The Electoral Reform Society warns First Past the Post could hand Reform UK power on just 27% of the vote leftfootforward.org/2025/10/firs...

I think Frankie's Welcome to the Pleasuredome album would have been much better if they'd dropped the three cover versions and much of the Trevor Horn noodling and just concentrated on the original songs. There's a brilliant single album in there. NB: this may not be a totally topical post.

Just finished Prime Target on Apple+. Great series.

Climate stripes for the Arctic (land and seas poleward of 60ºN) since 1900. It could not be any more clear. #ShowYourStripes #ClimateChange #Arctic

One of the sanest things to do on a horribly hot day is go to the cinema, right? So today we enjoyed a self constructed double bill of Elio and 28 Years Later. Both great. I’m also garytomwilliams on Letterboxd if you would like to join me there also btw.

Getting an email from a restaurant booking app I use telling me 'they noticed' I visited a restaurant I didn't book through the app is not AT ALL fucking creepy behaviour is it!

A Friday 13th in Pride Month you say? Could do much worse than watching this great horror, which has an adorable couple of gay dads at the centre of the action.

Pet Sounds playing in a million homes tonight. RIP.

Wonderful to see this photograph of @tomrobinson.com as part of Steve McQueen's "Resistance" exhibition at Margate's Turner Contemporary.

What a lovely thing the new series of pilgrimage is. Like a warm embrace. And I say that as a humanist who was brought up as a Catholic and who still finds himself romantically attached to the theatrical trappings of the church if not the paranormal aspects.

Happy St George’s & Shakespeare Day. My annual suggestion: that we should reimagine the day as a folk holiday, with a focus on folk art. Imagine our town squares filled with folk song, dance and poetry and a celebration of local folk myth. And a heady mix of Shakespeare and folk horror on the telly!

Couldn’t be happier for Newcastle.

Happy Ides of March.

Still pondering Radio 4 Today Programme celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Radiohead's The Bends. It's an undeniably brilliant album but brilliant albums are having anniversaries every week. Why choose that one? And why the 30th rather than 25th anniversary? Seemed a bit random is all.

I can't now turn on any social media without seeing a post about Tango Franco and it's getting me down. #TangoFranco

Is there a better ‘standalone singles’ (that is, singles that were not released on a studio album rather than a later compilation) band than The Smiths? I can’t name one. Can you? An honorable tradition that seems a bit lost in these streaming days.

Mickey 17 is brilliant. Go see.

I asked Chat GPT about Gibberlink AI interface seven times and seven times it contradicted itself. I then asked it to summarise its answers. Here are its conclusions. I’m still none the wiser!

I asked Chat GPT about Gibberlink AI interface seven times and seven times it contradicted itself. I then asked it to summarise its answers. Here are its conclusions. I’m still none the wiser!

Congratulations to BRIT winners Charli XCX (Bishop's Stortford College, £38,319 per year), AG Cook (King Alfred School, £27,747) and The Last Dinner Party (Bedales, £52,075) for showing that people from ordinary backgrounds can reach the top in pop music, that most egalitarian of art forms.

A rare crashing of the pips on Radio 4 there.

Just seen Trump blaming Ukraine for starting the war by not doing a deal three years ago to give away part of their land to Russia. Utterly despicable.

July 2024: Five UK climate protesters jailed for conspiracy to block major road February 2025:

I’m not impressed by MPs and commentators who were already declared as being against the Assisted Dying Bill wringing their hands over what I see as an improvement to the Bill by the introduction of the multi disciplinary panel.

Do we really still need to say 'former Beatle'? It's been 55 years guys.

Deepseek? No thanks.

A Real Pain is the most beautifully written 90 minutes I’ve had the pleasure of watching in a long time. Much comment about Culkin’s tour de force, and rightly so, but Eisenberg is also deserving of that Oscar nom for his screenplay. Nuance and complexity delivered with such a lightness of touch.

Saw A Real Pain. Wept more than one may expect for a comedy. Sensational.

The thing about The Seer Power. It will always be a curse. If Frankie had chosen Alexander everyone else would have still thought them both traitors. It's a power that puts a target on your back no matter what. A fun experiment perhaps but one that shouldn't be repeated. #TheTraitors

Sir Mark Cavendish. What a legend.

Delighted to find myself part of this starter pack.

It’s a bit annoying that we won’t see the Masterchef Festive specials now, although I for one would happily never see Gregg Wallace’s face ever again. Get Sean Pertwee back in the voiceover booth and go for a brutal edit. There must be a version possible that is Wallace- free.

For what it’s worth, I think the new Jaguar is absolutely beautiful.

Been dislocated from home by myself for 24 days now. Practicing food as therapy - that is, the occasional meal out, some new, is keeping me sane. So it is that I enjoyed this excellent Kashmir lamb Rogan Josh at Namaste in Prescot today. Recommended.

See ya Greg Wallace. You know who should replace him... And please do hear me out on this. ☑️ Bald head ☑️ Glasses ☑️ Loves food ✅ But actually nice ✅ And charismatic. I give you....

Only two years late but thanks Santa.

See ya Greg Wallace. You know who should replace him... And please do hear me out on this. ☑️ Bald head ☑️ Glasses ☑️ Loves food ✅ But actually nice ✅ And charismatic. I give you....

Guardian and Observer journalists to strike over sale of the Observer

New Backlisted episode! The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven, with Rupert Everett, @johnmitchinson.bsky.social and me. In tribute to David Nivens' legendary Parkinson appearances, but with added spontaneity, you can also watch this show here. @backlisted.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=f77r...

Give Mo the dough.

1978 Liverpool - (pre-Teardrop Explodes) A Shallow Madness. L-R Paul Simpson (keys), Ian McCulloch (gtr. vocals), Julian Cope, (bass) Dave Pickett (drums).

I don't know but none of this seems very festive to me...

Just thinking about Putin's threats and assertions against the UK and remembering Russian attacks on undersea cable networks and, during the Olympics, the French rail system. We should expect more of the same in the UK I guess, with sleeper agents activated to cause mayhem.

What an incredible politician John Prescott was. As working class people tend to be he was mocked relentlessly by posh boys in the media. But also hugely underestimated by them also.

Twice I remember John Prescott sashaying through newsrooms, making some apparently controversial remark, and then declaring loudly, “And I don’t want that appearing in any DIARY COLUMNS”.

Imagine doing this to your own father’s legacy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Just because you are elected president doesn't mean you have to stop grifting. These guitars are $1500. Or you can get one signed by Trump for $10,000.

Some men honestly! Using the visitor loos in hospital and both my fellows pissers left without washing their hands. In a hospital.

Good morning bloopers!

How fantastic Sasha Darwan is in BBC4’s read through of 1984. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...