What's your favourite cathedral?

oh that's too tough! can I cheat and say, collectively, the cathedrals of Venice?

It's your AMA, pretty sure you get to set the rules.

This is just pedant-bait

Anyone who makes it over to San Pietro di Castello is doing Venice in proper depth. (Obviously San Marco is one of the world's great buildings, but Santa Maria Assunta out atTorcello is one of the finest places to stand and feel the depth of history)

I'm amazed you managed to care for as long as you did!

What do you think of Meta's AI summary of the person in this image?

Which is your favourite art gallery in the world,?

GREAT question Leopold Museum in Vienna

Follow up question, why that one?

honestly hard to tell! obviously I *adore* Schiele and love several other Secession artists but I think the museum is also the ideal size (thorough without feeling overwhelming) and I just find the curation absolutely flawless

Oooh we've been last summer! I liked how it put the art in context- one thing I want in a museum is to show me something I may not have a ton of knowledge about and answer comprehensively/interestingly the question: "What is this and why does it matter?". The Vienna 1900 exhibition does it well.

I like the Van Gogh museum for this reason because I’m a big dumb dumb and the focus on one artist (and their influencers and contemporaries) really helps.

fave housing/architectural style?

baroque, fuck it

do you think the tensions between democracy and human intellectual laziness can ever be squared?

Pyrenees or Alps?

favourite non-rare balatro joker

Honestly I love a half joker! Sue me!

I like getting it early and being locked into pairs (the best hand)

Would you go to another cricket match?

Cricket: a perfectly acceptable background music to chatting and drinking with friends. In extremis one might even watch it.

oh sure! only county cricket though I think, and def not T20

Have you done a day at a Test Match yet? Great day out, worth keeping an eye on it going to a 5th Day you can usually get in cheap

Have you ever watched Allo Allo, and if so how offended were you?

haven't! but reckon I really wouldn't care lol

Marie watches an entire series of Allo Allo feels like #Content

Best place in France?

Nantes, duh

Are you still playing Balatro and how far did you get?

am done! won on gold stake, won with every deck, unlocked every joker and completed 18/20 challenges

Ooft! I have some amount left to go

What food should the UK adopt from French cooking and vice versa?

there should 100% be more proper galettes in Britain, and scotch eggs in France

Some solid choices there

Plat du Jour in Nice the other day.

Could try pâté de Pâques berrichon as a substitute.

Best cheese?

god that's way too tough, couldn't even come up with a top 3, sorry

General opinion on British v French cheese?

British cheese unfairly mocked but French cheese obviously better

But we all agree to dunk on American cheese

One thing that weirds me out about America is how they seem to utilise nothing but cow's milk in cheesemaking- no goat, no sheep.

For me, Fourme d'Ambert is right up there

favourite detective tv show

Favourite English seaside resort?

ALL OF THEM (genuinely! yet to find an English seaside town I don't love!)

Favourite French seaside town?

Welsh?

I think Rhyl could cure her.

If you were cast away for a while, and rescued, what would be the first food and drink you'd want to celebrate your return?

I would like a mountain of cheesy pasta, some smoked salmon and some champagne, then a large black iced coffee ........god I'm not beating the child emperor allegations am I

And would you like a Rennie before or after? 😂

Favourite sandwich filling?

What is the last book you read that really had your heart

The Queen's Necklace by Antal Szerb! You would definitely love it

I will look for it.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Bury our bones in the midnight soil. I can’t start another book because that one still has my brain

What is your LEAST favourite painting

fucking HATE everything by Modigliani, charlatan, loathe his work

Pursing my lips and tilting my unnaturally long neck in disapproval as I read this.

I wouldn't go as far as Marie, but I do often think most of his portraits should include "h/t El Greco" after his signature.

no!!

I guess you hate Klimt too?

Always thought Samantha Cameron looks like he painted her

Haha why charlatan though? Did he rip someone off

Wouldn't surprise me wrong'un

😯

Is there another city in the US (besides NYC ofc) that you would want to spend extended time in? Obvs not anytime soon

honestly I'm not sure! maybe somewhere like Houston?

Hands up if you were expecting Houston to be the answer, fellow readers

What film (as in for a camera) do you prefer?

so I usually buy the basic Kodak 400 but this one was Gold 200 I want to say? and Jo I have regrets! I don't like the pictures! I should have stuck to what I know!

