At last! Pleasant, temperate country-house opera weather. On my way to Longborough with three friends, to see three other friends in Tristan und Isolde.

this is why i have no time for socfooterball. making it to the semi-finals is good actually.

This is LITERALLY the same as the point I was making about AI in a strategy discussion at work today (from quite a specialised, non-minimum-wage perspective). You can use AI effectively for some things, but at least for now, you still need a human professional to take the role of bullshit filter.

Also, I am gonna say something that is obvious to everyone but Mark Zuckerberg. You are better off in climate hell in a community with people who care and are dedicated to your survival than in the slickest bunker with every piece of tech possible and people who hate your guts.

"verify your age" i used to watch tony parsons and allison pearson giving their opinions on late review, and it was nowhere near as awful as that sounds now.

we are now in a place where the Church is (correctly) calling the Labour Party out for being hostile to queer folk, so, that’s something else

“Forty-eight. It’s not fair. I’m too old. It’s against the law.” The perfect quote from my birthday trip to Billy Budd…

About to break my usual rule of “no more than 1 country house opera trip in any single summer weekend”. I’d thought as far ahead as making sure I didn’t have to plan picnics for two days in a row, but there are some sartorial logistics I hadn’t considered…

I spoke to Mitch McConnell for twenty minutes today and he said, “I leave the mills in Signa to my dear friend Gianni Schicchi.”

I’m at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the middle of watching Avenue Q, in which Rod’s nose fell off halfway through My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada, leaving the entire cast (especially Jonathan Carlton as Nicky) helpless with laughter for a considerable period 😆😆😆😆😆

In Romford - an occasional Evensong destination - and I’m reminded of the fact that there is a bus route here (the 174) whose destination blind says “Harold Hill”, which immediately triggers my brain into singing Seventy-Six Trombones. I imagine if one lives round here, that stops after a while!

Just succumbed to *another* pair of beautiful shoes I’d considered buying at full price, when they presented themselves to me at a third off in the sale. I don’t exactly have the money for them, but equally, I know that if I don’t buy any more clothes until September I get back on budget…

Just about to abandon my standard late-night diet of Channel 4 Documentaries in favour of going to bed, when who should pop up in a professional capacity but @simonkc.bsky.social…

So the question is - though it’s a few degrees cooler than yesterday - am I going to subject myself to a 90-minute ballet class this evening? And if I go, will everybody else (it’s quite a small class) have decided to bail? #bikramballet

Oooh… the Royal Academy of Music has announced its Autumn 2026 events, and the opera production is Capriccio. www.ram.ac.uk/events/capri...

This hour should be the peak point of the present London heatwave, and my flat (with blackout curtains I haven’t opened all day, and the fan on) is reasonably bearable. It keeps itself relatively warm in winter, too. Quite a practical place to live.

I do wish online newspapers and magazines would offer a pay as you go option. I’m not demanding quality journalism for free, and would gladly pay £1-£2 to read a specific article. I’m just endlessly frustrated by the likes of The Stage and Opera Now wanting me to subscribe for many more £ a month.

Busy week coming up. Many visits to Opera Holland Park for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Turandot in concert, and three song recitals. And singing the ultimate alto-led verse anthem, This is the Record of John, for St John’s Eve at St Olave’s tomorrow 😊 Oh, and the full-time job… in the heat 🥵

is one ever ready for such a thing

Is anyone I know going to be at the Bold Tendencies/Trinity Laban performance of Turangalîla tomorrow? Can’t wait to have Messiaen back in his unofficial Peckham home…

I have one CENTRAL BALCONY STANDING ticket - D32 - available for tonight’s performance of The Marriage of Figaro. Royal Opera House, 17th June, 18:45. Face value £20, but I believe the person for whom I booked it is happy for it to go free to a good home, given the short notice. Any takers?

I see London Opera Company has announced their upcoming concert of Tristan und Isolde. They had been planning Parsifal but, I understand, changed their mind as a result of proximity to productions by the Royal Opera and Regents Opera. www.sinfoniasmithsq.org.uk/event/trista...

If anyone’s desperately seeking a ticket for Opera Holland Park’s sold-out Turandot, I’ve just returned a single ticket for next Tuesday which is now visible on the website if you persist in clicking through beyond the “sold out” notices. (Don’t worry, I’m still going to the Saturday performance.)

