Is this 'global' fascination with rape and abusive behaviour towards women and children (and occasionally young men) orchestrated? Of course it cannot be condoned, but it has become obsessional, to the exclusion of rational discussion of far greater societal evils.

Oh God. Until today I had the builders 'out' - in that they could get into 'next door' from the yard. Now I have the builders 'in' - meaning they must use my staircase and front door to do more work, and they arrive at 7am, and I must be up to let them in. That's early.

"Crazy as a loon, Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon" Beat those for lyrics.

Wow. The TV station BBC4 is excelling itself tonight. The film All About Eve, followed by a Wogan interview with Bette Davis, and (in case you aren't a fan of hers) they then offer Michael Caine in the Ipcress File. This is Christmas Day level programming.

I genuinely wish for success for this Artemis mission. However, I wouldn't have scheduled an 'address to the Nation' to take place a few hours after the rocket had been scheduled for launch.

Has this Trump diatribe started yet? When's it due? (There isn't much worth watching on the telly!)

Pet beef. Reposting anything headlined BREAKING. It just gets confusing, and people who do it after more than 24h deserve to be muted.

I can't help thinking that if other countries had had the balls to call out the unclothed emperor gangster many months ago the world would be in a better place.

Oh shit. It's an hour later. Bugger.

I have to say that for many years I have been a devotee of Samsung smart phones. When one gives up the ghost, the new one just asks if you'd like to transfer everything - takes 2 minutes. Trying to get data transferred from an Alacatel (Androìd) to a Sansung has driven me mad.

Assuming that one can rely on the spelling, this rather clever cartoon comes from the US.

If anybody is struggling to find some extreme escapism, the film aired on Saturday by BBC4 called La Chimera is wonderful. The first hour is quite slow, but it becomes utterly fascinating. It's a Swiss/French/Italian (TV) co-production, and I can only assume it's homage to the Taviani brothers.

Wordle 1,735 5/6* ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Difficult one today, but I got there in the end!

Call me prescient.

Wordle 1,732 2/6* 🟩🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 That was easy!

We hear daily (in the UK) that 'oil is traded internationally', and that the price consumers pay for electricity is based on how much it costs to generate electricity from gas. I need to have this explained in words of one syllable - paging @edconway.bsky.social This is 'lawyer' based, not reality!

Wordle 1,731 3/6* ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Nice symmetrical pattern, and my second 'sea of greens' in a row!

BBC 4 just aired a programme by Dan Cruickshank about London's bridges through the ages. Quite fascinating, a calming diversion for these times.

Got a "Sea of Greens" today! Wordle 1,730 3/6* ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I'm not a confirmed Starmer knocker, and I don't think he is evil, but this @thenewsagents.co.uk podcast is very thought provoking. He is simply unsuitable.

It seems to me that a cse in geography is more useful to an aspirant politician than a 'masters' in ppe. The Dover Calais (Raab) and Straits of Hormuz (Trump) debacles are evidence that the ability to read a map is lost.

The last few minutes of the BBC News at Ten with Jeremy Bowen are worth watching.

Why doesn't Middle East Eye have an 'official' presence on Bluesky? (I know @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social serves us well, but it puzzles me that it needs to be described as 'unofficial'.)

I noticed on Verstappen's helmet some clear plastic pyramid shaped protrusions - are they air intakes? #F1

I shall be watching quali on RTBF (Belgian, commentary in French) starting at 05.30 CET tomorrow (Saturday), hoping that quali actually starts at 06.00. (Or if I miss the alarm I'll watch it a bit later, but then I'll miss the live Bluesky banter.) Forza Ferrari #F1

Just seen a petrol station here in Italy with petrol over €2 per litre. (It was less than €1.70 last week.)

I just innocently turned on Channel4 and they were showing Crufts. I absolutely refuse to believe it is a whole year since they showed it before!

Bluesky is playing up for me again this morning - anyone else?

So glad that Bluesky is back for me - I had (to be honest) a fairly pleasant ten minutes scrolling X until something political came up, and my eyes started watering when Meloni (the Italian Prime Minister) was being derided for being left wing!

Ah - ahead of a second series starting on March 8 - the BBCiplayer has made available Series One of #TheCapture. Worth a watch, (it is hard to believe that the series is more than six years old).

Hannah the new MP just lost my vote when she said "Sorry to all my clients waiting for my plumbing, I've got other things to do now" 🙂

I'm a bit pissed off with 'The Rest is Politics' podcast. They have evaded every Mandelson story, and every Andrew story. Seems a bit bunker mentality.

Anybody got any ideas about charging and battery management issues which have recently arisen on a Microsoft Surface 3 PC? I'm pretty certain it's software, (the OS), rather than hardware - the problems are intermittent.

Is Mandelson going to have to spend the night in the police custody suite? Seems a bit tough to have collared him at 5pm!

I've only just discovered the #catchatbookclub hashtag, and felt compelled to share this with you!

I've just admired a black and white (genuine) photo. How soon will some devious AI manipulator decide that B+W is "more convincing"?

I'm not a great fan of #Olympic ceremonies, but tonight it is in l'Arena in Verona, so I'll give it a chance!

Is this fair that the Canadian coach can get this involved with 'tactics' during a competition? #Curling

Nice bit of sun this afternoon, so (belatedly) I tackled some serious trimming on my teuchrium 'hedge'. As happens every year, I was waylaid by a busy bumble bee, so I thought it would be rude to chop off the new flowers which interested him, so the hedge is still a bit floppy. 🌱#gardening

I really don't know why I'm watching curling. I can't understand anything about the scoring, and since it's the final it seems excessive to study this subject! It's a tiny bit mesmerising, nevertheless.

Has anybody seen any sympathy for Andrew's current plight? I'm wondering if well known right wing misogynist grifters have made any comments.

It seems to me to be vanishingly unlikely that the 8th in the line of succession would ever inherit kingship. However, if the kingdom is expected to buy into the quasi son of God fantasy as paraded in a Coronation, I'm confused that the goverment can credibly overturn an aspirant 'chosen one'.

Watching Sky News awaiting the arrival of the donald at the lectern, the press in the room sounds to be in a very cheerful mood!

When are #TheArchers scriptwriters going to tackle the story of the day - Randy Andy? He might be awarded with a few shillings for a cameo role 😉

Emergency podcast #1 !

So, if and when "it" comes to Court, it will be listed as 'Crown vs. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor'. Have I got that right?

The replies to this comment are really interesting. No snark but much insight. This is where Bluesky excells.

Exciting stuff in the #WinterOlympics speed skating - after a little tumble we had the crew coming out to repair the ice!