The UK isn’t a “soft touch” on asylum. UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands) UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany) Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.

'Screenplay by Alfred Shaughnessy and Norman Hudis' - an intriguing combination.

Some problems currently with BlueSky - unable to sign into neglected other account and all password changes rejected. Advice welcome!

Good to see @peterprinsleymp.bsky.social support #BBC "It is striking that those most eager to discredit it on social media often present themselves as patriots. In truth, few actions are less patriotic than undermining an institution that contributes so profoundly to Britain’s identity."

Something I mention in today’s piece is the wider pressure and undervaluing of libraries and archives. Even less well known than the issues facing the British Library are the worrying proposals for the BBC Written Archives Centre. More here observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight www.cityam.com/the-british-...

"No, Malcolm. You've misheard. Jenna Stannis is a Space *Pirate*..." 🤣

And a couple of rather nice Blake's 7 Blu-ray Collection subtitling goofs for Series 2 that we caught along the way...

"The Home Office has re-assessed Peru and finds that it is no longer the deepest, or the darkest on our list. It is therefore safe for you to return, and we will compel you to do so within 1 week of receipt of this letter. Your marmalade sandwiches have been confiscated in lieu of your costs."

According to all polling ever, the British public has never been more in favour of immigration than now. migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/br... But the British political class are determined to change that.

November 1736 - report in the press that Mr Duill, who keeps the German coffee house in St James's St, is to be made a page of the backstairs to the Princess of Wales. The report is only slightly wrong, as Duill was actually made a page of the presence chamber. @amyjanieh.bsky.social

How can you tell if your Christmas Tree was originally bought from Woolworths? There’s no branches left 😞

Network DVD and Blu-rays are available again via Future Network/Quoit Media futurenetwork.wales?v=7885444af42e Liquidated stock apparently. Now I can finally buy Bottoms Up! on blu-ray and never watch it.

‘By 1790, one in eight Liverpool households were dependent on the slave trade.’ John Kerrigan on Liverpool, the Atlantic slave trade and m. nourbeSe philip’s long poem 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘨! www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

This piece was greenlit and then killed by a British newspaper, so I’ve decided to publish myself instead. Trans People Deserve Better. "Gender critical" feminism doesn't help women but it does help the far right open.substack.com/pub/wellread...

Intrigued that the Labour Party has a Denmark policy - seize jewellery and assets from asylum seekers - and also an anti-Denmark policy - don’t tax middle earners enough to support welfare state.

Are you a minister? Are you unhappy? Do you hate your job or have no idea what you're doing? Would you like the entire UK progressive media to praise you for the next 72 hours and talk about you as a future leadership contender? RESIGN!

If Lisa Nandy is awake today, she has an opportunity to both revitalise her leadership hopes and improve morale and confidence in the UK's cultural industries by resigning.

As a result of this post - which is wrong, MB isn’t 100 until June - I have learned that there is a whole Facebook scam industry trading on bad AI art of 90-something celebrities holding “100th birthday” cakes. Bizarre.

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... New on psychic paper: How much Doctor Who do you have to have absorbed to count as a fan, and what's the most obscure Doctor Who story you can think of? For paid subscribers, but why not become one and get full access to the archive?

Just a week to go until the Celestial Toyroom Annual 2026 is available! www.dwasonline.co.uk/ct_annual One of the most fun parts for me was recreating the cover of the 1983 Longleat Celebration programme, which as far as I know was only ever a b/w photocopy.

All the Labour members, councillors etc who have worked with refugee charities over the years: are you going to stand for this?

A bit of nonsense from a few years back, and pretty fitting with The War Between the Land and the Sea almost here, not to mention the new feature-length cut of The Sea Devils. If you love #DoctorWho and absurdly niche 1970s comic classifieds, this one’s for you. Enjoy!

What Doctor Who story - and James Bond film - did Terrance Dicks borrow from for the last of his Mounties trilogy? Another great long post here: 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/11/war-...

I’ve only just stumbled across the fantastic fact that Margaret Thatcher’s 1970s voice coach, who taught her to lower her voice and speak more resonantly, was none other than Catherine Fleming, who voiced the evil Animus in bonkers 1965 Doctor Who serial The Web Planet. The Zarbi’s not for turning!

These are all people I work with whole livelihoods are being threatened by AI. They’re all amazing, and as far as I’m concerned, irreplaceable. No 1: Laura Grandi, my Italian translator…

The WAC campaign to date More from me with details of progress (or lack thereof) in the campaign against the shutting down of access at the Written Archives Centre, and a summary of quite why this policy shift is, simply and straightforwardly, wrong. cstonline.net/defending-th...

#OTD 1712, the infamous, and extremely violent Hamilton-Mohun duel took place between Scottish Tory the Duke of Hamilton and the Cornish Whig Lord Mohun. Check out Dr Robin Eagles' article on the violent history of duels in 18thc England here: historyofparliament.com/2018/06/07/d...

And a new version of The Sea Devils is on the way - a fresh 90 minute edit with an amalgamated score... @markayresrws.bsky.social scifibulletin.com/2025/11/14/t...

Pressure on Robbie Gibb to stand down increasing. Well-deserved union.bectu.org.uk/resource/let...

Doctor Who Magazine Dec 1989. No news on when/if there’ll be a new series and talk of co-producing it with Americans. History goes in circles…

I also learn from the new ODNB release, of Cicely McCall (1900-2003), psychiatric social worker and penal reformer, that in 1921 she was 'rusticated' from St Hilda's College, Oxford, 'for going out of the college after hours in disputed circumstances'. Intriguing...

A highlight of the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography release is Theodore Mould's article on Philip John Nighorus, know as Philippo, Armenian merchant in London, horse dealer and, I suppose, industrial spy. Painted with a horse by Stubbs. @oxfordacademic.bsky.social

For more on this month's Oxford Dictionary of National Biography release, see www.oxforddnb.com/newsitem/922... . Published by @oxfordacademic.bsky.social .

In this month's release for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, I've written on Cumberland woman Bridget Atkinson (1732-1814), shell collector and matriarch of a northern English imperial trading family. She was the first honorary member of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.

So much of what I’ve done has been because various archives let in a curious independent weirdo like me. What little research I did at the BBC Archives (some of it in this latest episode) was incredibly valuable/fascinating. To think that I would now be shut out is absurd.

Happy 17th birthday to my cat Ayesha. She believes the only legitimate political regime is absolute rule by torties. She is a tortalitarian.

I love church kneelers and always look for them when I go churchcrawling. I think they are such a wonderful piece of folk art. I was particularly happy to see this delightful trio of guinea pigs in Alberbury church. 💚 #folklore #folkcustoms #history #churches #Shropshire #churchkneelers

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... New on psychic paper, for paid subscribers, but why not become one and get full access to the archive?

Breaking News: House Democrats released emails in which Jeffrey Epstein alleged that Donald Trump knew of the convicted sex offender's conduct and “spent hours at my house” with a victim.

This is a fun but also non-trivial exercise actually

It’s just depressing. But as much as I had hoped for them to succeed, Starmer seems stuck in the analogue world and simply not up for the job in the digital age. Apart from not having a clear vision of what he wants on a broader level. He prob will and should go.

Mr D Trump, of Mar O Lago, Florida, writes to complain...

Amused that Trump's lawyers really sent the legal letter to: BBC Television Centre, London W12 8QT. I wonder if they included a self addressed envelope for a reply and called 018118055 to confirm receipt. www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/tru...

The Army Game (11th November 1957). RSM Bullimore (William Hartnell) is somewhat perplexed when the lads of hut 29 suddenly begin to act like perfect soldiers ....

We’re launching our new catalogue on Monday 8 December. To keep our collections safe while we do this, access and ordering will be suspended for a week before launch and all requests for 8 December onwards must be made on the new system when it launches. Find out more: bit.ly/CollectionSu...

Donald Trump’s demand for a billion dollars from the BBC comes from a local Florida law firm. It was sent to the wrong address, and the writer didn’t know what ‘salacious’ really means: ‘Due to their salacious nature, the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC…’

Let us simply not check that figure after they stuck most of the BBC in the US behind a paywall a few months ago to increase revenue at the expense of British soft power and influence.

Bond is, in fact, the sovereignty goddess of Britain, existing simultaneously as youthful and crone, wooed by successive unsuitable temporary partners until the true sovereign (Judy Dench) reveals herself

Robbie Gibb was appointed to the BBC Board by Boris Johnson, was an editorial advisor for GB News, and worked as Theresa May's Director of Comms. He is not impartial or neutral. The government should remove him from the Board immediately to protect the BBC's independence.