I am a serious, thoughtful person, with a profound interest in the geopolitical…ooh Brooklyn Beckham’s kicked off.

The thing is he’s not physically writing those posts and letters himself. Which means there’s someone in DC doing a lot of nodding while taking dictation and saying things like ‘do you want that in caps?’ And ‘how many exclamation marks, sir?’

It's gone a bit Man in The High Castle other there, hasn't it.

Come across a few people in my line of work over the years who have clung to an aged head shot, in an attempt to avoid the passing of the years. Determined not to do it. So my website has had a shakedown courtesy of new pics. You’ll find links to journalism, live shows and more. www.jayrayner.co.uk

For today’s @ftweekend.com I’m at Poon’s, a restaurant with a few great dishes, a bunch of complete misfires and an annoyingly written menu. www.ft.com/content/83ae...

Meanwhile, in other news, I've just received an email asking me whether, as a leading influencer, I would like to try out a new clitoral stimulator with a view to promoting it on Instagram, in return for commission on sales. I admire the optimism.

Agog at the whole Jenrick thing obv. But suspicious I’m now just conditioned to respond to the manic psychodrama of the Tory party that dominated our politics for 10 years and did such huge damage to the country. When in truth it’s just another bloody Tory party clown show.

We’re returning to where our whole jazz thing began 14 years ago. And where the whole festival began 75 years ago.

This one I disagree with. One of life's great pleasures is watching Italians being livid over minor changes to recipes, all of which were merely invented, some very recently (Carbonara? 1940s). It's a culture war with zero consequence; given the current state of the world we all need a bit of that.

This opinion is correct.

A few pics to go with this, the first two from 2210, the second two from RapChar

For today’s @ftweekend.com I review two south London restaurants exploring what the food of the Caribbean can be, 2210 by NattyCanCook on one side of Brockwell Park and RapChar on the other. So yes there is very good jerk chicken, but much else besides. Lucky me. www.ft.com/content/9acb...

Delighted to say the JR Sextet is doing a special show as part of this year's Jewish Book Week (which 14 years ago, is where this side hustle of mine began). March 4 www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/wor...

Big story at the top of the ten o’clock news. Apparently it’s January.

Shared as a guide to users. (Free link). www.ft.com/content/ad94...

Snowing SE24 3/10

It’s all kicked off BTL on my piece about - checks notes - salad.

I would like to live in precedented times. You know, where the things that keep happening aren’t weird, gobsmacking and terrifying.

I was asked by @ftedit.ft.com to send them a voice note on a key trend in restaurants for 2026. So here it is: when eating out is increasingly expensive, the comforting and reliable may look like a safer option than the shock of the new. Click below to hear my dulcet tones.

A few pics from my salad bar ‘journey’ starting with the prison food vibes of farmer J. One of London’s best deals however (much better than Farmer J) is at Fortnums. £10 gets you a protein, roast beef or salmon etc, with two seriously fab salads. It’s In the food hall. www.ft.com/content/429d...

With a developed sense of humour I was despatched by @ftweekend.com to investigate the January-appropriate world of the salad bar, by way of Deli Robuchon, Fortnums and Farmer J. More roast cauliflower than you can shake a stick at. www.ft.com/content/429d...

So farewell Zipcar, which folded its UK operation last night. I kept hoping for some solution or reprieve. It never came. Southwark council did make the sort of offer which might have made a difference, but only 24 hours before the end of services. southwarknews.co.uk/news/communi...

Happy new year one and all.

For some reason I found this piece by Simon Mills, about newspaper comment sections, extremely relatable. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Into The Woods @thebridgetheatre.bsky.social is a joy. That’s it. That’s the post.

I’ve long regarded Sinatra at the Sands to be one of the greatest live jazz recordings: The Count Basie Orchestra MD’d by a young Quincy Jones with Frank at the peak of his powers. This podcast from the Open Studio guys is a brilliantly nerdy listen and deep dive. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/y...

Oooh, Murder On the Orient Express is on BC1. Fabulous in every way, especially Richard Rodney Bennett’s score which includes one of the greatest pieces of cinema music composing: the accelerating waltz for the train’s departure from Istanbul. Bliss.

My first novel was called The Marble Kiss and when it was published in 1994 I received various gifts with a lip motif to match the cover. Incl this ring commissioned by my wife. The silversmith later told us that the only reference he had to hand was a pic of Brigitte Bardot’s lips. They live on.

Great old movie viewing so far this Christmas: when Harry Met Sally, Margin Call and of course, Velocipastor.

An extra dollop of me in @ftweekend.com today courtesy of our special food mag full of midwinter wonders. I spend three days preparing dinner because if not now then when? So that’s pickles, cassoulet and basque cheesecake. www.ft.com/content/5cf6...

For today’s @ftweekend.com I am leaning over a big bowl of very good and seasonally appropriate noodles and broth at Maneki ramen, Birmingham, where the small plates and desserts are as compelling as the main event. www.ft.com/content/5fc0...

Do follow Rhodri for one of the great moments of the year as adults throughout the land, head home for the most age innapropriate Christmas sleeping arrangements in their parents' homes. And help raise a bit of dosh for charity while pointing and laughing.

Safe to say that was a very long half hour to record, and an even longer half hour to watch. Apologies to the good name of Leeds University. But we came up against the hugely knowledgable force that is the great Lynne Truss.

Ha ha ha ha

At 8.30pm on BBC2 I’m on university challenge. It’s an alumni special and I’m there on behalf of Leeds.

Any other Christmas Day cooks in the south east looking at the weather forecast and thinking ‘excellent the shed can become a fridge overflow’?

Chris Rea has died at just 74, which really isn’t fair. But I have to say, given his most famous song, it’s impressive timing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDt3...

I always use Claudia Roden’s.

Well so much for bloody democracy. I forgot to tick choose one. So now, with only a couple of people left to vote, my attempt to find a favourite has resulted in me having to do both sprouts AND red cabbage. That will teach me.

I’ve introduced democracy to Christmas Day vegetable choices. I think this may be a truly lousy experiment. It undermines the dictatorship of the cook but I’m trying to give the impression of benevolence.

Some very useful links to stuff about the extreme dodginess of UCKG beneath my original post. It is 23 years since I wrote about their complicity in the death of a little girl called Victoria Climbie. And yet questions still remain to be answered. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Your usual reminder that the UCKG is an extraordinarily shady outfit. It is not clear what the money they collect is for or where it goes. They are collecting all over London today. Avoid.

At 10.30am on BBC Radio 4 it’s the Christmas edition of The Kitchen Cabinet. And a very jolly affair it is too. Do hope you can listen.

Have some pics from Rosi: pork pie, chicken Kyiv, leather tabard and me in it.

For today’s @ftweekend.com I am at Rosi inside the Beaumont Hotel, for classy 70s comfort food redux: pork scratchings, the best fish fingers, chicken Kyiv and a leather tabard worn to protect against garlic butter splashback. Such fun. www.ft.com/content/e050...

Going live in 10 minutes.

I see that Ronnie Scott's has booked the saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, the self-declared 'self hating Jew' who once wondered aloud as to whether 'in the future some might be bold enough to argue Hitler was right after all'. cst.org.uk/news/blog/20...

Loads of questions already but there's room for more on top.

I endorse this message.

In a rush of blood to the head the @financialtimes.com has asked me, @timhayward.bsky.social and @kitchenbee.bsky.social to answer all your christmas cooking queries. It's all gravy. Or quite a lot of it might be. Live, Friday from 11am. Submit questions at the link below. www.ft.com/content/13dd...