Merry Santaval to all who celebrate 🧑‍🎄

And this is the model for how he runs for a third term. He just… runs for a third term!

Ok… you’ve done the right thing by dropping him now; but everyone knew YEARS ago that you wouldn’t leave your daughter alone with him for 30 seconds. It is has take until now because you didn’t care until it became embarrassing. The problem wasn’t “the problem” - it was everyone finding out.

The real genius of xG is that it gave the analytics companies (specifically Opta) a simple, readily understood metric THAT THEY COULD SELL! In a game that is quite difficult to moneyball, that was… literally… gold dust!

"This means £2,633 in your pocket". Except it doesn't, because half of it (if you are lucky) is going into your landlord's (or bank manager's) pocket. Ignore the housing "tax" at your peril - it is the main reason we are in such a mess.

Currently playing this on my SteamDeck. It isn't "triple-A" but I'm enjoying it much more than the last AAA game a played (AC: Shadows).

Went down a rabbit-hole of Russian/ Soviet jokes. Some have stood the test of time, and some... haven't!

So the AI is smart enough that it can do all these jobs, but is also so stupid that I have to hire specialists who can "do AI" to make it work? Make it make sense!

So apparently this is all my fault because although I told TalkTalk I was moving into a new house on 1st October, I (allegedly!) did *not* tell them I was also moving out of the old house at the same time, and therefore I remained responsible for the old bill. Does it hurt? Only when I laugh!!

A weird sub-variant of the “loyalty penalty” for utilities is that things seem much more likely to go wrong if you try to keep the same supplier when moving house. (Currently online with TalkTak billing support because I’ve now been paying for both my old broadband and the new one for 3 months!)

Luckily we are building looooooads of houses, and affordable restaurants are doing fantastic business at the moment!

✋ STOP!! We've found something that **REALLY WAS** better in the 70s!!

Or… the opposite? They now have a very, very direct vested interest in ensuring that there is never another Democratic president?

Replay '25 - ain't nobody catching Taylor!!

I briefly worked at Dell in the 90s. While I was there, an edict went out that everyone had to use the official "DELL" screensaver, because… teambuilding or something. So I hacked the official screensaver, because… teambuilding or something!

A friend just asked me to explain her colleague's reference to "dancing by the refrigerator light", and… I don't think she was anticipating quite the essay she got by way of reply!!

This seems to happen a lot with Sittenfeld. And it is always DIFFERENT books. I absolutely adored Prep, and enjoyed American Wife; but have found everything else tiresome in the extreme.

They've been selling those tram tickets at a higher price in Inverness for a month so technically it counts ;)

Reported Manchester Trams to Trading Standards because it says “Sale” but the prices are exactly the same.

If you think WASPI was bad, just wait until you get the men who think they are going to get 2/3 of their final salary because they've been contributing £50 a month to their private pension for 30 years. (Of course they should have known, but they don't… and they are going to be angry++!)

I once accidentally released a test config file to a live system, and overwrote part of the encryption key that was encrypting thousands of people's credit card numbers. Reader… there was no backup. I actually cried.

This house in Hampton (near where I live) offers an excellent illustration of why the Mansion Tax isn't going to be easy to implement. This house is definitely worth £2m - or at least, the current owners think it is.

Meh - Lavazza Rossa is nicer anyway! ☕

Down to be wrong, but… I don't think either the Mansion Tax or EV road pricing will happen. They clearly haven't been thought through, and there will be too many gremlins; too many hard edge cases - they will both be abandoned.

Is it a "funny story" though? Or is it spiking/ assault?

So it looks like the government are going with an annual mileage charge for EVs, with some kind of prepayment option based on your estimated mileage. This is bonkers, and will end up throwing a lot of less-well-off people into debt to the government, when they misestimate, or even just move jobs.

Finally got around to framing one of the prints from the Eras VIP stash. (Yes - this has taken me 2 years!!)

Great new song from Miles & The Chain Gang!

Earn it, then I’ll talk to you with respect.

Bridget Riley is the Taylor Swift of art.

Cut your heating bills with This One Weird Trick™️… Get a mid-terrace with retired neighbours & thin walls 😉

Went to see *that* AI Christmas mural in Kingston for myself. Honestly surprised they haven't torn it down in embarrassment! Anyways… no photo can really do justice to quite how bonkers it actually is, but… here's one all the same!

Female Rage: The Chair Now available at store [dot] taylorswift [dot] com

My 87-year-old father, who first campaigned for the Labour Party alongside his mother (a union organiser) in 1945, and was still canvassing for the party as recently as 2019, tore up his membership card earlier this year over immigration. Today's sickening announcements only show how right he was.

Giving up on AC: Shadows after 50 hours. Will be the first full AC game I haven't played to completion since Rogue; but the difficulty is all over the place and (as Yasuke says in-game) I'm getting too old for this!

The future is… inherited wealth.

Starbucks: 1% of our coffee is unethically sourced.

More money for the NHS; social services not stretched to breaking point; the abolition of the 2 child limit; and a better country to live in - it’s these things… right?

The only way this would be more accurate is if you removed the words "like Rockstar"! Also… if you are a man in employment in the private sector in the UK/US the biggest act of feminism you can do is tell your colleagues your salary.

Companies like Rockstar rely on individual employees not knowing exactly what their collegues are being paid. What payrise or condition changes they got after a complaint or negotiation. They always scream blue murder and panic when people start being open about it.

Think the Life of a Showgirl acoustics are the best "alt" versions Taylor Swift has ever done. This (which really showcases how amazing Sabrina's vocal performance was*) and Ruin the Friendship are my faves. *I am not really a Sabrina fan, but these vocals… ❤️‍🔥

This is bonkers! A "random" annual charge, which even if you estimate it correctly, could suddenly double if you move job, or your life situation changes? Tell me you've never lived payday-to-payday without telling me… etc.

Suspect this will get stuck in the thickets of "Reality". A retrospective annual charge based on your MOT mileage would be a political disaster; and there are no feasible technical solutions for pay-as-you-go. (As anyone who has ever used a running app on an "official" course will confirm.)

Papped a parakeet on our run in Hampton this morning! (There is a flock which escaped from captivity in south west London possibly as long as 100 years ago.)

Awwww - Kiki’s Delivery Service - my all time favourite film of all time!!

A £20 flat fee for seeing a GP isn't cutting state spending - it is just a very regressive tax rise. (Unless the plan is to cut funding to GPs and tell them this makes up for it, which feels unworkable, and like exactly the kind of "magical thinking" this report purports not be.)

Slashing pensioner benefits just as Generation X are starting to retire feels very on-brand for the 21st Century. Gen X have been lucky in many ways, but we are totally hosed on pensions, having missed both the final salary bus, and compulsory/ employer contributions in the crucial early years.

In my family… yes - we knew who was an uncle, who was a great aunt, and who was a second cousin twice removed! (But I appreciate we were weird.)

This is really good; and why I'm very uncomfortable with the argument of some folks on here that "This will be great" with an implicit "for people like me". The better it is for the digitally privileged, the greater the harms caused to those who are digitally marginalised.

I wanna know how many white women Richmond Council have fined for doing this? (I’m going for… none.)