A guy just followed me across the supermarket car park in his Range Rover, beeping constantly. When I finally stopped he told me I’d dropped my gloves “I don’t have any sorry, but thanks”. He became VERY insistent I dropped my gloves. Now I’m home I’m wondering if I just missed a side quest.

The Radio Times has no right to go this fucking hard with their Christmas covers

Just done the cats' flea treatment, which involves immobilising a reluctant cat, and precisely placing a drop of liquid on the back of its neck. Leaflet: "Do not eat, drink, or smoke while applying this product." I can't help admiring the ambition of anyone who might even try such a feat.

Broke into this lad today: a plant based black pudding by Bury Black Pudding Company. Really good. Loads of flavour to it, cooks well, and the ingredients list is all real food that you’d recognise (main ingredient is black beans). Worth a try also for meaty eatians who get the ick from a real BP

404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it: www.404media.co/404-media-is...

If only there were a cautionary tale about being too eager to accept the apparent time-saving capabilities of new technology.

I’ve never seen The Santa Clause before tonight. I learned that it’s a very specific record of a time when movie makers were high on CG confidence and low on CG craft and budget. Some really quite unhinged effects. For that reason alone, it needs to be in a museum.

Something lovely and positive for your Sunday morning

One of those sessions where you leave the table exhausted and feeling like you fluffed and fumbled it a lot but the players all seem to have had a lovely time and are full of laughs about it all so stfu

FT: #AVFC 2-1 Arsenal Villa were brilliant. The set-up, methods of attack, how they pushed to win it, knowing Arsenal were tiring, was astounding. Few teams outlast and out manoeuvre Arsenal, but this team does. Especially at Villa Park. Madness. Mentality off the scale.

THE SCENES, THEY ARE ABSOLUTE

They’re calling it the biggest over correction for losing the UK streaming rights for Friends.

I don’t work Fridays so it’s a great day to make me walk to the post office to post you a book about Birmingham. Buy one for yourself, your nan, your secret santa, your friend, your enemy, and your pal who thinks Manchester is good.

A day off tomorrow, which I will spend overthinking and planning for running D&D on Saturday.

@fakecontest.bsky.social look what the cat dragged in! 😍

Off to London for the day, catching the 07:50 from Bournville. The fare for this journey is £197 return, madness. So I shall pay… £61.70! • Bournville ↔ Rugby : £15 anytime day return • Rugby ↔ Milton Keynes : £21.40 anytime day return • Milton Keynes ↔ London : £25.30 off-peak day return

Finally time to go into the loft and get the box of Christmas decs down

when someone tells me not to use em dashes because AI uses em dashes

Ok so I’m on eBay because the nation’s broadcaster will let me down and… judging by the DVD listings for Bernard & The Genie this movie was huge in Germany

Let’s make this the Christmas where the BBC reruns Bernard & The Genie. Some caveats: they’ve probably already done their schedules, I don’t know how to force this through, I literally don’t want to have to do any work on this It’s essential

First mince pie of the season hit hard. Don’t think of it a mince pie. Think of it as the thing that's been missing from your hand.

Ok there’s one shot in Stranger Things 5.4 that probably goes harder than any TV show I’ve ever seen. So hard it was kinda hilarious?! Very much exacerbated by the edit. It wasn’t a pay off for a previous shot, it was jump-gore.

HBO. A restaurant booth. Wife and I both independently assumed this was an ad for an ill-conceived Sopranos sequel.

I know “the stranger things kids are so old” is table stakes at this point but I watched 5.1 last night and in the opening Home Alone house bit in the crowded Wheeler house I said “Oh! New character! Who is that guy?” Only worked out it was Will a full ten minutes later.

We found some copies of 101 Things Birmingham Gave The World at the back of a cupboard full of Ozzy the Bull baubles and Roy Wood Christmas wigs. We are posting paperbacks for £7, or treat yourself and add an ebook for an extra £3. paradisecircus.com/2025/11/25/s...

