Also Maduro is super rich so probably in a position to buy himself a pardon from this President.

It’s a dark night when you look at the news and are forced to admit that you no longer believe in the power of the FIFA peace prize

Unsurprisingly the “Russia is justified in invading sovereign Ukraine” lot on Bluesky are currently engaging in crazy hijinks today to not sound like obvious hypocrites.

I invented a new phone to help save time in the morning

2026

The flag of Finland 🇫🇮 is one of the most successful pieces of national rebranding ever. It was designed to mirror the Scandinavian flags 🇩🇰 🇸🇪 🇳🇴 in order to associate the Uralic Finns with the North Germanic Scandinavians. To move out the Russian sphere and into the Nordic one. It’s worked.

Fascinating thread but I don't feel it's that complicated? This is what happens when you go out of your way to performatively kick your own coalition in the hope of impressing voters who never liked you to start with.

A lot of people are saying Trump's trade war is ineffective, but in reality it keeps delivering for Aussie beef farmers.

Bitterness has nothing to do with. The UK did not want to sign up for the sort of agreement Switzerland and Norway has with the EU. So it did not get the rights under the agreement that the Swiss or Norwegians have. I don’t know why this is such a tricky concept to grasp.

Oral history of ‘Knowing Me, Knowing Yule…with Alan Partridge,’ now 30!My contribution is me saying I can’t remember very much from then because I had a terrible head cold at the time and just wanted to go to bed. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Here’s a quick and easy way to stop everyone using the UK. Leave Northern Ireland and become technically just Great Britain again.

Tankies just repeat the same stuff over and over. The notion of any actual evidence is alien to them. Still this one claims that Russia was forced into invading Ukraine because an American senator gave a speech in Kyiv.

Poor Russia. Pushed into a war by unilaterally invading a sovereign state, annexing territory and committing genocide.

I am also putting "fridging" up on the shelf since apparently a lot of y'all can't tell the difference between a character death that has been foreshadowed and ties into the plot and themes from the cruel, random killing of a female character in order to motivate a man

More on the genius of the Asterix translations by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge (the “rather, old fruit” exchange is one of my favourite gags) auntymuriel.com/2012/12/23/a...

Sauron was famously able to perceive every threat to his power, however small, and never got distracted and looked in the wrong direction. Right?

how many nuns could a nunchuck chuck if a nunchuck could chuck nuns?

Wow.

this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade

idk what the hell my algorithm has become but you better believe i watched the whole thing

This always seems like the craziest framing. Lots of people who live in the countryside hate fox hunting. While lots of urban dwellers defend it.

It feels the right season to talk about ITV’s brief foray into the seventies Ghost Story.

Travelling to Central and Eastern Europe since then, it’s worth noting that while Russia became (remained?)an authoritarian disaster, it has been a boon for so many people.

Boxing Day is rather glorious in its celebration of laziness. All the pressure is off, you can feel virtuous and lethargic after some tidying. Enjoy the presents you like or plan the purchasing of the ones you didn’t get, while enjoying leftovers.

Watching THE GREEN KNIGHT again

Happy 34th USSR collapse day!

Populists attack London because it is ‘progressive and successful’, says Khan ft.trib.al/nTni2DD

And Tiny Tim, who did not die, was assisted by his partner Tiny Marty who *did* die but returned to Tiny Tim in the form of a white-suited ghost that only Tiny Marty could see. Together they solved crimes on the streets of London.

And Tiny Tim, who did not die, but walked into the desert like a true Fremen. The Tribes say he now walks in the land without footprints. He will not be found, yet all men will find him.

One of my TV Picks of the Day from Radio Times: A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower (BBC Two, 10.00pm) #AGhostStoryForChristmas

Having old BBC Christmas Specials on in the background while prepping for Xmas and it all trundles along but there's flashes of brilliance in there. "Two Ronnies" Christmas Special of 1984 has a cracking sketch which features Patrick Troughton.

It's pretty obvious this trailer exists just to tell people who liked a very popular movie character that he is back in an upcoming movie. Which seems pretty sensible marketing to me.

I don’t suppose he fancies boxing?

2025's final video is now available for all. God Help Ye, Merry Gentlemen, it's Little and Large at Christmas. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gujz...

Venezuela should stop provoking a nuclear power, pledge neutrality and choose a leader America approves of. Apparently that's how this works.

The video version of our Christmas episode is now available on YouTube. Merry Christmas! youtu.be/9q6gjCkMBhw

Agree with all of this, other than "the right will go 'pro-natalist" - I think what will happen is that much of the right will shift from 'blaming our ills on immigration' to 'blaming our ills on ethnic diversity', which is already happening to an extent.

Typografie ist wichtig!

Just seen Ickle Tommy Ten Names referred to as "Ewok Powell" Tremendous

A Lord of the Rings cover band called Brotherhood of Manwë

In Korean, if someone is being foolish you could ask them 니 머리는 장식이냐? It means “Is your head a decoration?”

this might be the greatest Christmas photo ever

“What would be a good, fair, healthy way of dealing with such creators? Should we banish them from our shelves, once they have revealed themselves to be monsters, less for ourselves than for the people they have hurt?” adamnfinecup.com/2025/12/19/s...