"Yes, you see, that letter was actually indeed for Edwina and I don't actually know how the mix up occurred.."

Having had a day to think through everything about El-Fattah, here's where I stand. Yes, it's possible to believe all of these things at once! In fact, it really shouldn't be that hard.

I’m an Edwardian barrister who is manipulated into investigating a murder.

I'm a Roman orator in a collapsing republic. So basically still an academic.

"A compromise to move the planned development outside the hill fort tipped the balance in favour of building it there rather than Stiperstones, and government approval was given in 1972." God only knows what horrors a transmitter on top of the Stiperstones would have broadcast into people's houses.

This is definitely not the worst position Portillo held during his political career, but it might be the one he’s most embarrassed to see come out…

Glad nobody was hurt when the lines parted - the forces involved in this sort of thing are phenomenal.

I sat next to Melvyn Bragg at Mass once and was entirely oblivious until someone told me afterwards. (Not really a massive celebrity but the best I can do….)

a) this is a stupid game played on the basis of no evidence beyond vibes b) did this person actually watch the King’s Speech?

Thirteen years ago that I discovered 1) the King of Siam offered Abraham Lincoln war elephants, and 2) he refused. Consider, instead: what if he had not blogtarkin.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/d...

This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)

Metal detectorists/mudlarkers in North America: "Look, three pennies and a belt buckle! Best day on the beach ever!" Metal detectorists/mudlarkers in Great Britain: "Remember to report all the dead bodies and live WWII-era ordnance you find. They have a form at the office."

There’s a fair amount of money in knitting, to be fair *looks ruefully at stash*

Someone I was at university with is doing Thought For the Day tomorrow. I don’t feel so much old as “mildly bemused.”

I still haven’t forgiven them for Nigel. In fact I don’t think I’ve listened to a full episode since…

#tec On Holy Innocents' Day: "Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy, all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace." I think of the children in Gaza, Ukraine,....

A genuine vintage Glasgow Central destination board in signwriter’s Rail Alphabet I have referred to this artefact here before and I referred to it several times at The Other Place but always with the excuse that I couldn’t show you it because it was in storage … It is finally out of storage!

*insert man in hot dog suit meme here* (Not that the Daily Mail are the only guilty party, but they're pretty high up there...)

"Norman Rockwell was antifa," his granddaughter says. (Fact check: literally true.) www.thebulwark.com/p/norman-roc...

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

When they talk about freedom, they have always been specifically talking about their own freedom and that of people like them, and not everyone’s liberty. Their freedom is entirely compatible with you being clubbed in the teeth by a policeman in space marine armour, and at some points depends on it.

There should be literally no circumstances, ever, where citizenship is can be revoked. If you literally sign up to fight for an opposing army in a war, then we should prosecute you for treason not revoke citizenship

Unexpected moment of Radio 3 descending into, um, appreciating Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn…

Tiny reform that could make life easier: allow birth registration in borough of residence, rather than that of birth. Nevertheless, it’s v Christmassy to be taking a long multi-modal journey on a cold day, in order to undertake census duties in the borough of birth, on orders of Caesar Hollandus.

Begum left the UK *a year* after the Isis Beatles were frontpage news and after other countries had gone 'yeah, we are passing specific "don't go there" laws'. So much of our politics is driven by a Conservative party that values little beyond a doomed attempt to save its own face.

Shamima Begum was the beginning of something in so many ways, one of which was 'the last government's inability to just do its job properly (in this case by passing legislation that would have allowed it to prosecute her here at home) and instead going 'no option but to undermine all our rights'.

Today is the feast of St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who suffered martyrdom at the hands of a group of knights in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. News of Thomas’ death spread quickly through Latin Christendom, & the cult of the saint arrived in the Norse world already in the 1170s. (1/n)

Rupert Lowe’s views are disgraceful, racist, and inhumane, and should have no place in public life.

No idea who Laurent Brindeau is, but isn’t this caricature of @zackpolanski.bsky.social in today’s @dailymailpolitics.bsky.social ragingly antisemitic?

#MedievalMonday On Feast Day of #StThomasBecket, this exceptional font in Lyngsjö Church, Sweden, where saint was v popular. Made 20 years after Becket's 1170 assassination, Henry II shown as instigating murder. On L he holds a scroll inscribed REX H[EN]ricus. On R knights attack the archbishop.

Incidentally, if "migrants should have fewer rights" is stage one, then "dual citizens have divided loyalties" is almost invariably stage two of every historical example of mass oppression. Usually followed by second/third-generation migrants or full citizens of a particular minority being targeted.

As a time traveller trying to blend in on meeting Clement Attlee in 1945 "Clement Attlee! Put it there! Down below!" [We expertly do a low five] "Up above!" [Attlee and everyone in the room correctly look alarmed as I extend my right arm upwards, palm forwards in 1945. I am instantly arrested]

Ask this question and its follow-up. Like Begum before him, Alaa el-Fattah is being used as a crowbar to shift reasonable people - even some progressives - into a space of thinking that full citizenship, if granted recently or dual, is retroactively conditional or attracts a lower class of rights.

Not very seasonal!

Following. I frequently look at Narthex and Birds is a reliable source of cheer.

This is the earliest Scottish-minted coin ever found. It was struck almost 900 years ago during the reign of King David I of Scotland. The coin has now been saved for the nation 👏 www.thenational.scot/news/2...

Quite apart from the whole “are we the baddies” aspect, Sauron’s security was famously not as watertight as he thought….

Make equity intentional! "Gender inequality: How having children affects women’s careers" "The greatest risk is anticipatory reassignment: tasks are moved not because performance has changed, but because of assumptions about future availability or commitment." www.euronews.com/business/202...

I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday and I have to accept this is mine:

Yes. This. Grr. (See also Greek!) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee;

This fantastic Red-shouldered hawk parenting was another of my favorites in 2025. It was some great luck finding this nest and I spent a lot of time watching them 🤩 #birds #raptors #2025recap

I actually managed to make some Christmas cookies today, and now I’m decanting the quince gin I made earlier in the year.

This looks like a great station (and I share the blogger’s frustration that five years on, there are still so many tatty social distancing signs cluttering up the place. Why won’t people take them down/ scrub them off?)

Current spellcheckers are messing with my head because I am truly a terrible speller. When I see the spellchecker trying to change "dissipated" into "disspiated," I get nervous, like, "Oh shit, have I been spelling this wrong forever?" But no. It's just undermining my confidence with bullshit.

the mystery of God transcends all categories of knowing

LeMonde said, not on our watch

It’s nearly 2026, when the Church of England elects General Synod again. And a lot hangs on this. viamedia.news/2025/12/28/t...

Some updates to an old post, with the aid of some newly digitised Burgh Records. This is the one about Glasgow's first and most celebrated Mysterious Fire, in which I try to clear the name of the local Hell-Fire Club (who quite possibly didn't exist). new-cleckit.dominie.scot/who-burnt-do...

delighted to see a spammy account get their ECBs confused. (Hugh Morris is a former Chief Executive of the England & Wales Cricket Board) #cricket 🏏