The UK economy grew by a faster than expected 0.3% in November Growth was driven by an increase in industrial output, the Office for National Statistics said, helped by the return to production at Jaguar Land Rover's facilities following the cyber-attack there

15th January 2026 07.44

The 'give ice qr codes' thing reminds me of when Sarah Everard was murdered by a real policeman using his real police id to kidnap her, and the police & gvt made out the solution was to have a helpline to check that the person bundling you away was a real policeman (as the murderer was)

Psst. This is a lightning bolt. On fucking Jupiter.

Wait I just saw this and it made me cry! www.tastingtable.com/2009322/icon...

The brownest of brown food courtesy of @nigelslater.bsky.social. Sausages, butter beans, onions and a beautiful mushroom. PSB for the health.

Am entirely obsessed by Sanctuary: A witches tale. How it says it’s an English village, but it’s really clearly not (Ireland apparently). How, to maintain the fiction (why?), the accents are so cut-glass, they practically shear through the tv screen. How the script is so terribly earnest

Tell you what though. It’s entirely thrilling that we in Chester have a choice of 3 Warringtons*, and none of those ways are on a functional line. And still no decent way to get to Manchester. *NB have never been to Warrington by train bcs I didn’t know there was one.

Do have a read of my Substack today if you have time, it makes a convincing case for why going to the pub might not be good for "you" but it is good for "us" and then you can send to your friends and maybe they'll go the pub with you as well

hero

Each day they seem to wear their hatred and fear of women in ever brighter colours - why don’t they just say “some women do not obey and they must face the consequences”

Sometimes I have to stop scrolling Threads bcs too many people have spelt it Shepards Pie.

It is time to Make Social Media Lawful Again. Elon Musk has a 'pick and mix' approach to which laws apply to him. But government + regulators risk mirroring that - until they recognise X's routine protection of unlawful racist abuse breaches its legal duties too www.easterneye.biz/technology-g...

What young people need is to be heard - not deplatformed by amoral careerists like Wes Streeting.

Morning all. Sensible step towards repositioning ID cards as 'convenient way of accessing services like they have in Europe' rather than 'punitive tool of state surveillance' but as ever raises the question, why does govt keep getting it wrong the first time www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

8.4 GIGAWATTS of offshore wind just contracted in the UK, thanks to Ed Miliband's recent auction - enough electricity to power 12 million homes. The US can boil in Venezuelan oil. We're investing in energy you don't need to invade other nations to obtain www.theguardian.com/environment/...

So: happy... er, yes, well, happy this most holy of days to all who celebrate

Its #HillfortsWednesday, its winter & we've got these long nights So if you want something relaxing and escapist to have running in the background on a tv or whatever this >>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcXl...

Patrick Grant here on adopting a hedgehog named pumpkin - and how the Craven Wildlife centre is looking for a new home. "If anyone thinks they might have space for about 50 hedgehogs, half a dozen birds of prey and a selection of other lovely animals, drop me a line" www.ft.com/content/3585...

Wait….. what???

It is absolutely not wrong to cut pieces of slightly-drier-than-optimal epoisses into your vegetable soup for lunch.

Ready to level up your birdwatching? 😎 Here’s another 10 birds to keep an eye out for this #BigGardenBirdwatch... From colourful Jays to stealthy Sparrowhawks, who have you spotted on your patch before? PS - Don't forget to sign up: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...

‘But the Trump tariffs change all that. The old bargain – put your own tech sector in chains, expose your people to our plunder of their data and cash, and in return, the US won’t tariff your exports – is dead.’

The UK National Health Service has very clear information on all major medical conditions. It is browsable by all Never EVER rely on an LLM for health advice www.nhs.uk/conditions/

Minister of State Alex Norris tells the BBC he won't personally come off X because it's important for communicating with voters. None of his tweets for the last month has more than 1000 views.

Jesus FUCKING CHRIST

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....AAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THE FOREIGNERS ARE EATING UP ALL YOUR GROK WATTAGE?????? THAT is your pitch????

Guys. GUYS. What the world needs right now is a Reacher/A-Team crossover set in Minneapolis where they coordinate with existing ICE watch groups to protect our neighbors. Reacher will beat the shit out of Bovino. Mr. T will ride the bus with Kindergarteners and jump the ICE goons at the bus stop.

There is reason to be hopeful.

Kemi going to bat for the non-consensual, violent, child porn app formerly known as X.

OK. That I did NOT know. Kudos.

❤️‍🔥Tory sources confirm that Nadhim Zahawi made approaches to senior members of Kemi Badenoch's team about getting a peerage just weeks before defecting to Reform UK - but was turned down.

I currently have the noodles in black, red and blue. I can do any colour your heart desires, at no extra cost. There’ll just be an added weeks drying time. 🥢 You can also pop in a frame and gift to a foodie friend.

Amazingly, Zahawi only got round to deleting the below after the press conference announcing his defection to Reform.

👁️

Kemi Badenoch has given an interview in which she says the Grok/X issue can be solved simply by stopping children going on social media because social media is an ‘adult space’. So presumably she thinks child abuse images are fine, as long as only adults look at them?!!

oh my god it's too funny

A great read on how we can actually finally regulate tech and move away from the US government’s blackmail grip over global tech markets that are currently forced to favour US tech bros. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is essential: a democracy *must* know who is paying its politicians and where that money is coming from. Cryptocurrency is *designed* to make that impossible. The whole point is to lift payments outside the scrutiny of the state.

The government should come out and just say this. Tell it like it is. At least we could respect that part.

Barely anyone is going to see this, but if you’ve ever asked why X isn’t banned in the UK yet despite creating CSAM, it’s because the US government has enforced a worldwide policy of blackmail protecting the American tech oligarchy. It’s why TikTok can be banned but X cannot.

More appalling news from dystopia central www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

You win a Golden Globe and Wanda Sykes calls you out while accepting it for you and dedicates your award to the trans community. I love Wanda Sykes.

Mad: a woman has bren forced to stop running the Spine Race Challenger (108 miles up the pennine way) because of death threats. She was raising money for Afghan women and aid. So some fucks decided to threaten to kill her. For running. You can donage here: www.gofundme.com/f/sarah-port...

We used to do real science

Another story unimaginable under any other President than the deranged egomaniac in the White House. What will the markets do?

I have lost my kindle and I’m really quite annoyed. More hit news as it comes in.

The first batch of Semmelknödel fell apart in the water. Blee. But a little 21st century thinking and I’m air frying the other half. 🙌

telling detail in this STimes piece claiming the US embassy in the UK has switched from watching the BBC to GBNews, and if that's where they're getting their idea of everyday UK life from - well it would explain quite a lot www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...