If you're in Leeds and have a free evening this week, or if you are in Bristol or Oxford, do go and see this. It's brilliant yorkshirebylines.co.uk/society/a-mi...

Happy year of the Horse to any who might be celebrating. Or have pancakes if that's more your thing. The sun is shining (at least where I am) so have a nice day

My brother wanted a London pub crawl. The result? My new Substack post: "Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?" How private equity reshaped the local, which pubs are most at risk and most importantly what to do about it. open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...

The Bear on top form here.

1) Today (23:59) is the deadline for submitting responses to the Home Office "consultation" on their plans to make life a lot more difficult for foreigners living in the UK: www.gov.uk/government/c...

I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it. I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.” 1/

Required reading for anyone writing on DV. Having been very peripherally involved (once) this seems to me to be spot on

Great video. The homes are thoughtful, attractive and well designed. Khan is eloquent and considerate. Much more like this please.

If you can find time to respond to this, please do. The proposals are very poorly thought through and will not add to societal cohesion

This is really very good indeed.

This comes up a lot so I do want to let you all know that the option of turning the existing building into a heritage/museum site has been costed out and it is substantially more expensive

Make time to watch the whole, or watch from around 20:10. Absolutely amazing. And should be required viewing by some members of the government as well.

I have yet to receive a reply to this from anyone in the Green Party - my image and quote appear under the title "Everyone Agrees, Labour Are Done!". As the excerpt from the same article quoted here I reproduce below makes clear, I do not "agree". This clearly misrepresents my views.

Just a quick note to @greenparty.org.uk and @greenpartyhan.bsky.social - I was not consulted on being quoted on your leaflets and I have not endorsed your campaign (or any campaign in this seat). I think this note, like the bar chart next to it, is misleading and out of context.

This is a beautiful thread. Many thanks for sharing it.

🚨By-elections to be called automatically when MPs defect to another party - lets get this to the 100,000 signatures needed petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

The true face of Iran’s protesters and the human cost of their courage | Under brutal repression by an authoritarian regime, young Iranian women’s voices are clearer than ever in calling for freedom and democracy | Dr Ela Zabihi

This is awesome: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS0w...

The air is much warmer today, but there is still enough ice on the canal for some ballet practice in shaded places.

As often, @bearlypolitics.co.uk gets it about spot on. open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

Many of you may know that white port with ice, tonic and a slice of lemon is a very apperitif. Do not substitute limonata because you don't have any cold tonic water. This has been a public service announcement.

Happy New Year wherever you are! I hope 2026 brings peace and light

I'm a bemused Catholic priest who finds rather too many mysteries in his path

I walked past Stephen Fry in Soho one day. Thought, what a well-cut suit and coat, nice shoes. It was probably 10 mins before I realised who it had been.

Also this is awesome. Light in the darkness truly

Some true Christmas light in the dark

Happy Christmas if you celebrate! Have a nice weekend if you don’t. New year’s greetings will follow but have fun and be happy xx

If our government continues to acknowledge the damage of Brexit while simultaneously failing to offer any real solutions, it won't just be the Brexiters crying 'betrayal'. @implausibleblog.bsky.social @bremaininspain.com @grahambs.bsky.social

My Mac has updated to some ghastly new OS and I can't find anything. If I want to save stuff, it pushes me to OneDrive. Why can't they leave things alone?

NEW: Labour just announced the biggest change in planning policy in 80 years. My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed. www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...

A thousand reasons to love the French, and this has to be one of them

I think this might interest you! open.substack.com/pub/peteapps...

A Christmas Carol brought home to Leeds Charles Dickens’ much-loved tale of the perils of greed, the power of community spirit and of ultimate redemption is a seasonal feast By Ginny Gilmore @gingoddess.bsky.social

Does anyone in the Leeds area recognise this style of security pass? Found in Whitehall Road 9 December

I want to decorate our Xmas tree. I have our Xmas tree and probably not quite enough decorations.| I am in complete stasis - reading Bluesky - in case I do it wrong. I don't even believe in Xmas tree police

I only just realised that one way to support all the wonderful creatives that @garius.bsky.social is supporting would be to repost his thread. Fill your boots, there is lovely stuff to be had

Another Brexit economic verdict arrived last month in the form of an 83-page NBER working paper - and it is devastating. What shocks me more is how politely politics continues to look away from the person who drove the bus.

If you find yourself in West Yorkshire, any Yorkshire really, this winter, do try to see this starring @reecedinsdale.bsky.social . It's really fabulous. yorkshirebylines.co.uk/society/cult...

Could I ask you clever people a question please. I have an iPhone 14 running iOS18.? I used to be able to move an app into a folder on the home screen but pressing it and dragging it. I now can't get it to move into a folder, just move around the screen. What am I doing wrong please?

Quick note to anyone thinking of buying my books: please purchase the new Swift Press versions, NOT the relatively small number of Unbound versions still knocking about, & being sold by OOINYA. Unbound stopped paying me for my work early in 2024 and I will never see a penny for these books.

This is a fairly terrifying read, particularly if you have any knowledge of how the NHS tries to function. Just those six words: Flu has come five weeks early. www.bearlypolitics.co.uk/p/the-punish...

Can I please ask all my followers in the US (a surprising number from Kansas for some reason, which is epic) to pass two messages on for your orange grievance merchant in chief? First - Leave the BBC out of your lying mouth. Second - #ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles. Please and thank you.

“My whole life, my real life, unfolded here. This is home, heart and bone.” A beautiful, uplifting thread. Shame on you, Shabana Mahmood

What Hannah said.

Gah! Order a jacket. Check website sizing carefully against another garment because 'women's clothes'. Arrives: too small. To return it I have to pay the return fee BEFORE I get a refund. And I can't get to a shop selling this brand and I live in a major city.

Very important article to read. And there will be more. So get ahead of the coming storm.

My GP practice seems to have had its repeat prescription service amended for it - again. More confusing than ever. I don't blame the doctors at all, but the software suppliers

I'm glad to see Roscoe is taking his CEO duties seriously.

I know zip about these kind of games, but he seems a nice guy