For no apart reason my iPhone has suddenly decided I have 585 unread emails. iPad which is synced to the same account shows all read. Remember the days when Apple stuff just worked?

Off to opticians for my regular eye test. Hope it goes better than last year.

Just seen a trailer for Mock the Week which is coming back on TLC starting on Sunday 1st February with Dara Ó Briain hosting. TLC is on freeview as well as Sky and Virginmedia.

Feel sorry for US Athletics at the #WinterOlympics because their anthem is going to get booed the fuck out of.

It’s worth pointing out that Trump’s 10% tariff for not allowing him to have Greenland goes to 25% on 1st June. Maybe it’s time to follow Canada’s example and boycott US products.

It’s all happening at Crystal Palace today with Oliver Glasner confirming that he will be leaving at the end of the season.

So Man City have signed Marc Guehi. Does beg the question why Liverpool weren’t in the frame.

Full details of the routes are at https://www.letour.fr/en/the-race/grands-departs/grand-depart-2027

Next year’s opening stages of the Tour De France are in Britain with the men’s race going from Edinburgh to Cardiff while the women’s loops around Leeds/Manchester/Sheffield before a stage in London. Looks like the men’s race comes quite close to where I live

It’s being reported that Kemi Badenoch’s team got hold of a copy of Robert Jenrick’s resignation speech after it was left ‘lying around. This sounds like something from The Thick of It would have come up with.

I know I shouldn’t find it funny, as we as license fee payers are ultimately paying the BBC’s defence, but Trump having to list all his finances, business and property interests due to the way his action against the BBC was filed is very funny. Classic case of unintentional consequences.

Two motoring things o note today on my weekly trip to Tesco. The first was a car that swerved across the motorway to avoid missing their exit,despite being signed for a couple of miles beforehand.

So Everton vs Sunderland goes to penalties #FACup

I wouldn’t be surprised if Glasner is out of a job by the end of the weekend. Crystal Palace’s league form has been poor recently (two points out of the last six games) and then they are knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Macclesfield (they one place below Chester in the National League North).

Musk response to the outcry over Grok’s image generation tool is crying censorship. This from someone who’s response to the creation of CSAM material is to monetise it rather than stopping it.

Indonesia has become the first place to ban Grok over it’s deepfake engine. Meanwhile other countries do nothing. It has been reported that the tool has been used on images of famous people including the Princess of Wales (I’m surprised this isn’t front page news in The Daily Mail and Express).

As someone who wears progressive lens glasses, this could be a game changer with everything in focus not matter which part of the lens you look through https://www.engadget.com/wearables/ixis-autofocusing-lenses-multifocal-glasses-ces-2026-212608427.html

So Musk’s answer to Grok creating CSAM images is you have to be a subscriber to do this. A reminder that subscriptions start at $3 a month, so hardly a disincentive. So to people, organisations and governments still using X, do you think CSAM images are OK then because I sure don’t?

Just read that Simon Yates has retired as a professional cyclist. Guess winning the Giro meant there was no more unfinished business after the 2018 loss. It could just be that the motivation isn’t there anymore, something that Pogačar spoke about after last year’s Tour win.

So the drink drive limit will be cut in England and Wales. Ute’s a bit of an odd decision considering Scotland’s exoerience (they cut their limit in 2014j. Multiple studies have shown no improvement in road safety but has had a negative impact on the hospitality sector.

BBC asks what’s the best way to de-ice a car? Simple, buy an electric car and you can defrost it remotely without leaving the house. It also works well in summer as you can remote cool the car before you get in.

Newspapers are reporting that over 70s will have to pass eyesight tests to continue driving. When a quarter of drivers haven’t had a recent eyesight test and about 1 million are below the legal vision limit to drive, I think just targeting over 70s isn’t enough.

When world class managers underperform and players play better at other clubs than when playing for Man United, you know something is seriously wrong. Signing a new manager won’t fix that. Even though I dislike Man United, I’m not sure it’s funny anymore. Of course it is!

