I'd just say tidy again, why not?

Shirley, Shirley, Shirley, own open.substack.com/pub/therunou... Couldn't wait until 14 Jan next year, could I?

The DG of the BBC said this week that it remains on X because it has to reach a worldwide audience. 40m followers.... 40k views and 92 likes. A local Facebook group has more reach.

Banning X would have loads of upsides and really not many downsides for the government. The argument for shutting it down (distribution of CSAM) is incontrovertible, the people who are its most avid users hate the government anyway, and it would address threats to social cohesion and public order.

2am: scared by Ramsay MacDonald PM turning his face very slightly between multiple identical photos of Stanley Baldwin PM

1 November 2024 - Manchester United appoint Ruben Amorim as their new head coach 2 November 2024 - Kemi Badenoch wins Tory leadership election Looks like she's going to win this tussle.

Another 18 months in transition for Man Utd before they can begin another 18 months in transition.

A great start to the year in AI as my work's CoPilot decided to give me today's Wordle answer in a daily news round up. Thankfully after I'd played it but just a brainless thing to do.

The Fire Doors tonight in London. Been a while since I have been to The Dublin Castle.

grim posthumous scenario i had not previously considered: you post a picture of the missile headed straight for you, and are memorialized by a bunch of random assholes complaining about alt text

As Director of Strategy at Number 10 I was shocked that we were lobbied by lobby groups

Oh - the animations in the middle of the London Eye aren’t added to the feed digitally. Instead they set up a small Hologauze projection right in front of the camera so it appears like it’s in the middle of the Eye. Why?! Somehow that’s worse? www.avinteractive.com/news/project...

OK

If you keep telling social liberals to fuck off to impress the Times, don't act all surprised when they actually fuck off.

The England Travelling Supporters Club has just announced that conditional ticket applications for the Round of 32, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final are UNDERSUBSCRIBED. Incredible stuff tbh. Is anyone going to be at this World Cup?

One week they're crying about people getting visits from the police because of tweets, the next week they're calling for inquiries into tweets.

When I was younger I assumed this type of polling response was driven by a love of animals in Britain. Starting to wonder if 20% of it is driven by people who are just happy to ban anything they don't do like shutting nightclubs well after the pandemic.

I've accidentally walked into a KFC at university wearing a near identical polo shirt to their uniform. A family friend did something similar at a London pub en route to Arsenal - Gillingham and was asked "Who's the manager?" by a customer who was confused to be told Andy Hessenthaler.

This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)

I see the bullshit has now reached the “Mark and Jez threatening to have each other sectioned” stage

The closing tracks on the best albums of 2025 open.substack.com/pub/therunou... our annual tradition continues into a fourth year.

We Didn't Start the Fire. With Bardot's passing three people mentioned in the song remain alive

No.

Here’s to 2026

jeremy strong in the springsteen movie looks like they made an oscar bait minions adaptation

This is literally what the Telegraph campaigned for.

BLUE VELVET (David Lynch, 1990)

Jordan Peterson watches Muppet Christmas Carol

The Holy Trinity of books for dads in 2025: - Jonn Elledge, 47 Borders - Lewis Baston, 29 Borders - Map Men, This Way Up

Very important to know what some pointless Unherd nepobaby thinks about culture.

There's a man going 'round taking names And he decides who gets gifts and candy canes Everybody won't be treated all the same There'll be a red sleigh touching down When the man comes around

Tiny Tim, who did NOT hit her. He did not. Oh hi, ghost

Is this some kind of joke?

Antidote to the madness.

Parents have been expressing concern about their kids’ screen time for years—but what about their grandparents'? @cwarzel.bsky.social on the phone-based retirement:

SCROOGE: you there, boy! what day is it? BOY: i don't know, i'm like six SCROOGE: well fuckin – can you ask someone

Two sugars would be great open.substack.com/pub/therunou... a final visit backwards this year to 30 years ago. 2025 wash-up next week!

how the fuck do the Flintstones know about Christmas

Your annual reminder that if you get this cracker joke and are confused by it, it's apparently because "ffi" is a special character in some fonts and when the typeface is changed to one that doesn't have it, those letters disappear. It's supposed to be "coffin medicine".

Me: *visits newspaper site* Newspaper: YOU MUST TURN OFF ADBLOCKER TO READ THIS ARTICLE. Me: *sighs* Oh, okay, sure, support local journalism. *turns off adblocker* Newspaper: HA HA, YOU MUST SUBSCRIBE TO VIEW THIS ARTICLE! ALSO PLEASE ENJOY THESE FOUR BLINKY, FLASHING ADS! Me: *closes tab*

I feel like I'm going to get a lot of use out of this Pluribus screencap

Nebuchadnezzar, by William Blake, 1795-1805 (flipped) #NetflixPartner

Oh my god I was right

Some of these redactions are almost like modern art

Computer, enhance

What do you mean it’s not in the computer? open.substack.com/pub/therunou... We deconstruct a deconstruction and touch on Bjork, Beyonce and The Beatles.