Shocked to hear of the death of Rachel Cooke at 56 — I didn’t even know she was ill. I always enjoyed reading her reviews and features: she brightened any page of the paper.

Spotted in Asda wine aisle...Yoga...Pinot Grigio....clearly aimed at the pilates pisshead demographic. Cunningly disguised in a gym-like water bottle.

Good to see that @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social are screening Godard's Breathless at the end of the month.

Richard Burton: Wild Genius. The demon drink may have diminished his undoubted talents but oh what a talent.Listen to him reading Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood. Watch The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Look Back in Anger and as O'Brien in 1984. A true talent.

This Remembrance Sunday, remembering my great uncle, Private James Wilson Chalmers Simpson, 2nd battalion, the Gordon Highlanders, killed in action 5th October 1917, in the third battle of Ypres. Aged 19.

Watching Parkinson interview Richard Burton on #BBC4 realising I am now older than Burton was when he died aged 58.

Seb Payne there...Times leader writer and columnist...and oh....failed former Tory candidate...#Newsnight.

Garthdee Aberdeen currently....

"So I said, 'I'd only support the death penalty in very extreme circumstances, such as high treason or mass murder, and even then only if it was proven 100% that they were guilty...' what did I say Roy?" "You said, 'Anybody not wearing a poppy from late August onwards should be taken out and shot.'"

Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade...a particularly fine episode. Leo McKern never better.

A fine night for eight at Corrour with a braw fire thanks to the MOs' coal and two other guests with the foresight (and shoulders!) to take in extra logs. Bothy TV, a wee dram and some great blethers: what it's all about. #Cairngorms #Bothylife

There's a lot to be said for 'Bothy TV' . Comforting, warming...in this case, when two cheap fancy dress tartan skirt/scarf/bonnet and chambermaid outfits left in Corrour bothy have acted as firelighters.

In to Corrour Bothy in the Lairig Ghru in the heart of the Cairngorms, with bothy maintenance officer Neil Reid to change the toilet bags. Someone has to do it. Working the Hazmat look...

59 years round the sun, mildly tipsy, listening to some Bach.

She's going to make a coat out of those dogs, isn't she?

I have a very bad feeling about this...

It is massively underconsidered as to why the negative/polarising reputation *among those who aren't Reform target voters* is a key problem for Farage trying to win on 30-33% bsky.app/profile/sund...

If Harris runs again she'd lose again I'm afraid. In a post Trump non Age of Reason world. #laurakuenssberg

Weekend reading

Thanks for that, Dave. Do you by any chance have an example of how things can go disastrously wrong if you don't have a very clear plan?

Tree skeleton near Staoineag bothy Loch Treig.

Just watched Highland Cops...and the Police and Mountain Rescue having to look for the bodies of a father and his 12 year old son who died in a fall on Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glencoe. Sobering and very sad.

Current listening...

The Abhainn Rath river flowing into Loch Treig. Central Highlands. Autumn.

Wednesday afternoon. Above Loch Treig. The Central Highlands. Stunning...plus added soundtrack of stags roaring in every direction.

Just listened to a lovely nostalgic BBC Radio 4 Extra programme from 2012 - Britain in a Box - about Vision On...Tony Hart..Wilf Lunn, Pat Keysell...the Gallery....

Trump's speech at the Knesset. Jeez..

It's almost exactly four years since Tim Shipman's notorious "Boris Johnson squats like a giant toad" tweet. Seems like important context given how we often talk as though the next election – four years away – is a done deal.

@bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social wd be interested in your thoughts on Andrew Graham-Dixon's thesis on Vermeer. Sounds very plausible.

Watching Annie Hall..just because...#DianeKeaton

Seems Like Old Times ......Diane Keaton. youtu.be/2hpUeySbcYw?...

I genuinely thought it was a piss-take that Trump was contemplating a Triumphal arch in DC. Nope...it'll be a thousand year Reich next.

Kemi Badenoch does broadcast interview..

Drinking game idea. Every time BBC Political ed Chris Mason does a piece to camera or for radio and mentions Nigel Farage and or Reform,take a drink. You'll be pissed in no time.

Robert Jenrick out and about in Birmingham.

RIP, John Woodvine. A very fine actor, and son of South Shields

One Battle After Another. Loved it. DiCaprio, del Toro, Penn on top form. A dark fable for our times. Five stars

Kemi Badenoch can't do media interviews. #BBCLauraK

Speaks volumes that even with Conservative Party conference this week...the main set piece interview on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg was with the Home Sec Shabana Mahmood...(Understandable given events in Manchester this week) nevertheless, Kemi Badenoch relegated to a later slot.

BREAKING Dr. Jane Goodall has died. She was 91. It is impossible to sum up the impact she has had on our world and on science in a social media post. She lived a long and incredible life but I am devastated. Full Story: bit.ly/4pPcNFH

Is Chris Mason capable of uttering a sentence without mentioning Nigel Farage?

'It came, it saw , it conquered...it then had its head bitten off.' Jelly Baby at the summit of graham Hartaval on the Trotternish ridge. My 165th Graham summit ...66 to go.

After the rain. A north Skye sunset. Looking to Harris.

They don't mess about on Skye. The Sopranos but in gaelic.

24 September 1937 | A German Jewish boy, Raphael Altmann, was born in Berlin. He lived in the Netherlands. In February 1944, he was discovered in a hiding place in Zeist. On 25 March 1944 he was murdered in a gas chamber in #Auschwitz.

Excellent season finale to Alien Earth. I will miss the sheep though.

Somewhere in Hell Qaddafi smiles knowing his will never again be seen as the most demented speech in UN General Assembly history.

Ballachulish hills this weekend.

Now available. #bbcpm

Proof that Donald Trump doesn’t know and has never met Peter Mandelson.