“You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything”: the odious Gervais, failing to understand the difference betw lecturing & stating a personal opinion. Or acknowledge the fact that being onstage with a mic, at a globally broadcast event, is obvs the perfect “position”. He should know.

Strong Norfolk Holiday Inn vibes in both decor & dress [Lynn Benfield just out of shot].

A long (& highly engaging) read, as befits the thumping great heft of the novel. Which I haven’t forgotten how to read but rather just forgotten to read, period. Maybe 2026 is the year…

Watching ‘Charade’ (1963) for the first time: Audrey Hepburn looking spectacularly stylish throughout in Givenchy.

PSA: Exemplary skronk from Shoji Hano & Derek Bailey, as chosen by Stewart Lee - now in highly entertaining convo with @gillespeterson.bsky.social on 6 Music.

This is such a warm & genuine appreciation of the Muppets’ evergreen magnificence, I’m prepared to sign up to Disney+ to watch it. #Muppetsforever www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

“How do you feel about paying your gas bill?” my supplier has just emailed me. Well, I “feel” that you are a monstrously rapacious energy company exploiting my need for hot water & heating, to maximise shareholder profits. I mean, who the hell comes up with this fatuous comms crap?

Sheesh - imagine 250kg of claw, fur & tooth taking up residence in your basement. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Weirdly, I pulled ‘Bring The Noise’ off my bookshelf last week & was wondering what SR’s next book might be about - & when it might land. Good news.

The agony of this woman’s experience in the aftermath of her husband’s senseless murder - dealing with unhelpful bureaucracies in two countries & one foreign language - is unimaginable. I honestly don’t know how anyone survives such a thing, on top of their initial loss. Extraordinarily, she has.

Rofl at “sex hiatus” alone.

Cows! Who knew they were mad for bananas?

Just staggered out of ‘Marty Supreme’, shoulders up around my ears from stress. It’s a ridiculous, smart, brash, hectic dramedy & I loved it. Turns out I do like epics after all (though maybe only with one or both of the Safdies attached). Also: Chalamet a marvel.

Now cranking. We’re due a new album this year, surely? C’mon, you Drugs…

Two days earlier the case of the five-year-old boy detained, also in Minnesota. ICE is conducting a terror campaign, nothing less. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

33 years - with a man who “knows a lyric for every occasion”. Dear god.

One benefit of not having had a phone for almost 3 weeks is that I couldn’t start my day by say, reading Trump’s repellent Davos speech. Christ. A gush of monstrously perverted rhetoric even by his own standard. Now, down to the sea to speed walk off the pointless fury (& maybe throw my phone in).

Sad news indeed, which zaps me straight back to my years in Sydney. Only saw ‘the Oils’ once but live, their power verged on the terrifying. Rob Hirst was so much more than that band’s beating heart; if not for him (& Jim Moginie)… Vale, sir. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Gah. Tfw you give the debut album from a buzzy new LA band a spin & it just sounds like The Strokes x Weezer. #Letdownnotgetdown

Taking refuge from the madness with @gillespeterson.bsky.social’s convo with the peerless Gary Bartz: fabulous tunes (obvs) & terrific chat about his process, as well as grade-A reminiscing. What a history the man has - & he’s still recording extraordinary new music.

Sobering in the extreme.

On the Charming Scale, this is an 11/10. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

When you can't think yourself out of the Dark Hole, watch sheep eating their dawn toast. This feed (in the wider sense) is a pure and absolute joy…

This is really hitting the second-coffee spot. Very much not just a slip into Atoms For Peace mode & it's good to hear Yorke floating inside the groove. Acres of room to breathe & Jeff Parker on guitar, too. youtu.be/iDdl-cwIXJU?...

Joy! It's Greek week at Lidl. Hands down their best Flavour of the Week: little jars of olive spread, garlic & tomato chickpeas, halloumi, fragrant honey. Next best: Japanese. Last place: American, by a country mile. Compellingly repulsive, all of it. Every time. And that's just looking.

"This is OUR hemisphere": the official US State Department position. It's 12 degrees inside my flat right now but my blood just ran colder.

AI transcription has just delivered 2026's first gem: "then there's cross pistils and natch". #CSN

Hardly news but something of a revelation to me, how radically immobilised you are on so many fronts when your phone dies without warning (also: rude). Been bollixed since Boxing Day…

I'd forgotten just how hammy "The Italian Job" (original, BBC Two is. But then my brain had also blotted out the fact that Benny Hill is in it. In character. I mean. Still, the scene of the Minis tearing through that arcade endures. #Christmascapers

I started making a lasagna at 4.30pm. I will be taking it out of the oven in seven minutes. If it’s cooked. Now so hungry I could eat a chair leg. Who are these people who can whip up a delicious - or even respectably edible - meal in an hour?

Fabulously incongruous. (Mick Rock acknowledged as photographer.)

“Galveston” punching me in the gut for the gazillionth time: “I am so afraid of dying” - man. 2.45 minutes of sombre pop perfection. #ChristmaswithGlen

Iconic performer Leigh Bowery in a Christmas card photo, c. 1986

I have just spent £12.80. On spinach. Now two questions: 1) why is it sold in absurdly small bags that cook down into a teaspoonful? 2) why tf have I resolved to cook Something Interesting on the 25th when I’m not hugely fussed what I eat? Christmas has robbed me of my reason…

Should I really give it till noon before I have a whisky Mac, or…?

“Trump-class”. Give me strength…

Today marks the beginning of “quafftide”, apparently. Am happy to get on board with that. #quaffresponsibly

Woman beside me in supermarket, delightedly waving her Daily Mail as I reach for another newspaper: “They have the *best* tv section. And it’s free!” Me: “But it’s not really free, is it. And it comes with a load of racist scapegoating, so…” Safe to say the Christmas spirit is not yet with me.

Some extremely good news. (Grab it while you can.) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

They need to sell this miracle condiment in bigger jars. There’s nothing not improved by it (which I realise says quite a lot about my cooking). Atm elevating a cheese omelette…

This long read is a compelling & often droll collection of journal entries, documenting not only the disablement & indignities of (very) old age but also CT’s many years writing for the New Yorker, encounters w Georgia O’Keefe & Robert Rauschenberg, his domestic life & more. Terrific self-portrait.

If you’re in the moody for a sexy, modern (2021) French drama, in b&w, I can recommend ‘Paris, 13th District’ on iPlayer. Jehnny Beth stars.

RIP JOSEPH BYRD amazing musician with United States of America, the Field Hippies & solo. he was the guy who turned John Fahey onto indian music back when they were at ucla & did one of the weirdest xmas LPs ever. no firewall www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/a...

Actual guffaw. Looks like it’s about to snap into a Bob Fosse routine.

Such sad & bewildering news re Rob Reiner & wife Michele: that feeling that you’ve lost someone you know, bec they’ve been a constant in your cultural life, had a signature of sorts & gave you a ton of good times. Assumed he’d be making movies - & enabling others to do so - forever. RIP

This year’s award for the most inspired (& rather stylish) Christmas tree goes to…

Reeling from the news from Bondi, Sydney’s emblematic heart. Not leaping to conclusions before more is known but it’s hard not to assume the obvious worst, re targeting. What unimaginable horror.

The cutting down of the Durham Christmas tree utterly confounds me. In that it’s not “mindless vandalism” - that’s say, breaking off a car’s wing mirror. Opportunistic. Pointless. Here was malicious intent, the will to emotionally wound. Where tf did that come from? It’s… bizarre. Or I’m naive.

A warm & sunny 8 degrees. Outlook - fabulous.