Noo!

I used to buy Gold 200 back in the day, I think, but i can’t remember anything about how it handles. I do remember the super saturated greens with Fuji Velvia…

I reckon whoever scanned them had the white balance set wrong? Weird magenta thing going on

Last movie that really impressed you?

If you could magically become fluent in another language, which would you pick?

gah! realistically I should really pick Moroccan Arabic as it'd make my life easier/nicer but for some weird reason I can't really explain I think I want to say Russian??

The hope of enhanced banya access is strong.

Favourite pick for summer and winter pubs in London?

not giving away my pubs for free soz!

What's which part of UK life surprised you the most?

no proper blinds on the windows honestly

I'm surprised and find myself agreeing. You've held a mirror up to us and we've failed the test

Ever been to a Scandinavia country, and if yes general impression of ?

have not!

I've been to them all. My favourite, I would say Finland. And yes it is Scandinavia. Norway & Sweden are very forgettable, Denmark even more so, but the Finns have something funny going on. 60% women, 40% alcoholic. A volatile & intriguing mix. How did they wind up with so many women?

What’s your writing process? Do you wait for ideas to bubble up, or do you hunt them down?

god I have no idea - at this stage I usually just sit down and write, think "inspiration" is mostly discipline tbh

Which chapter of my book do you reread the most often?

More like which chapter does she read before bed?

Mate. No.

What’s your favourite topic to complain about that no one talks about enough

British journalism transphobic. How do fix?

no clue but I wish I knew!!!!

Just recalling your interest in silent cinema (I suggested a book on Roscoe Arbuckle a few weeks back), I can also suggest a book about Helen Gibson, the first stunt woman, by a writer called Mallory O'Meara. Very good biography.

What's your favourite* pileon you've ensured? Like the most self evidently ridiculous etc

oh man there's just been so many? but a proper vintage one was when I wrote a silly little piece on my experiences of not shaving my armpits for a few months and some women decided I was too white passing to write about that, even though I'm mixed race and do have the pit hair to prove it mental!

Oh yes this is vintage old twitter/tumblr

Top 3 favourite retro games?

Rate JLM out of 10.

JLM?

Ba Jean-Luc Mélenchon, voyons!:)

ah lol! CRANK

What is better: a robot chicken or a chicken robot

Robot chicken

What’s your tipple of choice in a pub a) on a typical day b) if someone else is buying ie money no object, and bonus follow up, best bar snack?

god I'm going to be sooooo boring and 1) house white 2) champagne 3) I don't really snack

Fair enough! I asked @salvey1.bsky.social and his answer was very context-dependent, I think I need a flowchart lol

so I would say I basically drink white wine 90% of the time I drink, then there's 5% of margarita if it feels like a cocktail night, and 5% of champagne if there's a big occasion/someone else is paying

Mmm margarita

Further question if I may: favourite pub?

lol I'm not answering that one for free

I now have a go-to question for this bsky.app/profile/16le...

What is your favourite city to visit, and why is it Glasgow?

I do very sincerely love Glasgow and have been up there multiple times!

Any advice for throwing good parties?

Last time I landed at CDG I showed the border cop both my carte de sejour and my UK passport. She laughed and said if she had the option she wouldn't live in France. You like me have the option. If you HAD to choose...

nah I'm staying in London

And me in Montreuil

what is one english city you think should be annexed to france and vice versa

would be quite funny for Newcastle to be French and Marseille to be British, wouldn't it

If that means I get to have 2 passports, be my guest!

Why aye, mon brave!

Whey aye Mon aimee! Quand je suis une bairn, j'ai les lessons français in me Geordie, northumbrian school, pet! It's why my first French cat is named Minou! From le premier French class in school!

The Chris Waddle exchange programme

Yes definitely bring it on!

Aside from family and food, what do you miss most about France?

Favourite piece of immersive or interactive theatre?

Crisis? What Crisis? was SO GOOD newdiorama.com/whats-on/cri...

So good. I regret only managing to go once. Im guessing we won’t get another run any time soon, the people behind it are being kept very busy with the great fun bridgecommand.space

A) most recent book read and b) if different,‘most recent book you’d recommend

not counting a book I was reviewing: Terry Pratchett's Mort (my first Pratchett, thought it was...okay) last I'd recommend probably The Border by Erika Fatland or The Queen's Necklace by Antal Szerb - not been an amazing year for novels so far!

As a Pratchett fan, I’d say “okay” was fair. I wouldn’t suggest that it’s only for completists, unlike the first two or three or the last few where the dementia had really taken hold, but it’s certainly not one of the ones I revisit.

It’s the first unquestionably Discworld one though but yeah he was still working it out

Oh, you can absolutely see the seeds of what it’s going to grow into - just not quite there yet.

What I would say is that if somebody enjoyed the humour but found the plot and characterization a bit thin then it's definitely worth trying a later one. If the humour didn't gel with them then it's probably less worthwhile. The later books are less packed with gags but much better written.

Sourcery is the crossover. Follows that with Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards Guards and Moving Pictures. Moving Pictures really serves as a reset of how Unseen University functions with the wizards now different to Sourcery and then shown a lot more in Reaper Man and the subsequent books.

Would argue that you can start at Wyrd Sisters and go forward from there.

Yes, that’s a good summary.

I've got a big soft spot for it, but a lot of that is 'I first read it at 13' and everything is good then.

The golden age of SF is 13, as they say

Have you read Fatland's Sovietistan?

no but it's on the list!

Which objectively awful person do you secretly kind of like/admire/find funny?

oh god, probably too many to count lol? became friends with so many Tories in my time in Westminster, and not necessarily always wet centrist ones - was a great experience in having to question your priors...

Have you ever seen Cirque Du Soleil and how is it possible for human being to do such things? (The acts, not the attending.)

What is the best/worst photo you have taken?

Is there a foolproof technique for applying eyeliner without looking like a drunk goth panda?

I don't wear it because of that reason sadly!

Your favourite guilty pleasure, whether food, music, tv etc etc?

vv cheesy pasta / Britney Spears / basically all the super trashy sci-fi TV shows

More details about trashy sci-fi to watch please!

Can't speak for Marie, obv, but was reminded recently of the utter insanity thst was 90s UK-Canada-Gernany coproduction "Lexx: The Dark Zone Stories" which definitely fits the trashy remit.

Lexx is amazing and easily my favourite of the genre.

Killjoys will satisfy all your ‘obviously shot in a disused factory’ needs. 5 seasons too.

When was your last hangover and was it worth it?

oh good question! I honestly can't remember the last time I had a hangover? I'm quite good at stopping at exactly the right time these days (either that or I'm now boring)

Your favourite restaurant in South London

oh god that's really tough actually - maybe the Canton Arms?

Thank you!

Tabi shoes. What? Why? How? I need to know

I love them! they're so comfortable and stylish! I get my fake ones from Woodshuck Sato

1 best and 1 worst thing about Britain?

the politeness in public / the politeness with people you know

Thank you!

Has it stopped raining?

Outer Wilds - yes or no?

Are you planning to get a Switch 2?

not until they release a Lite 2! I only have a Lite currently

Are you planning to get a switchblade?

I mean I do love having breakdowns and also making breakdown purchases so: maybe

Which movie are you most looking forward to?

oh I don't really follow new releases! but anything Keiran Culkin is in tbh

The worst mortifyingly accidental offence you have caused someone?

I actually can't answer that one because the real one is so bad I still can't really bear to think about it will try to come up with another one tho

What is your favourite London museum or art gallery,?

If you were to become independently rich without having to work what would you do with your time?

god, SO MUCH - I'd launch a magazine, I'd organise lots of events, ironically I reckon I'd be a lot busier than I am now!

I’ll never understand the people who say they don’t know what they’d do if they didn’t have to work. Doesn’t everyone have a document full of harebrained projects they want to do?

A while ago you posted a list of tattoo artists whose work you liked. Are there any new ones who take your fancy?

honestly it may be easiest to go through my IG follows, though I have no idea if you can see them chronologically?

What London based long read do you want to read/write the most?

I'd love to do a series on v niche national communities - like is there maybe four roads and two shops that constitute "the Mongolian diaspora" or whatever - but no one has commissioned it!

What is the best London museum/art gallery and best museum/art gallery ever?

Best Spice Girl?

Who is your favourite French president for hilarity?

as in who'd be the most bants or who's my favourite in general?

