I have now lived in the British countryside for most of my five decades on earth, within which time I have come to know it well. I thought, for newcomers to the place, I'd write a short guide to some of its more interesting aspects. You will find them in this thread. 1. EXCITING VILLAGE EVENTS.

Daylight robbery by Belgium over an African country. That can’t have happened before.

Nothing says 'speaking for the concerns of the common man' like being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to promote actual gold bars

Canada: Oh, no, it wasn’t. 🔥

A Japanese fan broke down crying after his country's elimination, but a group of Brazilians fans went to console him and Mexican fans made him soar. You gotta love the World Cup! ❤️🌎⚽️ Video: RÉCORD

I've given 8am academic conference presentations in windowless rooms to a larger audience than the political party who controls all three branches of the US government at an event that also sells hot dogs and beer.

The country in the world with the most Japanese people, facing off against the country with the second-most Japanese people, in the country with the third-most Japanese people.

Sadly, images of overworked hospital staff might be more appropriate than ice-cream and beach bodies as the death toll rises with Europe’s heat dome heading east. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

At a flea market, I recently found two books with day-by-day accounts of Nazi Germany. #OTD in 1939, Hitler unilaterally cancelled the Anglo-German Naval Agreement & its story is a great example for the madness of authoritarians - with lessons for today. You want to read this. I keep it short. 🧵

The Boston Globe prints a full-page thank you to the Tartan Army. Class act, BG.

Ha ha. I live in a small Irish town. You’d get more people than this in for June bank holiday fair.

Iran was treated abysmally in this World Cup. I wonder how the U.S. will feel when a future host does this to one of our teams. Because that will happen. That’s the precedent that was set.

Coming from the most corrupt Administration in American history, this is an honor I'll treasure forever.

#Moscow #GasShortage

my kind of Jubilee, the Japanese national team vs. 100 kids

This is clearly the worst bit - Hegseth is blowing apart fishermen by the dozens to keep a nasty old man entertained. But I have to note the revelation that Trump insists on fully carpeted bathrooms. The man is irredeemable.

If Nigel Farage would say ‘Up the Ra’ for a few coins, imagine what he’ll do for £5 million.

Next Station is Baking Street — Green Peace UK ecological activists went underground and renamed several tube stations with large stickers. Shell is one of the biggest actors of global warming —naturally other stickers inform passengers of it. Collab GreenPeaceUK and LondonStreetArt

Lösungen für alle Probleme

this is a terrific opening paragraph for a dystopian pulp novel released in 1997

“Customer Service Chat Ai. Hi, thanks for reaching out. This chat uses Al to solve most customer service issues,or connect you with a live associate if needed” <I certainly hope the ‘associate’ would be live & the anthropomorphisation. “I understand your concerns”<you’re not a human. There’s no ‘I’

A wonderful moment !Delighted for Pico, his family, his club, his country (both of 'em), for the League of Ireland and for football romantics everywhere. #CapeVerde

I think we just passed oops.

When a DC resident was handcuffed for playing the "Imperial March" from Star Wars while walking behind National Guard troops, @aclu-dc.bsky.social sued. The partial settlement in this case is a win for free speech. We get to mock the government however we want.

The Cure's Robert Smith perfectly sums up the difference between Americans and Brits.

Spoiler alert: don’t use it for drafting legal documents. And in the name of all that is holy don’t use it for witness statements either. It has its uses, but not for that.

Cromwell’s name couldn’t be uttered in my fathers or grandfather’s house without an angry outburst and detailed explanation of the atrocities committed by that foul individual and his followers for individuals of the British establishment to still try and hide his crimes is obscene and unforgivable

sounds a lot like the person i used to buy heroin from.

David has outdone himself here, I think. not sure how he'd ever top this as the most catastrophically stupid thing he's ever said

Do folks not know what Nazi rhetoric sounds like? Do we no longer have that historical perspective? Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures developed most stuff before the West but there’s a particular sort of Nazi—and Stephen Miller is one—who advances white supremacy by telling a very different story.

Is the GOP having a "Most Evil White Man" contest today or something?

Today may change everything. If the conservative majority in the Supreme Court strikes down the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship to give the President or Congress the power to make exceptions, we will be in another country on the other side of the decision’s announcement.

imagining a grizzled hardboiled detective saying this while gripping some guy's lapels at a shady bar

It’s time we used more accurate pictures to accompany articles on dangerous heatwaves. Like someone lying mostly naked on the floor of the coldest room of the house, still trying to get work done on a laptop.

“Dear migrants, before I say any other word to you, I want to bow before your dignity. “You are not numbers or case files. “You are people — with a family and a home left behind, with dreams that no one has the right to scorn.” — Pope Leo XIV

A general reminder that the entire concept of work ought to be based around on doing the best job. If you are better working from home than commuting for an hour on a 40c train, then I would suggest working from home.

Fuck the reflecting pool. This has not gotten nearly enough coverage or generated the proper outrage. People thrown in prison for 30-50 years for the "crime" ofmaking zines and belonging to a book club!! This is straight-up totalitarian atrocity. Political prisoners thrown in a gulag to rot.

Technically, they’re Remains now.

Again? They didn't stop, even as temperature records were set there was a gathering of high profile anti net zero climate deniers in London yesterday.

And no, it isn't "nannying neurotics" infecting our once great "resilient country" to share public health messaging highlighting the different signs to look out for for both heat exhaustion and heatstroke! "common sense" is NOT a substitute for public health messaging🙄 22/

It was inevitable, wasn't it🙄 Of course the Telegraph would run with something like this👇 So let's remove some of the rose-tinted spectacles and also look at some of that data comparing 1976 with modern heat waves Because the 1976 nostalgia porn is wearing a bit thin at this stage 🧵1/23

3500 excess deaths in UK in 1976 heatwave Many places ran out of water It wasn't embraced it was fucking miserable And this fantastist is an idiot

Elon may be the worst person ever

can’t believe a narcissist is being so publicly humiliated by a reflecting pool

Starmer leaps to the defence of Bridget Phillipson after Badenoch calls her a "spiteful class warrior". "The Education Secretary grew up in poverty... It's an incredible story of social mobility and success... I am so proud... It drives every single priority and value that she has."

Badenoch should criticise Phillipson's policies all she likes. But it's utterly reprehensible to claim she doesn't understand poverty, even after Starmer has recited her youth in poverty. Badenoch in so often this toxic. She's just a really unpleasant person. Really bad for our public discourse.

That stare....

Back on the other site, years ago, there was a thread about the most pretentious thing people had ever overheard. Someone said they witnessed a guy at an ice cream van asking for 'two Magna'.

This is a quite superb thread... Grab yourself an ice lolly (or, alternatively, a Magnum) and savour the replies.