponsible at any time, particularly at the moment"

Reform MP Danny Kruger on pornstar/provocateur Bonnie Blue announcing her support for the party: "We’ll take votes from wherever we can get them, we want all the support we can get. Quite like Bonnie Blue." Says party isn't "going to be fussy, we're not going to be judgemental" about Reform voters

Keep remembering bits from Spinal Tap (“the review of Shark Sandwich that was just two words: ‘shit sandwich’”) and smiling. What a legacy. RIP Rob Reiner

Great essay. www.ft.com/content/1258... Could America win the AI race but lose the war?

"[Assad] has lined up interviews with RT and a popular rightwing American podcaster, but is waiting for approval from Russian authorities to make a media appearance." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

It's annoying not knowing what's in the image, right? ☹️ Add alt text so that blind and partially sighted people can enjoy your festive pictures too. It's super easy to add: head Advanced Settings > Accessibility > Write alt text” and click done!

The number of people killed in the Australian beach shooting rises to 16, New South Wales minister says.

West Ham v Aston Villa is currently live on Sky Sports Tennis

Three days ago. No more words.

NSW police say ten dead including a gunman in Bondi Beach shooting www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck...

Andrew Gwynne’s Denton and Reddish seat in greater Manchester being talked about as a route to the Commons for Andy Burnham again…

This 5:30 Premier League game is Championship-coded