Standing on that croquet lawn, Matt looks like the young lover in an Agatha Christie drama #traitors #TheTraitors

Stop teasing. Are you serving him with a writ, or shooting him in the face? #TheArchers

Clive is ghastly, isn't he? #TheArchers

Of do fuck off with your "biological men" crap, #radio4

This is nasty stuff. When politicians accuse someone of having an "open borders policy" they really mean "let in too many darkies" and they should be called out for the racist sack of shit they are. Labour demeans itself with this attack; just call Jenrick what he is. An unprincipled scumbag.

Never forget, Jenrick is a man so vile, so racist, he would rather spend money painting over a cartoon than risk a foreign child experiencing joy. That he has been welcome in two of the UK's political parties should bring shame on them.

She could stomach his racism, but not his disloyalty.

Somewhat at a loss as to why @moderation.bsky.app would mark this reply to me as "rude", resulting in it being hidden by default.

Seen a few posts on Insta along the lines of "why aren't all the people who marched about Palestine marching about Iran?" Pure sophistry. You don't get to make demands or set requirements about which causes someone dedicates their time to.

They should force him to strip, while Kate waves some burning sticks over him to banish the evil. #TheArchers

If only they still had Home Farm. That would be a posh enough place for a murder with a whole host of suspects. Brian in the study with a bottle of Scotch. #TheArchers

This is appalling. So too are the multiple incidents of AI citing fake cases in court filings. And yet, in thrall to the tech billionaires, politicians still insist this snake oil will solve all our problems.

Ah; so turns out that "warrior ethos" is Ancient Greek.

Does anyone know why Germany has both Europe/Berlin and Europe/Busingen timezones?

I see Merz is saying the Iranian regime is " effectively at the end" Didn't a lot of people feel much the same about Belarus in 2020/21 ? And that bastard's still there ...

BREAKING: Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife has made a “transformational” donation to the LGBTQ+ advocacy group. This large gift comes just months after the Trump administration shut down counseling services for queer youth. My latest for @wired.com:

One week to go!

From my archives, a web page I wrote in 2002 for visitors: "In the west end, a premium lager, like Grolsch or Stella Artois will cost €4.50 (£3). In bars outside the central area, or straight bars, it will be around €3.75 (£2.50). Bottled beer will cost between €3 and €3.75 (£2 - £2.50) a bottle"

This week's grim news reinforces my view that the reason aliens haven't made contact is that they took one look at us and thought "Yes, let's not." The human race remains the mad ranting nutter on the galactic night bus that has everyone shuffling towards the exit door.

When this American nightmare is over - and one day, it will be - I fear that there will be people, probably evangelicals or well meaning centrists, who will say "In the spirit of healing, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission" No. You don't. You will need people to be locked up. Forever.

Honestly, moderation on @theguardian.com is bonkers. Someone expressed worry about what AI will do in future. I commented that it won't destroy us with the Terminator, but with an equlvalent of the broadcasts that fuelled the Rwanda genocide. Moderated. Absolutely no idea why.

God, I can tell from this woman's home counties accent that I grew up around people like her and would absolutely hate her on sight. #radio4

Oh God. AntiSocial is back on #radio4. And there's about to 'both sides' Elon's porno-bot aren't they? Really, this program is just another arm of the BBC's campaign to normalise extreme opinions.

WIth an entry cost roughly equivalent to one Costa coffee per month, I'm sure limiting the porn-crime bot to just two million paying users will stop the problem in its tracks. Won't it?

ladies, it's ok because only paying subscribers can make/distribute deepfake porn of you and your children now www.ft.com/content/c24d...

Our TV set had a big knob on the side labelled "405" and "625" and on Saturday afternoon we turned it so we could watch "Play Away" on BBC2.

I haven't blogged for a while, but I'm fuming about this disparity in treatment of small and big sites. "Contemptible, despicable, and in the pocket of big tech" gonedigital.net/2026/01/09/c...

So now only two million people can create abusive images on demand. What a bold step forward!

It honestly doesn't take long to do a quick Google and get an idea that X could have around 2 million paying users. So, saying "most people now can't generate these images" is misleading. How about "X has limited creation of abusive images to the two million people who pay a monthly fee"

“For only £11 a month, you can make as much violent, misogynistic and child sexual abuse material as you like!” UK media: most people can’t use Grok to make images now, so no point banning it

It could have been "we've added safeguards to stop this material being created" or "Grok will no longer create images of people" or "No more images at all" But no, they chose "You'll have to pay to make images" That's not a solution. It is a revenue opportunity.

On a community site I run, we made a change to our code and templates this week. We allow people to list their socials on their profiles. And we have now excluded X from that. And removed links to X from other parts of the site. We can't in good conscience put our members at risk by linking to X.

Does anyone seriously believe the changes at X will stop people creating abusive material? Engagement farming means people will earn back the subscription fee. And it's likely only high profile or very determined people will actually manage to get user details from X & have a chance of legal action

Is anyone else as baffled by Royal Mail's latest international changes as me? I can no longer send a small item (epaulette sliders) in a standard letter envelope for some reason. I have to use a Large Letter and pay around £3 more, because a standard letter is now personal documents only.

For a country where so many people say "we need guns to save us from tyranny" it amazes me how often - and often the same ones - excuse lethal action by police officers as just what happens when you don't follow orders.

Oh, joy. Despite having had a water meter for years, apparently I am on estimated billing because they're not getting meter readings. Presumably, that must be because no one has actually bothered to come and read them. The idiots.

I wonder if it has occured to Thames Water that perhaps they wouldn't get so many calls about booking a meter replacement if the reference numbers they sent out in their emails actually worked for the online system

Essentially, is seems to be, what X / Grok is doing is providing Sexual Harassment as a Service. You can't just blame the users - you didn't have to make a tool that could do this, and put it in everyone's hand.

Yes, to a degree, users who create the prompts shoulder a lot of blame; but the tech absolutely is an issue. Few of these people would go to an artist and say "Draw me a picture of this woman, but with no clothes and bigger boobs." Xai shares the blame, absolutely. #womanshour #radio4

Just excellent and all they deserve. www.ft.com/content/ad94...

Oh, Kemi. "You've not met Trump" "Yes, but I've met other people. I met Georgia Meloni" Honestly, it's like saying "Well, no I haven't met George Clooney, but I did meet one of the Spice Girls" #r4today

Who is this idiot woman on #WATO who appears to be practically giggling with glee at the events in Venezuela? #radio4

I have a fair bit of recycling to put out today, after the holidays. But it's so nippy, I need to take a break to get warm again after each trip to the bins.

Ñot very good at Hide and Seek #proofofcat

Listening to Runrig's "Once in a lifetime" and being transported back to a concert on Union Street, Aberdeen in the late 80s. Saw them in London too, and the energy just wasn't the same. #Runrig

I suppose new neighbours will have to get used to me being drunk and singing along to Angel of the Morning eventually..so no time like the present

You can't find a pulse in someone who doesn't have a heart #TheArchers

This wouldn't be difficult to say. Even for someone representing this government. But, in a world where people like Musk can whip up outrage because idiots sign a petition for a general election, perhaps everyone's scared of being deemed illegitimate.

There will doubtless be much celebration at the fall of a dictator. Entirely understandable. But you don't have to look far - the Arab Spring for example - to see how the West's support for "freedom and democracy" can quickly pivot to "well, this chap's a bit of a dictator, but he's our dictator"

Given their amazing record of state-building in Afghanistan and Iraq, I can't wait to see what the US does next.