Very middle aged divorced man on Bumble

Came home to find that, instead of being left at the front door as usual, there’s a package on my dining room table. Which means either the porters actually came in to deliver it. Or the Russians have been in moving stuff around. And delivering dresses.

There are people all across Belfast helping relocate people, get them food, clothes, meds and more. You will likely never hear about them on the news. But they are many. And *they* are Belfast.

‘While the Government may have been forcing departments to raid their coffers, defence spending has never been a deeply felt priority for Labour’ | Bethany Elliott unherd.com/newsroom/joh...

John Healey’s resignation shows British defence is in crisis. Me for @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/joh...

This is really the watching a video and bringing in board games stage of Starmer’s premiership, isn’t it?

Ah the long German word for the fear of not hitting a word count, satisfaction of hitting it and then fear of realising you’re going way, way over it.

The last remaining person in Parliament who served in the Armed Forces in the Second World War retired on Wednesday. Labour peer Lord Christopher, aged 101, bowed out, 81 years after WWII ended.

Did you know that Scooby Doo is a highly sought role among canine actors? Yes, every pup dreams of playing the Great Dane.

King Charles III received President Zelenskyy at Windsor Castle. “The President of Ukraine thanked His Majesty and the entire United Kingdom for their ironclad support for our people.”

This morning I spoke on BBC Radio Wales about Zelensky’s visit to London. From 43 mins in www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

I get Emilia Clarke sometimes, which is very flattering. A taxi driver in Dubai told me I look like John Travolta and then, when I expressed concern, protested ”But he’s a very handsome man”. And then a friend’s dad would comment under any photo of me “Look, it’s John Travolta”.

Is it cake

Might take some coffee round to the young lady who's moved in next door as a tribute.

Such a shame about Tony Head. I saw him walking down Shaftesbury Avenue wearing a mask during Covid but recognised him by his eyes just like Buffy does when Giles got turned into a Fyarl demon.

I do really like Bluesky, but as someone who spent her teenage years not being invited to parties, it does remind me of that slightly manic determination to have fun when everyone else actually is. Very staying home with a Domino’s pizza and board games, muttering that "we don't need them anyway".

My mum’s worried she’s going to be investigated because all three of our piano tuners have died.

Imagine popping out for milk and having a camera in your face asking about national insurance contributions.

I genuinely live in fear of the prospect of there being a by election in my constituency.

Great to meet the new Korean Ambassador to the UK, Heung-chong Kim, at the embassy residence Vin d'Honneur, en route from Brighton to Preston—navigating tube strikes and sudden rain! Also made great new connections, including chat with Jane HaeJung Lim, Deputy Mayor of Kingston upon Thames. 😀

College Professor  Pretty Sure   Student Using    AI To Refuse Advances https://theonion.com/college-professor-pretty-sure-student-using-ai-to-refuse-advances/

Astonishing how much of my career is spent on the Debretts website.

MY ANCESTOR LAUGHING AT THE OLD CRONE PLACING A HEX ON THEM: Sure thing, lady. I don't even know what a cheese counter is ME, ONCE AGAIN UNABLE TO REACH THE PRODUCE BECAUSE A LONG-LOST REUNION IS APPARENTLY TAKING PLACE IN FRONT OF IT: how does this keep on happening!?

Your regular reminder that David Lammy keeps saying that people tell him he looks like Denzel Washington. labourlist.org/2021/09/what...

Hungary has signalled it will drop its long-standing opposition to Ukraine’s bid for EU membership, allowing it and Moldova to begin formal negotiations to join the bloc in the coming days, four diplomats told POLITICO.

Chaos on the streets of Lichfield as a rebellious group of Morris dancers go rogue.

If I were a billionaire, I’d pay Serena Williams whatever she wanted to play televised tennis matches against all those men in that survey who thought they could win a point against her.

Just had memory come back to me of watching a documentary about Truffaut when I still lived at home and my mother walking in and saying “Oh, it’s the guy from Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and me saying “I don’t think so…”. Then she went and fetched the DVD.

Hard to know when someone is hitchhiking or just being supportive

The girl dances her high school prom waltz 💔 It breaks my heart to see so many videos of kids and youths celebrating their graduation at the graves of their fathers instead of in their arms. This is what russia is stealing from Ukraine. Video the_samurai_music threads.

Imagine if you got this from your Foreign Office Under-Sec. You’d do your nut. “Thanks for this intel, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a pineapple-headed Frenchman with childbearing hips, shall I, Alex? Hugely actionable, cheers”.

I wrote this because oh god some of the stuff I’ve dragged my parents to and they did recently say that, on the one hand it’s lovely when your child still wants to spend time with you and isn’t drunk on vodka in a hedge. On the other… www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/lifesty...

Babe are you okay? You’ve barely touched your

Also, my first Jack the Ripper tour a man proposed to his girlfriend. “As you can see, she was split from navel to throat” **Thirty seconds later** “Maria, the last two years have been the happiest of my life”.

Brick Lane. Was last here for a Jack the Ripper tour at end of which guide made everyone say who they thought it was & an American woman said it doesn’t matter as so many people have been brought together by it and I said “you’re literally saying the real Jack was the friends we made along the way”.

Starting to wonder if Amelia Dimoldenberg is actually serious about finding romance

I’m 5 ft 2 and my father is well over 6 ft and a date once looked horrified when I mentioned it, asking “How short is your mum then?!” presumably imagining that the only way a tall man could produce me was by mating with one of the singing dolls off It’s A Small World.

The smell of that place never changes, not since I first set foot in there as an undergraduate.

And I’m back in @theweek.com

Amazing what difference good weather makes to my mood. I’m basically just a plant with notions.

Still listening to Black Box Recorder after Friday night www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaBQ...

Why is it that beginning a professional email with “Hi (first name)” is now standard practice while beginning it with “Hello (first name)“ makes you sound like Hannibal Lecter?

Pleasure to be back in @theipaper.com today.

Cows at Hadleigh Castle

Somebody please put this incident into a film.