Tonight on YouTube, Michael Cockerell's documentary LIFE IN THE WHIPS OFFICE (1995). youtu.be/m-t-iRQOSeQ

"Given events in Ukraine since 2022, the liberties taken with the events it portrays, and the wrapping around it of the Orwell sub-plot, may be forgiven. It is a powerful piece of work" Our Simon Matthews on MR JONES (2019)🎬 directed by Agnieszka Holland thelionandunicorn.com/2026/05/09/f...

Apropos Makerfield youtu.be/ldnpX70IcN4

Remember: if you think Brexit cut GDP per capita by 8%, you implicitly believe that, without Brexit, the UK would have grown c. 1% a year faster than France or Germany. A growth profile closer to the US. That's simply not a remotely tenable position. H/t @julianhjessop.bsky.social 🧵

"Given events in Ukraine since 2022, the liberties taken with the events it portrays, and the wrapping around it of the Orwell sub-plot, may be forgiven. It is a powerful piece of work" Our Simon Matthews on MR JONES (2019)🎬 directed by Agnieszka Holland thelionandunicorn.com/2026/05/09/f...

The greatest Bond audition ever youtu.be/skxRJAeHiUY?...

Surely now is the time for David Miliband to 'fuel speculation over a return to frontline British politics'™? #Makerfield thelionandunicorn.com/2015/11/17/w...

Apropos Makerfield youtu.be/ldnpX70IcN4

The paper-bag trick, the hanky over the face, the glasses at a funny angle, tricks in the arsenal for dads all over the country for years to come. He was fashioned from the funniest of funny bones and could light up the darkest of rooms. Happy 100 to Eric Morecambe. youtu.be/8FYZ5Y4PONM?...

The grotesque chaos of a Labour mayor — a Labour mayor — hiring taxis to scuttle round a city asking for a winnable by-election.

I'm not anti-Burnham, but he chose to leave Parliament, he chose not to run in 2024 & he chose to seek re-election as Mayor. The idea he should jack this in 2 years early, that someone should give up their seat for him & that the PLP should sit on its hands until he's arrived feels rather entitled.

The party of the affluent also being the party of high taxes and redistribution doesn't feel sustainable, long-term. One short term possibility is that we get more policies which feel left wing, but in practice benefit the middle classes: universal FSM, student debt relief, etc.

"It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It has also shaped perceptions of subsequent contests, and may even have had the effect of staying the hand of more than one would-be assassin, fearful of what might come next" On wielding the knife — 🔗 below👇

"After Paterson’s death from lung cancer in 1999, Dickson Wright remembered one person yelling ‘one dead Fat Lady, one to go’. Apparently, killing animals is heinous, but wishing for the demise of hilarious food presenters is fair game" @benfinlay74.bsky.social on TV chefs — 🔗 below👇

"How do you know when a woman is married? Her husband comes around and punches you." It's the anniversary of Tony Hancock's birth. He was Britain's biggest comedian in the 1950s. Not so much the 1960s, though... thelionandunicorn.com/2016/07/03/b...

"I’m really not the Mary Poppins of the Labour Party" Forty-two quotes by and about Wes Streeting👇 thelionandunicorn.com/2022/05/14/a...

Labour party latest!

Innocent Sinners is a fabulous film.

"The plot has holes in it, of course, but who watches Agatha Christie for logical plot development?" On the anniversary of Dame Margaret Rutherford's birth in 1892, it's a good day to revisit "Murder, She Said". thelionandunicorn.com/2023/03/04/f...

"There are a hundred assassins lurking in the bushes, prime minister. Those people will come back and kill you…" thelionandunicorn.com/2019/12/05/t...

"Without a big slug of bourbon to fortify you against what amounts to substandard Quantum Leap, 'The Gunfighters' is misconceived at best, at worst, total hogwash" — Radio Times, 2009 @finlay24.bsky.social on the 60th anniversary of a rootin’ tootin' classic👇 thelionandunicorn.com/2026/05/02/l...

