“The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive.” Yes, my friends, on the day a new Dan Brown ‘book’ hits the shops, it’s time to remind ourselves of the work of renowned journalist Michael Deacon of British newspaper The Daily Telegraph... archive.ph/44MCP
The National Gallery is about to get bigger as it has announced plans to expand into a hotel/office block it owns behind the main gallery buildings. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/nat...
I HAVE ALL OF THE EPSTEIN FILES THAT THE HOUSE DEMOCRATS JUST RELEASED THIS EVENING - HERE'S A VERY INTERESTING ONE FOR YOU I have all of the just-released Epstein files that the House Democrats just released this evening.
Today is the ten year anniversary of my proudest ever achievement in publishing, RUSHOMON: the time I got both a Rush Hour Crush and a Good Deed printed on the same page of the UK Metro, both of which told a single, horrifying, story from two different angles. It's been all downhill ever since.
This review is a joy, especially the last paragraph. It also introduced me to the word ‘benzimidazobenzophenanthroline’, which is apparently a real thing, and which I read in the voice of Ralph Brown, obviously
Does he sell prints of this
POND WATER (a text from my mum, that I have turned into a poem) Bridget was round my neck All night I thought It was affection But I see from the weather That she was just Sucking the warmth from me She smelled Just like pond water We have the plumber Coming To fit a new shower
Winter In Derbyshire, 1985: a painting by my dad, Mick.
Racists are very clever (!) because we're out here debating flags when we should be dealing with the fact it is vandalism of public property lol. If it was Just Stop Oil hanging up flags we would not be seeing endless think pieces on this nonsense
The new rules that will govern pedicabs in London have been published today and will regulate pedicabs and ban them from playing loud music as they ply the streets. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/ped...
To all the people (and they are legion) saying we should get rid of tube drivers and automate the trains to avoid strikes... today, the famously driverless DLR is also on strike.
They published it, and it's even worse than I thought www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
Mini-thread for those teachers wetting themselves at the thought they can “make” their own worksheets:
Absolutely unbelievable to see egregious anti-science nonsense being given an airing like this. Well done @lewisgoodall.com for calling it out. “A broad church… freedom of speech” - and that’s the excuse for platforming not just misinformation but disinformation.
v1.108 is rolling out today 🚚 Now live, at long last: Bookmarks, aka Saved Posts. For all those posts you'll definitely plan to come back to! Update the app and give it a try. The button is right down there 👇
Ta da! Excited to announce i have a brand new character comedy pilot on BBC R4, recording this November www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/8...
Great North Run medals show Sunderland instead of Newcastle
Reform UK Councillor, Sam Journet has been arrested for stalking, harassment and public disorder in the council offices. ‼️
so something absolutely wild happened here in April: we were visited by Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. (short thread)
Welcome!! Anyone who wants to follow you, it is easy: join.greenparty.org.uk
A lot of people have replied to this suggesting that judges don’t use gavels in our country. I am in court every single day. Trust me - they use gavels.
Quick Tip: You can control who replies to your post on Bluesky. Just tap the 🌐 icon on your post to choose: everyone, followers, people you follow, mentioned users - or turn off replies entirely ✨
My lukewarm Banksy take is that it’s ok for art to have mass appeal. “Pfft, it’s so obvious!”Mate, not everything has to be dripping with obscure subtext so inscrutable that only a handful of people with art history degrees can feel clever and special about enjoying it.
More auction finds. Natural history doesn't just have to be a GCSE, it can be part of every curriculum, opening the door to a world of wonder. An 8 year old's English book from 1942. @brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social @irishrainforest.bsky.social @katebradbury.bsky.social
Hidden pregnancy ends in birth at Lowestoft football toilet
There will be some watercolours and hand finished prints in my open studio exhibition, definitely more affordable than the icons . So hopefully something for everyone.
This poem is dedicated to all those who see fit to correct my grammar and spelling on here. It’s called ‘Pedents’.
Never not thinking about the Roman Empire... 📚 @emmasouthon.bsky.social
This is my favourite time of year: still warm enough to sit outside, but chunky cardigans and hot chocolate on standby…
🫂
Ladybird book in the Spotlight ‘Smoke and Fluff’ (1941) Artist: Angusine Macgregor
It's a beetle mosaic and you should thank us for it. #MosaicMonday
I think a lot of big, baffled questions will be asked by future generations of the era we now live in, and probably none will be bigger and more baffled than: "Why did all those people suddenly want to make the insides of their houses so grey and have massive horrible clocks in their living rooms?"
