Lest you think shitposting is a modern phenomenon, the masons hired to carve the tower of the renaissance Kilianskirche in Heilbronn, here in southern Germany, covered the tower with carving depicting gluttonous and vain priests and merchants.

There was a time this would get a 28 tweet thread out of me. These days, all I can offer is: What a ****. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Opinion | Nigel Farage is a threat to national security 'This is what he does. It's who he is' 🖋️ @IanDunt trib.al/DMojaEk

Apparently the Emperor of Mankind is stirring on his Golden Throne? Teenage Mike is hyperventilating.

One of greatest finds during our lightning-round wedding/honeymoon in Odense was the Kramboden - a museum where everything is for sale. General store, meets antiques emporium, meets the warehouse at the end of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. Highly recommended.

Odense's cathedral is named after Saint Canute, the Danish king who was murdered by revolting peasants nearby in 1086. In typical Danish fashion, he's just... there. Extremely accessible. Right in full view. Chilling in his casket.

Saddened to hear that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine has resigned as Director of National Intelligence.

It's been an eventful year!

Opinion | The VP risks allying the White House with a fringe UK movement that is rapidly running out of steam 🔎 By James Ball Read more: trib.al/ABR0EFz

If you're looking for answers as to who radicalised two teens into attacking a mosque today, spend five minutes on X or Threads. This is on every two-bit race-hate grifter and anonymous disinfo account who peddle their bile daily.

The man who bankrupted a casino has now also managed to produce the first football world cup nobody wants to attend, there has never been anyone else who ever possessed this level of ability at failing

Guy with visible stink lines: the birth rate,

Wes Streeting has called for the UK to rejoin the European Union, saying that “Britain’s future lies with Europe”. Follow live updates: trib.al/2NpadUw

@ledbydonkeys.org mounted a supreme guerilla tactic on Tosser Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest. Please watch and share.

Rested up, moisturised, feeling the old fire. If you'd like to join me on Twitter at @miketstuchbery, we can rage against the dying of the light. Or at least tell fascists where to go.

Word around the campfire is that numbers are way down from the last 'Unite the Kingdom' march.

Whoever came up with this, you're never paying for beer in my neck of the woods again.

One day in the 2nd century - probably an overcast one - an auxilia on guard duty on the Roman frontier near Lindschied (Hesse, Germany), wandered 200 metres into the deep dark unknown to carve his name on a rock. 1900 odd years later, it's still there. Nice one, Januarius Justinus.

To give an idea how uniquely vicious the Würzburg witch trials were - the supposed setting of 'AC Hexe'- the nearby town of Gerolzhofen built a proto-crematoria outside the walls to burn the accused en-masse. Usually those with Lutheran sympathies.

The new Assassin's Creed game is supposedly set around Würzburg. I'm going to need a moment. Several, actually.

I've been feverishly researching the history of Steinheim am Main, where we're moving in July. Turns out the local priest in the early 16th century, Johannes 'Ingadine' Rosenbach, had a significant side-hustle in astronomy and palmistry, even having his works banned. Expect me to unearth more...

Slight 'momento mori' moment: a 15th century 'suhnekreuz' or atonement cross, by my future bus stop. These were erected in a time before state judicial systems to atone for a murder or unlawful killing - basically an 'Oops, my bad'. This one still has space for a candle - and it gets used.

In the marketplace of Steinheim am Main, my new home, sits a peace monument, erected by Louis Meyer-Gerngroß, a successful merchant in 1911. 3 years later, Europe was plunged into war. In 1938 the monument was destroyed by the Nazis and Meyer-Gerngroß deported to his death.

I'm about to come to the end of a year and change of commuting to Frankfurt from Stuttgart each week. Time for a change of scenery. Next stop, a beautifully old corner of Hanau, close to the Main.

I've had a few journalists ask me about 'Tommy' and his intimidation campaigns lately. I could talk for hours about why nothing seems to happen, but... Fact is, his current paymasters and fellow travelers in the US administration are some of the most unhinged around right now.

Gotta love all these weirdo racist nerds freaking out about Cem Özdemir becoming the first German state premier (BW) with a Turkish background. 1. He's ultra-Swabian. Lives in Bad Urach. Speaks with a THICK accent. Couldn't be more local. 2. He was already FEDERAL AGRICULTURE MINISTER.

Can't win 'em all, Riley. Hell, seems you can't win most. www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/rile...

Well, well, well.

'You see it too, huh?' 'Your neighbours vote for us too' Why do AfD voting placards always read so damn weird and pervy?

One day he's going to get someone killed, and there's going to be some very serious questions needed asking.

Goodness, what a shame! 🤣 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

They're not like the SS or the Gestapo. That grants them far too much power and focus. They're like the thugs, the disaffected veterans, the extremists and chancers that joined the Sturmabteilung or 'SA'.

I remain absolutely furious that all this shit in Minneapolis started because a barely-literate homeschooled mormon made a video trying to run up in daycare centers trying to find people of Somalian descent doing fraud despite the ringleader (a white woman) being in jail since March. Demonic.

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 25, 2026

“Get it all on record now — get the films — get the witnesses — because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, after visiting liberated concentration camps in April 1945

They're not like the SS or the Gestapo. That grants them far too much power and focus. They're like the thugs, the disaffected veterans, the extremists and chancers that joined the Sturmabteilung or 'SA'.

I chose perhaps the worst time in recent decades to keep my head down and protect my peace, I swear. 🤣

Some might want to read up on what happened to a certain German paramilitary group, full of thugs and extremists, who thought they were doing the regime's bidding.

Man, 'Tommy' is lapping me at the number of countries he now can't enter.

Working with LLMs (not in a creative capacity, mind you), I now understand the Adeptus Mechanicus.

We've got a famous folk song here in Germany, called 'Die Gedanken Sind Frei' - 'Thoughts are free'. Just a little slice of German culture. youtu.be/3h6ZZ28QtX4?...

Pritzker: What's at stake here is free speech. It's our constitution and our way of life. Do we really want the president intimidating people, organizations to get others fired? People ought to be standing up and speaking out.

Things are about to get really, really, really bad.

We used to have this kind of messaging in Germany. Then the cities were flattened, and they put brass plaques outside the house of those 'disappeared'. (ht Jeremy on Facebook)

Most of them.

Many differences between Stuttgart and Frankfurt, but the single-minded bloody determination that people have to claim ubahn seats is a big one. Reminds me of Melbourne, or London. I think I'll be at home.

Everything old is new again.

I'm going to save you a lot of time. If an online piece has a headline posed as a question, you can be damn sure the answer can be found in the very last paragraph. Scroll to the end.

In a weird spot. Old enough to occasionally shake my head and raise concerns about the impact of sexually provocative media, then immediately have to clarify it's not because I agree with weirdo terminally-online zoomer prude culture.