Today’s Mirror “Man Utd boss Amorim’s brave face after sacking”. I imagine he’s quite happy to be out of the toxic environment that is Man United these days and the reported £10m payoff will probably helps too.

So Amorim has been sacked by United. Is Big Sam still available?

It’s -5°C outside which is a good test for the heat pump. It’s nice and toasty inside but the efficiency has taken a hit to be about the same as a gas boiler to run.

Useful advice on avoiding getting scammed https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jan/04/digital-wallet-fraud-bank-card-stolen-fraud-apple-pay-google-pay. Would add that if in doubt contact your bank directly from the number on their website.

Wondering when to take your Christmas decorations down? Well modern tradition is that you should take them down before the feast of Epiphany on 6th January. Or you could follow Medieval tradition and keep them up to Candlemas Eve on 1st February, though I suspect most will be sick of them by then.

211-3 when bad light stopped play is a lot better than just over 60-3 when I fell asleep, with both Root and Brook on over 70. Of course you can’t really tell until Australia have batted #TheAshes

People are criticising Starmer for not knowing about the US strikes on Venezuela. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the UK stopping suppling the US with drug trafficking vessel information back in November over concerns that US strikes were illegal under international law.

Venezuela becomes the seventh country the US has bombed since Trump took office (the others are Syria, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia). It will be a real easy decision by the Nobel Peace Prize committee on whether Trump should receive it later thus year.

Channel 5 are supposed to be showing Enemy of the State at lunchtime today. Given that there are some violent scenes and quite a lot of swearing, either it has been cut heavily or the listings are wrong. Good film though.

No matter what you do for the first time today will be the best this year so, for example, even a crap cup of coffee will be the best cup of coffee you’ve drunk this year. Of course it will also be the worst, so the hangover you have from last night will be the worst hangover this year.

Just been checking the Liverpool fixtures for the next few weeks and the next ten games are all televised, hence the odd day and start time for some of them.

Happy new year and hoping it isn’t as cold, wet and windy where you are is it is here.

Today’s question is why is someone setting off fireworks at 6.41pm? The only reasons I can think of is either they are doing it before the get so pissed that the end up setting fire to themselves or they are already so pissed that they can’t read a clock and don’t know it isn’t midnight.

So the women’s tennis world number one lost to a man ranked 671st in the men’s ranking. I’m not sure what this was meant to do apart from a nice pay day for Kyrgios and Sabalenka. Unfortunately it just gives ammunition to those who hate women’s sport.

I see the government want the ability to see what is being sent through VPNs over concerns that children are using them to circumvent the online safety act (well dur!). Firstly there are legitimate reasons to use a VPN, such as remote access to work (even MOs do this).

I see Trump wants the justice department to release all the names of the democrats linked to Epstein. He’s obviously forgotten that for part of the time he was friends with Epstein he was a democrat.

I see The Lavender Hill Mob is on at 11am this morning on Film 4. Arguably the best of the Ealing comedies after Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers.

Well what a chaotic day of cricket and could be all over in two days.would be pretty peed off if I’d dropped £10k to see that.

Australia 89-5 just after lunch. What on earth is going on?

For only the second time ever I’ve avoided whamageddon mainly as supermarkets that normally get me either haven’t been playing Christmas music or if they are, it tends to be old stuff like Perry Como.

Happy Christmas 🎄

Santa is heading to Southampton and should be there in about 3 minutes time according to NORAD

I see BBC2 are showing Indecent Proposal tonight. What could be more Christmassy than a film where a man offers $1m to shag another man’s wife?

Less than 15 minutes to take off according to Googie’s Santa Tracker https://santatracker.google.com

Liverpool have confirmed that Alexander Isak has an ankle injury that included a fractured fibula which has been operated on, so will be out for a number of months. I guess it could have been worse, it could have been an ACL injury. He really isn’t having a great season though is he.

Christmas food shopping now done and fridge is very full. Surprisingly Booths wasn’t too busy, though there were a few people doing their Christmas collections too.

So Jim Beam is stopping production all next year due to trade tariffs and falling international sales, particularly Canada. Kentucky voted 64.4% in favour of Trump. Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas…