Or even a by-election...

Six hours early. Storms in the Azteca Stadium area.

Number 10 North actually an unreleased Housemartins album from 1985

Penelope Keith as a leather-clad, motorbike-riding, lesbian au pair from Hamburg with a sideline in mud wrestling? Yes please.

Mel Brooks. What a triumph he's still alive. The Producers has been my favourite film for decades now. Just ridiculous. Remember my 9 year-old granddaughter doing the concierge perfectly: "those filthy, disgusting, lice-ridden boids..."

The incredible Mel Brooks is 100 today. Here he is at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle Upon Tyne at the UK premiere of “Young Frankenstein, the musical” in 2017. He sat in the row behind us. Starstruck? You bet…

Posted this before but I love it. Mel Brooks’s story about ghosting Cary Grant must have been told by Mel on every other talk show appearance he made, it was one of his standard “bits” but I especially like this version with Clive James. youtu.be/9QbATFlTaZs?...

Happy 100th, Mel Brooks.

Huge moment for the older anorak

No journalist followed Andy Burnham more closely than @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social for ten years at the Manchester Evening News and the FT. The Queen of the North on the King... as.ft.com/r/3ef31e1e-7...

Commission these now you cowards!

"Purchases from a high-end cookware brand were among the red flags which alerted police to Peter Murrell’s long-running embezzlement of the SNP’s funds." [runs in panting] INSPECTOR LE CREUSET

See them wending, never ending Smiling cheers You know that very shortly they'll change to tears We sit here for ever By our old fireside And won't sing in spring Three cheers for our side Say not so long Sift through the sand Wave of the hand Goodbye

For Fathers' Day, Keir Starmer posts a photo of his own father, who died in 2018, and a non-political message. The replies are a torrent of vitriol & cruelty, all with hundreds of Likes. We complain a lot about the quality of leadership, but there's a huge problem with the way we treat politicians

Loads of Partridge on BBC iPlayer, including the stuff originally on Sky.

A bit from me about how Makerfield was won as.ft.com/r/bd2002f3-7...

I’m at breaking point with that sodding dog on the Vitality ads and we’re not even half way through June, yet.

SCOOP: Andy Burnham has the nominations required to trigger a Labour leadership contest, according to three people close to the matter, and intends to present the list to Keir Starmer to urge him to step down without a contest. www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Went to Richmond and yes it’s real

Remembering Lamont Dozier on his birthday. Now playing his razor-sharp Fish Ain't Bitin' from 1973. It’s the opening track on my Clean Up America playlist at ▶️ open.spotify.com/playlist/1Sw...

‘All this seems so unnecessary: unnecessary for Stokes to stay out so late; unnecessary for the disproportionate reaction that followed; unnecessary that this 'process' into the incident continues to drag on; unnecessary that Stokes' career would appear to be in jeopardy’:

The real life Rivals were just as awful as Jilly Cooper’s. Read some amazing tales of skullduggery while we wait for it to resume. *15 points if you can name everyone in this picture because, despite having no clue who I met last week, I was the only one on our team as.ft.com/r/02e27a17-4...

There's probably never been a better time to remind you that when David Hockney first took his Mum to California she remarked 'all this lovely weather and nobody puts their washing out'.

TLDR new defence secretary is a former metro mayor, appointed while we wait for a leadership contest that has become even more likely following the resignation of the previous defence secretary but hasn’t actually been triggered yet as we’re all waiting for a byelection involving another metro mayor

NEW: John Healey quits over defence funding. Devastating letter for the government and Keir Starmer: “You have been unable and the Treasury has been unwilling to commit the resources the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”

Was also on the 9th of June.

Is Dion the last of the rock and rollers?

And here’s last night’s #AskGeorge :

That's fine but England have responded with Harry Kane as the Venerable Bede

We asked the deputy editor of How To Spend It to run the rule over Peter Morrell’s spending. How (not) To Steal It

It’s a stupidly high bar but I believe this to be Craig Brown’s finest work

The Womack Sisters performing You Went Away Too Long at Cross The Tracks on Sunday youtu.be/uw61_uN5v0E

Happy birthday to Siouxsie. Here she is with The Banshees performing Hong Kong Garden in front of the young Brummie punks on Revolver in the summer of 78

this is what some of you look like in short sleeve button-up shirts

My new found knowledge of US news while shifting @nbcnews.com is paying off. Paging @janinegibson.ft.com

I am once again thinking of the French girl attempting to say "Burger".

Ted Turner had a long running feud with Rupert Murdoch after their yachts crashed during a race. Ted got pissed and challenged Rupert to a fight in Vegas. Then Rupert launched Fox News against CNN and then Ted turned down a Murdoch bid to buy the company and .. anyway it's a love story

(final final aside: when is a broadcaster going to do a big-budget, brilliantly cast adaptation of all 10 novels? I know ITV did Game, Set and Match in the late 80s, but it's time to revisit it with a chonky budget.)

Len Deighton fans might enjoy this overview of his books, but I am wondering if the LRB has got rid of all its subs: it's the British Overseas Airways Corporation, not just "British Overseas Airways". Hence the iconic abbreviation BOAC.

Just got this text from my Moscow mobile operator: “During preparations for & the holding of holiday events May 5-9 temporary restrictions to mobile internet & text messaging are possible in Moscow & Moscow region. This may cause difficulties with cashless payments, use of ATMs & GPS services.”

"In the UK we called it 'Boss Cat' because we had a cat food brand called 'Top Cat' which, of course, was problematic for a publicly-funded BBC. However, it was lost on nobody that, whatever it was called, it was basically just Sergeant Bilko with cats, and that is what unites our countries today."

Did a thing for the Observer. observer.co.uk/style/featur...

Pete Shelley - portrait of the artist as a consumer - NME 24 April 1982 - Potterton Diplomat 55/68 boiler - Lysterine mouthwash - Sinclair ZX81 computer - C&A socks - Flora margarine - Colston Ariston 850 XD washing machine Photo by Kevin Cummins

The good book has arrived. I feel like the cricket season can start now.

I bought 5 (five) of these singles. Still got them somewhere…