"Grief wrongs us so". Poem for a Sunday, by Douglas Dunn.

Written English has barely changed in 300 years. If you can read Harry Potter, you can read Robinson Crusoe (1719).

If you liked this experiment, I published a full piece today in the same vein: a text that gets 100 years older with every section, from a modern blog post to a medieval chronicle. It's a single story spanning 1000 years of English. See how far you get. www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba...

Found in a holiday property - for the English guests, a helpful instruction on how to operate the window blind. For French speakers a thought-provoking question about the capabilities of the visually impaired…

FWIW, after 2+ decades in 🇬🇧 diplomacy my settled view is that BBCWS is *the* (not *a*) vital element of British soft power and the continued attacks on its funding are nothing short of barbaric and self defeating.

Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

“I’ve reviewed over 50 sticky toffee puddings” is an incredibly powerful way to begin a video

People of Britain! This Wednesday you can catch my R4 special Eleanor & Pals, a character comedy show starring me and Zara Gladman, and featuring everyone's favourite sad man, Craig! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

youtu.be/u4IV7pUnBds post a banger that isn’t in English

Post a banger that isn’t in English: youtu.be/_R0uphrGo6k

Absolutely spot on. A brilliant description of the malign and destructive influence of Morgan McSweeney and his Labour Together right-wing cabal. Sadly, a number of their members are still occupying high office along with their puppet, Starmer and their odious heir-apparent, Wes Streeting.

That splendid sign-off of the Queen Mother’s – “Tinkety tonk old fruit, & down with the Nazis” – celebrates its 85th anniversary today

"Objectivity is not the same as neutrality. If there is an aggressor and a victim, a liar and an honest person, a corrupt individual and an honourable one, then your task is to describe all that clearly and forcefully." Powerful words and an important read.

The pilot I wrote with the divine David Quantick is on today on R4 at 6.30pm ( available afterwards on BBC sounds ) Its got great reviews and I was beyond excited to get the cast I wanted and please listen to it because everyone is very funny AS IS THE WRITING OBVS.

"Caouissin ... would like to think the language will follow a similar path to Welsh, which has enjoyed a revival over the past half-century and is spoken by 538,000 people" People keep getting this wrong about Welsh! There has not been a "revival". Let me explain. 1/

Recently I met a drum and bass DJ who'd opened a supermarket. It was an Aldi but Goldie.

Back Square Street, Ramsbottom, painting by Vera Lowe (1917-98).

What's it like to return to your home town years after leaving? This poem from Whatever You Do, Just Don't finds that nothing's changed. But then everything's changed too...

“if it wasn’t for me, you lot would be speaking german now” I said to my friends, with the key to the german classroom hidden in my pocket.

"Meanwhile, Princess Anne went for a ride in Kirkbride, Queen Camilla went shopping in Wapping, Prince Edward dropped a clanger in Bangor, and the young ladies of Buckingham asked Prince Andrew if he'd mind staying at home. Now it's goodnight from me ... ... and it's goodnight from him."

Pause for a moment, and read... 'Snow' by Lisel Mueller

The Smelt store is now open for business: if 5,000 of you are willing to chip in £10 plus fees each, we can make some brilliant things Leadmojo.co.uk/smelt

1. If only someone had written a book explaining Arctic security and climate change, the energy transition, critical minerals, the decline of American power and the rise of China. A book that identified the real Arctic threat (it ain't Greenland). Oh wait, they have!👇 uk.bookshop.org/p/books/elem...

Alan Watts discussing why poets are so often at their best when speaking of change.

Life

Evening reading: really enjoying this book about our literary and cultural history

One for the nautical trivia fans. HMS Wellesley, launched before the end of the Napoleonic wars, was both the last British ship of the line to be sunk by enemy action and the only one ever to be sunk in an air raid.

one of the most effective weapons we have against fascism is mockery, especially when its really funny

I think this might be a good year to celebrate brilliant small things. Things like the CM Booth car museum. A unique collection of vintage and veteran 3 wheeler Morgan cars in a tardis-like shed in a garden in Rolvenden. www.morganmuseum.org.uk Quite simply glorious and fascinating.

Went to Doncaster today to talk to some students about a career in TV. I like Doncaster. You know how most stations have maybe a tea bar or a Starbucks? On platform 3b Doncaster has a tiny, perfect pub. www.thedraughtsmanalehouse.co.uk/gallery

Best TikTok thing going is the two dudes trying food from every country without leaving NYC. If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible. My favorite so far is last week’s. Legit got me emotional.

I’ve only just started manufacturing trousers for stilt-walkers but I’ve ALREADY made huge strides

Well this is an email I wasn’t expecting…

Morning everyone. I’ve got a new play on tomorrow (Tuesday) and on @bbcsounds.bsky.social thereafter. It’s about PG Wodehouse’s war and it’s a comic defence of laughter in dark times. BBC Radio 4, 23 Dec, 2.15pm.

Worth 5 minutes of anyone's time to read about Ronnie. Consider having a tissue handy in case something should happen to get in your eye 🥹

Lovely story of welcome from Yorkshire. We try to do the same with @easeealing.bsky.social in west London.

Post you from a different era

Tomorrow evening it’ll be my annual duty to vaguely shepherd the activity on the #duvetknowitschristmas hashtag and urge people to give small sums to charity. 7.30pm? Something like that?

I just had some mind-blowing manchego with truffles in, and it made me think it’s about time for your FANTASY CHEESBOARDS! #FantasyCheeseboard

Trying to track down a comic song and AI Overview is helping: “There is no widely known or famous song specifically titled ‘Christmas Card from Ashton-under-Lyne’. It is highly likely that you are referring to the well-known song by Tom Waits, titled ‘Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis’”

What if I told you that you have a large language model sitting right in your head that’s completely free to use, runs on renewable energy, has virtually infinite capacity, and actually improves the more you use it

Fair, correct call. Excellent story

Now that's what I call a camera trap photo . Thank you to Wendy Hall ( @tedborrow ) for today's nosey #FoxOfTheDay

One of my favourite questions of the series appears in tonight’s Only Connect - I’d better not tell you the whole thing, but it starts “A village in Norway, annually.” And if you can get it from that, I’ll see you next series! 8pm on BBC Two

#Advent ‘The Coming’ - #RSThomas (H'm, Macmillan)

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74... Please sign and share EVERYWHERE 🙏

This perfectly encapsulates why we need the BBC

It's always more expensive to be tight with money and empathy. This is my political philosophy and I think I am yet to be proven wrong

"Fetch boy! I said fetch - must say your dog gets bored with games quickly." "Yes, I'm afraid I've got a short attention spaniel."