Terrific finish to the series. The Blobby horror movie was genuinely disturbing. #SNLUK

Ouchy

A very good afternoon to the absolute hero who organised and parked this beauty in the middle of little Tommy’s far-right hate march. ❤️

Alright alright alright, I interviewed Matthew and Camila McConaughey - in their pyjamas - for Waitrose mag. They were delightful. They're by the tills (not in their pyjamas, sadly).

The problem is, like Trump's MAGA base, Farage supporters *like* the fact he's a grifter. They think it makes him a bit of a ledg. They'd like to be grifters themselves.

Don't waste even more time, you fools, just phone Aidan Turner's agent!

Keir Starmer should just put out videos of George Foureacre's SNL UK version. He's kind of adorable.

The Daily Mail is incredibly camp sometimes

Burnham, 11 years later

And speaking of a lost decade of avoidable pain... 🫥

Happy 70th birthday to Steve Hogarth. Here's my tribute to Marillion's self-styled "new singer since 1989". open.substack.com/pub/paulkirk...

New Classic Pop's arrived. Might need a moment alone.

Streeting’s meeting at Downing Street

Yeah, this seems to nail it. Sadly, being "a good man" just isn't enough.

The lectern's going to come out and I can't feel excited. Just a bit sad. Lectern days were better under the Tories.

Memories of Douglas Adams from Lalla Ward, John Lloyd and his brother James Thrift (from Doctor Who Magazine, 2018). #DontPanic

Jessica Gunning stealing the show at the #Baftas. They should give her the hosting job next year.

Don't mind me, just bookmarking this for when Nigel Farage is the most unpopular Prime Minister in British history. I mean, we *could* save ourselves all that pain. But sure, let's find out the hard way (again).

Ian Hislop on the impossibility of nuance. The Eye has been critical of Israel's actions in Gaza while also covering antisemitism. Holding both positions at once leaves you unpopular on all fronts. ➡️ Watch Page 94, the Private Eye podcast: youtu.be/dKRLlzAFgso

Have had this free CD stuck in my car for months. Fortunately, it's full of certified bangers.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Dir. Irvin Kershner

"Then I went out into the wilderness of Brexit Britain, where the Remain-voting towns loom out of the darkness like fantasy citadels in a Tolkienesque landscape; wondrous walled cities full of wizards and poets, and people who could understand data" - Stewart Lee

David Attenborough is 100. I know! Surprised no-one else has mentioned it. So I guess this tribute will have to do. open.substack.com/pub/paulkirk...

In honour of Disintegration's 37th birthday this week... Show me a better extended mix than this. (I won't wait, you can't.) #TheCure

Had a lovely chat with Katherine Parkinson, including a surprising amount of discussion about potato waffles. She's by the tills in Waitrose.

Seen this doing the rounds. "No politician is interested in anyone but themselves" is quite the take on a day when 1000s of councillors working hard in their communities are up for (re)election. If good people don't participate in politics, how do we stop the bad people? By shitposting on Bluesky?

Very possibly the greatest TV series ever made. Treat yourself!

If I was Andy Burnham, I'd want Starmer to stay another year. That way I could go into the next election as a relatively fresh face, instead of with three years of inevitable fuck-ups and disappointments behind me.

Britain's broadcast media boasts of its strict adherence to impartiality rules. Mentions per MP. LibDems: 645 Tories: 5,116 Greens: 7,763 Labour (the actual govt): 27,438 Reform: 70,732 Anyone surprised they're ahead? bebroadcast.co.uk/politics-who...

PSA: If you want to celebrate the birthday of the great Delia Derbyshire (born OTD in 1937), Caroline Katz's bold and beautiful docudrama The Myths and the Legendary Tapes is now up on YouTube. Here's my Radio Times review:

"She never imagined the Met Gala would start being seen as a symbol of excess" is just an absolutely incredible line.

Am locked in a one-man war of attrition with my sat nav. Whichever way that devious fucker tells me to go, I do the opposite. We'll see who has the last laugh.

The Kids From Fame Again, Del Amitri's first album, The Beastmaster, the The A-Team novel, Adam Ant's TV Tops comic strip and much much more with @paulkirkley.bsky.social. timworthington.org/2018/05/27/l...

It has finally happened. Coldwar Steve has become flesh.

It's a beautiful spring morning and I think Haircut One Hundred should rush-release their splendid new album right now because it's perfect for beautiful spring mornings such as this one. In the meantime, the first track just "landed". www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJ4...

Dawn of The Crankocracy

Yes. This is an important distinction. Beefeater-adjacent Premier Inns are to be avoided.

Premier Inn is one of those rare late stage capitalism businesses that actually offers consistently reliable value and service. So of course they're going to enshittify it.

Why's there a security tag on this? It's not as if it'll be worth that much... oh. Blimey.

Do you ever think you'd hate your online self if you met IRL? Just the neediest, most always on, look-at-me, giving it all that version of you.

Bless Liam. 53 years old, and still worrying about "swagger".

Can I just shock you? I like the royals.

This age of voters insisting on testing every blindingly obvious disastrous thing - Brexit, Johnson, Truss, Trump (twice) etc - to destruction, followed by the inevitable buyer's remorse, is exhausting.

If you want a sobering illustration of the slow death of local #journalism, about 15 years ago I set up the Cambridge News What's On Facebook page to promote our coverage of the city's arts, entertainment and culture - interviews, previews, reviews, etc This is what Reach now uses it for 🫤

This Wall Street Journal headline might be the thing that breaks me

Excellent NS piece by Anoosh Chakelian on the "chaos creep" we can all see in our streets and towns - and how, instead of talking about the social issues fuelling it, the left has taken a reflexive "pics or it didn't happen" stance. www.newstatesman.com/author/anoos...

Ryhthm. (See? I told you.)

Birthday boy Russell T Davies is also 63 today. Hurrah! Have added this interview from five years ago to my Substack, with some thoughts about how it already feels like a time capsule. (Tl;dr: Still no news on The Nyssa Adventures 🙁) paulkirkley.substack.com/p/russell-t-...