These came as a replacement in an online order, and I am approaching them with no small amount of trepidation. I shall however press on selflessly in the interests of science. #CrispSky

Even aside from the fact that it very obviously didn’t happen for the reasons below, I think it’s also worth remembering that Putin sent a snatch/kill squad to get Zelenskyy during Russia’s 2022 invasion, prompting the US to offer Zel extraction. He replied “I need ammunition, not a ride”

Once again Nigel Farage has been denied a knighthood. Still eligible for a white hood.

For several years Donald Tusk lived lust round the corner from me. About 150-200m away. I never saw him.

This reminded me I once had dinner with my dad in Joe Allen’s and I had to stop him going over to try to chat-up Judy Dench, who was at another but non-adjacent table.

Viktor Orbán walked past the smoking booth I was smoking in.

Watch if you can. It’s one of the best episodes of anything ever.

Auf Wiedersehen cordon sanitaire! For, basically, no reason whatsoever. Non-far-right parties and politicians should boycott, but they won’t. And so it slides. The Far Right gains legitimacy and is normalised. The Cordon becomes harder to justify & maintain. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

A Reform Councillor writes to @vizcomic.bsky.social

Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/

Loath to use the term game-changer, but these are really something else.

Frasier S6 E14, Three Valentines. Niles attempts to quickly iron out an errant crease in his trousers before his date arrives.

All news outlets: Pics of Brigitte Bardot on a beach Pics of her on sets of movies Pics in miniskirt Pics looking coquettish Pics with other famous actors Pics with animals More bikini pics Pics of her with people who weren’t awful racists. [buried deep in text] “she was also an awful racist.”

Contrast this with every single British newspaper

Got some new sim racing shoes for Xmas and they almost perfectly match the Telecaster they’re going to live next to when not in use. I only just noticed, but they’re so well matched I think I just must have chosen them subliminally to match.

#GVerse Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright roasting Judi Dench for getting all the roles is genuinely the best thing you’ll see today.

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.

The pervading idea that someone is morally better merely by the fact of them claiming to follow the same religion as you or even just believing in god, irrespective or *in spite* of their words and deeds, is what makes moderate religions complicit in giving their respective extremists cover.

No one has ever been able to adequately explain what Putin is meant to have thought NATO expansion would threaten him with, apart from limiting his expansionist ambitions. "He was worried they'd invade Russia." No he wasn't. He just wasn't. That's not a thing anyone thought might happen.

I’m not at all convinced there is one. The salami tactics have worked. Slice by slice until what would have been an outrage several years ago barely registers now. Perhaps openly abandoning elections and declaring a leader for life, but by then it’s too late and rigging them is much more likely.

Possibly the most interesting revelation about Farage's school days is that he was a prefect. There is no way he could dismiss that level of dedication to fascism as mere banter.

The piece that meant the most to me in 2025 - written after a traumatic week, the words tumbled out of me. Thinking of all the NHS overseas workers propping up the system and keeping our loved ones alive. Where would be without them. open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...

With respect to Mark Rutte, it is his job to hold NATO together and in Europe’s interests if he can. But, hope for the best while preparing for the worst. In reality we do not currently know how far Trump will go in support of *or* against Europe, which makes the US by-definition non-dependable.

Mrs Moog brought me a delicious dinner, plus two types of pate left over from Xmas and a stack of oatcakes to spread it on in case I get peckish later on. Naturally, it being between 24th December and 1st January, I ate the dinner, then the pate and oatcakes as a sort of savoury desert.

Love the invoking of a Family Business as a wholesome affair, evoking skills passed down across generations to serve the community their daily bread, repair their roofs, or craft violins. It’s really a Singapore HQ’ed company with private owners stuffing their faces with its £7bn+/yr turnover.

(sidestepping the major issues for a moment...) Marble? With those keyhole fittings? Carved on the inside to precise specs to fit the pins? Also... marble for armrests? Does he not have elbows like regular humans? ... fml.

Trump Announces New Visa Tier For Immigrants Who Will Be Friends With Barron https://theonion.com/trump-announces-new-visa-tier-for-immigrants-who-will-be-friends-with-barron/

Think Tank Called ‘The Himmler Institute’ Assures Nation This All Legal https://theonion.com/think-tank-called-the-himmler-institute-assures-nation-this-all-legal/

The Quiet Carriage of Solace.

From Peterborough With Delays.

Replacement Bus Services are Forever.

You Only Stop Twice (at York and Newcastle, and will terminate at Edinburgh Waverley).

Welcome to the perineum of the year.

“Oi! Fat kid!” from a teacher at school. That’s when I knew it wasn’t just kids being kids and that it would never fucking end.

In this season of goodwill I find solace and comfort in the words of Bob Dylan: And I hope that you die And your death will come soon I'll follow your casket By the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand over your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead

...Thanks, Steve.

did you get a samsung or iphone for xmas want a case for it? theres some on my shop. want a link? Ask if you do

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to give anyone a xmas present as I am about giving this rig to Mini Moog. He can play and use any of my gear, but this is for *his* room. Esp emotional as that Tele was what I played at my last ever gig, so it really feels like passing the torch (or axe).

EU citizen dies while being detained by US federal paramilitaries

Right then, my usual pissed at the world status to one side. This period can bring up a lot of issues for people, so so many. If you need help, or you can help support this those who do, here's a list of some organisations which can help/should be supporting. 1/2

A carol for peace. Together with the Embassies of Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, representatives of the Ministry of Culture, and Ukrainian artists from the National House of Music and Open Opera Ukraine, performed Shchedryk (Carol of the Bells) in the heart of Kyiv❤️

. @ottocr.at PMSL that Google AI confused you with, of all people, Christopher Hope. (Yes, I googled myself) Happy Christmas to you and the family my friend.

Good. Next step, propose travel bans for any US official or legislator seeking to interfere in or undermine the democratic processes of the EU and/or its Member States, please.

My vibe-based view gleaned from replies to a few pertinent threads on a US-based guitar forum is that middle-aged and late middle-aged middle-class American men, many of whom play in praise & worship bands in church and fly the Stars and Stripes on their lawn, are realising the US is very not okay.

Tit-for-tat reciprocal personal sanctions and visa bans? Yeah, the EU can do that. We do it all the time. It’s a standard foreign policy instrument for us. One of the few things we do well and fast. So we can do this if you want, but you won’t like it. Remember it was what *you* wanted though.

Poland, along with Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and others joining in 2004/7 have been warning the rest of the EU of this since then, but the old guard shrugged this off as historical enmity and hoped pipelines and money would mean rational self-interest would prevail in Moscow. Maybe listen now.

If I were a law enforcement agent or spy in an action movie or series I would simply ensure that I always carried enough spare ammunition for any eventuality, thus avoiding annoying and dangerous I’m-out-of-ammo moments being inserted into my day by lazy script-writers.