At risk of being achingly on-brand, I think the solution here is: a) Build more of everything - more commercial properties = lower rents = more third spaces. b) Densify cities so town centres with third spaces are more viable c) Relax opening hours laws - Britain's cities should be 24 hour cities

another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls

I hope Your Party members know this is their life now. Arcane debates about The Rules.... forever

I'm going to out-run the emerging anti-anti-Avatar people and go unashamedly pro-Avatar. Sure, James Cameron has some controversial ideas but he gets things done!

Anyone done a cumulative cost of how much the UK has spent on the work done for Leeds not to have a Tram in the years between 1980 and 2025. My back of an envelope call is about £1Bn ……. And that doesn’t include the opportunity costs and lost economic benefits

This post is an emotional rollercoaster with an ambiguous moral pay-off. There's a neo-Nazi paramilitary (bad), but he's fighting *for* Ukraine (good), but he's been killed (er...).

Yep, same fallacy as landlords. We'd arguably be much better off if all farms/rental housing was owned by a handful of large conglomerates who can ruthlessly compete and achieve economies of scale to drive down prices.

Are we *absolutely sure* this isn‘t an insurance scam?

I understand why they do it but I wish there was a button on the BBC News app to separate real news from the stories that are written to sound like Buzzfeed 15 years ago.

We should start by talking about older, successful professionals who have fallen into a sort-of high-status conspiracism, promoting distrust in institutions to drive crowdfunding ventures. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/why-im-not...

I hope Big Fat Quiz of the Year has a question about the Riyadh Comedy Festival.

Just discovered that the Christmas TV channels also show other programming year-round.

We should start by talking about older, successful professionals who have fallen into a sort-of high-status conspiracism, promoting distrust in institutions to drive crowdfunding ventures. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/why-im-not...

As someone who grew up in the countryside the Countryside Alliance has never represented me and my family and honestly fuck them

They ought to cast Celebrity Gladiators like I’m A Celebrity and get at least one person who us political weirdos have heard of. Why can’t Chris Whitty take on Gauntlet and Duel?

Spare a thought for Priti Patel this Christmas, who is no longer able to participate in her favourite festive tradition.

The Snowman and Father Christmas take place in the same universe. In Father Christmas, Jim and Hilda Bloggs from When the Wind Blows are shown in the pub. This therefore suggests that, canonically speaking, the real ending of The Snowman is a massive nuclear war.

Spare a thought for Priti Patel this Christmas, who is no longer able to participate in her favourite festive tradition.

The Snowman and Father Christmas take place in the same universe. In Father Christmas, Jim and Hilda Bloggs from When the Wind Blows are shown in the pub. This therefore suggests that, canonically speaking, the real ending of The Snowman is a massive nuclear war.

Spouse: Good day at work? Chaser: Yes, I stopped the celebrity contestants from winning enough money for their chosen charity to buy a dialysis machine.

Escape your family and have a listen to this. Or better still, subject them to it.

NEW: It's time to reboot Back to the Future <-- This really is my actual, sincere opinion, and here I explain how to do it successfully. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/back-to-ba...

[Quietly opens briefcase] I’ve just got a fresh shipment of YouGov trackers, or if you want something a little stronger, I can get you an MRP if the price is right.

Farage says it confidently, Davey, Polanski and Swinney refuse to say it. Starmer tries to avoid saying it by muttering in such a way that the left thinks he said it and the right think he refused wokely. Badenoch sings the wrong word by mistake then makes sure to say the slur on telly the day after

Ok James, I started out looking my pitchfork for this heresy, but you've actually sold me here this would work.

I nominate "do better" as the year's most irritating phrase. It's just so bloody entitled. Twats sitting around open jawed expecting content to be spoon-fed into their mouth, and then it's not exactly conforming to what they want, they complain from a psuedo position of higher morality. Fuck off.

Come on Ed, at least put on a Santa costume. You've got a reputation to maintain!

ICYMI:

[Quietly opens briefcase] I’ve just got a fresh shipment of YouGov trackers, or if you want something a little stronger, I can get you an MRP if the price is right.

My tech-optimist priors were reinforced earlier when what should have been a horrifying pre-Christmas trip to the supermarket was completely painless thanks to ‘Smart Shop’ technology, where everything is bagged and scanned in real time, reducing checkout to seconds.

Yet another episode of Only Connect where I know at least one of the contestants.

We’re all thinking it.

Maugham is such a crank. Surely even he has a basic knowledge of UK libel law?

I actually really like this, but then I'm about the same age and Back to the Future was nothing like as big a thing for me so I'm not particularly precious about it

Yep, the AI boom is massive, but if you think all recent US economic growth is downstream of data centers, think again—total investment in computers & software contributed roughly 0.3% to the 4.3% GDP growth in Q3

The worst part about this is that you read it wanting me to be wrong, but no, it turns out it is actually a brilliant idea.

NEW: It's time to reboot Back to the Future <-- This really is my actual, sincere opinion, and here I explain how to do it successfully. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/back-to-ba...

Just making something up to get mad about.

Someone should do a rapid turnaround of a video critique and analysis of the CECOT 60 Minutes segment, publishing clips appropriate for review/analysis/critique under fair use, and then seeing how the YouTube process goes… Could be a great censorship cause for, say, The Free Press to pick up?

Yes, Jake Wallis Simons... imagine opening Twitter and seeing someone with extreme views sharing wildly provocative clips... must be infuriating.

After #onlyconnect why not listen to this transit-oriented quiz from Only Connect question writer @stejormur.bsky.social?!

Like trains and infrastructure? Then you'll enjoy our festive quiz episode, with @stejormur.bsky.social @andrewhunterm.bsky.social and YouTuber CityEd!

This was so much fun. Listen now for the most Abundant quizzing hour of your life!

Christmas pod!

Can't believe @mjrobbins.com's Bedfordshire supremacist views have cost us a listener.

It’s a sign of the health of our democracy that like slamming the door in the face of Black Rod, the royals are forced each year to choose a member of the family who must endure the performance.

If you ever want to understand how unrepresentative your opinions and values are of the wider public, try and put yourself in the mind of someone who would willingly buy tickets to the Royal Variety Performance.