Vadim

Also, he doesn’t have to apologise: he can just shitehouse his way through through the Guardian doing a bit of mild Noticing Things for two weeks, then continue unhindered, because politics and press are ram-packed with people every bit as racist, vicious and repellent as he is.

For non-Brits: one of these people has for years been held up as a lion of personal courage, bravely standing up to vicious bullies, and the other was denounced at astonishing intensity as a Stalinist thug imposing their crazy beliefs on others by force. Would you like to guess which is which?

Merry

Just learnt that Semtex smells like marzipan, which goes some way to explaining the airport security consternation a few years ago when my mum sent me back to England with half a Christmas cake wrapped in tinfoil.

[wearing my sickos t shirt whilst smiling so wide im like Jack Nicholsons Joker] oh wow, that sounds sooooo bad

Public bodies are crammed with cranks and wingnuts because politics is rammed with cranks and wingnuts, and this isn’t seen as remarkable and disgraceful because sadly the press is also full to bursting with cranks and wingnuts.

Scrolling i first read britain and it was very funny

Everyone involved knows Mel is a virulently racist fascist lunatic with horrendous views on the use of massive, murderous violence against civilians. But there she still is on Sky News, because her crackpottery is well within acceptable opinion, for our political/media class.

Vadim

I had not watched this film in awhile and had forgotten how good it is First off it is anchored by Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling performances as outsiders who foresaw the 2008 Financial Crisis, it's pretty amazing a film can make you root for such characters.

Watching a film

Merry, Pippin and Vadim aka the Lads

Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto, Saint Nicholas of Bari, 1554/55, Picture Gallery © KHM-Museumsverband

Drinking a very nice glass of The Wine Society's Morellino di Scansano, Podere 414 2022

"The Sponge Diver" (1898–99), watercolor over graphite by Winslow Homer (1836–1910)

"Rocky Shore, Bermuda" (1900) by Winslow Homer (1836–1910)

"Palm Trees, Florida"(1905) by Winslow Homer (1836–1910)

Really magical having the Christmas Tree up but right pain having to deal with three cats who want to get into it, lick tinsel etc. got to be vigilant!

Merry (Xmas)

Tis' the season of Nutcrackers A recording of a classic performance

Vadim

Zarigani Hakase, a professorial crayfish, and Funadon, a guileless carp, are local characters from Hanyu City.

(the exchange which made me realise that it was not just an issue of resources and capacity, the British civil service really does have some serious problems of competence)

Neal Couling was the guy who said that getting universal credit to correctly credit people who got their wages weekly was simply an impossible programming task.

The Warren Cup at the British Museum today, an ancient Greco-Roman silver drinking cup decorated in relief with two images of male same-sex acts. It was purchased by the British Museum for £1.8 million in 1999, the most expensive single purchase by the museum at that time. 🗃️🏺

Happy #StNicholasDay! Born in Patara (in what is now Turkey), the saint known for his secret gift-giving became over time the inspiration for today's figure of Santa Claus. See the visual journey undertaken in our "Pictorial History of Santa Claus" — publicdomainreview.org/collection/a...

PNB's Destiny Wimpye in Balanchine's The Nutcracker - Photo by Angela Sterling

Naughty Pippin

Benjamin Freemantle and Ashton Edwards in Balanchine's 'The Nutcracker' at PNB - Photo by Angela Sterling

The Christmas tree is finally up and decorated 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Merry in the Christmas pudding bed

It is comical how disliked Wes Streeting is by everyone other than Labour MPs and centrist journalists. I'm not sure even they actually like him, they just see him as "electoral dynamite" for reasons that are beyond the rest of us. Even a paper-thin win at the last election didn't change this.

If Father Christmas was real do you think there would have been assassination attempts on his life

Wrote about being spiritually divorced for this weeks substack

We should IMO look at Britain’s awesome array of disastrous, overlapping problems, and then look at how our political/media class has spent half a decade fighting furiously to impose their solution to the question “Where should people we despise be allowed to piss”, and draw some harsh conclusions.

A Christmas treat from Freddie and me.

Behold! The famous Orkney Library & Archive knitted #Christmas tree begins another season of festive cheer in the library! 🎄🧶❤️

#AshmoleanAdvent Day 6: St Nicholas Today marks St Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas of Myra was a 4th-century Christian bishop known for his kindness and generosity. In this icon dating back to the 15th century, St Nicholas is shown as the Miracle Worker.

#GhostofYotei #Photomode #PS5share #PS5

Pippin

BBC News - Cathedral music boss sacked after 'inappropriate' song row www.bbc.com/news/article...

Queensland Ballet in The Nutcracker - Photo by David Kelly ⁠

#AshmoleanAdvent Day 5 – Five Gold Rings These hooped earrings are richly decorated with wire, beads, and animal-heads (bull, wild goat, and ram). These earrings were from one of two exceptional hoards discovered in 1905 at Tukh el-Qaramus. 🟡 Late 4th – early 3rd century BCE, AN1926.99–104

Erik Bruhn as Prince Siegfried and Lois Smith as Back Swan. (Bruhn’s version of Swan Lake). Television production, 1967

Kansas City Ballet Dancers Naomi Tanioka and Angelin Carrant in The Nutcracker - Photography by Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios.