Dickensian character and occasional binocularist.
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Nigel Farage: "Children who have two stable parents have a better chance in life... The most stable relationships, the ones that last the longest, tend to be between men & women... There's an awful lot of kids in the country not getting the kind of start... they deserve." Farage has two ex-wives.
Me: i’m Autistic Them: Oh you take things literally Me: No that’s kleptomania
wow
"I want to dedicate this next one to an absolute piece of shit of a human being. The pronouns? Was/were. Because if you talk shit, you will get banged! Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk, you piece of shit." 💅🏻 🥂 🎉 Absolutely incredible pure king shit
Ugh, we had some on the train today after the match. Prob plenty of just normal Charlton fans, but some talking loudly about heading into central London for the "Tommy" march.
bsky.app/profile/ianm...
There's a lovely whimsical thread fantasising on what it means. Will post link.
Ha ha, hoping this will happen for me with a few detective series novels that I love.
I'm waiting a while to start them so the details of telly series plot fade. I have read a later connnected one with some of the characters.
Americans! Slow down! A couple of days ago I'd never heard of Charlie Kirk, or Groypers. The phrase 'Pepe the frog' was familiar, but had no idea where it was from. Now we're being asked to digest these ideas all at once. Love, the UK.
I've not read the SH ones, just the Zöe Boem ones, which are brilliant. They're being televised too.
Dear America IT IS THE GUNS Yours The rest of the world.
Me too! Although there were some lay teachers at the school too. Couple of the nuns took a group of us youth hostelling.
The Hotter brand is brilliant for wide feet. I've been wearing their casual trainery plimsolly lace-ups all summer with no blisters.
I love this story. Awaiting the film impatiently. Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Vanessa Redgrave.
Have never watched House. Heard mixed opinions on it. Adore Slow Horses, obv.
Trust Britain to meet the Bang Bus with not moral panic but clerical pedantry, some pallid council drone, worsted trousers shiny with duty, googling a pornstar at taxpayer expense, then loftily ruling her vehicle ‘a van’. Our bureaucracy: prurient, petty, and perversely glorious.
It's crazy. Along with loads of others in UK, I'd never even heard of him till he was shot.
I've got some boring admin to do this afternoon, so of course I've been doing every other household displacement activity first - clearing out veg and garlic baskets, emptying little bins and taking all rubbish out etc.
Actually, as a teenager I used to rinse things under tap, but just realised first time I saw double sink with second full of cold water for rinsing was aged 14 in France! Stayed with a family on exchange visit.
I always rinse, but I know people who don't. My mum used not to, and sometimes you could slightly taste the Fairy Liquid!
Ha ha!
What are his thoughts on Bonekickers though
Again, I watched this at the time: the initial round of media reaction was all about photos of Sir Jimmy with royals, prime ministers and celebrities. And that stuff stopped overnight in favour of hammering the BBC specifically, and everything thereafter for about a year was focused on the BBC.
Cannot be stressed enough that there is a crucial and fundamental aspect of the Jeffrey Epstein story that directly corresponds with the Jimmy Savile story, to wit: Everybody knew.
They missed a trick by putting the o in Country ;-)
Protests against Trump erupt inside D.C. restaurant as people chant to his face: “FREE D.C.! FREE PALESTINE! TRUMP IS THE H*TLER OF OUR TIME!” (via Sam Waldenberg / CNN)
Same here!
Ha ha!
Phones have 'airplane mode', but I think they should also have 'train mode' - where it won't let you put the volume above zero unless you're using headphones - and if you're having a conversation that rises above a discrete whisper, immediately sends 18,000 volts of hot electricity into your ear.
That looks fab, and so autumnal with the black rice :-)
I hope this ishmael finds you whale
What exactly is a morning roll? They crop up in some of the Scottish detective books I read.
Here’s the thing: we do not concede *one inch* to the far right. Ever. Anywhere. They are not just another political player. They are a threat to everything our ancestors fought and died to protect. They are not to be appeased. They are to be stopped. Rip down the flags wherever you see them. 3/3
He'll broadcasting his podcast next via a megaphone on the roof.
Brief visit yesterday to British Museum's India exhibition (we're members so can pop back another time for more detailed session). So good, and beautifully lit.
Translated out of Quaker, this is the sound of Arnold Schwarzenegger reloading a shotgun one-handed. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT A mannequin was arrested at yesterday’s Lift The Ban action for silently holding a placard with the words “I oppose genocide - I support Palestine Action” written on it. If you don’t laugh at the absurdity, you’ll cry wedonotcomply.org
I thought you weren't supposed to plug in electrical devices in bathroom?
Good luck to Larry Duff for whatever he’s doing at 3pm
The alert came through on my partner's two smartphones but not on my old-skool Samsung mobile. So that's me dead if I'm not with him.
Yes, exactly. The same family had cousins in Brittany where we went to stay, and a greenhouse there had the most delicious white grapes growing. More golden, and honey-tasting - a far cry from the hard, tart versions we bought over here.
