YES. And being an ex pro cellist, Isabel writes with great knowledge of such things, along with fantastic humour. This lady knows how to turn a phrase.

So many of my favourite things all here at once. This is a new entry in my (short) list of “every time I spot this or it crosses my mind I must watch it” Thank you Joe Lycett and BBC Radio4. There are still a few corners of the BBC that justify the license fee for me.

Paddington is now the mythical figure who accompanies British celebrities into the afterlife. As a nation, we obviously decided we didn’t want a symbol of tolerance for vulnerable immigrants, and found the lad another job.

COULD SOME OF THE SHITHEADS DIE NOW PLEASE INSTEAD OF THE GOOD PEOPLE

Seen in a staff toilet at school

I think at this point the UK has accepted Paddington as the Death Bear, collector of souls. So, I think as a nation we should start smearing marmalade on the eyes of the dead and whisper “fare for the crossing”. It’ll feel weird now but, in three of four generations, no one will question it.

Tonight I went to a new friend's for Burns night dinner, and brought poppadom crisps for snacks. Her: that's fine we can have an Indian Burns night. Me: I thought it would be better than a Chinese burns night. Her: ... Other guest: ... Sometimes it's hard to tell why people don't take to you.

* chefs kiss *

The first Minnesota murder, they refused to let a medical professional help the woman they shot. The second Minnesota murder, they simply shot the medical professional.

I'm always amazed, not only at the new versions @marshfamilysongs.bsky.social manage to put together, but the speed at which they get them out after events occur. Possibly, very possibly, their best to date, certainly top 3. youtu.be/F4nefIN4_LY?...

The right to bear arms…NOT THAT GUY

This is such a cool illustration of how the Mercator map distorts the size of Greenland, which looks as big as the whole continent of Africa on that map but is actually the size of Mexico.

I'm just settling down to watch some TV with the cat. Or rather, I'm just settling down to watch some cat with the TV...

Instinctively, this makes sense. But our electoral system has us elect individuals and not parties, even though most voters care more about parties than individuals. What we need is wholesale electoral reform that goes much further than this petition.

I thought this trailer was an SNL sketch, but nope! — it’s a real movie with possibly the greatest cast of 2026, and I implore you to watch the trailer 😆 youtu.be/pyZI5oM6hWk?...

I've been meaning to for a while. Recommendations for another streaming service with as wide a range of music including classical, and podcasts?

All this noise over "drive baby drive" reminded me of "let him have it Chris" youtu.be/J2hA_Xjr33E?...

True, but on the other hand Kirsty Noam says Communist agitator Renee Nicole Good ran over & killed three ICE officers at high speed, blew up an ICE buildings downtown & took a class of kindergarten students hostage before being gunned down so you can understand the media not wanting to pick a side.

A woman was reversing in Asda car park today and she almost bumped into my trolley so she said "sorry". I said "that's okay", but my American friends are saying the correct response would have been to shoot her in the head three times and claim I acted in self-defence 🤷‍♀️

Absolutely fucking tremendous from the FT.

The Philharmonia are currently giving away 80 free tickets per performance to first-time bookers, worth knowing if you haven't seen them before philharmonia.co.uk/series/80-fr...

My accountant reminds me of the impending deadline. My financial assistant seems defiantly unperturbed.

As I'm sure you're aware, the fifth of January is the day of the Schnabelperchten, a creature of Austrian folklore who will check your house for cleanliness. If they decide you haven't done a good enough job, they'll slit open your belly and fill it with straw. Happy New Year..!

It's the only game that matters. My SKETCH of British politicians playing the Trump Game.

I encourage you to visit www.trumpkennedycenter.org if you want to see good satire in action.

His chutzpah remains unbeaten

I guess the one way to guarantee that you can end a war is to start one. Obviously you need to pick a small country that offers no conceivable military threat to you.

He’s a shoe-in for this year’s FIFA War Prize

From Twelfth Night, if memory serves.

I guess my flat doesn't look that bad from this angle/far away with the sun in your eyes

I dust my house. My AI robot watches. "It should be you doing this." "Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark." "That's not why you were invented." "These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise." "They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them." "Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."

Dry January going well. Cheers then.

We are an absurd and wonderful species.

I think former Chief Prosecutor, Nazir Afzal, sums it up quite well.

I've never seen the Clifton Suspension Bridge at night before. It looks rather splendid.

The look that says "chuck me out and I'll shit in your slippers"

Late afternoon at Winchelsea beach.

It's a strange kind of grief, that of finally calling time on a relationship that has been in its death throws for as long as you can remember, yet always hoped you could somehow fix.

RIP Chris Rea (cartoon by @robinflavell.bsky.social and me)

Further adventures of a menopausal violinist: Here is the "pair" of shoes I took to change into for my gig today.

Hahaha, what a monumental twat. I'm going to adopt that attitude - blame woke for everything I'm shit at.

I love love love Strictly. But the size of the band on Final night is shameful. One of the BBC's most popular shows and they can't even pay for a full band for final night. Shame on you BBC.

THREAD. My parents' cat Bridget vanished. As the weeks dragged on they became ever more worried, so to distract himself my dad began to paint Bridget's adventures, imagining her travelling through time and popping up at some of art & music's most important moments. I've collected his work here...

My neighbour told me to pop round at tea-time. I have no idea what that means. So far I've narrowed it down to a window of about 4 hours.

No, that wasn’t AutoCorrect. I am challenging you to a duck off. Here is my prize winning Mallard. Let’s see you beat that, chump.

Robin Ince forced to quit Radio 4 over pro-trans views

A seasonal not-so-fun fact: the original Ukrainian composer of Carols of the Bells (as it became known in its English adaptation) was murdered by a Soviet agent in 1921.

Tired of all those BOGOF offers? Fed up with free extras? Long for simpler times? This is the offer for you: BUY ONE GET ONE. (Clarified in small print, a limited time offer: buy a trial pack and you'll get exactly that -a trial pack).

Imagine the poor immigration officer who has to read 5 whole years of your social media posts. You may not kill them but surely you've diminished their capacity to truly love again