"A Tory shadow minister has come under fire for acting as a lawyer for Roman Abramovich..." Not just a shadow minister. The shadow Attorney General. The Tory tradition of prioritising support for billionaires above support for Ukraine flourishes www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

You can't just remove people's citizenship. And normalizing this ahead of a possible Farage government is madness.

Brilliant long read on the man who kept impersonating children: www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...

Wonderful read on attempts to communicate with extraterrestrials: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Today in midlife, I am contemplating visiting Etsy to buy a nice new case for my reading glasses.

I had an American (I'm sure this isn't a surprise to you) surprised when they told me a family member who lives in Iceland was going to be flying to Europe, and I let her know Iceland is part of Europe.

Looking forward to* being reunited with my scales tomorrow. *dreading

Some horrifying proportion of Australians, many of whom have been to Bali, don't know that Bali is in Indonesia.

I've seen GLP-1 induced frailty in action and it isn't pretty: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/h...

Every writer should watch Pluribus. Not for its stellar balance of tension and black comedy, not for the craft of its screenplay, but for the MC. 'so what did she think of my unpublished novel?' #wheezing

Green salad and pea risotto really hitting the spot after Christmas food. And absolutely doing Dry January...

One day late for Boxing Day, but it is #Caturday.

Somehow, feeling like tonight might be the night to rectify my never having watched Idiocracy.

We will be open for submissions 1 to 15 Jan. For inspiration, read our winning stories from last issue by @karaoakleaf.bsky.social @emilyrinkema.bsky.social @belindarowe.bsky.social @jaimegill.bsky.social @theodora.bsky.social @kathrynsilverhajo.bsky.social newflashfiction.com/issue-39/

Make a Bond movie casual Goldholdhands

Me: why does the fridge smell like something has died? Also me: This Camembert is ripening splendidly.

Important Christmas news: panettone with brandy butter is god tier.

#viral is a very cool and normal hashtag to use when mining your I'll grandma for content

For a film that consists largely of Tom Hanks and Stephen Graham giving each other coordinates, Greyhound is remarkably tight and watchable

Is there anything to do with leftover brandy butter other than eat it?

My spawn has done a fantastic job on Christmas.

No matter our beliefs, Jesus’ message of opening our hearts to those who are different from us has never felt more important than this Christmas. I want to wish everyone celebrating in London and around the world a very Merry Christmas.

God, even Freddie Mercury prostituted his phrasing on a Christmas song. If memory serves he was Zoroastrian?!

Not sure Negroni Sbagliatos are entirely required but, hey, it's Saturnalia. Happy hump day, all.

I have seen peak Gen X midlife and it will not be topped.

Think I *may* have managed a short, flat run without aggravating my Achilles. It's a Christmas miracle...

Merry Christmas!

Playing the Rizla game and spawn (25) landed Adrian Mole and was none the wiser.

Did you forget to order a Christmas present and now it's fuckin' Christmas Eve? Are you boned six ways to Sunday? Fucked beyond belief? Good news! You can get them an Onion subscription! They'll get a year of papers in the mail AND an emailed PDF certificate to print out instantly. Christmas saved!

Do normal English families have boiled ham on Christmas Eve or is this some weird French thing we've inherited? We have it with broad beans, mash and parsley sauce.

Me: "There's mulled wine coming up in a minute..." Spawn: "Don't get his hopes up. When you say 'mull something over', you don't mean: 'think it through as fast as you can.'"

It might have been warm enough to eat our sandwiches outside but still got that classic winter vibe in the late afternoon. Beautiful walk: Cotehele to Calstock on @iwalkcornwall.co.uk

Depressing number of followers blooming on this unseasonably warm Christmas Eve.

Looks like the artist formerly known as Prince Andrew is well and truly shafted. #inappropriatefriends

Now on the port. It is a Monday. And only the 22nd. What have I done?

Should not have bought those Quality Street. Not even Christmas and I already feel like puking...

Welp, the London Review of Books has had me watching Judy Garland clips on YouTube. And now I get what all the fuss is about.

Delighted to see my story appear in the venerable Analog, which has been going since 1938 and published Asimov: www.analogsf.com/current-issu...

I have a metal cafetiere at home from which I empty the grinds by bashing it against the bin edge. Just attempted the same with the co-working's glass one. It did not end well.

French publishing house Harlequin decided to use AI translation instead of human translations. All their freelance translators (some of whom had been working with Harlequin for +30y!!!) were told they would no longer receive work from Harlequin

I love jivamukti.

But ChatGPT is good because productivity.

Not gay, not male, but I suspect the homosexuals may wish to keep their banking separate from their hookups.

Lovely piece on the Pope and JD Vance among others.... www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

😍We are rejoining Erasmus. Official announcement tomorrow😍 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Let's hope the BBC has the courage of its convictions.... stoptrump.org.uk/sign-bbc-let...

An art conservator once told me, apropos of clients doing dumb things to their collections, of one who had put a discolored sandstone statuette through her dishwasher. It dissolved. Gone. Arrived with a bag of the sand left in the bottom of the machine, asking for the figurine to be restored.

Find this dark time around the solstice really hard going. No wonder so many cultures and societies have festivals of light and feasting around now. (In other words, I'm looking forward to the Christmas break.)

Got a new job in today. Used to be a fairly routine event, now a cause for celebration.

Just waiting for tomorrow's avalanche of tabloid stories about the Liverpool driver's history of domestic violence* *: I assume he's a wife-beater as well as a road rage monster