It’s a golden end to the year…

My overwhelming nostalgia for northern Italian #Olympics got me looking up today what sort of " #journalism" I wrote from Turin in my uninhibited and unembarrassed early @fm4.orf.at career. But I think Philippa from the school bus would be proud to have inspired me so. fm4v2.orf.at/chris/211364...

It's not quite the profis at 60km per hour, but every-one has to start somewhere! #speedskating #weissensee

I think in the run up to the #Olympics it is good to get an insight into as many winter sports as possible so we can act like experts... (next week I will try out aerials) @kaernten.bsky.social @kaerntensport.bsky.social christiancummins1.substack.com/p/speed-skat...

This is wonderful: Rob Cameron, the BBC correspondent for Prague, has curated a collection of colourful Czech covers of big English -language hits: Perfect Betwixmas entertainment on an non Sunny Side Up day: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Classy... "During one time out in the second set, Sabalenka did the Macarena. Meanwhile at 4-3 in the first set, the match was paused while the stadium PA announced that the former Brazilian footballers Kaká and Ronaldo were about to make their entrance." www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...

These #Betwixtmas days can feel disorientating and desolate, but not on @fm4.orf.at 's #sunnysideup - where they are soulful and unruffled. Wallners set the tone, we have Bobby Womack, Sofie Royer, new music from Monsterheart, Erobique & friends, and Labi Siffre. 10am here fm4.orf.at/player/live

"Make 'em whinge" #AusEng

Today's @fm4.orf.at FM4 #sunnysideup features' Magda's great new song, Astrud Gilberto is singing about caviar and champagne, Magdalena Wawra sings about orange trees, I've a Mr Scruff classic &France Gall has fallen splendidly in love with a Norwegian sleeping on the beach fm4.orf.at/player/live

On the Feast of Stephens the #SunnySideUp music, if not the snow, lies deep and crisp &... EVEN better that usual. An iconic cry for (just) peace, some rapturous Nina Simone, Buntspecht's gorgeous new song, Ian Fisher's reminder to live in the moment, 10am(CET) on @fm4.orf.at fm4.orf.at/player/live

Nicola Jennings, in The Guardian

This is one of our favorites!

yes

Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”

Merry Xmas. I have an incredible Christmas Day radio FM4 #sunnysideup for you - the harmonious Christmas Party where EVERYONE is welcome with music from Elena Shirin, Cari Cari, Khruangbin, Noa, a raggae-little-Xmas, Salsa navidad and basically a lot of joyfulness. 10am fm4.orf.at/player/live

I spend all yesterday moaning about the warm December temperatures, and then fate handed me the first efferty-jeffety white Christmas in years. And this only days after I got to stroke a reindeer's nose. I can't say 2025 was the best year, but it i finishing well! #HappyXmas

I have spent 26-years wishing to know what happened with Hugh Grant... (we miss you Caroline) youtube.com/shorts/mnNwA...

Merry Xmas. Feliz Navidad. (we have an amazing season of music coming up on @fm4.orf.at's #sunnysideup) www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wR-...

Before they harness up for the big night, I thought we'd hear a bit more from my #reindeer:

By the way, a lot of ski resorts - and races - are sponsored by firms who lobbied for the extension of the combustion engine era...

Letztes Video vor der Winterpause: Was, wenn Wälder die Klimakrise *verschlimmern*? In manchen Regionen geben Wälder jetzt schon mehr CO2 ab, als sie aufnehmen. Hab mir mal für @quarkswdr.bsky.social angesehen, wie dramatisch die Lage ist 🤌🏻⤵️

Euronerds may find themselves back in fashion rather sooner than some of us expected. What 2025 has shown is that there’s nowhere else for us to go.

The grazing-supported nature restoration project at #Marchegg is showing encouraging results: Ten years of grazing, a project by @wwf.at in the Marchegg floodplain reserve shows how free-roaming horses shape the ecosystem. Both #biodiversity & the #climate benefit science.orf.at/stories/3233...

Peace on Earth, goodwill to everyone. It's a pre-Xmas @fm4.orf.at #sunnysideup & it's a special one! We've got Turkish psychedelic-folk-funk fusion, Mariachi music from LA, West African disco, Ethiopian jazz, a new song from LYLIT, + Waxolustionists, Patrice & Jill Scott fm4.orf.at/player/live

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Beyond parody. We have an attorney general who is covering up the Epstein Files and a President who is proud he could identify a giraffe

Solar might be the one thing that’s going well. But can the sector’s growth withstand attacks from rightwing populists? @wblau.bsky.social questions @billmckibben.bsky.social and Ed Miliband.

