If you can hear a group of people shouting “No. NO! Do. Not. Go. Down. There!!” it’s because we’re watching Barbarian and we’re all wimps.

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate it. And would somebody turn the oven on?

Watched Weapons as a Christmas Eve spooker. Don’t much care for horror films usually but this was great fun.

Just watched Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man. Unexpectedly theological. In fact downright parsonical. But nicely done. (For God’s sake though: if you cut another twenty minutes the film will almost certainly be stronger. Yes I mean you. And you. And them.)

When the couple upstairs stop shouting but you want to hear the end of the argument

Got the Starr up on the Christmas tree.

My top five favourite words to pronounce like they’re Greek philosophers…   5. Monocles 4. Bicycles 3. Popsicles 2. Obstacles 1. Testicles

Coming soon: The Trump- Lincoln Memorial and the Trump-Washington Monument

Tonight’s Front Row Quiz. 1/ A notable director, a notable shark and a notable magician appear in Marty Supreme. Who? 2/ Stephen Sondheim has a cow. In which musical? 3/ Why the hell do l look like this? Answers at 7:15 on Radio Four.

This is the bit of the iceberg we can see. Imagine what’s going on below the waterline. www.thetimes.com/article/5c0f...

I think the authorities should check this guy's cellar...

Been having some difficulty locating the Christmas spirit this year. But this excellent thread has helped…

Dear God. Even now he’s dead Rob Reiner continues to show us exactly who Trump is.

Spinal Tap is supremely funny. But the real genius is that you well up when David St Hubbins calls Nigel on stage at the end. The idiots are real enough to care about.

I despair at the persistence of the belief that a better world is just a few more murders away.

Loved this.

He was a lovely man -- dedicated to excellence but without a hint of intellectual snobbery. We asked him to review the video game L.A. Noire once for Saturday Review (among other things) and he was so engaged and intrigued by that way of telling a story. www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

If this is a success I’ll eat a 49 day old lettuce…

Don’t know the full story behind this, but it’s a real shame I think.

Since I’m not heavily invested in Liam Neeson as a public health expert — despite his exemplary record in recovering kidnapped family members by means of extreme violence — his idiotic beliefs about vaccines do not hugely trouble me.

Watch to the end…

If it was “wasteful” to change over to Calibri presumably it’s equally wasteful to change it back.

New gig! Extremely excited. See you at the theater… 🎭 www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

i asked chat gpt to fact check an article for me

If only *one* reporter had the nerve to follow up with “Why do you feel the need to be so rude and personally offensive when you’re asked a polite question?”

Been watching the second series of The Rehearsal. Very funny ha-ha (if you stick with it). But also funny (very, very) peculiar.

Excited to announce that my wife Karen has taken up the bagpipes

Fascinating stuff on Start the Week this morning: The Peasants War, the last known victims of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and the neurology of selfhood, all in the words of prize-winning authors. Join Lyndal Roper, Hannah Durkin @masudhusain.bsky.social and me just after 9:00 on Radio Four.

I'm sorry to hear that Martin Parr has died. This is good on him and his work... www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

In a statement Mr Flashman said that if he had roasted small boys in front of an open fire it was never in a malicious or unkind way.

New cheese shop in Crouch End. Excellent if you love cheese. Not so good if you find it agonising to queue behind the indecisive.

Bonfire of the Dignities…

Should you be curious about what happens when the tea towel you’re using to strain pumpkin puree splits at the moment of maximum pressure…. Basically it looks as if I’ve murdered a pumpkin and it wasn’t a quick death.

Quote for today's negotiations: "The aggressor is always peace-loving; he would prefer to take over our country unopposed." Carl von Clausewitz in "On War," 1816-1830

An excellent piece by Yasmin Khan in @theguardian.com – and I’m very relieved the preposterous case against her has been dropped. www.theguardian.com/food/comment...

This is a great read... "Florida is where you go when you’ve done something wrong. California is where you go when you’ve done something wrong and want to be pretentious about it." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

If that’s true shouldn’t someone wake him up?

Coughing. Overrated pleasure.

I see America has invented the roundabout

Sad to hear of the death of Andreas Whittam-Smith. A great editor to work for — omnivorously curious, enthusiastic and eccentric in all the right ways.

A very big tree has fallen. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...

Bending my mind with this today for Start the Week. I currently exist in a superposition of dawning comprehension and complete bafflement. But hey, even Einstein found it hard to get his head round the idea. Collapse of my wave form on Monday at 9:00 on Radio Four.

Every year we make a free-to-download-and-print-off-yourself colouring-in Advent Calendar. This year’s heavily features Bigfoots. Please share! Download it for free here… www.worldofmoose.com/pages/2025-b...

The Twitter/X account geolocation feature should be treated with scepticism (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/the-twitte...

The only circumstances in which it’s acceptable to wear pajamas on a flight.

I didn’t like Wicked back when it wasn’t fashionable.

Grok? Is Elon more like Beavis or Butthead?