Two months and two days since the Danish general election and still no government.

Read: Jane Austen: Persuasion (1818). Many people's Austen favourite. On this first reading I can't say it became mine. Without being particularly funny or intriguing, suddenly it was over. I'm sure that's on me. Book seen here in my wife's sixth form covering.

#THEN0UGHTIE5 That max 3 non-singles rule is *hard*. Here's me trying to drum up some early support for my picks: Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue, 08 Radiohead: Everything In Its Right Place, 00 Radiohead: The National Anthem, 00

RIP Sonny Rollins, a great jazz talent and the last surviving musician in one of the best photos of men in suits during the 20th century

Aw, look at that.

Læst: Rasmus Daugbjerg: Rasmus Nielsøn (2026). Jeg kan desværre ikke tilslutte mig hyldestkoret. Jeg syntes ikke, den tynde bog var helt nok, og sad noget uforløst tilbage. Og så bruger forfatteren kommaer forkert.

Just looked up a concept and learned that it is called QUADRIPOINT: where four countries meet. Today (almost) one exists, between Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

'Ella Fitzgerald was detained in a Houston, Texas, jail cell for performing for an integrated audience, which violated segregation laws at the time. 1955'

Still not done with that Guardian list. Happy to see no comics made it to the top 100: they're not novels, they're something else just as good. However kudos to Mark Haddon for picking Richard McGuire's Here and Anders Nilsen's Tongues I. (Also nominated, inevitably: Watchmen, Maus, Fun Home.)

Today's NYT Connections USmaxxes like never before, without even mentioning sports.

*singing Annie are you Oakley to the tune of Smooth Criminal*

quote with a fictional band that is not spinal tap

Behold. My. Time. Lapse.

bring back snobbery and gatekeeping

From a time-saving perspective, it's nice to be able to just stop reading an author. Goodbye, Olga.

Our POP WORLD CUP is down to the top 32 songs. Have a listen on a music player of your choice – it's gem after gem of tracks you probably don't know.

Here I have to add @mkupperman.bsky.social's Dick Tracy villains which has me in stitches every time I see it.

51½! (I award myself half a point for being halfway through Proust.) Remember: You are allowed to ignore lists of best books without rancour or even take them as inspiration. You don't literally *have* to read these books before you die.

One of Sophie Calle's abandoned projects.

This is the hardest I’ve laughed in 2026. Maybe in 2025 too. Impossibly it gets funnier the longer it goes on.

Read: Vincenzo Latronico: La Perfezioni (2022, beautifully translated by Sophie Hughes). Well, I loved this as much as everybody else. What a jewel of a book. I guffawed throughout at these silly characters (and my silly self). A real portrait of our times.

They've shown the first 40 books so far. Of which I have 7 unread on the shelves - in case I didn't know what to read next. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

Assuming he is willing to actually run, I would back Miliband because he is the leader most likely to win back lost Green and Lib Dem voters. He has impeccable environmental credentials, is on the soft left and has enough of a liberal lean that he could appeal to Lib-Lab switchers.

The Dove Oil and acrylic on canvas (2026)

Læst: Nana Fatou: Toubab (2026). Selvbiografisk (?) debutdigtsamling om et liv mellem Danmark og Gambia og privilegierne i klemme. Interessant betragtet som biografi, men sprogligt lidt fattig.

Man, two all-timers in the space of a month. Nice job, New Yorker cartoon editors. The idea of this one is brilliant, but the execution is maybe even more so—getting the figure in the coffin to read both ways like it’s supposed to is something.

Planning on listening to an audiobook soon.

Hungary’s parliament sings “Ode to Joy” — the anthem of Europe — after Péter Magyar is sworn in as prime minister. Hungary is once again a proud member of the European Union.

now thats an anecdote with a punch, from Gillian Tett www.ft.com/content/c0ae...

Read: George and Weedon Grossmith: Diary of a Nobody (1892). Had I a British passport, it would now be taken away from me: I found this slightly amusing, not a rip-roaringly funny skewering of the British soul. Enjoyable all the same.

Saw Georgia O'Keeffe in my garden this morning.

The cartoon referenced in retweet.

The "out of the way swine" comic is great but this is the best comic strip of all time

Sunset 20:54

I loved this game.

Læst: Solvej Balle: Om udregning af rumfang IV (2022). Nå, et mønster er etableret: 160 siders plotfattig causeren fulgt af 10 siders pludselig cliffhanger. Jeg er allerede ved at glemme, hvad der skete i dette bind, men jeg skal da vide, hvad der sker i næste!

Alright, here's one from the 2020s only: Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Kļava: Aletheia Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko: O Ignis Spiritus Amber Mark: What It Is SAULT: I Just Want to Dance BC Camplight: I Only Drink When I’m Drunk …

If this time travel experiment works, I should be able to go from here and now and reappea—

Duke: Mood Indigo Ink Spots: I Don’t Want To Set The World on Fire Art Tatum: I Got Rhythm Billie: Fine and Mellow Bud Powell: Un Poco Loco Duke: Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me Quintet: Salt Peanuts Ella: It’s Only a Paper Moon Hawk: Body and Soul Bird: Parker’s Mood

April reading [✓] Favourites: Lee for pure pleasure, Lem for explosive ideas.

On/off toggle

It's International Dance Day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=onMC...

It's International Dance Day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MSh...

We’re delighted to reveal the judging panel for the inaugural Children's Booker Prize, supported by AKO Foundation. Frank Cottrell-Boyce will act as Chair of judges and is joined by Lolly Adefope and Sanchita Basu De Sarkar. Find out more at thebookerprizes.com/children

Read: Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Silly me had avoided it for its ubiquity, but Harper Lee would have turned 100 today, so. And it was brilliant. In its literary and moral simplicity, could absolutely be considered a children's book, but who cares about those distinctions.

Running a marathon in (less than) 2 hours. That's 100 meters in 17 seconds 422 times in a row. I could barely do one.

Now I feel like eating tiramisu and not running a marathon. Come to think of it, I've felt that way before.

"Catholicism is the only religion with intellectual heft"

Regular reminder to the film gods that I would like to rewatch Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. It's been a quarter of a century, and I was entranced the first time.