Wonderful needlework by our multi-talented Rector showing the Church of the Good Shepherd, Murrayfield.

Wordle 1,708 2/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 A rare occurrence.

My great grandfather met my great grandmother on one of those steamboats from Leith to the north. She was throwing up over the rail & he went to her assistance. And here I am, 146 years later.

Commemorated by a statue in Ipswich, in recognition both of his Rugby career & brief service in the RAF in World War Two. He was killed when his Hurricane crashed in 1940.

This will always be my favourite version of Wuthering Heights, though: youtu.be/BIMEPPZxzyg

A great treat at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Murrayfield, this morning. Choir-member and lutenist Chris Miller played works by John Dowland to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

Congratulations to the Bishop of Huntingdon on her forthcoming translation to Edinburgh

Not every guide book shows you the Balgreen Tunnel.

And radical reform of the Upper House of Parliament while they’re at it.

Delighted to report that the councillors on the relevant committee unanimously rejected the application.

Does Edinburgh really need or want an AI data centre that will consume as much electricity as Edinburgh & Glasgow combined? Dear councillors use your human intelligence & say no!

I had four correct letters by line 3 and then it became a guessing game. Phew.

“We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, as long as they pay their taxes.” Peter Mandelson in 1998.

www.ft.com/content/6f90... “Recently we saw soldiers gathered around a man they held prostrate…If Christ appears to us in this moment, he is not among the executioners.” Marilynne Robinson in this FT free to read article.

Sharing the grace with every single person who views this. Please join in - in whatever language you speak. Let’s share the grace together. #grace #church #LoveOneAnother

imagine being the father or mother or son or daughter or sibling of one of those brave British troops who died in Afghanistan, and having to listen to this crass ignorance

I know one British Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. He was definitely “in the front line” (though it wasn’t that kind of war) as were the 457 who didn’t come home. Donald Trump, by contrast, got medical exemption from the Vietnam War. The UK honoured its NATO commitments after 9/11.

You breed contempt Mr. President, and that’s the second put-down to veterans in as many days, and to those who fought and died in Afghanistan to support you, the US

I thought @stephenjenkinson.bsky.social that @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social recommends that pavements should be 2m wide. A loading bay for the new hotel on the west side of Devon Place seems to be allowing a pavement that won't comply. If I'm right, why? I ask as the husband of a wheelchair user.

Found the Reggie Perrin clip including the line: ‘why do you think Windsor Castle is ringed by Chinese restaurants’

“Famous families should try resolving their disputes in private” urges the third leader in The Times, which has offered extensive coverage of the Beckhams of the kind one would expect from a tabloid.

For reasons known only to himself, Mark Rutte called him Daddy. Rutte is in the audience listening to this tosh. I hope he feels thoroughly ashamed.

It's happening Jim.

“There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place and they are losers.” Trump being Quixotic at Davos.

Something we needed like a hole in the head.

“Greenland is to Trump as Ukraine is to Putin” “The crisis is not impending, it is here” Fiona Hill at our event this evening www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/trump-...

Not a prophetic insight as it turns out.

This hasn’t aged well. Will Farage now be so keen to have a photo opp with Trump at Davos?

If you listen very carefully, you can hear Charles de Gaulle screaming I BLOODY TOLD YOU SO from some rural French cemetery.

www.theguardian.com/world/live/2... Come on Starmer. It’s time for that Love Actually speech.

How about a statute making a bye-election mandatory if a sitting MP changes party allegiance between General Elections?

One of several seen in Roseburn Park just now.

I don’t think that His Majesty the King should visit the USA unless its President desists from laying claim to Greenland.

Warmly recommended. We are the fortunate owners of several works by this talented artist.

I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Perceptive piece by Behr. “Keir Starmer’s verbal constipation on camera” is a telling phrase.

A Christmas card was delivered today by Royal Mail. Impossible to read the postmark so I don’t know when it was posted. The envelope had a first class stamp.

Dear cyclists. My gripe is with the City Council not with you. This is an example of what passes for pavement in West Edinburgh. It’s just across the road from an excellent cycle path.

www.bbc.com/news/article... Whereas regarding Venezuela…?

Spineless, hopeless. (It was Mike Tapp, but can’t imagine the PM doing different).

I see Lake Valdai is in the news or rather fake news. It’s lovely, as I discovered 25 years ago.

Once you advertise you're committed! So here we go. George Harris: A Retrospective - Paintings from 1979 to 2025 St John’s Hall, Princes Street Friday 23rd January 4.00-8.00 - Saturday 24th 9.00 -5.00 - Sunday 25th 9.00 – 4.00 (Refreshments available)

Just finished watching It’s a Wonderful Life. Here’s hoping the America that Capra celebrated survives the uber-Potters of the present.

Very interested to hear @rory-stewart.bsky.social & @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social discussing the Incarnation on TRIP. You were referenced in my Christmas Morning sermon. Have a happy Christmas & thanks for a brilliant podcast.

Wordle 1,650 2/6 🟨⬜🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 A gift from the NYT. Have a blessed & peaceful Christmas, fellow skeeters.

A minor challenge of city life.

Americans- still struggling with the metric system? Here's some help!

Wordle 1,646 3/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 There was an an element of luck in this.