Ed Hammond

Twist: the fesser is actually Bill Gates

Postie's moustache does not conform to GPO regulations. The hat being worn by the bird is more correctly worn "in town" - wearing a homburg in the country is a significant sartorial faux pas

Just saw this and thought exactly the same, reminiscent of the similar development in Blackheath (opposed by celebs, that one)

I mean, the US shot down a civilian Iranian airliner in 1988! 290 people died! There certainly weren't any big congressional hearings about that. I'm not sure the US even accepted liability

Left to scratch a grim, purposeless living by lounging poolside on the Cote d'Azur or in LA, maintaining a sense of class dignity by borrowing cash from each other and smuggling antique rugs

"what if emotional labour and mental load was just a fun thing!!"

"if mums planned mothers day, it'd already be booked... but this one's on you. luckily we take bookings for groups of 6 or more, so you can get ahead and book a table at wagamama for the whole family this mother's day"

hmm, little bit gender normative, wagamama!

the irony is that the last time this happened - in '53 with Mossadegh, although not accompanied by a military invasion - it was one of the things that led in time to the Revolution.

Important to remember that Iranians are, historically, intensely relaxed about Great Powers deposing their leaders (however awful they may be!) and imposing more "palatable" alternatives instead

Five ways the Iran war could affect you - in charts With fuel and gas prices having risen in recent days, here are some ways the conflict could affect households.

so I completely understand why - in theory - the Beeb would commission this very "consumer-finance-led" explanation of the impacts of the war on Iran but even so it does feel a *little*... hmm www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Office of the e-Envoy", for those of us of a certain age

I'd liked to have seen Terry Gilliam direct a Bond film

for World Book Day I've dressed as Diduck A & Kaganas F, "Family Law, Gender and the State: Texts, Cases and Materials" (Hart, 2012, 3rd edn)

was it a meeting with the Pointer Sisters

though what takes me out of it sometimes is the administrative efficiency of the Sordish state - you make budget choices and then 2 years later those choices lead to clear policy outcomes? really? please!

playing it has *palpably* improved how I chair meetings (Rayne is great at chairing if you make the right dialogue choices, I feel it's an underappreciated part of the game)

The EC's report on the 2024 GE does flag the presence of an issue but does not suggest this level of prevalence. They give a figure of 3% of voters saying they "required assistance" to vote, which is obviously fundamentally different (and is of course self-reported)

I am extremely surprised by "In the 2024 UK general election Democracy Volunteers observed family voting in 21% of polling stations, with 3.5% of all the voters we observed causing, or being affected by, family voting.". This is an extraordinarily high number.

Labour *executive Mayor*!

I thought the DLC was better written, though the main Sordland "story" is better, if that makes sense

this is good stuff Ant - fundamentally LGR is a top-down policy and Government should lean into the fundamentally top-down nature of it

Have a weird suspicion that the US genuinely thinks that Pahlavi will be able to do a reverse Khomeini and swing into Tehran on an Air France flight next week, ascending to his rightful place atop the Peacock Throne the following day

(burying the lede here that yes, I do actually carry a selection of sachets of various condiments around with me)

What's worse is that the baguette was q dry and I had to put some of my own mayonnaise on it

this was deliberate -I'm in Southampton where the Lib Dems won a local by-election last week (it wasn't deliberate)

£11.37, for cost-of-living watchers

Well Kit Williams *is* still alive, so...

could it be that planning permission was granted contingent on the property not being a permanent residence?

I think there must be some kind of Brewster's Millions thing going on here, it's the only explanation

just looking the microfiche records of newspapers from the 1950s to find reference to this bus shelter as "an eyesore" when it was first built