He was, apparently, a young farmer in Braughing, who had carked it in an untimely manner. Luckily for him, the lane his coffin had to be carried down was tree-lined, and one of the pall-bearers – this being autumn – slipped on some leaves

2 October? But that can mean only one thing! YES, THAT’S RIGHT! In a village in Hertfordshire, they’re marking Old Man’s Day, because it’s the 454th anniversary of Mathew Wall almost being buried, and then not being buried, because he was in fact not dead

got a big profile of Robert Jenrick - and, I guess, the modern Conservative party - in this week's New World! out in print and online here: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...

Is this a sparrow or some other species?

And here’s Nathan Gill touting the pro Russia messages … now convicted of accepting bribes for doing so H/t @nickreeves.bsky.social sgain for the 🧵 with clips bsky.app/profile/impl...

So exhausting..

German media seems to be taking more seriously than ours the fact a leading light in the party UK press keeps saying will be next government took bribes from Russia to spout their lies. Maybe it’s because they put NEWS ahead of propaganda

⚠️ #HypocaustGate alert ⚠️

Ce dimanche, la Chine a inauguré ce qu’elle présente comme «le plus haut pont du monde», une arche du Grand Canyon de Huajiang, infrastructure spectaculaire suspendue à 625 mètres de hauteur. →https://l.lefigaro.fr/mTb

🇲🇩 Heute wählt #Moldau ein neues Parlament – ein Wendepunkt für das Land. Entscheidet es sich für Reformen, Rechtsstaat & die EU-Beitrittsperspektive oder für eine Abkehr? Ein starkes pro-europäisches Ergebnis wäre ein klares Signal für Demokratie, Stabilität und eine gemeinsame Zukunft. #EU #EUSky

Now this is Content

SCIENCE IS VERY GOOD!!!! this sparks joy!!!

It was so integral to its identity that the station’s arms were a bow, to reflect the curve

Broke: Believing in phrenology. Woke: Phrenology is a pseudoscience. Bespoke: Implementing phrenology because you are a hatter & need to supply enough of the right size to each country.

This is as hilarious as it is insane. However, it does at least justify my posting a link to undoubtedly one of the funniest scenes in cinematic history: www.youtube.com/watch?v=86jj...

For the second time in a month Libyan "Coast Guard" patrol boats, donated by Italy, open fire with machine guns on NGO vessels rescuing migrants in international waters. In both cases, fortunately, nobody was injured.

Like Nazi Germany, MAGA have created a framework to systematically arrest oppositionists and imprison them, disband their organisations, and use false flag events to demonise them as a national threat: a foundational aspect of the Nazi consolidation of power in 1933. (Holocaust Encyclopedia)

🔴 Sir Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, has died at the age of 84 trib.al/Xk5wYCs

Reform MP backs up Nigel Farage claims that migrants are coming for your birds.

A spiral galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the GEMS survey. It is at redshift 0.25 (lookback time 3.05 billion years) with coordinates (53.28728, -28.05682). 109 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

Italy set to reinstate St Francis public holiday after parliament vote

A Paris court has sentenced former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison after finding him guilty of criminal conspiracy in his trial into accusations the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi helped fund his victorious 2007 presidential run. #AFP 📸 Julien De Rosa

I actually think this is doing more in terms of upholding the general terms of the multilateral trading system than any attempt to fudge and pretend that this is WTO and MFN compatible. It's basically "we did what we had to do" and that's fair enough.

In fairness, there's Welsh flag bunting too, it's just out of shot.

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

Look what we have here then.

🚨NEW: Kerry Kennedy has announced Late Show Host Stephen Colbert is the recipient of the 2025 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for his advocacy for free speech and speaking truth to power. REPOST to congratulate Colbert on this honor!

Of course, the premise of this conspiracy theory is that everyone knows Trump is so out of shape that walking up half a flight of stairs is a deep humiliation. He's so out of it that he has to freak out, even though it's just another reminder that his health is bad. www.salon.com/2025/09/24/u...

Love the way he stresses "correct principles on antitrust" - in the EU, those principles are already enshrined in the DMA, if you ask me - not perfectly, but we can be proud of them, because, you know, democracy at work...

Farage shows his absolute weakness as a Trump puppet on LBC. Asked about Trump blathering about a completely unproven link between paracetamol and autism, Farage said “I have no idea, I have no idea” and he would “listen” to RFK Jr. He went on to say “science is never settled”. Dangerous.

I thought she was awesome in Once Upon a Time in the West, which is also a grear (if really slow) film. And Peter Bogdanovich's commentary track is really interesting in that film.

Vicebrigadiere Salvo D'Acquisto is awarded the Italian Gold Medal of Military Valour posthumously on 25 February 1945. He is buried in the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples. >> 20

If you don't know the story of Salvo D'Acquisto, you don't know the meaning of the word 'courage'.

Just spoke with PM Frederiksen regarding the drones incursion around Copenhagen airport. While the facts are still being established, it is clear we are witnessing a pattern of persistent contestation at our borders.

In truly excellent news, I have discovered an unanticipated chocolate eclair in the fridge. And it’s still in date. Elevenses sorted.

New from FM: Job Ad: Immigration & Nationality Solicitor at Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP | Free Movement

The Crow family (Bob & Cheryl, & this year’s chick, Es) who have hitherto lived blameless lives in the trees on the other side of the road, have unaccountably started pecking at & tearing strips off of our roofing felt. How can I dissuade them by non-lethal means?

I could spend my whole life never thinking about whether that man has ever lubricated anything except our national slide into neo-Mosleyism and I would be fine with that

‘Potus, in full manuka honey-hued visibility, appeared thrilled with the spectacle in his honour.’ — @jemima.bsky.social, in today’s @financialtimes.com, captures the Trumpery in Windsor.

Trump's baseless decree linking paracetamol to autism's surge ignores Swedish mega-study of 2.5M kids debunking any risk, while peddling unapproved cancer meds as cures. Experts eviscerate this peril to pregnant women. #AutismMyths

Mario Draghi & Christine Lagarde are pleading with Europeans to wake up and realise federalism is the only way to survive in this new strongman era But Europe's centrist Atlanticist establishment won't listen, & nationalists are winning the argument lamatinaleeuropeenne.substack.com/p/le-mur-nat...

Shana Tovah Umetukah - a happy and sweet New Year to all who celebrate tonight!

#OnThisDay - 22 September - in AD 87 the Arval Brethren carried out sacrifices "on account of the detection of crimes of evil doers". Frustratingly, we lack detail on what is perhaps a conspiracy against Domitian. #AncientHistory 🏺 Image: RIC 2.1 Domitian 506. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....

Same talk, same points, but this time it feels different. NATO is now conducting major operations and Poland has raised Article 4. Slowly, Europe is waking up to what’s already clear: Russia has declared war on us, if not saying it openly.

RAPTURE TIPS 💅

I’ve learnt something new today. Some counties had counter-exclaves! I’ve always thought exclaves were bonkers enough but this….!

Imagine if Richard Nixon had just tweeted out the Watergate scandal rather than putting it on secret tapes. That’s what this is.

Spelling out the obvious: ‚When asked if the guarantees would mean European countries were saying they would be ready to engage militarily with Russia in the case of future aggression against Ukraine, Stubb said: “That is the idea of security guarantees by definition.”‘