can anyone confirm what he said?

the last few years has been pretty brutal for famous mancunians - by birth or honorary - passing away, be it footballers, musicians, boxers, actors. we've lost some absolute giants.

pied work off today and just been lay on the settee listening to this all day. astonishing record. the bloke was insanely talented.

this is one of the best hours of television i've ever seen. can't remember many factual series as effecting. ken burns' series on vietnam probably the last thing that had that level of impact on me. everyone should find time to watch it. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002lvwh

Poor people are being abandoned by this country. Brian Eno telling it straight

just eaten a full pack of custard creams (34). some people have been saying i'm past my best.

okay.

wonderful christmastime has just come on the office radio. kill me now.

will this include some of the country's most prolific touts - the bigger premier league football clubs?

i don't think it's unfair to raise the question of guardiola's selective politics, but this is a very strong statement...

reckon there was probably a thousand fans there for a sunday game between west didsbury and chorlton vets and wythenshawe vets. incredible turnout really. mixed thoughts on the ex-pros playing at this level. ireland, lescott, drinkwater, figueroa, monteiro, boyd, heskey all featured. 1:6 (i think).

ground eight. chadderton 8 city of liverpool 0, nwcfl prem. £7. strange place. surrounded by red brick houses, but a 5g pitch sadly. big modern clubhouse, one hybrid stand. small crowd (c.200) as oldham were playing. very one-sided game. a ground so cold some fans watched from their cars. miserable.

people don't need to own property. if you were starting a fair society from scratch there would be no such thing as property ownership. wealth inequality is the primary cause of almost every major issue with our society.

somehow become addicted to old episodes of law and order: uk. it's terrible. just the forty-seven episodes to go.

If you need me, tap me on the shoulder. I’ll be happily working all day listening to this on a loop.

pretty, pretty good. youtu.be/D6wknX-lC34?...

like how thirty years old this sounds... youtu.be/pjNUECm2GeM?...

More great Tish Murtha posts.

brilliant telly.

not that one.

this is a great deal, tbf. and you don't *have to* read wilson's novel, you can give that to someone you don't like for christmas. still some of the best football writing going...

few seem to agree, but i still think this is one of the best things on tv currently, despite dianne wiest and emma laird both leaving. lennie james is stinking the new series out with an absolutely atrocious american accent, mind.

are we getting a 115 verdict this week then or what?

imagine being that wealthy and this miserable. sitting there in your sterile mansion in the middle of saudi arabia counting your social media followers.

had some terrible news. weekend bacon butties are going to have to be a thing of the past. the ol' gout has beat me. giving up the ale was heartbreaking enough, but this is tough to take. what a miserable life.

Got these new trainers today but I can't get it out of my head that they look like fuckin DC Tosh Lines from The Bill

thought the pilot episode of this was really good, but then i'm a rhea fanboy. like the premise, but mainly enjoying the gilligan signatures - the mundane detail, the landscapes, the sound of quieter scenes, the pov shots, the use of colour, the unorthodox camera angles. just intensely watchable.

few things not so good today - donnarumma's been very decent but the launching out of his box stuff will cost us goals/red cards. gvardiol was pretty sloppy second half. cherki's finding his feet, decision making will come with time, but the ball bounces off him a lot for such a skilful player.

now we've got the pub stuff out of the way, on to the main course, the grandest game in world football...

doku's hitting a level few of us thought he could. unplayable today. o'reilly not far behind, kept a world class player quiet all afternoon. the midfield three all excellent as well. there's a side emerging here, it's different to any of pep's previous teams, but exciting in a different way.

quad's back on, lads.

quite an interesting mid-table emerging...

if you can get past pretending that you don't like pop music, this is a splendid little ep...

don't believe in musical guilty pleasures, but i've always thought this is a great track. like the guitar, like the sort of strained vocal, like the production and how it sounds almost live, sounds too sharp for '88. even like the guitar solo (and i hate guitar solos). youtu.be/tDl3bdE3YQA?...

the daily mail have become obsessed with famous people "showing their true colours"...

fucking yes. if you've never seen this you're missing out. worth watching for the soundtrack alone. paranoid telly at its finest. magic.

been watching a boxing tournament called the heist. basically a rehash of the old prizefighter nights they used to have on sky. ridiculous entertainment. so much drama. every fight really good. short-format boxing's sensational.

some nice stuff on this lichen record. michael clark, son of the late, great gavin clark, of clayhill and shane meadows collaborator. second half of the record especially good. lovely. youtu.be/52gL814z7EE?...

virtually impossible for me to not like a band called pebbledash. this is great... youtu.be/K57w-EdSntw?...

the premier league is as ridiculously entertaining as ever, but quality-wise it feels miles away from just a few seasons ago. can't really explain it. partly tactical, partly scheduling maybe, but the technical level of most sides now feels much closer to the pre-wenger years than peak pep/klopp.

hope i'm wrong obviously, but do think there are signs that united are better in all areas now - steadier keeper, more settled defence, some semblance of a midfield, more intricate passing, creating more chances. think they'll win here, and might finish above villa, spurs, maybe even newcastle.

some of ronay's stuff on the maccabi ban has been mental, and i do genuinely feel conflicted buying the guardian nowadays for several reasons, but i agree with most of this piece, and i'd like there to be a future where my football club aren't owned by the uae... www.theguardian.com/football/202...

this is great bedtime listening. basically a dramatisation of a plod's account of policing belfast in the fifties... www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/serie...

there are clear lessons to be learned from mamdani's campaign. people need hope, and to know they're not going to be left behind. galvanising people to get involved at grass roots level is the only way. the only party offering real organised change for the better here now are the @greenparty.org.uk

not only the track of the year so far, but one of the great bangers of the decade, imho.