Most bants! They all in different ways seem to play into terrible traits

oh then my man Hollande

What's your favourite science fiction or fantasy film/TV show.

sorry to be boring but prob the LOTR trilogy?

Nothing wrong with that

Oh now I’ve worked out what AMA means🤣

As Mordor Attacks

It's a classic for a reason! :)

Boring, my arse. 🤣

Is there a part of the UK that you haven’t visited that you’d like to see?

yes! the main bits I have left are Newcastle, Wales and Cornwall, and I'd love to do all three very dearly!

Speaking for Newcastle. There's the Lit and Phil if you want some culture within a stumble from the Station, or St James Park in the other direction (slightly longer stumble) depending on what you want to do up here !

On-brand question (for me): favourite London borough that isn't Westminster?

Where can I get a good baguette in England?

no idea :(

I was afraid this would be the answer!

You can bring one of your favourite pubs/restaurants/social venues in the world to London, BUT one of your least favourite people (not necessarily an acquaintance) will always be there. Who/what/where is it and why?

Favourite duet of all time?

have you seen any movies by apeechatpong weerasethakul whats your favorite jazz album favorite poetic meter or form? is there an eye that watches and a book in which things are recorded?

I have no answers to any of those! or like no interesting answers, all either no or idk sorry!

o. well uh. watch tropical malady its really good

If you hadn't settled in the UK where in the world would you like to have landed? If there was no language barrier (or a small one, for comedy purposes)

gosh, not sure! I really vibes with Santiago de Chile when I was there so.....maybe there??

Is this post time limited? If not, then favourite cheese?

What would your three wishes be if you accidentally a genie? (You can't ask for more wishes)

Ever thought about a second career?

Beans on toast or black pudding for breakfast?

neither

Who could be offended by, against a backdrop of English people doing French accents to indicate that they are talking French, an English person doing a WORSE French accent to indicate that they are speaking French badly and in such a way that the accent sometimes sounds like rude words in English?

OK OK. Next country working abroad. Which one are you dying to go?

would actually love to do a few months in Budapest somehow

What have you learned from your experiences of fame?

is this a serious question about my weird brand of niche internet microcelebrity or are you taking the piss more broadly

I would never take the piss marie please

Yeah your weird niche microfame

it's hard to tell! I first started getting recognised IRL because of my blog when I was 15 so I've never really known anything else - I think mostly it makes me feel thankful that I've got a pretty solid sense of self, as otherwise I see how you'd go mad / also I'd never want to be Famous famous

but also I may be feel thankful that it started happening super early in my life? bc - this is going to be sooo bitchy lmao - I've seen what getting eg five figure followers and sometimes getting recognised has done to some people who were maybe in their thirties or above when it happened and: yikes

I am RIGHT here Marie, I can SEE what you type.

"above" is doing a lot of work wrt your thirties

I mean, fair

anyway the question was "what have you learnt" and despite not being sure I would say: 1) people lovveeeeee having parasocial relationships with people they've never met 2) none of it meaningfully matters 3) anyone who would like to be real life famous is clinically insane

follow up: how does it feel that there are complete strangers who have been following you on social media for over a decade and have this kind of parasocial knowledge of you

hard to tell! bc on the other hand there are a couple of people I still follow whose blogs I was reading in like 2008, so I guess that's normal to me, but I'm fully aware that these people are complete strangers to me and hope people who've been following me this long know that about me too!

Because I barely have 2k followers and I find it quite odd

Again, nowhere near as famous as Marie, but the first time it came up that multiple people I didnt know were discussing me was *quite* a mindfuck

Agree, people who have heard of me are *very* niche but it's still pretty odd.

I was once at a Conservative party thing and there were people discussing me and when one of my friends pointed out that I was, in fact Anthony Wells *they point blank refused to accept it*. Specifically on the grounds that the Anthony Wells who wrote about polls was some old professor.

One of my most self cringe moments is when someone (occasionally) comes up to me and says, Are you the Stylite?

'that style guy' 'do you mean the menswear guy?' 'no, the one who stood on a pole for ages'

Wasn’t it Simeon Stylite back in the day?

I've had members of our appellate courts refer to me as "Hugo" which is somewhat mortifying.

I used to be so much ruder online before my not very secret identity was worked out.

I mean, is this you? /coat www.londoncentric.media/p/anti-ltn-p...

