The most trusted news source in the US is The Weather Channel. The second most trusted is the BBC.

The US is just going to destroy everything that is good in the world. I hope the BBC shows a bit more backbone in the face of dictatorial extortion and censorship than US media has managed so far.

Good news!

It’s brilliantly ironic that the right wing Conservative BBC director-general Tim Davie is resigning over perceived anti-Trump bias at the BBC. Maybe we’ll get less gushing wall-to-wall coverage of Nigel Farage, Elon Musk et al from now on?

A parable for our times. “Friends traced Watson’s smartest-guy-in-the-room attitude, and his disdain for experts, to 1953…He saw his double-helix discovery as proof that outsiders, unburdened by establishment thinking, could see and achieve what insiders couldn’t.” www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...

Nice wine story on the BBC News home page. 'Every London borough is represented in this wine' www.bbc.com/news/article...

Gah! Spent the whole day avoiding spoilers for Celebrity Traitors because I couldn’t watch it until this evening and then caught a newspaper headline in Sainsbury’s. Not my usual thing but this was brilliant television.

And the winner is…

Happy as a pig in...

I’m sure they will find a buyer for such an important, trailblazing estate, but this is so sad for the family who created it back in the 90s.

"In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light” Well done Zohran Mamdani.

Unfortunate timing but I hope it’s a success for them. They really need this.

It really doesn’t matter how much money Musk loses on Twitter as long as he still has enough useful idiots to keep posting on there to give him influence. And the useful idiots include the entire machinery of the UK government and a load of wine people who I unfollowed on here last night.

Anyone still posting on Twitter is directly supporting this pustule on the backside of humanity and should be shunned by decent people. I’m going to unfollow them on BlueSky. Americans: time to deal with your own steaming pile of trash because the rest of us are sick of the stench.

The racist right’s flagging movement

It’s that time of year again. If you’re a member, do vote to keep the nutters out.

And people in the UK complain about London pub prices… sfstandard.com/2025/10/28/w...

Oof

Authenticity, TikTok, child-like labels, sustainability and selling it really cheap, apparently. All completely coherent. Via @janetrad.bsky.social How Old Wineries Are Courting Young Drinkers www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/indu...

It’s been another terrible weekend of football (from my point of view). Maybe Lando Norris can salvage something…

«Je ne le connais pas, a déclaré le photographe. Je ne sais pas s’il est français. Peut-être est-il un touriste ? Peut-être est-il anglais.»

After seeing me admire this glass, the lovely @hannahsaunders101.bsky.social contacted The Nightjar to find their supplier and bought 6 of them for me. I’m a very lucky boy!

An absolute classic.

I think this captures it pretty well.

Stop giving him ideas.

At the time of their arrest, the two men were planning to kidnap Evgeny Chichvarkin and burn down his wine shop Hedonism Wines. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Since we are talking about orange wine, it's the opportunity to mention my friend Fabienne who started up an urban winery in Marseille and makes a very nice skin fermented Vermentino

Of course there are people making good natural. But plenty of faults still for some I'm afraid. I came across a ton last week. But David's point is about the perception, that is propagated in articles like this.

The overstatement of this spittle-flecked invective will undoubtedly inspire an equal and opposite reaction from orange and natural wine advocates. But coming from a non-specialist, it should carry weight. Casual drinkers see them as the wine world's blind alley. www.vanityfair.com/culture/stor...

Pink pastel sunrise. Photo taken on Glastonbury Tor.

“The Food Standards Agency scored the restaurant’s food hygiene rating as the lowest mark, 0, meaning, ‘Urgent Improvement Necessary’.” That probably didn’t help.

For those not familiar, a London pedicab isn’t the fastest or most discreet getaway vehicle

“Wine is to drink, no?” www.bbc.com/news/article...

I went to a Drinks Business wine judging event this week and came home with a bag of quinces courtesy of fellow judge Jonathan Pedley. So I’m back in the quince jelly game. Lambeth Country Show, here I come!

34% support ICE’s actions? That’s a depressingly high number. And only a fraction over half oppose. That’s hardly pariah status. I do hope people get out and protest.

A plea to get out in the vines this autumn – with top tips on how and where to go. Pictured, Westwell’s vineyards in Kent. https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/visit-english-vineyard #winecommunity #winevineyard #englishwine #jancisrobinson @winegb #vineyardtours

Good wine news.

Refreshing to see a UK party leader advocating an intelligent, evidence-based approach to drugs.

This is fantastic.

It’s all bad news again from Olly.

Very good indeed.

This is such a precious thing which we must protect from Farage and his racist backers in the US and Russia.

This is very welcome. I love London more than anywhere in the world but it sometimes feels like local councils want us all tucked up in bed by 11.00. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Wine study facts.

Tryon Foothills is the newest AVA (American Viticultural Area) and the first to be confirmed in almost a year. Probably only of much interest to the wine taxonomists out there, it's in Polk County, North Carolina, around 30 miles from the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.

We can avoid US-style authoritarianism by simply not voting for it. But we need to ban foreign political donations to stop our elections being bought.

Urban worrier.

People are already erasing their social media accounts just to visit the US, Tom. People are being disappeared by masked secret police and losing their jobs because of their political beliefs. We may disagree on exactly which month we are in 1933 Germany, but it’s still fascism.