Rote condemnations of settler violence aren't enough. We have to acknowledge that outrages like these are animated by *precisely* the same sort of mindless hatred that made Gazan militants and civilians butcher and rape thousands of Jews on October 7th, 2023. There must be no hierarchy of suffering.

To paraphrase John Waters: if you go home with someone, and they undress to reveal Mr Bean underwear, don't fuck them. Make an excuse and leave.

It's interesting, and revealing, how many people who like to claim expertise in "the Talmud" have never heard of tikkun olam, or "repairing the world", a core imperative in Judaism. That's why there are so many Jewish charities; they're not part of some nefarious scheme to get one over on the goyim.

Can confirm that Saturday night in that A&E is the definition of “challenging”. And doing it keeps her in touch with reality, which many MPs manage to avoid.

If working a shift as a qualified medical doctor is now "virtue signal[ling]", then that term really has become meaningless. It was originally coined to describe purely performative actions, entailing negligible personal effort or cost, but being an A&E medic is notoriously strenuous, and stressful.

I put a steaming hot apple pie on the windowsill, and not one wolf wearing a rolled up hat and patched dungarees floated over lifted by its nose

Not only do modern houses no longer have proper mouse domiciles, but you also never see a dog running off down the street with a long string of sausages in its mouth, pursued by a red-faced butcher in a blue-and-white striped apron, *or* a cat smugly making off with an entire fish. I blame wokeness.

Someone on Twitter/"X" asked for people's favourite original songs from TV or film. Here's "Under Your Spell", from Buffy's musical episode: an erotically charged love song from one woman to another, no small thing in 2001; almost every line has a plot-related double meaning; it's just a great tune.

OK, this truly is beyond a joke, now. John Cleese is sharing outright Nazi material on Twitter/"X", alongside the increasingly paranoid, hysterical anti-Muslim material. He's such a cultural titan, it really would be good to know what's actually going on, here. He is eighty-six years old, after all.

In one of his books, Terry Pratchett describes a hammy actor as having a voice you couldn't order coal with, because it'd turn up as diamonds. You'd think such a thing couldn't exist in real life, but that would be to reckon without the legendary Matt Berry. Lovely supercut from last night's Oscars.

Jesus Christ. Not even Reform, but the party for people too racist for Reform, as endorsed by the world's most notorious white nationalist. What happened to you, John Cleese? If it really is just advanced age, then I hope someone who loves him intervenes, sooner rather than later. So painful to see.

"I only hate the vast majority of Jews" really isn't the killer comeback these people seem to think it is.

A lot of people seem to struggle with the idea of Israel having central religious, cultural and historical importance to Jews, yet can easily grasp, for instance, why Mecca and Medina are important to Muslims, or Bethlehem and Rome are to Christians. It's a very tiresome form of selective stupidity.

I ordered my mum a big Toblerone for Mother's Day (which is tomorrow, in case any of my British followers have forgotten), and I'm now worrying it might be too big, at 750g. On the other hand, is it even possible, ontologically, for a Toblerone to be *too* big? Further study is evidently called for.

I finally got around to watching I Swear. What a wonderful film. It does skate close, at times, to "plucky British underdog movie" clichés, but John Davidson's story really *is* heartwarming and inspiring, so what could they do? I'm now doubly angry with his post-BAFTAs tormentors, as should you be.

What terrifies me, about stories like this, is the fact it's even possible for one human being to enslave another, in the context of a supposedly civilized, "developed" country. How many others, at this moment, are suffering in the same purgatory as "K", or Mo Farah, or the rest?

I'm eager to try Cadbury's new (?) Creme Egg bar, but this slogan is... eyebrow-raising, no? Like it comes from a brochure for gay sex.

Awww yiss. Everything's coming up Milhouse.

I can't help feeling there might be a latent metaphor, here, for society and politics in general.

Extremely depressing how John Cleese has aged into the genuine manifestation of the caricature he played in this scene almost 60 years ago. 😞 youtu.be/rwiS3g9ouGs?...

He surely is an idiot. I remember watching a televised Trump rally on 11/11/23 and saw and heard him call some Americans vermin and promise blood in our streets. The DJT idiots behinds him in red hats cheered. We ALL heard him say he was going to be a dictator. Every vote for him was treason.

"I for one am shocked that DONALD TRUMP lied to me..."

I can almost (just barely) buy this logic his first term. Almost. But he proved what an incompetent, crooked, corrupt traitor he was those 4 years. And they voted for him 2 more times. He was a shit person in 1980. One rambling speech should have been enough.

Oh my friend, it's worse than that He's a damn liar, he KNEW Trump was bad in 2020... look at his own posts.

Pearl and Dean walk into a 🎶BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR, BAR-BAR... BAR!🎶

I'm a fucking idiot. If I lay my posts out like this, it looks like I'm being Very Serious and Thoughtful. I get judged for voting for an adjudicated rapist, which makes me ever so sad. Please don't never take me seriously again, just because I knowingly decided to support the worst man on Earth.

