This scene completely blew my mind, when I first saw it. For the whole film, we've been totally immersed in what, to us, is a dateless pre-Columbian world. Then, suddenly, it's all wrenched into historical context, and we feel some faint sense of how first contact must have felt.

This scene completely blew my mind, when I first saw it. For the whole film, we've been totally immersed in what, to us, is a dateless pre-Columbian world. Then, suddenly, it's all wrenched into historical context, and we feel some faint sense of how first contact must have felt.

For me, becoming a Zionist was a combination of learning more about the history of antisemitism, and why it made the refounding of a Jewish state so urgent, and getting to know some Jews, and realising the land of Israel is closely tied to their identity, not some optional extra.

This is a desperately beautiful song, I'm not sure why it's not seen as one of the Kinks' best. Or, for that matter, why the album it's from - Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One - isn't, either. At his best, *nobody* could beat Ray Davies.

Yet another XL Bully mauling, this time mercifully non-fatal. I used to be one of those who find solace in the mantra "there are no bad dogs, only bad owners", and of course these dogs aren't *morally* bad, because they're acting on instinct, not out of a conscious desire to cause harm. (1/5)

🎶YOU MAKE ME FEEL YOU MAKE ME FEEL YOU MAKE ME FEEL Like a natural pseudo-technical term for a reactionary concept that, in line with the tendency Gramsci identified, incorporates superficially "scientific" signs into an enforced common sense🎶

ICYMI, I posted this fascinating Orwell column yesterday. Rest of the thread includes Vera Brittain's response, his response to her response, and (for completeness's sake) the rest of "As I Please" for 19/05/1944, plus annotations for the lot, from Peter Davison's Complete Works.

During and after the war, George Orwell wrote a weekly column for Tribune, called "As I Please". This is the one from May 19th, 1944, in which he makes a tough but convincing argument in favour of strategically bombing German cities. It's a conversation starter, certainly. (1/3)

You're laughing. Londoners can barely leave the house without getting stabbed in the arse, and you're laughing.

The psychology of marketing, and the way it plays off associations lodged deep in our brains, fascinates me. There's no reason *at all* why cheddar left lying around in a cave should be nicer than cheddar left lying around in, say, a cupboard. But it's still oddly persuasive, no?

The only time in Russian history when the KGB, in its various incarnations dating back to the 16th-century oprichnina, faced a stronger force.

Quite likely the greatest character entrance in cinema history, and Jason Isaacs - a total mensch IRL, BTW - proceeds to steal every subsequent scene he's in, as well. He probably doesn't have more than fifteen minutes' screen time in the whole movie, but still manages to dominate proceedings. Epic.

From a Facebook group where women share awful exchanges they've had with men on dating apps. The insipid nod to consent at the start makes it so much worse, as does the creepily incongruous little-boy use of "willy". "BONOR" sounds like an unpopular He-Man villain-of-the-week.

There used to be a Twitter/"X" account called @KidsWriteJokes, that posted genuine submissions to a children's jokes website. Below is my personal favourite, of all time. I maintain the comic timing here is better than in most intentional comedy. It's all down to the placing of that first full stop.

That Marr clip is indeed cringeworthy, but if there's one group of people who lack the standing to say so, it's the people who insisted Britain would be better off outside the EU. Doubly so, in fact, because Brexit is one of the primary reasons 2020s Britain is so hard to govern.

I know it's blindingly obvious, but how could I not?

I really enjoyed the new Lily Allen album, despite the questionable wisdom of putting her dirty laundry on such microscopic public display. The fact is, she's a genuinely great songwriter, when she's on form, however irritating she may be as a personality.

By this logic, Barack Obama was never a victim of racism, because he was president of the whole country. But of course, Julia and the rest of the watermelon/red triangle mob would never dream of applying that standard to any minority group other than Jews, because #JewsDontCount.

"Forevermore"? So, he thinks Israelis would expand to conquer all of Eurasia, if they could? I'd vote for a bloke with his trousers down, arguing with the ducks in the park, before Corbyn. In fact, politically speaking, he basically *is* arguing with ducks with his trousers down.

There's a dark comedy in the way softball pro-MAGA interviewers keep handing Trump the opportunity to condemn dictatorships on a silver plate, and he never, ever takes it. In many ways, he has the foreign policy outlook of a Guardian reader: "we're no angels ourselves, you know".

I'm in the pro-BBC camp, too, but forgive me for hoping the public service broadcaster of a G7 power can do better than "not as bad as the worst person in the world".

We could all do with a bit of good news, at the moment, especially when it comes to Jewish-Muslim relations. So, let's savour this very wholesome story about some Muslim chip shop owners teaming up with a local rabbi (and his son) to offer both halal *and* kosher food. So lovely.

This tickled me, it really did. Anyway, you heard it here first: the fourth image below - i.e. me, my actual face, when I had slightly more hair - is both "street credible" and "internet sellable". Amazed I'm not beating them off with a stick, quite frankly.

Wait... Hold on... Oh. I mean... I'm incredibly flattered, obviously. BEYOND flattered, in fact. But the thought of anyone *remotely* as important as Barack Obama caring what *I* have to say is terrifying. I'm an idiot! Mr President, I beg you to reconsider, for all our sakes!