It's the distinctive muzzle.

Soo funny when I meet people in real life and they're like "YOU'RE Left Outside?" Surely I want no further level of fame than that.

I was among them first time I met you. And possibly second, as I'd forgotten you from the first

"I thought you'd be taller"

YES. Usually at Waterloo for some reason.

Dude

Fortunately this never happens to me. But then I don't sit on top of a column all day.

I was even more niche than Marie, about 12k followers in Turkey and it was a little scary. Lots of crazies out there, a few death threats etc. I’m sure women get 100x of that, must be awful

Don’t you get offended by the number of questions about France when you have left as a teenager and I am guessing you have almost lived longer here than there?

yeah a bit tbh but I'm also quite used to it at this stage...

Would you consider pro wrestling to be a sport for the purposes of your Observer column?

yeh probably!

www.revolutionprowrestling.com Oh you could go to some British Wrestling.

Favourite person you’ve ever interviewed as a journalist?

WAY too tough omg, but Samuel L Jackson was so so fun to talk to when let's be honest he didn't have to be, and Emily Thornberry's always a riot

Emily thornberry is absolutely fabulous. Always always worth listening to!!

Whats the ideal sandwich for you

THANK YOU FOR ASKING I make the PERFECT sandwich and it is: white sliced bread / Colman's mustard / grated melted cheddar / thinly sliced ham / a very peppery fried egg / thinly sliced ham / grated melted cheddar / Colman's mustard / white sliced bread, all assembled in a v hot pan with butter

Whenever I tell colleagues that one of my quick go-to, wfh lunches is a fried egg sandwich, I get weird looks so this is validating af right now

I think I’ve found a new toasted sandwich. I think next time, I need to add a ton more cheese, as I could taste a ton of mustard but barely any cheese.

This does sound good. I'm wondering if it could be combined with the amazing Bourdain sandwich of layers of fried mortadella and provolone. Add in a peppery fried egg and that's going to taste even better....

Mature Cheddar (but any strong favoured cheese will do), fried egg, Boursin and siracha. Lush

Wonder if my microwave toastie thing could do this. Only one way to find out 😊

ooooh! so I do think it would v easily work with any thin sliced meat and any cheese, the real innovation here is mostly in how the ingredients are spread

I need a picture

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes...

Simon Hopkinson has a fried cheese and ham sandwich where he blends the cheese, mustard, egg, cream and seasonings into a spreadable paste that's worth trying (very even ingredient distribution).

An innovative sandwich you say? Have you notified Liam Fox?

Sounds wonderful, but no-one should have to watch it being eaten.

Fried egg sandwiches (with all of the above extras) are the best... fact

oh yes, I have it often and call it the freggwhich, which everyone hates

Think I shall steal that word just because everyone I know will also hate it

It would be the perfect name for an overpriced Brussels breakfast cafe that only opens Tuesday-Saturday 1030-1200

although not quite the same it reminds me of the francesinha sandwich from Porto. And now I fancy a layered sandwich

Some national chain needs to pick this up so there is a Greggs Freggwich

[hiss]

If people don't bleed from the ears, it's not a good portmanteau.

The above, though excellent, is not a fried egg sandwich, it is a sandwich in which fried egg is an ingredient.

Can't get sloppy with our sandwich nomenclature

Grating melted cheddar sounds hard work

Is the cheese melted before you add it or do you add grated cheese which then melts as your making it?

Surely..?

I made it for us today! I really like it as did my partner but we both thought I might have put too mustard (she doesnt like mustard that much, id probably just put a bit less)

Eyyyy! And yeh I'm a true mustard freak so spiritually it is, to me a mustard heavy sandwich but it doesn't actually have to be

I will make the le conte today thank you

I believe it's called the Croque le Conte

it's so good, I basically always love the idea of a ham and cheese sandwich but it rarely works because the layers are too thick, but if you do half layers on each side it works much better, and allows the cheese to melt properly (also most sandwiches should have a fried egg in the middle)

Marie Le Croque we call her.

I mean it is spiritually quite close to the humble croque madame yes, but crucially without any evil bechamel, and with the cheese all on the inside so it can mingle with all the ingredients

Nothing at all humble about a croque madame

I have the day off and making a sandwich reccomended by a friend seems like something cool to try :)

a true privilege tbh