My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’

The penny has dropped FINALLY

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Yes, I know I shouldn’t use Chat GPT as a supposedly convenient alternative to a search engine, but just a reminder (not least to myself) in three screengrabs that it’s total dogshit

I adore Stoppard and had no idea about this! Have rarely laughed so much in the cinema as at Last Crusade - it is by far my favourite Indy movie and now it all makes sense.

Perfect Tom Stoppard story from DTel obituary: His response to a letter from Harold Pinter canvassing support for a proposal to have the Comedy Theatre in London rechristened the Pinter Theatre, “Have you thought, instead, of changing your name to Harold Comedy?”

Photographer Kathrin Swoboda captured amazing images of a red wing blackbird's song, visible via the bird's breath in cold air and early light #WomensArt

Australia just recorded zero cervical cancer cases in women under 25 for the first time since records began in 1982. The amazing result of HPV vaccination.

this is amazing news - the HPV vaccine promises to eliminate cervical cancer in countries where uptake is high.

Appalled this has happened.

📣New data shows London cycling is soaring: 📈 12% up from last year to 1,500,000 daily journeys 📈 that's 43% up from 2019 🚲Cycleway Network grows to 431km (up from 90km in 2016) 😎 & 76% of London cyclists feel safe our routes 🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲 bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This one officially wins as our favorite comment on the photo.

Well, that was … different! #TheAshes

@bcdreyer.social Finally got around to reading “Pilate”, on your recommendation. Thank you! - it is indeed extraordinary. And as a lovely parting shot, I see that the copy editor was in my year at my high school (now *very* much an author in her own right) - @charlottemendelson.bsky.social

This man was trafficked into Britain, in ways which the government would now use to make him subject to deportation. According to a leading political pundit, he brought with him ancestral violence, which means that he *and his British-born children* should be expelled. This man.

This is 100% worth a watch - can’t believe I’ve not heard about this before. And the thread is an excellent read too. I can almost smell it from here.

Brilliant. And yes, he was outstanding!

This is officially one of the strangest pictures in American history, and I do not doubt that it will be considered iconic a hundred years from now. 100% serious here.

Spectacular!

100% this.

I have a very bad feeling about this...

Jane Austen's 250th birthday is coming up in December and I hope you'll celebrate by taking a turn about the room, acquiring a passion for dead leaves & closet shelves, and taking a fancy to the last person you could ever be prevailed upon to marry.

Yay. Priceless. The right column at the right time. And a gleefully English two fingers to the haters.

they are so close to understanding the entire point of trade

"Parking is such sweet sorrow"

Oh this is glorious!

This is hilarious!

These very true words from Steve Hely have given me tremendous comfort over the years.

my new ai device will sit in a beer garden that backs onto a small river and drink three to five pints on a sunny late summer afternoon for you, leaving you free for more meetings and business calls

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

A work of art

This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.

This is terrifying.

On National Poetry Day, the greatest poem I have ever read

Saw someone say, “Stop hoarding books, we don’t need paper books anyway” and I can’t express how misguided this is. Online libraries disappear, digital books can be altered, and with Big Tech seeking to destroy history and literacy, print media has never been more essential.

For over 60 years, Jane Goodall was a force for research about our precious planet—and climate change action to protect it—while breaking glass ceilings along the way. I'll so miss her courage and commitment to help expand what we know about our world and preserve it for the generations to come.

The part of Orwell's 1984 that everyone forgets is how human music has been replaced by soulless, machine-generated pop songs. The AI attempt to take over the film and music industries is an attack on the human spirit. Boycott AI actors. Boycott AI bands. Support human artists.

So sorry to hear this. What a woman!

Jane Goodall made the world a better place. She helped shape how we view the world around us, fought vehemently for the environment, and her love of chimpanzees was infectious. She will be greatly missed. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

Absolutely right. This is a grim prospect.

It is 20 years since Conor Gearty gave the Hamlyn Lectures on Can Human Rights Survive? As a mark of respect following the dreadful news of his, Cambridge University Press & Assessment has made these lectures Open Access for the remainder of the year. You can find them here: lnkd.in/e5Xrt2G5

List 3 things you can talk about for 3 hours with no prep: 1) Choral music 2) Prevention of non-communicable diseases 3) Cricket

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Ignore the haters, London is the 🐐

Oh alas!

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

A gold star to whoever is doing Channel 4's social media today:

"…and Magda Goebbels made a great strudel.”