The tree pollen in London is goddamn vicious today *koff*

@wigmore-hall.org.uk is soooooo pretty 😍 Looking forward to an evening of pure brilliance 🎶

where’s that guy who said kids won’t watch 30-year-old media. my kid just watched luke skywalker blow up the death star for the first time and would like a word

Felicity Lott singing Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from Mahler's Rückert Lieder with Maciej Pikulski at the piano. For Mahler also, who died 115 years ago today. music.youtube.com/watch?v=nSiD...

I’m sorry but if you aren’t sure of a citation, whether what it means or that it exists… why are you citing it. why are you referring to something you haven’t read or don’t understand? that defeats the entire bloody point

Poor Arthur must have been watching Eurovision (or the Intergalactic Song Contest, or whatever)

And having said that, a return came up! Tuesday evening sorted 👍

This is SO important. www.euansguide.com/safertoilets

Random bot makes salient political point 🤖

I'm going to be in London on Tuesday night due to a work thing - any recs for what to see that evening? I know many of my concert-going friends will be at Sir Stephen Hough's Wiggygig, but the chances of a return for that are slim-to-none!

As an act of mayoral solidarity, perhaps Sadiq could post one of these to Andy.

Two years ago, as part of our inclusive recruitment approach, we started sending out interview questions 72 hours in advance. For all posts. And it’s been great. People come more relaxed (or as relaxed as they can be) and they bring the best examples of their expertise rather than what they 1/

On AI as an aid to research:

I'm not saying this because I particularly think he should stand for leader but it does feel Quite Interesting that Labour actually has this other mayor who's been successfully running a much bigger city for a longer period of time but for some reason no one's waiting for him to save the party

<They're the same picture.GIF>

It kind of highlights how terrible she is that, given her whole thing is "People from Northern Towns should have a chance to win BAFTAs", I've seen nothing from her about an actual person from a Northern Town winning a BAFTA last week.

So many people in the Starmer era who I desperately hope are keeping diaries just because the 'okay, but what were you thinking *at the time*?'

I’m not saying the day and the evening has got to spouse, but he’s loudly singing “chaos with Ed Milliband” to the refrain of “Guide me o thou great redeemer” Actually, it’s quite catchy

A fellow Labour Party member once described Wes Streeting to me as Zippy from Rainbow if he'd been radicalized by Mumsnet. which is a very specific set of references but also disturbingly accurate.

In which David Cameron proves to be the True Prophet of Chaos

The most damning resignation letter yet, I think:

this is absurd

I see that it has been a quiet evening in politics, while I've been in rehearsal...almost feels like back to the Brexit days...

"Yep, here’s your problem. Someone set this thing to Evil."

Being elected by accident is the main risk of being a paper candidate and it is one that those doing it are, I think, obliged to have at least considered and have a plan for how they’ll deal with it if it happens. For the avoidance of doubt, “resign and trigger a by-election” is not acceptable.

🎶Absolutely amazing scenes in Wales as Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth - set to be Wales's first pro-independence first minister - is interrupted by an impromptu rendition of the Welsh national anthem

I am watching the David Attenborough celebration and reflecting that most people don't get this kind of thing until after they're dead. We should really try to normalise trying to show people how much they are loved while they are still alive to appreciate it.

I still love the theory a Year 6 child proposed to me that David Attenborough is actually God and he got fed up with people not noticing the amazing things he'd created, so he made documentaries to show off.

Just as a worked example: I see the argument that she is well-liked, pleasant and no-nonsense and therefore a good chief whip, but surely there are better front-facing uses of Wendy Chamberlain, a former police officer, than that?

Honestly, me too. I was hoping for boring. Boring would've been great. Just run the country, relatively smoothly, do a bit of diplomacy, come up with a fair enough budget. Instead we got the full-speed-ahead racism, transphobia, and socioeconomic deprivation train.

YES YOU DO, YOU DO ACTUALLY DO THAT, ESPECIALLY ON LONG FLIGHTS. CHANGING PILOTS DURING A FLIGHT IS A THING THAT REGULARLY HAPPENS, DAVID

One week to release (well we need *some* non-political news today). Three clarinet concerti written within a few years of each other: Gerald Finzi: Clarinet Concerto Freda Swain: 'Lumen Naturi' Denis ApIvor: Concertante for Clarinet, Piano & Percussion. Peter Cigleris; London Mozart Players

‘Thanks, or just a voucher is fine’

This entire piece talks of Scotland and Wales also having local elections like England. Do the authors think it is too hard to explain to their English audience that there was a devolution thing and parliaments and stuff? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

1) HP Lovecraft is some weird shit 2) weekly commuting is going to be good for my sock drawer; I started at the stitch marker this morning 😂

Tomorrow (6th May) would have been my Grandma's 100th birthday ❤️ Here are my maternal grandparents on their wedding day in 1950, at St Austin, Grassendale.

May the Fourth be with you as you Take Five* *although obviously, Brits should have celebrated Dave Brubeck day last month...

This year, International Gilbert and Sullivan Day and International Star Wars day both fall *today* and my mind is now mentally composing ‘Pirates of the Death Star.’

With the sequel of “he also stabbed a Muslim man”. He stabbed his friend in Southwark then travelled to Golders Green, noticeably not stabbing anyone else between the two! I think we can reasonably surmise both had specific (and different) motives!

post your warning sign

.... That is a HELL of a recall notification. What the hell.

Morgan McSweeney confirms that Mandelson and George Osborne were the two choices for ambassador to the US, suggesting that everyone in No10 must have been smoking crack.

The screeching U turn on alcohol consumption at work was so fast it was suddenly top of the partner awayday agenda. At Vinopolis.

Someone once asked me why I wasn’t bothered by the inconsistencies in the Resurrection accounts in the Gospels and seemed bemused when I replied “because that’s exactly what people are like.” (Not that it’s knock-down proof, of course)

me in 2015 hoping Ed Miliband becomes Prime Minister vs me in 2026 hoping Ed Miliband becomes Prime Minister

Today is #NationalPenguinDay so we're remembering that time we made a Penguin out of Penguin Books. It's a Penguin Penguin. 🐧

This is not wrong.

'believe survivors' doesn't mean 'believe the victims only when they're women' or 'why would they want money for damages' or 'his music was really good though' or 'but he had a hard life too' or or or or

For last year's by-election, 13 electoral communications from 9 parties. This year, full elections in under two weeks... two. I'm voting MRLP just because I've never had the chance before, but other candidates, please, give me something to go on!