Incredible, isn't it. My family had some tasty apples in our garden, but this was something amazing, and in such abundance.
UK PEOPLE: If you start watching Threads at 2.12pm, the bomb will go off at the same time as the Emergency Text alert.
Ha, I remember an exchange trip aged 14 with family who lived in Paris suburbs. Small garden, but massive nectarine tree covered with fruit. First time I'd tasted them - astonished something so delicious could grow so casually in ordinary garden.
Ha, same!
Meanwhile in England 🏴, Starmer is having disabled Royal Air Force veterans arrested: #UK
Hop on a bus instead ;-)
Lev.
No jury would convict.
The finest response I've seen so far.
Green Wing! Sue and Joanna! I love that series so much.
Knife sharpener?
Also, I wish they would say cinemas instead of theatres. Most of the cast are British.
Wordle 1,536 2/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Why “water sommelier” when M’aitre d’H20tel was right there
Ha! Gerard would just be a languid puff of Gauloises (pronouncing it the French way as I used to know a French Gerard).
Same here. *breathes sigh of relief as summer becomes just a bad dream*
Storm Amy! Sounds like it would be a playful little breeze, gently ruffling people's hair.
Also, a group of seals on the far beach on the Kent side of the Thames.
Enjoyable trip to RSPB Rainham Marshes. Two wood sandpiper (one really close), one green sandpiper, two raven crunking, two close hobbies hawking, big group of blacktailed godwit chattering.
Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival
Isn't there someone called Sophia Money-Coutts? Most made-up sounding name ever.
You’ll know when you see orange smoke coming out of The White House chimney.
Amazing. I thought it wouldn't start till October at very earliest.
I love Libertys at Christmas. But surely it's not started already?
Ah but was his corpse being wheeled there on a golf buggy...
No comment
Someone across the pond...
Maybe he's been assassinated rather than just dying?
Your mam shouts at hotels and your dad paints roundabouts
Ha, I was trying to concoct something with Lev and envy and Venezia but it got too convoluted!
I will never get over how a handful of tech bros set billions of dollars on fire to build a plagiarism machine that doesn't work and will destroy human society when they could have used a fraction of that money to fund a new golden age of creativity and knowledge.
If a story ends with a tech bro suddenly appearing and ruining everything, that’s called a douche ex machina.
End SUVS * Tax them by weight * Insist that pass pedestrian impact tests * Impose fines for exceeding allocated parking spaces * Charge them higher for ULEZ entry * Charge them higher for residential parking permits * Stop them from entering narrow roads * Ban them from outside schools
Possible causes of your problems. It’s a diagram that (sadly) still seems relevant in 2025, so reposting a year and a bit on.
HEAD LUMPS! A Thread:
At last, some proper British vandalism. (source - www.facebook.com/share/p/1MeV...)
they’ll just move him to a different parish and he’ll do it again
"I see you're an interface now, Father."
Ooh, also just seen the Zoe Boehm series (Mick Herron's other series of books) is starting on telly in Oct, plus there's another Mackenzie Crook series starting soon.
I think another series of Slow Horses is due soon. Not seen Karen Pirie, but have enjoyed some of the books.
Agree totally. I like something sweet after a meal, but snacking throws everything out of whack for me.
Also a hobby.
Nice day at Oare Marshes, although pools very dry. Several ruff, lots of ringed plover and godwit, green woodpecker.
A pasta dish we've invented - roasted tomatoes and garlic made into a sauce with courgettes, parsley, saffron, white wine and prawns, with linguine. Stewed plums, ice cream and soft amaretti biscuits for pud.
Yes, the dressing table looks quite Victorian to me.
Ha, although the bed they are buying does come with a kite included...
So...they sent in the National Guard to DC and armed them when crime is at a 30-year low. There's nothing for them to do. So they're now just being told to pick up litter. This is like when I worked at my local pub and if there was nothing to do I had to polish the fronts of the bottle fridges.
Come on lads - do you want to be seen or not?
Lovely visit to RSPB Cliffe Pools yesterday. A greenshank, loads of swallows, whinchat, and beautiful close female wheatear.
middling novelists looking to give their books some unearned heft by setting them in Auschwitz need to get a move on, they're running out of job titles
![9 novels all called 'The [Job Title] of Auschwitz'](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yh57k4bayjoyienjoouwmjh6/bafkreigcfrdqa75nrmjvc2johdgc73bms533k7msgsrzdwvo5yhvj4mrqi@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Wow! Perfect for today's weather. 🍋🍸
No man would ever take a book to a coffee shop and actually read it. When I take one it’s never a real one. Most often it’s an extra large hardback I’ve hollowed out and placed cuttings from power tool catalogues and 1980s football magazines inside.
Reading a book by a British author, I noticed the word 'check' for 'tick'. Maybe with younger authors they get used to American usage online. But should have been caught in the editing. Needs to be either UK English or US English.
Ha, it's like it's judging you. "Too much reading! Time you did some washing."