I know I’m focusing on the probably LESS important thing here but every time I see this photo I get annoyed because of how much I hate Ghislaine Maxwell’s dress.

Leaving the ECHR is just another "cause" that right-wing lunatics can latch onto. It's Brexit 2. And like the original most people backing, it don't understand it, don't really believe in what they are doing and do not care one jot what havoc it causes.

So I missed the cancellation deadline for the Richmond park half-marathon on October 12th - which I had to pull out of because ‘3+ weeks of bronchitis’. They are, though (weirdly), willing to let me transfer my place to someone else. So…anyone want to run a half marathon on the 12th!!??

PRESERVING RARE FILMS Television on film is often a curio in film collections. Film is Fabulous! are currently returning 350 silent films on nitrate to the Library of Congress in Washington DC, for identification and cataloguing. These films had been curated by a UK film (1/2)

Jenrick allies are collecting no confidence letters from Conservative MPs calling for party leader Kemi Badenoch to quit, Hard to work out the strategy of these people. If it’s to copy Reform policies to lure back voters, it won’t work - they’ll go for the real deal.

Once again the invisible hand of fate has guided my car through the front window of a mattress store

lowkey this is why fascists have to kill people. without a regime of terror actively forcing each development on the populace, no one actually wants to submit to this shit.

I gave my students a very impassioned plea against using AI for their work at the beginning of this semester. Now some of their major assignments are coming in, and not only is their work coming up clean on every AI detector, it's also very good stuff. There's hope out there.

Arab leaders said something and Trump agreed. Then Israel said something different and Trump agreed. Then Hamas said something different from either of those and Trump agreed, touting it as success.

"Milei is amazing. It's Thatcherism on steroids. Cutting and slashing. That's leadership" - Nigel Farage Milei would be the "template" for my government - Kemi Badenoch

I received my Xm*s cards very promptly from @gailmyerscough.co.uk today. Fab designs and excellent quality, as always. I recommend. Thanks, Gail!

Today's Hallowmeme.

See an England flag hanging limply off someone’s window feels like seeing an old Red Nose Day nose from twenty years ago still stuck to the front of a van.

Tommy Robinson posted a neo-Nazi blog that accused me and my fellow Jews Jack Straw and Barbara Roche of conspiring to flood the UK with immigrants.

Thorough, important, and gripping journalism. Please take time to read.

Love makes you do crazy things. One time I jumped out of the bushes wearing a panda costume and shot my mailman with a blow dart

Northwest weirdies! Join us and @bobfischer.bsky.social for our GHOST STORY SPECIAL at Dukes Lancaster on Wednesday 29 October - a big group chat about all things spooky! Tickets: bit.ly/3HK5duQ

The smartest newsroom in America: is intentionally hitting two people with a vehicle at 70 miles per hour some sort of crime?

To-night I am going to clean my briefcase again, and then perhaps go to the discotheque and have an early night I hope.

Notable how far France is ahead of the UK on this stuff

4 years ago today I stumbled across the greatest tv listing ever written

Really good thread. A thing I completely got wrong is that I thought we had already reached the limits of how anti-business a government was willing to be when it came to immigration - turns out as big of a journey as the Tories went on from 2016, Labour could in fact go further.

Your own personal Negus, Someone to look at your wares Someone who cares.

I wish David Lynch was still alive so I could talk to him about saying not to watch movies on your phone and ask if that still counts if you’re under your theatre curtain red bedspread and pretending you’re a giant who survived the apocalypse and squished yourself into a tiny theatre

The key to Kemi is she is the first actual Internet Troll to attain party leadership. Look at the actual true bits of her back story: hacking a website and writing abusive comments on blogs 20 years ago, neglecting actual work for being always online, having superficial takes, nasty and aggressive.

Thank you to the Conservative party for sending me this list of things I might like to attend at the conference they've banned me from attending

It’s crazy that nobody in the room or on the production team knew it was nonsense. It was a scripted line not a spontaneous error. How many people must have okayed it?

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 18167: There is no "typical reader," just as there is no "typical writer." Your first responsibility is to yourself; to create the most honest, well-written, carefully-researched story you can. Finding readers comes later.

Protest is never in good taste. Protest is never appropriate. "Now is not the right time," to do anything the authorities don't like, and they'll always try to find a reason why protests shouldn't happen, but they should happen, always.

Looking forward to my annual residency at Riyadh’s Banter Bunker next week.

Badenoch does it again. Unpopulism in action. If the public wants it, she's against it

I would love to know how the new song by Robbie Williams, an artist I never listen to and do not follow on Spotify, ends up at the top of my “personalised” new releases playlist ahead of songs by artists I listen to every day.

Support for staying in the ECHR has been rising (probably a Farage effect of solidifying the majority who oppose him, maybe Trump osmosis effect). Media and political opinion on the right believes there is a strong public desire to quit. Badenoch has now committed the Conservatives to quitting.

If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of psychosis, contact a mental health professional or seek emergency services immediately. Untreated psychosis can lead to worsening mental health outcomes and significant social and functional decline

Himmler liked to recruit a certain type of person into the SS: losers. He looked for men who had achieved little on their own merits, but felt they'd been cheated in some way. Give such mediocrities power and a legal way to enact cruelty and they'll do anything for you. ICE is full of these people.

This. Is. Why. I. Paint.

If Michelle Mone really wants to ‘clear her name’ she could start with some honesty and transparency - both lacking so far due to years of denials over any link to PPE Medpro. buff.ly/APAXnhI

Yeah, I know fact-checking will convince no-one on her side of the argument, but kudos to the Grauniad for doing it anyway.

Brexit benefits: 1. The AZ vaccine 2. It's legal to keep apple snails in your aquarium again 3. Er 4. That's it

I've only just realised there's another international break next weekend and now I want to punch a horse.

We haven't done this for a while so GOOD MORNING and welcome to your FT Weekend highlights gift links thread. Simon Schama returns to the essay with the historian's response to Trump's attacks on America's liberties. Make the defence of freedom heroic again! www.ft.com/content/650a...

I am watching LOCKED (2025), a movie where Bill Skarsgård plays, and there’s really no way around this, Pete Davidson trapped in a car

The Israeli invitation to Tommy Robinson has initially been reported with headlines that largely reflect the glowing terms of the invitation by the extreme Israeli minister involved - even by the Daily Mirror - rather than reflecting how contentious, controversial this will be

Very vivid memory of an episode of short-run American sitcom Gloria - shown by the BBC at the end of the afternoon children's schedules - where they thought a creepy neighbour was a 'murderer' but ended up solving a different murder by accident. Can't find any confirmation of this though...??

Any time a politician says we should leave the ECHR, the very next questions any interviewer should ask are 🚨Which human rights are you willing to lose personally 🚨Which methods of torture are you going to allow people to be sent to face 🚨Which family members would you be willing to lose #r4today

Turns out, 6 months was optimistic

I was on Any Questions last night. I think it was a good discussion, which became quite fierce at times. We debated the vile attack in Manchester, the right to protest, the Tories' crazy climate stance and how to rescue politics. You can listen to it here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Dudes always say they want a goth girlfriend until they find out that you sleep upside down from your ceiling like a bat

4 October 1989: The death of Graham Chapman. The birth of Dakota Johnson.