Further to today’s news item: am old enough to remember a time when teddy bears were not AI-equipped & likely to dispense advice on kink. They were passive companions, like Tessa, whose fur I loved off.

This is obvs terrifying & an increase in bear attacks is a public safety issue but: “to help hunters trap and *dispose* of bears”? I’m a big fan of animals generally, though not sentimental about them but jeez. Kill ‘em bec they’re starving & desperate? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Guess I’m being One Of Those People here. But, no ‘Knife In The Water’? Shame! www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Greedy, entitled AND defensively literal minded. It’s a winning combination. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Sitting outside, actual sun on actual face. It’s 4 degrees. I am immeasurably warmer than I was inside my flat.

A great, informative read. At the risk of sounding like a ‘wellness’ zealot, the fascia network - which I’d never even heard of before I started Pilates - really is vital. My spiked roller ball is now a good friend.

“There’s no one else quite like them” is lame praise, I know but really - Tortoise. They were phenomenal: dazzlingly on point & edge-of-the-seat compelling; 90 mins raced by in what truly felt like 30. Props to James Elkington for his more than capable depping for Jeff Parker, too.

My excitement has been building. Slowly & steadily, of course…

Zelenskyy is clearly smart, pragmatic, principled & extraordinarily stoic but how he hasn’t lost his mind over this Moscow-pleasing joke of a “deal” is beyond me. His rock-and-a-hard-place position is as heartbreaking as it is enraging.

Went to see some “electric rock ‘n’ roll” last night. (No identification needed.) Loved the fact that L was wearing a piece of jewellery modelled on his own image. And that he was going back to London afterwards, on the train.

Feeling oddly thrown by the sad news of Mani’s death. I never met him but aside from his obvious musical talent & widely acknowledged niceness, he was emblematic (along w the other Roses) of a whole UK subculture that went supernova - & always will be. His loss sends the late 80s rushing at me. RIP

Cut down or burn everything. What you can’t, concrete over. If you can’t concrete over it, pollute it to a level that will not sustain wildlife. If anything remains, kill it.

Floored by L Ramsay’s ‘Die My Love’, the hugely impressive telling of a difficult story (mental unravelling), w a sharp script, terrific sound design (odd silences, sudden explosions of extreme volume), rich colouration… & Jennifer Lawrence is 10 levels above extraordinary. Am still inside its world

Fascinating to hear gastrophysicist Charles Spence on the relationship between taste & sound/music on @cerysmatthews.bsky.social - incl a theory as to why someone who never drinks a Bloody Mary on the ground will order one on a plane. (Key: umami & dBs.)

Like a fule, I slept on this debut from NYC experi-pop types Toso Toso. It’s quite brilliant & likely to hit the spot with anyone into Kate NV, bossa pop, Julia Holter, bass music & glitchy improv. Certainly not sleeping now… youtu.be/dlc0wphnXGo

Anyone naive enough to have thought of Trump, re Epstein, “yeah, he’s deplorable but even he wouldn’t go there” might want to review T’s behaviour towards & comments on his OWN DAUGHTER, for god’s sake. Of course he knew about E’s conduct: the “secret” was foundational to their friendship.

“I saw the demon inside me, trying to claim my body as its own” - from the man for whom the word “lugubrious” was coined but whose slippery style works against definition. This track is an intriguing shift & (of course) terrific. #LaughingBilly pitchfork.com/news/bill-ca...

The Met appears to be conducting a cold recruitment drive on LinkedIn, which strikes me as… weird. Though given their recent admission that 300 recruits were given inadequate or no vetting, I guess skimming over someone’s cv online must seem quite rigorous.

I had no idea what Celebrity (or normie) Traitors is or how it’s played & planned to start in on it, weeks of ambient fuss having made me curious. Now there’s no point. What happened to the courtesy of spoiler warnings, eh?

If you’re a Pavement enthusiast (that’s everyone, right?) then get your paws on this lively & comprehensive Ultimate Music Guide from @uncutmagazine.bsky.social I took a deep dive into Brighten The Corners (their best, imo) & tracked Malkmus’s solo adventuring but there’s a ton of w/e goodness here.

Waking up to good news is rare but Mamdani’s victory is that thing. Nice work, New Yorkers.

Three Donkey Day

Jesus wept. Those any-port-in-a-storm Democrats might want to have a serious rethink about MTG. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Birthday felicitations to the brilliant Bill Woodrow, 77 today. I especially love this assemblage, Car Door, Armchair and Incident, from 1981.