St Rosalia, after being asked to unload the dishwasher
UNLIMITED VELOCITY
Other work by the Ladybird artists. ‘ Cushendun, Northern Ireland’ Artist: Ronald Lampitt
Security operation underway in Co Wicklow after multiple bomb threats were phoned in against Simon Harris’s home. It’s understood a number of people called several Garda stations making the threat - saying a bomb had been left at the Harris family home. Gardaí from Special Detective Unit leading.
I WOULD DIE FOR THIS SMOL NUGGET 😍
At the risk of sounding like a government spokesperson, I wonder if we're too gloomy. NHS waiting times are falling, as are net migration numbers. Growth hasn't been fast, but it's improved. Real wages are growing. Inflation is a bit sticky, but much reduced.
My cartoon for the @theguardian.com books autumn reads special.
Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, “great clown RFK Jr is in town tonight. Do you have any idea how dangerous just taking this meeting was for me?”
Drone footage reveals Cleckheaton Monal wedding venue damage
We had to pay silly money to have a one inch lump of solid black wax skewered out of my son's ear a few years back. Oh I can hear again he said.
Come and see me do some poems at Chester Cathedral! Even if for no other reason than it's a really pretty Cathedral!
Happened to our evri delivery lady. Surely their training should tell them not to, but I also get how their delivery schedule does not leave them much time per address 😕
Jeremy Clarkson's parents ripped off Paddington without paying royalties and then talked Michael Bond into giving them the worldwide merch rights and then got rich off it. Clarkson's education was paid for by someone else's effort. www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrit...
On the same day in the Telegraph:
![The Telegraph Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence [Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday] Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent 29 August 2025 8:57am BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreihe5mm7nwmwvzhtgadmsafyvsaxhrufuai2d2j2rju5zt6g2lytea@jpeg "Click to view full size")
![The Telegraph Money > Property > Second homes How to avoid tax on your second home From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net [Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto] Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer 29 August 2025 1:21pm BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreieuwgc2vsmyfcctmf4cnpcqckij2pqdk2gmzajpnihrsqyqmzyr5e@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Imagine if X censored fascists as rigorously as it censors pictures of dinosaurs…
For sale on my little Etsy store – "Shell Nature Studies: September Flyway" in excellent condition. "An Autumn rush of migrants...driven across the North Sea." www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1...
Olivia Smith profile: Women's football's first £1m player
This year we're going to do #WorldBeardDay the way it should be done. 🤩 @wmarybeard.bsky.social
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars. OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
There's a giant ape in Kensington at the moment. www.ianvisits.co.uk/calendar/gre...
Fire breaks out at BBC's former HQ Television Centre
SIGNED HAMZA! "Homeward Bound, The Joy of Nature & My Life Outdoors" the new book by the lovely @hamzayassin.bsky.social (and Midge the dog). It tells the story of Hamza's love of the outdoors. We're getting SIGNED copies next week! Order one HERE! biggreenbookshop.com/signed-copie...
SIGNED BOOK NEWS! You can order SIGNED copies of "The House of Wolf", the first in an iconic new historical fiction series by Time Team chap/Baldrick actor/Bristol City Fan, Tony Robinson Out next week! Pre-order a SIGNED copy HERE biggreenbookshop.com/signed-copie...
The job where my husband and I met, some of the managers were in a band and performed cover songs at the Xmas party several years. We got their cd as a joke wedding gift 😂
Literally the most based thing ever? Were they trying to say biased? My god this is awful!
Xmas
“We will police the streets and not the tweets and change all that damaging legislation,” says Nigel Farage on stage at Reform – just after welcoming the minister responsible for passing the Online Safety Act onto the stage with him, and into his party.
If you’ve not seen it, Bookish is an absolute delight - as is its creator, Mark Gatiss. His brilliant career as a writer and actor with such distinctive skill is proof that we need more working class people in the creative industries thebeemagazine.com/mark-gatiss-...
🫂
Is it time to make some more #pumpkins 🤔🎃
Watching the new Mitchell and Webb and it's feeling very Finnemore in places.
Seems reasonable www.worldofmoose.com/collections/...
Epping Bell Hotel asylum seekers angered by convict, migrant says
Now in my Etsy store “Naturelostandfound.”
Ed Balls?
Cosy season is definitely here. #art #cosy
‘The AI bot is effusive in praise and support – but also gives instructions on how to reach their goal of building the system while deceiving James’s wife about the true nature of the basement project.‘ www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/t...
If Rayner had set out to minimise her tax bill, she could have waited til her son turned 18 before buying the Hove house. She didn't because she wasn't trying to minimise her tax bill.