I'm sure this guy says something about #Trump's America... a lot of unedifying bluster and bombast but it ends up with bloody mouth www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSiC...

All you need to know about reindeer is on @fm4.orf.at's #OKfm4 in the next hour: fm4.orf.at/player/live

You have to be REALLY good at grammar to insult people in French.

Fun-fact: if you see a #reindeer with antlers on 24th December, it is a female (the males shed theirs in late November) #Rudolfina Less fun fact: Reindeer populations have declined by 66% over the last 30 years due to the #climatecrisis More on @fm4.orf.at today

Marco Odermatt has hit his half-century and will probably overtake Hermann Maier's World Cup race win tally this season. I'm struggling to get my head around this - not because Marco is not brilliant, but because he still looks (and indeed is) so very young #VaGardena #SkiRacing

The #ClimateCrisis has hit #reindeer hard. By 2100, without urgent #decarbonization and a #naturerestoration project, we might see a 80% decline in #reindeer populations. In the meantime, zoos can act like a Noah's Ark to preserve genetic diversity: christiancummins1.substack.com/p/reindeer-t...

Reindeer are amazing animals; perfectly adapted to the freezing #Arctic; they even have furry noses and nasal passages to warm the air on the way to their lungs... I've been hanging out with at Vienna Zoo them for a pre-Xmas @fm4.orf.at story (& reminder that we must tackle the #ClimateCrisis)

I know you all want #Austria to win the World Cup in 2026... my main dream as that Austria wins the Best Documentary at the #Oscars - via the fabulous Richard Ladkani and his important, thrilling and very moving film #Yanuni: fm4.orf.at/player/20251... via @fm4.orf.at

Don't say "Well they never told us"... #Allies

This is an amazing film about such an important subject. #Yanuni from Austrian director Richard Ladkani has been short-listed for an #Oscar. It tells the story of a young female indigenous leader fighting back against the destruction of the #Amazon: christiancummins1.substack.com/p/austrian-d...

Unless you got done for drunk-driving...

Ok, the future of #radio journalism is secure. My charming crew from across Europe will be examining accessibility, queer-Arab clubings, dance and music therapy and the key to long lasting love today on Kulturcollage on at Radio Radieschen (their show is better than the photo from my broken phone)

If we can't even identify our enemies then how can we fight them? Trump's National Security Strategy is the longest suicide note in American history www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

What I admire in life is stubborn consistency

There is a lot at stake here: #Trump sues the #BBC "Trump uses lawsuits (or threats of lawsuits) as a political weapon, a cudgel to encourage grievance and division, and a way to control the political message by undermining the reality-based press." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Let’s be honest; they are twee and a bit naff... but, secretly, we love them. A party in the invigorating fresh air where you can see your friends but also bring your children and be kicked out early enough to get a good night’s sleep." #Christmas christiancummins1.substack.com/p/the-lure-o...

“When he saw people dying and their families being shot, he couldn’t bear to see people dying,” “It was a humanitarian act, more than anything else. It was a matter of conscience. He’s very proud that he saved even one life." A cousin on #AhmedAlAhmed www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Last week I was chatting with @davekeating.substack.com about his book advising Europeans how to break free of US domination. This @therestpolitics.bsky.social episode examining #Trump's scary #NationalSecurityStrategy shows just how timely that book is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad3C...

He's achieved 29 top-10 finishes over 10 years across 10 different countries, 7 podiums, and a historic win on the iconic Ganslernhang in #Kitzbühel Headed to a 5th Olympics, Dave Ryding might be the most under-appreciated athlete in Britain. christiancummins1.substack.com/p/dave-rydin...

Update: "Seven News reported the bystander was a 43-year-old fruit shop owner from the Sutherland Shire named Ahmed. A family member interviewed on Sunday night...said the father of two had been admitted after being shot twice." (Apparently someone was shooting at him as he did this?) #hero

This appears to be a moment of spine-tinglingly brave heroism... very Aussie. #StopTheHate www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Forgive me some national pride, after the 1st run in Val d'Isere, three British slalom skiers in the top 15!