The insanity of the BBC not finding a way to charge a fee to people living outside the UK for iPlayer continues to astonish. Can only assume there's some Murdoch-inspired artefact in the charter preventing this, dating from its (admittedly) ill-advised purchase of Lonely Planet way back when.

Strolling in the Somerset hills. Country pubs for sure. A strong Royal Navy. The union flag flying over government buildings. Tasteful war memorials. A well-kept village cricket ground at sunset. The National Trust and all who sail in her. Sailing By.

I ran 26.6km and now I am knackered. Been out in better weather, if I’m honest.

I wonder what impact this insanity will have on the settled status for Brits living in Europe? www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

I've compiled a list of 51 literary agents and my AM task is to send the first 10K words of my thriller plus a cover letter I painstakingly wrote last week to ten of them this morning. But I have an idea for the sequel and I want to be writing that instead. Guess which I'm doing.

"Do it for Charlie!" 🙂

If you know, you know #garmin

Made tandoori chicken with Bombay potatoes and mint yogurt and of course it was good. Why would it not be?

Bang-average Alpine sunset. 3/10.

My Banff opinion, which is now probably wrong*, is that it’s great. Until you visit Jasper. (sadly the latter suffered badly from the wildfires so … 🤷‍♂️

@davidallengreen.bsky.social how’s that interval now?

In the whole British Indian food isn’t British* cursed discourse may I throw in this exhibit? The Curry Guy, a book on British Indian restaurant faves, which is very good indeed. And the kicker? The writer, Dan Toombs, is an American. 🇺🇸 *It bloody is

Which movie do you consider “perfect”?

Russia can't sustain itself once the energy transition happens. Get off the oil & gas that it exports, and the country will be forced to change.

I wonder what Dolan's American boss (the Pope, not God) thinks of this line. Someone should ask the Vatican.

To cheer you up on a Friday.

I believe I have discovered the GOAT of all YouTube comments. Hats off.

Can't imagine what could possibly go wrong with this. Also shouldn't it be "From Ayr to Zennor"?

I believe I have discovered the GOAT of all YouTube comments. Hats off.

And you thought Laura K was bad.

Little bit of spider art in today's September sunshine.

More than a touch of Autumn in the air on the dog walk; one of the locals was muttering darkly about snow next week 🤷‍♂️

NOTHING will prepare you for this 45-second story arc. From "I'm just doing this because I love the flag, it's totally grassroots, and I'm not part of anything political"... to who actually gave him the flags the night before. Anyone who believes it is an innocent movement needs to see this.

Manchester United is a revenue-generating machine. All they need to do is ditch the unprofitable and expensive football team. www.bbc.com/sport/footba...

oh my word it's happening again. @stephenkb.bsky.social

I bloody love London and all its gorgeous variation. It's a world city and the UK including everyone from Kemi the Clown through to Andy Bloody Burnham should cherish it.

I know France takes the constitutional commitment to secularism seriously, especially concerning the Roman Catholic church. But this is ridiculous.

Americans get friendly with Russia and Belarus at exercises on Poland's borders. There are around 9m Americans of Polish descent, many living in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Just saying. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Ref the lamentable performance of the Starmer Admin, I've been kind of sceptical that it's Good King, Bad Advisors. And then I read this. Who the hell describes what "Paul" did as trivial? Gross. Am not a fan of Abbot BTW.

A man in Washington, DC, plays the Imperial March from Star Wars while following patrolling soldiers. One of the soldiers threatens to call the police.

Underproved and over-baked.

RIGHT! I've got my thriller into a reasonable state. 95,526 words written. Now I need to find a literary agent who would be willing to take a look. I've got some names BUT BlueSky, if you know of any, please do suggest. A quick teaser follows. #plsshare

Say NO.

Definitely should be focusing on the left and centre right now, oh yes, nothing to see in the GOP, no sir. Your choices have defined you.

It should be needless to say, but it is perhaps at this moment worth saying, that transgender individuals have the same right as anyone else to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

English is the official language of Jamaica.

Had an idle thought as I did my lunchtime walk with the family. There should be a reclaim the flag march. Everyone welcome. Joyful, tolerant, happy, vibrant, flags fucking everywhere. Nothing would annoy the 100K people who besmirched London yesterday more than that.

You do not, in fact, "gotta hand it to Brian Kilmeade."

If you're appalled by the PM's failure to stand up to what happened in London yesterday, write to your MP and tell them. MPs don't like angry letters from constituents and big mailbags get their attention. Here's how to contact yours. members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

The omission of action is extraordinary. Normally we talk about a mandate to do something. I'd argue that Starmer has NO mandate to do nothing in the face of this. Act or eject. @darrenpjones.bsky.social

As a Gen Xer, I have to believe the numbers but christ, this is deeply depressing. Fortunately there are fewer of us than Boomers or Millennials. So less impact at the ballot box.

Write to your MP. Go to their surgeries.

Well in “not everything is shite” news, just watched The Incredibles with the kid and he LOVED it. So there’s that, at least.

oh look they lied about the only black woman on the board i’m shocked

Absolute simplistic drivel here. Macron, while he's an absolute clown on domestic policy, has not "defied the will of the French." Because the will of the French was to elect a completely divided parliament that can't agree on anything other than they hate him.

Sometimes attempting to be supportive on here is more difficult than it might seem. Ah well.

America has abandoned Europe. Meantime, the Galaxy Brains in No10 say "there's no prospect of the UK rejoining the EU in their lifetimes." Fucking hell.

Why say this? Nobody's asking you to say this! You have no authority to rule this out for your lifetime. It's just more of the same stupid trolling that McSweeney so loves and which has proven so disastrous for Labour's vote share.

Ahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha www.bbc.com/news/article...

As the Premier League's back, I took a quick look at the net spend of the top ten spenders in the PL over the last ten years. Given the £££ Liverpool spent in the last window, it's extraordinary to see that they're only 6th on the list, and way lower than, for example, Spurs. #epl #netspend