"Pursued through a frozen, snow-covered forest, he escapes and takes photographs of grain being deliberately exported out of the area. He finds people who have starved to death in their beds. There are horrific scenes, including cannibalism..." thelionandunicorn.com/2026/05/09/f...

Relationship advice for straight men: Find yourself a woman who understands you the way the Labour Party understands Gordon Brown.

"Simply to be Labour was to be radical, right and romantic, rather as being a political grandee in Mexico carried with it the status of a revolutionary." RIP Welsh Labour, "the reservoir to which the party could always turn after an electoral drought". thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/31/o...

My Mum on the BBC's Attenborough celebrations: "People talk about him like he invented wildlife. It's been around for millions of years."

"After Paterson’s death from lung cancer in 1999, Dickson Wright remembered one person yelling ‘one dead Fat Lady, one to go’. Apparently, killing animals is heinous, but wishing for the demise of hilarious food presenters is fair game" @benfinlay74.bsky.social on TV chefs — 🔗 below👇

"Without a big slug of bourbon to fortify you against what amounts to substandard Quantum Leap, 'The Gunfighters' is misconceived at best, at worst, total hogwash" — Radio Times, 2009 @finlay24.bsky.social on the 60th anniversary of a rootin’ tootin' classic👇 thelionandunicorn.com/2026/05/02/l...

"It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It has also shaped perceptions of subsequent contests, and may even have had the effect of staying the hand of more than one would-be assassin, fearful of what might come next" On wielding the knife — 🔗 below👇

Big McCarthy Stone energy

Relationship advice for straight men: Find yourself a woman who understands you the way the Labour Party understands Gordon Brown.

So Keir Starmer's cunning plan to save his premiership is reviving our memories of 2007-2010? Looking forward to the next tranche of appointments...

"The greatest actor of our time? Quite possibly." Glenda Jackson was born 90 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2023/09/03/f...

"And that was Crazy Gremolata with 'Mozzarella'"

My Mum on the BBC's Attenborough celebrations: "People talk about him like he invented wildlife. It's been around for millions of years."

"Simply to be Labour was to be radical, right and romantic, rather as being a political grandee in Mexico carried with it the status of a revolutionary." RIP Welsh Labour, "the reservoir to which the party could always turn after an electoral drought". thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/31/o...

Happy birthday Sir David Attenborough — commissioner of groundbreaking documentary television. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/03/11/a...

It being VE Day, here's a reminder of the 50th anniversary and the world’s largest hokey-cokey. Also: Polly Toynbee being grumpy about the whole thing. thelionandunicorn.com/2020/05/08/f...

This is now happening. BBC Four to repeat A Very Peculiar Practice for its 40th anniversary on Wednesday 20 May. Includes a new intro from Andrew Davies. #AVeryPeculiarPractice

The Greens are enjoying the upsides and downsides of rapid expansion (one downside - importing a lot of serious undesirables). It is, I guess, unrealistic to expect much before the elections. But the key question after is whether they actually want to address the downsides. Can't say I'm confident

Doctor Who - Ghost Light (1989)

Glad to see more and more people realising that it's one of the best.

"When I started making money, I started to appreciate just how good Margaret Thatcher and her policies were to me." – Ian Wright Thatcher became prime minister 48 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2017/04/08/b...

Painful but true. "May the Fourth Be With You" was originally a Tory campaign slogan, coined for Margaret Thatcher on election day in May 1979...

Saul Enderby: "It isn’t some Russian plot to lure us to our destruction is it George?" George Smiley: "I’m afraid we’re no longer worth the candle…" A reminder that SMILEY'S PEOPLE is still up on iPlayer; my Letterboxd review... boxd.it/cSbtj1

On 3 May 1979 the nation went to the polls and elected Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. It was, said Tony Benn, "a counter-revolution against democracy". thelionandunicorn.com/2019/03/30/w...