One summer I was baffled by the wine choices in Cannock Morrisons. Another shopper showed me the best cheap one. Said his mom loves it. That was Glyn Purnell. I only meet famous Brummies at the shops.

One Christmas me and another shopper at New Oscott Tesco were trying to find double cream and a young lad working there offered us two pots of single cream cos that makes double cream. Side note: the other shopper was TV’s Emma Willis.

I am once again asking the delivery driver why they knock if they don’t actually need me to come to the door.

Over at @paradisecircus.com we’ve got an ideal Secret Santa gift for anyone in your office who is best defined as “a Brummie” paradisecircus.com/2025/11/25/s... (It’s our book, delivered within the UK—and Manchester!—for seven quid)

Right, thingies crossed, kids. Just put house up for sale. So if you or anyone you know, or anyone they know, or your big fat dog are looking for a nice 4 bed detached in Birmingham B23… www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...

Me pitching Disney / Pixar sequels: “RataTWOuille: same rat and guy, but with elevated stakes” “No thanks!” “RataTOOuille: same stakes, new rat and guy” “Ok now we’re cooking. Tell us more”

Can’t believe they didn’t call the new movie “ZooTwoPia” (ZooTwoPolis in North America)

Always a delight to take some visitors to Birmingham to Manzil’s. There are safer, fancier, expensive curries in town but this is the only one that feels like a local balti house within a walk of new street

Here's my Bluesky Wrapped for 2025 - I scolded 64 other users (top 72% of Bluesky users) - I was scolded by 112 users (top 54% of Bluesky users) - I explained the joke to the original poster 14 times (top 62% of Bluesky users) Get yours at bskywrapped2025.bsky.app

Previous reader of this library book has “corrected” a number of Americanisms/internationalisms. Christopher Priest, British author, was 70 when this novel came out. If one of his British characters says the word “soccer” that was a deliberate choice that tells you something about the story.

Pictures by us is showing the Budget on the big screen.

Catch Me If You Can is a Christmas movie.

Christmas is coming, the stouts are getting cake

At the

Goodness me, I stayed up late reading and it’s already Partially Muscled Skeleton Screaming by the Perimeter Fence Day. Hope you’ve all been good this year!

Post an image that will always make you laugh

🚀 NEW MAGAZINE ⌨️ Back in the ’80s there were printed mags of BASIC programs to type in, we’ve brought that back but for web pages! 10 amazing games, toys, puzzles and utilities, no coding knowledge needed vole.wtf/doctype/

Off to Manchester! The walk-on peak fare is the £115.10 Anytime Return. But the walk-on Anytime Return to Stafford is £23.20. And an Anytime Return from Stafford to Manchester is £36.80. split.traintimes.org.uk/BRV/MAN/n/07...

Despite the ravages of age and an internet steeped in misinformation, your eyes – in this one case – do not deceive you: Website different. It’s taken an immense amount of time and effort, but welcome to Aftermath version 2.0: aftermath.site/aftermath-rela...

Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.

Billie Piper announced as the new BBC Director General but we've got to wait until next Christmas to find out why.

Tastes like jam. All other choices advertised cranberries on the front, I grabbed this as it didn’t; It pays to read the ingredients: contains red currants & cranberries. Really sloppy like a big vegetable mash burger; turns out a “Deluxe” nut roast gets you 4% nuts. 2/10. Absolute bobbins

Last year Lidl were smashing it with veggie roast dinner centre pieces. Doesn’t look like last year’s options are coming back so we’re auditioning new Sunday lunch and Christmas options. Everything this year is cranberry heavy (we aren’t fans). This looked the best option. It was pretty gross tbh.

Where’s your fucking Poppy?

From the venerable UNCUT way back in 2003, a selective critical listing of the band’s mid and later-period “singles” (1988-2001). Particularly fun to see the guys’ realtime reactions to some of these songs. www.uncut.co.uk/features/lis...