A venerable pair - both still very fine. Not tired but just thinking about settling down for a rest

ker-dinnggg! The Fat Duck wins Most Annoying Christmas Email in September Award with this email header: "Only 61 Sleeps until Christmas at The Fat Duck"

Right wing tactics: foment disturbance, crack down, crack down harder, voila. It works as a punch in the face is mostly effective. It's worked for every tin-pot tyrant since cavemen were walloping each other with bits of flint. And we're still falling for it. It's so wretchedly predictable...

This picture will be THE iconic - and infamous - image of 2025

1966 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon followed by 69, 74 and so on to 2000. The 66, the year it all started, fresh as a daisy, a really lovely wine, six decades old and with at least two more before it elegantly begins its slow decline.

Reposted just for the headline

Bands of rain and thunder (and a tornado near Young) wrapping around the low over NSW. The system will move over the Tasman Sea tonight, intensifying as it goes, before clearing to the east during Thursday.

Champagne inspector wearing a protective mask against shattering bottles during inspection and disgorging. Early 20th century.

A jeremiad and all the better for it

Holy shit…You can’t make this up: a plane is circling Soldier Field before the Bears home opener with a banner that reads— “HEY ICE, MASKS ARE FOR CUCKS.” Also the trolling is incredible for those that told us to stop wearing masks during the pandemic.

Does anyone remember JennyCam? She was a student around 1997 in Cal(?), set up a webcam in her sitting room that recorded her life. Mostly you saw the top of her head as she worked at her computer. A Cambridge college did the same with their coffee percolator

It annoys me when journalists say so-and-so was "just four" when her mother died, or "just" 20 when she did such-and-such. I can make up my own mind whether that was too young or not

Angela Rayner. She broke the ministerial code and it's laudable that she's resigned when you consider the egregious behaviour of so many ministers of the last 10 years (her underpayment of stamp duty compared with the Covid profiteers?) but at the same time it's a damn shame

That moment when an interviewee is pursuing an interesting thought and instead of letting them follow it through, my voice comes drawling onto the tape with some asinine interruption and the thread's broken... I've been doing this for what, 35 years? Still time to learn

Brilliant review of The Smart Traveller's Wine Guide: Switzerland. Everything you need to know whether wine curious or expert wideworldofwine.co

This is how the average Brit feels, not the image promoted by the BBC.

My interview with Peter Kwok cluboenologique.com/story/peter-...

Another excellent investigation into Aziz who appears story by story to be a total menace to London’s social fabric at the motivation of profit by property

I’ve mulled over posting this for months now. But yesterday it came to a head. And I’m aware that the people who need to see it will either not be here, or will suggest that I’m lying. I live near an asylum hotel. The reason I didn’t post earlier is that I didn’t want to raise undue attention

Ping! Email in with news of Christian Seely and AXA's new acquisition, Platt Vineyard on the West Sonoma Coast. Bet that'll be good

Brilliant

Benny Hill. Pure gold (top) She said she'd like to bathe in milk, he said, "All right, sweetheart" And when he'd finished work one night, he loaded up his cart. He said, "D'you want it pasteurised? 'Cause pasteurised is best" She says, "Ernie, I'll be happy if it comes up to my chest"

The more we see that "migrants" and "asylum seekers" are families, women & children, teenagers, the better. All strength to East Anglia Bylines. How frightening it must be to be in a foreign country, unsure of everything - and a few yards away an organised mob with loudhailers baying for your blood?

I’ll leave this here 😏

Farage calls the RNLI a taxi service for migrants. Some taxi. Some service (just increased my donation) rnli.org/news-and-med...

Wonderful writing. Not the least excellent bit is the reference to the late and wonderful Janey Godley. Gone but so very much alive... As an American in Scotland, I know we need many things – but Donald Trump isn’t one of them | Krystal Evans www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

34 years old and as fresh as if it were yesterday

I do like a simple witty ad. Body Shop.

Protesters at the Portland ICE facility held balloons and were swarmed and tossed around by ICE GOONS.

Anyone keen on crosswords want to have a go at my Summer 2025 challenge? #cryptic #crossword

Enjoying London's new newspaper @londonermag.bsky.social

Early bird discounts to enter #PeoplesChoiceDrinksAwards 2026 are now available from July 17 & September 1. Here, Janet Harrison, founder of the awards, explains what we can expect from the 2026 competitions for wines and spirits www.the-buyer.net/awards/chanc...

My piece on the brilliant Pascale Marthine Tayou cluboenologique.com/story/pascal...

Ker-plinnnngg! Latest from an "all-new well-being and lifestyle destination" in Ibiza which "reimagines the Balearic wellness experience thought a journey of holistic luxury etc etc..." The name? Clap House hmmm

Very interested in what people think of the new Observer under Tortoise Media? There's something about it I don't like - a cheapening of the writing, a tabloid feeling - when you get to quality people like Rawnsley you think, "you still here?"

Nominal determinism corner: a minor gripe with Shakespeare's Globe was answered courteously and quickly by a young functionary called... Will

This from @roisinlanigan.bsky.social in today's @theobserveruk.bsky.social. Odd that they didn't update - the new Pope was elected days before it went to press

Shortest honeymoon on record? Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Workshops 🪩 I'm running a group online workshop on Saturday 24 May at 10.30am. Think of it as a brunch meeting where we can discuss writing, editing your own work, and developing a better pitching technique. DM me to book.

Just coming up for air. Smart Traveller's Wine Guide Napa Valley has gone to print, Tuscany nearly there. I'm at my desk clad in five layers of sheepskin and still shivering in this bone-chilling misery of a climate we have on our beautiful & sad little island

Fascinating ‘His work needs to be seen’: the Eric Gill exhibition put together by abuse survivors www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

"weirdos" - on the Barclay bros in the @lrb.co.uk

Nothing like fighting a nice liar on a winter's night

Georgian wine producers are rapidly modernising to meet the demands of 21st-century drinkers, despite the country's celebrated winemaking history. @adamlechmere.bsky.social visits Georgia to hear how ancient methods with modern techniques are ensuring the wines don't get stuck in the past

Just had occasion to remember the old Les Dawson line. "The wife told me, 'You'll drive me to an early grave'. I had the car out in ten seconds flat."

Given what's going on in the world, this is perfect for today's #findsfriday. Those who are responsible for the current state of affairs may feel addressed. Hand of a gilded bronze statue of an Roman emperor. From Kempten, 1st to 3rd c. AD On display at Archäologische Staatssammlung 📷 me 🏺

The Great Gatsby. I keep stopping to think, is this or that passage brilliant, or self-conscious tosh?

The colour of this sky

Imagine getting this sort of praise from this collection of writers