Hydration break

They fly over our garden on the way to London. The first time we saw it, a couple of months after we moved in, we hadn’t been expecting it and my wife asked me if we were at war or something

Stanley is in a judgy mood today

The worst time for pop music (in the UK, and when I was still in the target age range) was the early 90s. We’d forgotten how to write songs. Most of what was in the charts was covers, re-releases, pointless drum machine remixes or tuneless dance music. It wasn’t all rubbish. Just 90% of it

The general takeaway from scrolling social media these days is not so much “the world is full of arseholes” as “the world is full of people who know better but choose to be arseholes.” It’s hard to tell whether knowing it’s preventable makes it any easier to accept, because the outcome is the same.

“David Attenborough, all I hear is David Bloody Attenborough”

Not going to pretend that Level 42 were ever cool (I think that was largely the point) but A Physical Presence remains one of the best live albums ever. Don’t bother arguing because you’ll know you’re wrong

So this Markwayne Mullins guy, is he not just Jonathan Gullis finally finding himself another job?

Looks like Canada is going to have to host the whole tournament …

I’d like to know what Edie Brickell’s problem with dogs. Mocks the look on their faces, runs them over, doesn’t care whether he’s left outside on a cold wet night as long as the cat’s warm and dry; seems like a nice enough girl otherwise but I’m starting to wonder whether Kristi Noem was ever a fan

#NowPlaying Hue & Cry

#NowPlaying The Pretty Things

#NowPlaying Wilco

#NowPlaying The Beach Boys

#NowPlaying Status Quo

#NowPlaying Heaven 17

#NowPlaying Jewel

#NowPlaying Tears For Fears

#NowPlaying Crowded House

#NowPlaying Frank Sidebottom

#NowPlaying Pretenders

#NowPlaying Van Der Graaf Generator

#NowPlaying Roxy Music

#NowPlaying Caravan

#NowPlaying Cornershop

#NowPlaying Roy Harper

#NowPlaying Grateful Dead

#NowPlaying [Small] Faces

#NowPlaying Cat Stevens

#NowPlaying ABBA

Not American, so I feel like a bit of a fraud sometimes offering an opinion on what is going on, but I just feel that SOMETHING is suddenly going to eventually bring this government down. Given that it hasn’t yet, it doesn’t bear thinking about what it will actually take for it to happen.

#NowPlaying Depeche Mode

Not sure I’d even miss it if the World Cup didn’t happen, or was compromised beyond recognition by boycotts. It’s already going to be bloated and grotesque, and difficult to enjoy within the environment it’s being staged in. Never thought I’d say that I don’t care about the World Cup

#NowPlaying Thompson Twins

#NowPlaying Feeder

#NowPlaying Seal

The world’s longest sausage

Trump’s been getting a lot of stick for the content of his speech. But credit where it’s due, at least he stayed awake the whole time which must have been a challenge for many of the audience

#NowPlaying Tom Waits

#NowPlaying Guillemots

#NowPlaying Dave Edmunds

#NowPlaying Van Morrison

Given that we only ever see that-thing-I’m-not-going-to-name-for-algorithm-reasons mentioned in the context of it not actually being a Thing, just a marketing construct, maybe we just don’t need even to mention it any more?

#NowPlaying Queen

#NowPlaying Eels

#NowPlaying Duran Duran

#NowPlaying Sky

Given the circumstances under which it was discovered that Jenrick was going to defect from the Tories, it looks like he’s got exactly the skill set to fit in at Reform