Is there anything *in the universe* less surprising than Donald Trump identifying with Andrew Mountbatten Windsor? I'm more surprised when my bathroom door turns out, yet again, to lead to my bathroom.

There's something especially gross about peddling far right misinformation - see the community note - about life in the UK, when it comes from a voluntary exile in a dystopian billionaires' playground built by slave labour, don't you think? A sort of 21st century Tokyo Rose vibe.

Yep www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS7q...

Matthew Goodwin is a special case, among self-radicalised rightists, and especially dismaying, because he once so eloquently dissected what's wrong with the politics he now espouses. Extraordinary to think this blood-and-soil nationalist once collaborated with the likes of @robfordmancs.bsky.social.

When this is the state of public opinion, I'm not sure how any remotely responsible government can avoid becoming massively unpopular, very quickly. Which isn't to say Labour have governed especially well, so far, but what can they do, when voters demand the literally impossible?

Yup. Like the folk from the DNVP ('German National People's Party'). Who stood to the Nazis somewhat as the current ever farther right 'rump' Tory Party does to Reform UK.

They were targeted heavily in the Night of the Long Knives alongside Röhm and the SA (still fractions of the toll elsewhere), and led the July 20, 1944 Plot and parts of the Resistance on-and-off, but, generally, a lot of the latter were heavily implicated in Nazi atrocities.

This is about as wrong as it's possible to be. "Staunch monarchist conservatives" were key to the Nazis seizing power. Hindenburg's inner circle plotted to make Hitler chancellor, thinking they could control him, and use his mass following to, ultimately, restore the Kaiserreich.

Good news, obviously. But wouldn't it be nice if, one of these days, we had an election in the developed world that *wasn't* a nailbiter between "normal, nice things" and "burn everything to the ground"? Crazy talk, I know.

Just managed, for the first time ever, to plan out a week's meals* in advance AND STICK TO IT. I know that's probably not impressive to you, but executive dysfunction is a bitch. Now gearing up for week two (below), wish me luck. *I only eat one proper meal per day, plus snacks.

Here's what struck me about the current royal news: the King's statement goes out of its way to express sympathy for abuse victims. Now, you could say those are just words, but: has Andrew ever said such a thing, even insincerely? I don't think so. Tells you a lot about both men.

I just came across this absolutely wonderful, apparently impromptu Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fan fiction, from Tumblr. This is just the first part, I'll link to the whole thing in the next post. Quite long, but definitely worth your time, and wholesome without being nauseating.

When Graham Linehan's nasty behaviour towards women like Helen Lewis is pointed out, certain GC feminists always rush to say how nice he's been to them. Yes, because you've never contradicted him! Treat him like the Pope of Gender-Criticism he sees himself as, and I'm sure he's lovely.

Is this really the standard we're aspiring to? "If you're better off than a Christian in the Muslim world, stop complaining"? Forgive me for hoping Western liberal pluralism can do a great deal better than that. If we can't, then what's the point?

Say what you like about the Ukrainians, but they certainly have spunk.

It doesn't matter if it's communists, Islamists, neo-Nazis, black nationalists or Christian fundamentalists: people of all races and creeds can come together to hate the Jews. It'd almost be a heartwarming multicultural parable, if it weren't, you know, horrifying and depressing.

This is really good from Jamelle Bouie (@jamellebouie.net), one of the smartest liberal writers on American politics: nytimes.com/2025/10/22/o... Quoting the Declaration of Independence to indict Trump is a particularly slick, and apt, move. (Non-paywalled version here: archive.ph/0ll83)

I left some fruit on my mum's bed, as a nice surprise for when she gets home from work, and took a photo to send her, because the dog likes to lie there, and I thought he might mess up the display. In fact, touchingly, he's carefully arranged himself around it. Love that mutt.

Do you ever have the sneaking suspicion that whoever writes news alerts carefully uses a certain number of characters, so they're cut off at *just* the right place in push notifications?

I'm sure Sphynx cats have lovely personalities, and all, but I'm sorry, I just can't get over how WRONG they look. Like some twisted, ungodly homunculus a mad scientist grew in a jar. Every part of me screams that they should at least put some bloody clothes on.

I'm a frequent consumer of Dodo videos, while being very conscious I'm not part of the target audience. Here, a family claims their dead dog came back as a ghost, and *every single comment* takes it at face value. NOBODY saying, "yeah, that didn't happen."

I think you have to be pretty sick to see this as an inspiring story, actually. An infant put through unbearable pain, and two adults through unbearable grief, all for no good reason. Just one of the many tangible human costs of "pro-life" dogma. These people are absolute ghouls.

Fifty-nine years ago. The detail about Aberfan that's always stuck in my mind is that almost exactly half the village's children died, so, for some time afterwards, the "lucky" parents had to tell their kids to stay indoors, because the sight of them playing outside was too painful for the bereaved.

@portraitinflesh.bsky.social One for your collection of how the Left does activism badly. Everything is here in this post. The condescension off the scale.....

Netanyahu's government apparently plans to make mezuzahs mandatory. That's crazy state overreach in itself, but also, as former PM Lapid says, guaranteed to undermine and devalue sincere Jewish observance. Israel's strength lies in *not* being a theocracy, where it really counts.