This @nytimes.com account of the Trump administration's chaotic & disastrous Ukraine policy is great journalism; but for European readers, it shd end any lingering idea that we cd rely on the US if Russia attacked us: no-one around Trump cares about European security. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I once opened a door for Charlton Heston.

Putin plays him every single time. Embarrassing.

It's deeply depressing that The Algorithm has decided - now I've hit the 2nd half of my 40s - that all I really need to be happy in life is tai chi & Jordan Peterson. An endless doom loop diet of dad-calisthenics and angry pseudo-philosophy to lower me gently down into a solipsistic torpor, forever.

Brexit freedom

ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries. Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves. "Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks. "No, guess he should've complied," agent says. Yakima, Washington

Yes, I know one isn't supposed to comment on people's appearance, but screw it; this is hardly punching down. Surely there does have to be a public conversation about how f*cking weird these people look, and what it probably says about their character and values?

This is the most insane thing that has ever been cast in metal. I can't wait for daily updates about how all this crap is dismantled again once a real human being is back in charge.

GenAI truly is the asbestos poisoning our collectively shared resources and infrastructure.

Stupid is more dangerous....

Nicolas Sarkozy reçoit le “prix de littérature” de la FIFA https://www.legorafi.fr/2025/12/12/nicolas-sarkozy-recoit-le-prix-de-litterature-de-la-fifa/

The 'greatest country on earth'. Discuss. edition.cnn.com/2025/12/10/p...

Well f*ck that. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Me: I'm feeling really Sapphic You: Tell me more 😏 Me: ............... and if ......... [thy]me...... .......................... hands.......... [swan, or possibly an extinct species of gourd] .........................s

Like a pre-Revolution fermier général suggesting that he thinks a bit of guillotining might be a good idea...

one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.

Corporation Tax is only the 7th highest tax our company pays. Net VAT, Aggregates Levy, Fuel duty, Employer's NI, energy taxes, Business Rates - all handsomely outstrip the tax we actually pay on our profit. There is something profoundly wrong about the way UK tax is stacked against industry.

presented without comment

It’s time to admit what a disaster Brexit has been. Liberal Democrats have a plan to fix our trade with Europe to turbocharge the economy, fix the cost of living crisis and properly fund our public services.

I can't remember if I ever shared this on here, but on or around his anniversary I'm reminded of my finest photograph of Boatswain, an arch poseur among dogs: "Wanderer, above the sea of Dog", after Friedrich.

"Street thug wins lottery."

"Brief: please make the White House look like the unfinished interior of a Russian private hospital."

SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten. "I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA

I'm waiting for a late train because my previous train was late and I missed my connection. It's always a surprise to me when visiting the UK how staggeringly shit the trains are. I don't care re coffee; I don't even care re seats; there is only one thing I need from a train: that it be on time. FFS

FAO Matt Goodwin and all the other racist filth who tried to exploit this incident

As an aside, I think the real ticking time bomb in the gov's proposals is actually changes to BPR. With family businesses the foundation of the private sector, and the vast majority of any entrepreneurial family's wealth generally tied up in the business, IHT on trading businesses heralds a new era.

"More dreadful with each foreign stroke..." www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Yes of course your time is more important than everyone else's: by all means send voice notes.

It's not just the Kafue River that's been left dead. I've fished for 7 days total along the Lower Zambezi (into which the Kafue flows) over the last six weeks, and from my and others' experience it's clear that the spill has had a massive impact on fish stocks hundred of km down the river system.

"The funding model has sparked concern among some legal experts, who say it may amount to paying for access to the administration." You don't fucking say www.bbc.com/news/article...

The pig headed stupidity of this kind of thing deserves to be remembered for generations www.bbc.com/news/article...

Yeah, I think even those sympathetic don’t want to look it straight in the face because it’s basically a horror show

A 3,000-pound ice sculpture spelling out the word “DEMOCRACY” was seen melting on the National Mall within view of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Silicon Valley showing yet again that just in case we thought humanity couldn't lean any further in to its most pathetic and self-harming impulses, it can always take us one step further in the name of 'progress' [Money]. www.bbc.com/news/article...

I was trying to put my finger on what bothered me about this portrayal and I think it’s that it just takes the guy’s words at face value, like he was a nice guy and reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death just pushed him over the edge www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/u...

Because apartheid South Africa really did a fantastic job of spaffing out a functional human being with you, didn’t it? You loathsome bellend.

I genuinely think there's a point where even hardened Reform supporters start to realise that we really don't need Nigel Farage peering up the nation's skirts, and that this prurient old man self-appointing to sneak peeks over the country's loo cubicle partitions is, well, getting a little weird.

Excellent, intelligent, and humane interview that's worth a weekend watch. Much more about tribalism and our relationship to science than it is about human evolution www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1Q...

Briton Rivière RA (14 August 1840 in London – 20 April 1920 in London) was well known for his animal paintings. I'm a sucker for this sort of stuff so here's a thread with some of his work. You're allowed to get wet eyes. Requiescat (1888; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney)

Nigel Farage with fellow patriot Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform in Wales who took bribes in exchange for spreading Russian misinformation.

This is actually insane.

Any restaurant or cafe where you have to scan a QR code and find the food on your phone should just be burned down, proprietors sent to the gulag, etc. Print a f*cking menu.

Not good. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I know little of Petro's domestic record/agenda, but at the very least, this is to his credit. This is how you respond to a child in the White House. www.bbc.com/news/article...

What an impossibly ungracious man he is, really. It’s not news, of course, but he does somehow have the ability to be so uncouth, so impolite, that it really takes your breath away.

Is no one ever going to question how Sheldrick and Born Free have essentially bought themselves into running KWS like their own private free-range zookeeping service?

“We apologise for any insensitivity or offence caused to the white supremacist community at this time”

Trump: "We've got a lot of stupid people in this country running things."

Have a listen to Trump's 'address' to the UN today. A drifting ramble through kind-of MAGA talking points, conspiracy theories, and so on. Obviously he's never exactly been the world's greatest intellect, but it's still worth a listen to fully appreciate what a complete moron he obviously is.