David Hockney has died. I *had* been wondering whether Glyndebourne might be plotting a Rake’s Progress revival for Autumn 2027 in honour of his 90th birthday… I feel bad for wondering now!

Active travel people will recognise this framing. "Pedestrian hit by car." "Lawless e-scooter rider MOWS DOWN hard-working grandmother of seven".

If houses had been set on fire *by* ethnic minority people, I suspect the BBC would have somehow rediscovered the active voice

Of course the prime minister is posting on X about how bad the riot organised on X is. Fucking of course he is. An expression of complete subservience to the men in Silicon Valley and the White House who have instigated this moment.

Condemning riots isn't enough. We need policy action, including an immediate appraisal of X as a vehicle for coordinating far-right disorder. And we need political leadership, to challenge white nationalism as an idea, not to validate it daily and then complain when it turns violent.

The great UK middle-class inflation indicator strikes again - the M&S three-deli-items deal has gone up from £8 to £9 😭

"Something remarkable happened in April. For the first time in history, wind and solar generated more electricity than gas across the entire planet. Not in a country. Not in a region. Globally." Tons of great news here from Danny Kennedy (via @billmckibben.bsky.social's newsletter, which rules).

i also have very little to add to this other than if you fell for this extremely artificial panic, fucking shame on you, and it got you absolutely nothing and nowhere and now your life is worse too.

Briefly delayed on my way to choir this morning by a Canada goose and her four goslings, walking up the middle of Wells Way, Camberwell in front of my bus 🤣 Before I had a chance to get a pic, a police van appeared and acted like a sheepdog, persuading them in the direction of the lake in the park…

At Grange Park Opera yesterday for Don Carlo, I picked up the mini leaflet announcing next year’s repertoire: Sweeney Todd (with Bryn Terfel), Eugene Onegin, L’elisir d’amore, and of course, Die Walküre. No dates or further casting at this stage.

Lovely weather for country house opera 😬

The newly-released Donizetti song collection from Opera Rara looks incredibly pretty with all those pastel colours 😍 (I just know I wouldn’t listen to them though, even though I attended and enjoyed the majority of the live concerts associated with the recording project…)

It’s 30 years today since I fell in love with opera 🎉🥳🍾

Love the @operahollandpark.bsky.social members’ bar. If you’re wondering why I’m on first name terms with a Random Minor Celebrity, chances are I met them here. Tonight, I’ve bumped into a singer I saw recently - total stranger - and gassed for half an hour about random opera stuff.

There is a Very Loud Child somewhere in my neighbourhood. Not shrieking. Just shouting, at the top of his/her voice, audible several blocks away through my open window. Can only assume parent in charge is either (a) deaf and in blissful ignorance, or (b) being driven slowly insane.

When the father of a murdered son makes a public statement saying "we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension", then I believe it's incumbent on any news outlet reporting on Farage's comments to ensure people know he has chosen to disregard the family's wishes.

TodayTix has a 24-hour offer on The Producers, with some really decent seats included in the £20 band. Very busy for the next few weeks but can’t resist a bargain (I saw the show before it transferred from the Menier, but that was 18 months ago).

English Touring Opera have officially published details and dates of their autumn tour. Info in their last programme confirmed that the Gluck will continue into the Spring 2027 tour (same venues? Wonder how that will work) along with Tosca. englishtouringopera.org.uk/whats-on

an hour after this was posted, a labour minister told parliament that customers should "alert member of staff" if a trans person walks into the "wrong toilet"

Expecting another full house at @wigmore-hall.org.uk for this concert!

Yes, I use dashes. Yes, I use the Oxford comma. Yes, I sometimes say: “Not… but.” Fuck anyone who thinks those things belong to AI. Who did you think they were stolen from in the first place?

Gotta love how recipe comments are like: I replaced the sugar with turkey drippings and the flour with dandelions. It said to fold ingredients in gently but I stirred them with a pogo stick and after all that work the recipe tasted like tin cans. Zero stars.

I just got poked on Facebook! I thought that died out about 15 years ago…

Also I think women are generally more aware of the way that ideas and labor are stolen because....ya know.....

One of the more misogynistic takes currently trending in the AI policy space is "women use less AI than men because they have less tech literacy" Ok but have you considered that women use less AI than men because we have more tech literacy?