I know this is meant to be an hilarious joke but not sure how hot you were expecting me to look playing 'Craig' a dour man who hates life Why do female comedians have to have their looks constantly commented on
The place we’re staying is above a small village in the southern Dolomites called Mezzano. It’s charming and incredibly tidy and has stunning views of the surrounding mountains. It also has dozens and dozens of woodpiles.
Approximately three tons of chalk excavated from the HS2 tunnels are being used to form a new nature reserve next to the M25 motorway, and nature has begun to colonise the space. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/thr...
While Shabana Mahmood has been a largely weak and ineffectual Justice Secretary - more concerned with rising to Jenrick’s clickbait than fixing justice - it is absurd that the Ministry of Justice now has its 11th Justice Secretary in 10 years. No wonder the system is on fire.
Worrying long term hidden fiscal drag The family income threshold at which English students maintenance loans start to get reduced is just £25,000/yr. It has been this level since the 2008/2009 academic year. We have had 64% (CPI) inflation since then. So it's been slashed hugely in real terms
We have an announcement. For the next couple of weeks Orkney Library & Archive will be CLOSING AT 5PM. We apologise for any inconvenience. We hope this photograph of a giant (20lb/9kg!) cat from our Photographic Archive collection helps to make up for any disappointment.
“In Kent, a No Use Empty scheme offers interest-free loans for up to 3 years to owners who will let or sell the property afterwards. Though it was set up 20 yrs ago with a relatively modest pot of £5m, today it is self-sustaining.” Very interesting and important piece from the BBC.
I first saw ‘double tap’ attacks during the siege of Sarajevo. A shell or missile hits a building, then as the rescuers arrive, a second one hits. Much used by Russia in Ukraine. Western leaders are demanding to know if the IDF gave orders to do this at the Nasser Hospital.
Amid all the stuff about ‘dangerous London’ and ‘broken Britain’, new figures show the homicide rate in London is at a 10-year low. Killings dropped by 26% over the last year, from 78 to 58. No one under 25 was murdered during the school summer holidays.
They aren't the only two people involved in turning that instruction into a reality. Everyone else lower down the food chain would have known why they were being asked to do it - to intimidate, threaten and bully these women - and they went along with it anyway. Every one of them should be ashamed.
The Duchess of Kent: The life of the royal who became a school teacher
Feeling a bit sorry frankly. A lot of families with a disabled child have to use trust funds to protect their child's economic future, and to miss what was basically one sentence about tax advice in the sort of lengthy paperwork a house purchase entails is an exceptionally easy mistake to make.
On Sunday 7th September at 3pm, the UK government will send an alert to everyone's phone. If you have a phone you keep secret for any reason, switch it off or to aeroplane mode. Stay safe.
Hello! I’m fundraising for SHOC. Here’s my JustGiving page, if you’d like to donate: www.justgiving.com/page/littlea...
5th September is ringing distant bells from childhood, as the date the school year started. I wish you a new-shoes-and-unopened-set-of-felt-tip-pens kind of day, and ask the world for peace and fresh beginnings.
We still have them somewhere, were very helpful with my son
Everyday Ladybird things. Unifix cubes (1967) Artist: Kenneth Inns
This is vile. Local guy speaks to Sky News about the impact of asylum seekers protests. Watch what happens and share widely
Genuinely didn't understand what he said that made them shout "we got him" and call him an infiltrator.
Oh my how did it become Friday again? Wishing you a fabulous weekend
New on BBC YOU’RE DEAD TO ME we explore the controversial life and political career of Queen Marie Antoinette of France 🇫🇷 Our guests are Professor @100days1815.bsky.social and comedian Jen Brister This ep is only available in the UK on BBC SOUNDS for now, but comes to other apps in 1 month
“Farage claimed last year to have “bought a house” in his constituency but the property is actually owned in the name of his partner, meaning he legally avoided higher-rate stamp duty on the purchase of an additional home – given he already owns other properties” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Oh HELL yes
🎵When a loon you despise, Joins Reform. No surprise. That's a Dorries🎵
🫂
I'm seeing a social media trend where people are sneaking pics of men reading books in public and making fun of them as "performative males" And while I love a good dunk, I don't think you guys want men to be reading even less than they are now. Just saying
I know someone who stayed in a house where there lived a free range barn owl. The owl took a shine to her and one night she woke to find the owl trying to prize her lips open so that it could drop a mouse into her mouth.
Well, aren't I lucky? I was very kindly send a proof copy of "A Mind of My Own" by the spectacular Kathy Burke @kathyburke.bsky.social yesterday. It's out next month (and it's AWESOME). One of two SIGNED copies still available HERE. www.biggreenbookshop.com/signed-copie...
