There has got to be a decent chance that the Venezuela adventure goes badly enough for it to be the functional end of Trump's authority. Lord knows what the actual odds on this happening are though.

Lyse Doucet superb on PM now.

AP: Across the Venezuelan capital, there were no signs that the U.S. had taken over control of Venezuela’s government or military forces. The Miraflores Palace and military bases remained guarded by Venezuela’s armed forces

Take up the Orange Man's burden, America. No tawdry rule of kings.

Through the looking glass, America. You're through the looking glass.

Ukrainians. Russian incompetence. But also, you know, Ukrainians.

Rather than risk litigation from outside groups, government will layer on reviews and additional procedures to satisfy a specific stakeholder concern. This will inadvertently create barriers to get future stuff done, and a new legal/consulting industry incentivised to profit from such process.

What if Darth Vader had ADHD

What everyone needs to know about Venezuela is that Venezuela is,[c]officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,[d] and is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises an area of 916,445 km2.

It wasn't a raid. It was a pick-up.

Lost amid the discussion of why the Government should get off X is its utter uselessness as an engagement tool and the fact departments are wasting vast sums making content for it. Take this:

Only in England - and maybe Australia - would the fact this poor young person went to a private school be in the headline or intro.

THREAD: Verified videos of anti-establishment protests in Iran on 1 January A group of protesters in the small city of Azna, in the western porvince of Lorestan, set fire to the local police station. Location: maps.app.goo.gl/Qz7rbxSWTp34...

Nearly everyone quoted in this story actually says that Paul Ovenden has a point. There are also good points about how ministers have the ability to direct and manage the machine to perform better. They do. But...

Remember how Liam Rosenior basically told Bristol City to stuff it as a young player. Was always clear he had a strong mind. But does that also suggest he'd end up also telling BlueCo to stuff it?

Very much worth a read.

Three players who went to my school in the Bristol City team that finished winning 5-0. Nice.

I HAVE SEEN SINCLAIR ARMSTRONG SCORE. WITH MY OWN EYES. #bristolcity

Matchfit.

US Department of Labour celebrates a proxy army funded and equipped by France

Seen in Bradford-on-Avon today - large numbers of the ultimate NIMBY protest sign. "NO TO BUILDING ON THE OLD DUMP"

I see the President of the United States is attempting to instigate a pogrom.

Imber.

Not sure people are getting the real importance of the Russians fooling Trump about the Ukrainians attacking Putin's house. It was to demonstrate just how much they control his thinking--how much he is in their pocket. And it worked.

Surely one would just assume this with any French president?

So who had a possible Saudi-UAE war on their list of predictions?

Whose inauguration?

"Perhaps the solution would be for us to abandon telegrams, which seem in any case to be going out of fashion." This was in 1994.

Can't quite get past this weird framing of what is basically just a celeb story. But my advice to whoever wrote it would be, "Happy Christmas, the culture war is over (if you want it)".

Reading the Buckley bio, which is extremely sympathetic to him personally. But provides a merciless account of how modern US conservatism is a deformed ideology. In other words, it was rotten from the start. Putrid, in fact.

De Valera after sending condolences to the German consulate for the death of Hitler.

Got thrown out of a hotel lift by Shimon Peres's bodyguards.

Looking forward to visiting Imber for the first time later this week. www.bbc.com/news/article...

No one thinks this. Especially not the people who say they think this.

Kremlin about to release this as "proof" of attack on Putin residence.

Aside from all the other reasons for the British government to get off X, the fact it now functions as an illegal drugs supermarket might be another.

Re: the violently antisemitic guy recently returned from Egypt. A potentially useful resource for FCDO and N10 officials dealing with similar individuals in the future: www.google.com You're welcome.

Every major progressive Bluesky account sees being deeply blasé about intense anti-Jewish racism as a positive good in and of itself.

Those Green numbers on trail hunting may be the best proxy we yet have for the prevalence in their current support between urban radicals and posh-ish rural types.

Marty Supreme. A weird mashup of the trad sports movie, as made by the Coen Bros and based on an original idea by Howard Jacobson. But the picture it most reminded me of was Peter Chelsom's "Funny Bones".

⚫ Brigitte Bardot, actrice française légendaire, icône féminine des années 1960 et fervente protectrice des animaux, est décédée à l'âge de 91 ans, a annoncé ce dimanche la Fondation Brigitte Bardot.

Morgan Rogers' pass to Watkins for his first goal is crying out to be described as "slide rule". Even though no one under 80 has ever used a slide rule.

Such a weird team, Chelsea. World-beaters one half, a disaster zone the next.

Fruitless quest for marble armrests. None of them ANYWHERE. Not even cheapo quartz.

Turns out he flew dozens of raids over Europe as a navigator during the war and crash landed multiple times. So many postwar comedy legends had similar stories of seeing death very close up. Eg, Denis Norden and Eric Sykes being present at the liberation of Belsen.

1914, 1941 or 2025?

Browsing online for a new sofa in the Boxing Day sales. Frustrating search for one with marble armrests. Very hard to find.

I've been thinking about this sign for 6 months. a phrase I'll treasure forever. a metaphor with boundless potential

We should start by talking about older, successful professionals who have fallen into a sort-of high-status conspiracism, promoting distrust in institutions to drive crowdfunding ventures. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/why-im-not...

5 reasons why The Shining is a Christmas movie; 1. Snow 2. Red rum 3. Hyperactive kids 4. Big snuggly jumpers 5. Huge family row ending with someone putting an axe through the door