As a leader, Starmer’s main job should be to do what’s best for the UK. Lead. Not run scared of polls, hostile media, the next election. The surest way to lose the next election will be by continuing to muddle along, and pretending the British people are too stupid to notice.

Just a little reminder that Books of the Year lists can and should include children's books ❤️ #kidlituk

My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’

1/ Two C15th misericord carvings (misericords were the ledges on which choristers perched) from St Andrew's, Norton, Suffolk: a cleric studying and a woman carding wool, separating and untangling the strands.

Oh look. They’ve actually drawn a diagram for all the people stupid enough to need a bloody diagram.

I did exactly the same, but wrote “fuck off” on a piece of paper and posted it back to them.

Aston Villa’s Goal of the Month contest for August, cancelled because we scored no goals, has more footballing credibility than the FIFA peace prize for Trump.

We have recently discovered we have an "I" shortage and far too many "Ys" and "Es". So to remedy this we are holding an emergency... 🎅*WINTER FAYRE* 🎅 It is absolutely not a Fair, but it is TOMORROW!

It's a mark of our moral disintegration that there's even a discussion about Ukraine giving up land. To even countenance it is to reward colonialism.

Pleased to discover that slightly misnaming the national chess championship you won as a school child is a much more serious offence than repeatedly racially abusing your fellow pupils and telling them they should go to the gas chamber

Bird of Peace. Photo taken this morning from St Michael's Tower on Glastonbury Tor at sunrise.

Beautiful everyday Ladybird things ‘Party shoes’ (1954) Artist: H Woolley

Behold the beauty of this peg tankard made in this fair city in 1654 by John Plummer. Today's Advent Calendar Fact: It’s not just a pretty face - pegs on the inside mark how much to drink, coining the expression ‘taken down a peg or two’.

A Christmassy KC - Day One Four years ago, the good (yes) people of Twitter (yes) responded phenomenally to a request to make my profile photo more Christmassy. To show the low bar for new (non-AI!) entries, we'll start with this *cough* 'naive' art from @sigourneybeaver.bsky.social

Your annual reminder that the most revealing difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is definitely in the words for December: Mí na Nollag (Month of Christmas) in Ireland, and An Dubhlachd (the Blackness) in Scotland. So once again may I wish you all a lovely Blackness.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 1 ‘The village’ Artist: SR Badmin

Wow - this guy must be really, REALLY bad with money if an extra £208 per month will “ruin” his retirement. Let’s take a look at his situation based on what he told the @Telegraph Because this does NOT add up! No, this is not a “poor pensioner” scrabbling around for pennies… 🧵1/9

Only three and a half hours left to secure NO BARGAINS on our website. Be quick! You will pay exactly what you pay throughout the rest of the year. Absolutely NO BARGAINS. Hurry!

The many, many flags cable-tied to lamp posts are starting to look dirty, bedraggled, limp and threadbare, who could have predicted this

“She is doing things that I think are letting this country down". Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...

Loch Etive from Ardmaddy #Scotland #Argyll #GlenEtive damianshields.photoshelter.com/p/2026-calendar

Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.

Piccadilly Circus The Ladybird book of London, 1961 Artist: John Berry

Pictures that explain things. Making pompoms (More things to Make, 1973) Artist: Eric Winter

I actually really don't think it much matters that Farage was a racist idiot at school, really. What matters is how he a) reflects on that behaviour now, and b) what he's learned and c) done in the 40 years since. And, well... a) Badly, b) Nothing and c) Been a fascist-enabling spiv.

The Mary Rose is over 500 years old, so her timbers need to be monitored to make sure they're not moving too much. This total station rotates regularly, shooting lasers at reflectors all over the ship to see if anything has moved. maryrose.org/discover/con... #Museum30 #Moving

My youngest son has sent me photographic evidence of an abomination.

FOXTON LOCK festive feeling as Christmas illuminations are switching on www.towpathtalk.co.uk/foxton-lock-...

Instead of plunging some of the country’s elite learning institutions into financial chaos and ruin, could the Treasury please consider taxing Starbucks more than £7m a year. (Same applies for all American mega-corporations operating in U.K.)

Turns out the media & most of Parliament is as out of touch with reality as Twitter. Dear England.

Farage can now be easily boxed in to a corner where his only ‘defence’ becomes: “Yes I spouted Kremlin propaganda & Putin worship but, unlike Nathan Gill, I didn’t need bribes to do it.” It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.

🤣

"Sir Keir told the BBC: 'Every minute that is spent talking about anything other than cost-of-living is a wasted minute in my book.'" OK, so why does his government keep banging on about immigration? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It’s not a “US plan”, it’s Moscow’s plan, dictated to guilty men in the White House. Setting aside the injustices being pushed on Ukraine, this would be a disaster for European security & guarantee a war with 🇷🇺 in a few years, in which, presumably, 🇺🇸 and 🇷🇺 are on the same side. on.ft.com/3LYajoR

How do you do that with paint? The mastery of artist Harry Wingfield. ‘Cherries’ Picture Book (1973)

Assassination Custard, Dublin "is so gloriously, Irishly, casual that it makes me want to sing the national anthem.” https://bit.ly/3M9THdQ

As we move into “foreigners are cancelling Christmas in the name of political correctness” season it’s worth remember that Christmas was indeed once banned in England, by Christians and the man who enforced the ban has a statue in his honour outside the Houses of Parliament.

The real BBC bias story, narrated by Anna Ford

In an unhinged dissent in our Texas redistricting victory, a GOP appointed judge seems to believe that George Soros and I did...well, I'm not sure what...but he is very mad. Bigly.

🎵 …couldn’t bescape if I bonted to 🎶

Ladybird things I really, really wanted, part 25. A dress with a sticky-out skirt Artist: Kenneth Inns

By mimicking Reform to win back support, the Labour government is making a serious mistake. This race to the bottom emboldens Farage, punishes vulnerable people, amplifies racism, and undermines those working to hold communities together.

Stopped twice on motorway & had a look from this tower.

👋 Hi Bluesky! The School of Advanced Study, University of London champions the arts and humanities. Working through our renowned specialist institutes and centres of excellence, we offer a rich interdisciplinary environment for researchers to collaborate. Let's connect: 🔗 sas.ac.uk/

I forgot to post this photo of a local pub whose wholehearted commitment to commemorating Remembrance Sunday extended to erecting a Cenotaph on the roof

#Wordpress folks of Bluesky...we are hiring for a developer at Third Sector Lab. Remote (UK based) £35-37k You'll have the chance to build sites for incredible charities. Closes midnight 23 Nov 2025. www.linkedin.com/safety/go?me...

Ahem.

It is a bad day.

Good on them.