Dorien James

I believe it was established that quoting Kirk's actual words was an unacceptable insult to his memory.

Yes. It's different for everyone and I'm glad that you could find a heat pump solution that worked. In principle I'm very much in favour. But there were several factors that meant that I couldn't get the sums to work for us.

I spent two months three companies six sales visits twenty Happy Heat Pump podcasts and numerous chats with friends working out which heat pump to buy, and ended up concluding that spending £20k to keep my bills roughly the same maybe wasn't the best use of money. But everyone else should get one.

Ah no, it was of+fish. But you’re right that ness is a bit borderline.

Good luck getting midterms in the middle of a national emergency.

I once dreamt I was being challenged to come up with a word that was four other words concatenated. I woke up, said “standoffishness”, and went back to sleep.
(There are, of course, plenty of others. “Concatenated” is five if your Scrabble list allows ed.)

Superb! And saved the best till last.

I once paid Ryanair £8.99 for a single to Dublin. The evidence of imminent international travel proved sufficient for the Passport Office to locate my long-overdue renewal application. But I would never, ever consider actually travelling with them.

David Benedictus had some kind of writer-in-residence role. He asked several literary friends come and read their books overnight at his home, and declared open house. He read A Twentieth Century Man, mostly forgotten now except by me. My favourite by far was Ian McEwan doing The Cement Garden.

More than 40 years ago, I spent a night on a beanbag listening to Beryl Bainbridge reading one of her books from cover to cover.
But after all this time, I haven’t the foggiest idea which one it was.

I have to admire this Mr Mortimer if he has really got an entire article out of observing that (1) most skiers are middle-class (2) going off-piste is mildly dangerous.

Not quite Calvin Robinson.

The masterful line "I’m like a one-eyed cat, peeping in the sea food store" was allowed to stay in when the rest of Shake, Rattle and Roll was sanitised, apparently because Bill Haley was blind in one eye and could therefore get away with it.

☺️ aw thank you

I’ve found, when washing things before putting them in the recycling, that it stubbornly remains a bottle of oil even when it’s empty.

Back in those division three days, we at City felt a lot of affinity with Spurs fans, with their infuriatingly successful local rival and a similar line in self-deprecating black humour. Alas, our supply of stoical chagrin and patronising sympathy has been rather limited of late.

Would pay money for Michael Bay's Pride and Prejudice. Lady Catherine and Mr Collins scattering their teacups as they helter from a rolling wall of flame. Must be seen in IMAX.

If you're looking for counteroffers... Die Meistersinger von Nuremberg at the ENO. Not even in the proper language. A show about a singing competition where you can't even hum the winner. Calculating, as we ran deep into the fifth hour, that I'd been there longer than I would be in bed that night.

Eddie Stobart, the beloved lorries seen up and down the motorways of Britain, is ultimately owned by Müller, through its parent Culina, also a regular motorway sight.

I am not a career provocateur, but if I wanted people to join my marches, I probably wouldn't film the promo on a freezing cold day in the pissing rain.

NO I WANT PEACE AND JUSTICE WHAT KIND OF FIFTH-COLUMNIST TORY SCUM ARE YOU?

💔
My beloved Coronation mug, collateral damage from a pillow fight when I was five. Manchester City coffee cup, as fine as Meissen. I will never run the Peris Horseshoe Race again. Ros's Chinese Zodiac Rat Personality. Shattered before your time but never forgotten, may you rest in pieces.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg tweeted her time as a Reform MEP. She was shocked to be given a costly iPad "for no apparent reason". The next week, she was horrified to find the iPad filling up with draft legislation which she was supposed to read, understand, comment and vote on.
They're not elected to work.

bsky.app/profile/dori...

When I was a kid, budget coverage mostly consisted of people sucking their teeth about an extra penny on the price of cigarettes. These days, they cost £15 a pack for which 80% is tax. Sometimes it's possible for politicians to shape the future.

If your definition of "careerist" is "votes with the party whip most of the time and would like to retain their seat" then that's almost all of them. That's how parliament works. But thank you for taking the time to reply.

You might enjoy "Do You Know Your Place?", which starts with almost-famous people confidently placing Cardiff somewhere in central Scotland.

He is my MP, I've followed his career closely including watching his maiden speech and listening to him on podcasts, and I would totally disagree with your assessment of him. Do you have evidence for your view?

I would say that in an environment crisis it's not just possible but obligatory. And if Reeves wants to start chasing Green votes rather than Reform votes, that might be a good place to start. I am personally fed up with the narrative that petrolheads are the authentic voice of the people.