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Time to tap the sign again

I hadn't realised that the great, and now tragically late, Tom Stoppard had his thumbprints all over the script of what is one of my very favourite films. But it also explains why I love it so.

The issue is, the opinions that Nathan Gill was paid to shill are the same opinions that Nigel Farage allegedly expresses for free.

Alan Milburn on WatO, talking about the mysterious rise in the number of NEETs in the last five years, often due to physical and mental ill-health. Me, shouting at the radio: What happened five years ago, Alan? What happened? I can tell you if you've forgotten!

"Nuns. No sense of humour."

Maybe shave refugees' heads and sell their hair.

I know his (Holy)ghost writer.

Don't be stupid, be a smarty Come and join the Labour Party!

No one should own two houses before everyone who wants one has one.

ffs Driving south on Friday. My plans are literally pissed on.

Of all the people I'd have on a list to be plotting against Kier Starmer, I would never have put the moral-free vacuum in human form that is Wes Streeting on it.

Elon Musk reinvents the Probation Service.

Bond is the lost king of Gondor, smoking a pipe in the shadows of the Prancing Pony.

Ex-head of the UK Armed Forces saying that bad things that soldiers did in the past shouldn't be prosecuted. I very strongly disagree. If soldiers are straight up murdering folk, then we need an investigation, and for those who did it, and those who ordered it, to be held accountable.

It was literally just last year, that I was driving to my mum's, and my son (dumb phone for reasons) called me up and asked which way he needed to go from Trafalgar Square to get to Paddington station. Inevitably I was in a 4G desert, but had an ancient paper map, with Central London included.

I mean, do I get matched with cats and replica 12th century woodwork?

Basic competence is such an underrated quality.

We had a global pandemic of a novel coronavirus that chewed up the lungs, guts and brains of those it infected. Government: no, it must be the kids who are to blame.

Over on another place, a fellow reenactor has just offered for sale a piece of embroidery that took them 160 hours of work for £100. Please, people, I beg you. Value your labour.

Scrabbling to make sure that both Zoom and Teams still work on my computer. Both are of the devil, of course, and I long for a time when a small boy arrives on my doorstep clutching a telegram, which he will hand over for a shiny sixpence.

At this point it's difficult to tell which ship is sinking quickest... www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Haunted house in space, except the crew are the ghosts.

"the wrong bin"

🚨 NEW: The rapid spread of Active Clubs, a network of fascist martial arts groups, is among the most concerning trends on the British extreme right. We can now expose the figures behind AC Midlands - one of the best established chapters in the country.

Shitrag. This is the same paper that in an otherwise glowing review of _Down Station_ called the non-white cast of characters (who all worked in manual jobs on the *London* Underground) "dutifully multicultural".

The whole point of robots, real or virtual, is to remove the reliance of Capital on Labour. Karel Cepek knew this when he coined the word 'robot', which has its roots in the Old Slavonic word for slave. When you use ChatGPT, you are opting for slave labour over waged labour. For shame.

Cosplaying Amon Göth

I'm honestly surprised the show's been renewed with behaviour like this.

All this talk of crumpets meant that I had crumpets for lunch.

My niece is an English teacher in the south - she spotted one of her less-academic pupils engrossed in a copy of The Red Planet, which is honestly lovely, even without her leaning in and saying "My uncle wrote that".

Farage: epic grifter

Just had an email from George Lucas. No, not that George Lucas, another George Lucas, which got me thinking about all the other George Lucases in the world and how they must feel introducing themselves as 'George Lucas. No, not that George Lucas'.

"I'm doing my part!"

One vital reason to vote in the National Trust elections and for the NT endorsed candidates. We can't risk the Restore Trust candidates getting any influence on it.

Up in my mum's loft (from which she's been banned, for reasons) and bringing stuff down to show her in the vain hope that I might be permitted to take it to the charity shop. Almost every item was greeted like a long-lost friend, so back in the loft it went. Sigh.

One of my robots (who called themselves 'Robot') pointed out that bipedal locomotion is *weird*.

the first person that patriarchy teaches a man to harm is himself. oppressive violence against others is more palatable if someone has already first been convinced to rip the copper wiring out of their own soul.

I don't pay much attention to football: even less since the local team was bought by fabulously wealthy, journalist murdering, child executing, anti-gay misogynist extremists. But even I knew that Maccabi Tel Aviv had a problem with violent supporters. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Obviously, disconnect Witney from the grid until they relent.

Well. That was disappointing. You'd have thought that the upcoming Aston Vills vs Maccabi Tel Aviv match would have had at least passing comment given recent events.

Started listening at 7.30am - nothing yet. It's so exciting!

One more sleep until the news of the football riot in Tel Aviv involving Maccabi supporters gets discussed on the Today programme.

So it's just fine when billionaire techbros steal art, but I break into the Louvre with an angle grinder and suddenly it's a Europe-wide manhunt...

I regularly donate to Wikipedia, because in this age of enshittification, it remains an AI-free resource. It's not always 100% accurate, but it's a place where you can start your research in the knowledge that humans have edited what you're reading. donate.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...

15 years ago, Orbit decided to chuck these out, one month after another. A bold - even a brave - move. Artist: Lauren Panepinto

I've spent most of today's daylight hours hitting people with sticks, while they also hit me with sticks. Not only was I the oldest person on the field, some of those I was fighting are a third of my age. I am now quite tired, a bit bruised, but honestly content.

Not done this for a while, but I do have a series of self-pubbed fantasy books for sale. If you like competent people standing up for the right things against a background of mad kings following even madder gods, then you're in luck! Available worldwide in dead tree format. bookofmorden.co.uk/fbp/

I am firmly on side with Empress Matilda against the usurper Stephen.