Phew.

There are no losers tonight according to hosts … unfortunately think uk proves that wrong

That is quite a brave costume 😳

Moldova prompted mass drinks refil, toilet break and get dessert break here. Biggest dress of the night though

do you want an entire hour of two straight men discussing the history of the Eurovision Song Contest? then, do we have the podcast for you!!

Talking about death; - some practical posts on how to help the bereaved. henrytapper.com/2026/05/06/t... Thanks @henrytapper.bsky.social. Also credit to @greenmirandahere.bsky.social for her excellent sadmin piece giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... ‘Sadmin’ — the side hustle nobody wants

Sheesh. Just discovered our gps online booking form is only available during core hours. Just why? When been up all night with sick child and 111 says probably fine but get go to check in the morning, why not let me submit it now instead of set alarm to join the morning melee.

I'm personally a big fan of absolute ultimogeniture... Pick your favourite rule of succession with @jonnelledge.bsky.social, my guest writer this week. www.broadhistory.com/what-is-that...

Oh ffs, the defining questions will be whether you’ve kept inflation under control, improved earnings, decreased waiting lists etc. a government trying to be more British than opponents has already lost; the only question is to whom.

I discovered broad history today via @jonnelledge.bsky.social and it’s excellent. Pensions people might find this a particularly good place to start www.broadhistory.com/the-gender-p...

"He rationalises his own behaviour as an example of the long-discredited madman theory ... But this does not work when the working assumption is that he really is crazy. The conclusion is not that he can be calmed with more concessions but instead that he is an impossible person to deal with".

The Iran crisis will have lots of consequences but one of the biggest is that it's a further indication of how far the US has fallen.

Good job it's not full, or this would have been a very nasty crash

When a Border Collie has no sheep to herd …and the Cat being so Catlike 😸

Instead of raising prices, maybe they can reduce the size … www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is my assessment of why Trump’s war went so badly wrong. Underestimating an enemy and a belief in a quick victory are familiar sources of failure, compounded in this sense by incredible ultimatums and delusional claims. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?

Fascinating detail about space watches

Well, I was going to do a bit of work but seems that is not allowed tonight 😂 He does help me out when I send out gibberish in that I blame him for walking over the keyboard and accidentally doing send as I obviously would never have written such garbage.

Sun's out, I just got some good news, have 25% off. Also tomorrow i am finally, after over five years, putting prices up for new subscribers (but ONLY new subscribers, it won't affect you if you're already subscribed). So really this is a good deal, TWICE

Newsletter's out. jonn.substack.com/p/the-world-...

It's only April, but already a strong contender for pension blog post of the year ;)

Non connected clocks moved forward. Not looking forward to trying to work out how to do the car later …

How can this go on for another 3 years?

Rather more successful than a cocktail I once hosted. Had various stations set up for gin, vodka, rum etc by about 6 pm. Checked the recipes were all ok before the guests arrived … was told it was a good party despite me not being there long after guests arrived 😜

Periodic "I am available for various freelance work" post/thread. Not that these tend to lead to much in my case but just in case this will change that pattern. Things I can do and have experience of doing listed below.

Hello! It doesn’t cost anything to repost but it helps me spread the word about my small business. My online shop is full of bold & colourful prints, homewares, T-shirts and cards. I’m also available for freelance design work and art licensing. gailmyerscough.co.uk

Feeling very March 2020 today. Beautiful day outside. Sounds of kids playing happily. Looking at terrifying projections on my computer...

And again, people will do anything to bring back smartly appointed independent shops apart from pay a small premium and a bit of inconvenience Vs the supermarket.

I'm hearing what's really making Labour MPs furious is that the cost of licensing address data from Royal Mail is absurdly high for small businesses and bedroom coders who want to build the apps and services of the future.

Started to ask what has Greece done to justify prime(ish) position on the Olympic ticket registration site and then realised …

It's also all a bit...'Franz Ferdinand's assassination an embarrassment for the 'Visit Sarajevo' tourism campaign', it is certainly *true* but it is missing the point.

ah the regular reminder that my work password is going to expire and I really wish my employer would read the NCSC guidance on passwords www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/p...

This is why there's a whole chapter in my book about the damage the grid has done to policy making.

On which note, if anyone does happen to know of any organisations with positions for an experienced policy, advocacy and comms person, across multiple sectors including migrants rights, LGBTQIA+, finance, and more, ideally around Reading/London area, please let me know. bsky.app/profile/dani...

Good list here and agree they are smart and sound

I have a lot of sympathy for governments failing - governing is hard. Opposition is relatively easy as the bar is don’t say completely batshit crazy things which are obviously unhelpful and yet, here we are.

One of the most fulfilling things I've done the last couple of years is attempt, incompetently, to be a mentor, whatever one of those is. Anyway, my mentee(?) @matt-taylor.bsky.social wrote this about why his kids don't believe in Santa for the Guardian yesterday and it's bloody good

Came across this and it’s really, really good

My new life motto “if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing sitting down with a drink” 🍺👍😂 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Me too 😂 Fascinating

I hate how much I enjoyed this BIG NERD DESIGN ENERGY 🫦

Can I opt out of the new iOS look? Probably just me being a grumpy old man but feels like change for changes sake rather than genuine improvement

There’s a fifa ethics committee?!?!? Maybe Santa is real after all.

Taxpayers lost £10.9 billion to fraud and error as the previous Tory government’s pandemic response left the front door open to fraud hmtreasury-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/covid-f...

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... Not convinced it’s the way to get an abundance of listeners but I love the punny introduction 😂

Lies, damned lies and the Telegraph. They posted CSJ figures using an outrageously false comparison of 2 cases. It claimed a benefits family were better off by £18k than a working household when the real figure was £16k worse off. The details benefitsinthefuture.com #benefits #budget

it's based on a Telegraph story taken from "research" by the Centre for Social Justice, comparing a 1.5x full time minimum wage couple with a three-child family that includes someone with severe disability. @ferrinfo.bsky.social took it apart here benefitsinthefuture.com/lies-damned-...

The guy's literally got one leg, but that's apparently one too many for the DWP to consider him disabled www.mirror.co.uk/money/dwp-fi...