I wonder which comes first, for these sickos: the paedophilia or the neo-Nazism? Does their hatred of a society that won't let them get away with raping children lead them to embrace a taboo ideology, or does espousing extreme views take them into circles where other extreme behaviours are the norm?

For non-Potter fans: it truly can't be overstated, just how minor a character Susan Bones is. She's very much a bit player, even in the books; in the films, I'm not sure she even has any lines. Right-wing outrage merchants really will pounce on absolutely anything social media puts in their eyeline.

This may be the most pointless thing I've seen in my entire life, and I've seen Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho.

This is well said. The same applies to countless other everyday luxuries we take for granted, but would have astonished our ancestors. My local corner shop sells a variety of food that dwarfs everything a typical nineteenth century person might eat in their entire lifetime. Modern life is a miracle.

Beyond a certain point, partisan spin *does* cross the line into plain and simple lying, and the Daily Mail crosses that line more often than any other major media platform. I'm not saying there aren't any left-wing equivalents, but they have orders of magnitude less reach, at least in this country.

Sleaford Mods, those bold iconoclasts, just tweeted the following, which I quote in its entirety: "Yea, fuck War. Fuck illegal War. Fuck War." Naturally, I couldn't help being reminded of this:

This is a deeply shocking story. It genuinely never occurred to me that a hotel might give out a room number and key without at least asking for proof of purchase and identity. The potential for abuse is *so* obvious, I don't understand how it wouldn't occur to *anyone*, never mind Travelodge staff.

Thank God for AI content like this. Before, I never knew Marilyn Monroe would have been called "Nathaniel B. Bone" if she were Chinese.

From the official White House "X" account. The Trump administration pumping out garbage like this isn't just some unfortunate blemish. It gets to the heart of why they're fundamentally unserious, morally diseased people, who shouldn't be running a fast food franchise, never mind a regime change war.

THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is how an abusive piece of shit attempting a career comeback should be reported. Let's have a round of applause for @thecourier.co.uk, and especially the reporter, Lucy Scarlett. Full piece is here: www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/5445...

"Anti-Zionism" becomes antisemitism when the Jewish state, and people who support its right to exist, are not merely criticized, but held to be a singular, almost cosmic evil. Just think about what Zarah Sultana is saying, here: "one of the greatest threats to humanity"? ALL humanity? Sheer madness.

Stupid person voice: Multiculturalism has failed! Me: Well, you clearly haven't embraced the majesty of Sicilian-Norman-Arab-Byzantine-Jewish civilisation.

This, by @doremus-schafer.bsky.social, is very good on the John Davidson/BAFTAs affair: doremuseng.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/i...

If Hell exists, there is a special place in it for people who, having enjoyed all the benefits of a free society, choose to devote their lives to lending aid and comfort to murderous dictatorships. Though Mr Bowes is at least willing to *live* in Russia, much to Ireland's relief.

If you're inclined to celebrate this, give it further thought. The sort of convicts who carry out these vigilante attacks - assuming that's what happened - have very often ruined countless lives themselves. There are good reasons we have courts and prisons instead of mob justice.

I found this bleakly amusing. Leaving the off-the-charts misogyny to one side: if you're hitting the "back of the cervix", whatever you're having sex with probably isn't a human woman. Though actually, I do think misogyny and abject ignorance of female anatomy are closely related.

I just don't know, any more. I suppose people like this must always have existed, and social media just rubs them in our faces. Still, it's hard not to feel degraded merely by contact.

A family friend of ours was a drama teacher at quite a rough high school. One day, one of the older boys spat right in her face. Without hesitating, she scooped up his spittle and rubbed it right back in *his* face. Absolute queen.

If you can't see this wonderful British poster from 1956, depicting the then-nascent Cold War as experienced by penguins, without thinking of the video for "So Says I" by the Shins, then you are (a) almost certainly of a certain age and disposition and (b) one of my people.

I must have seen Minority Report half a dozen times, but only the last time did I notice that the three "precogs" - Agatha, Arthur and Dashiell - are all named after famous crime writers. Nice touch.

My mum's friend once proudly shared that the vet had said her cat was his favourite patient. It hadn't occurred to her that he probably says that to all his clients. Anyway, she was *still* savvier than the Western rightists who think Putin is their ally for reasons of principle.

Antisemitism is the world's most boring detective show: same culprit every week.

I'm currently reading @briandeer.com's book on Andrew Wakefield (which I strongly recommend). I'd completely forgotten, or never knew to start with, that Ken Livingstone was anti-MMR, at the height of the scare. What an all-round dog's breakfast of a human being.

Two undeniable facts: 1. Israel has assumed a wildly outsized importance in the popular cosmology of evil; 2. Israel is the planet's only Jewish state. 1 is not necessarily *entirely* the result of 2. But you'd have to be pretty naive to think there's no connection at all, no?