A cruel & unjust punishment, I think we’d all agree. His struggle starts now.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #304, 1994 #Halloween www.thebroad.org/art/cindy-sh...

Halfway through & still dazzled & charmed by this skilful jump-cut of a novel. I loved his ‘… Kavalier & Clay’ but couldn’t get with ‘Telegraph Avenue’. At all. But this is a total joy - vivid, funny, profound, generous. A coincidence that ‘Wonder Boys’ is Michael Douglas’s best film? I think not.

Hyperbolic & fear-stoking headlines like this are infuriating: the footage isn’t “chilling” - the sharks don’t have some creepy ulterior motive, ffs, they’re wild animals, feeding. Neither is it anything as sensational as a “frenzy”. Enough of the Jaws cliches. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

My god. Just seen the photo of Weinstein, Epstein & Maxwell together at Royal Lodge, invited there by Prince Andrew two months *after* a warrant had been issued for E’s arrest. It’s genuinely chilling & sickening in equal measure. Absolute irredeemable monsters, all.

This is a great long-form profile of a truly intriguing Hollywood A-lister. Extraordinary that she’s never had any formal training - after-school drama classes, is all.

Just caved in & put heating on. So I’ll be warm but also peeved I’ve broken my usual October 31 embargo. The glow of self-righteousness does nothing for cold hands & feet…

The surrealistically-inclined artist (& eco protester) Isabel Rock has imagined the need of fish for shoes when they wed - I mean, who would deny them? - & made these extraordinary pairs from papier-mâché accordingly.

Typically excellent Sunday listening w Cerys Matthews: cheesemaker Margaretha Van Dam talks history & methodologies (“mozzarella is a prima donna”), Erik Satie & Miles Davis are on the playlist.

Today would have been the 85th birthday of one of pop’s greatest songwriters, Ellie Greenwich. She co-wrote River Deep Mountain High, I Can Hear Music. Be My Baby and many more. Here‘s her own dreamy version of Be My Baby. youtu.be/V-Rj4dP2d10?...

Liberty, Equality, Audacity www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

The Farce Will Be With Him... Always.

Gah. How have I slept on Alfa Mist’s latest, ‘Roulette’? It’s a magnificent blend of cool jazz & moody alt-soul, with effortlessly stylish orchestral arrangements all over & a dash of boom-bap. Now need to time travel so I can amend my Top 20 end-of-year list.

Just spotted my neighbour coming up his path with a (small) Christmas tree under one arm. Ffs, can we not, already?

Wondering if I underwent a humour bypass in my sleep last night: just tried first ep of Alan Partridge’s ‘How Are You?’ & was so thoroughly disengaged I didn’t even make it to the end. Does it get funnier? (I loved the AP projects bitd.)

Just watched the Spinal Tap sequel: my expectations were quite low but sheesh, it was tragic. The silence in the cinema was painful; I half-smiled twice (at Chris Addison’s character). Irrefutable evidence that you can’t strike the same match twice - especially after 40 years. In comedy.

Hang on - Katy Perry & Justin Trudeau?

“D’Angelo was a generational talent—an unusually artful singer, and an experimental and idiosyncratic songwriter.” Amanda Petrusich remembers the R. & B. singer D’Angelo, who died this week at 51.

Currently enjoying this unexpected (by me) Avett Brothers/Mike Patton collab. Can’t help but be reminded of awesome performance by MP & Fred Frith at Southbank, aeons ago: people behind vocalising bewilderment as to wtf the Faith No More dude was playing at. (They left.) youtu.be/2BATdG5MvKc

Knocked for six by the news of D’Angelo’s death - 51 is so cruelly young. What an extraordinary talent he was.

Trying not to harsh my own holiday mellow here but nothing tells you you’re back in the UK with such a resounding smack in the face as being met with a “rail replacement bus” notification when you’ve not even exited the airport.

This is the beautiful Bella, guardian/boss of my temp residence & bane of the life of resident dog. She’s 14 & could easily live to 60, I’m told. That’s quite the pet commitment. Bit disappointed in her literal parroting, tbh. It’s a LOT of ‘ça va’.

Congratulations to fearless campaigner Maria Corina Machado for her Nobel award. Trump must be incandescent right now - not only a Venezuelan but also a woman. It could hardly be more perfect.

She speaks no English, I speak no Arabic. But there is always the international language of enTREATy.

Please allow me to boast about this empty beach. Not that I made it myself - but I did just nap on it. Magnificent…

Great, if unsettling report on one independent & determined cell of resistance in LA. And the kind of unconstitutional bs they’re up against.