Hugh Smithson-Wright

I would absolutely classify all of those as far-right

Ken Bruce is playing Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel and for years I believed the lyric "Show for me, I will show for you" to be "Chauffeur me, I will chauffeur you" thinking "Ah that's nice, they're going to take it in turns to drive each other around"

YouTube video by ThamesTv 1990s Tenerife | Playa de las Américas | Spain in the 1990s | Wish you were here? | 1992

Joked to a much-younger friend today about my husband having "more holidays than Judith Chalmers" and had to explain who Judith Chalmers was, what Wish You Were Here? was, and more broadly, how holidays used to be chosen and booked pre-internet 😂

youtu.be/LpJja7A-NtY?...

It's so, so, SO much simpler to stay and pay your taxes, part 2:

UK rich explore ‘10 years out, 9 years in’ to escape inheritance tax net - on.ft.com/3FdZT1x via @financialtimes.com

(they no longer sell the mugs, they were a limited run, Anthropologie just down the road saved the day)

She and I are one

I'm 49 next month but I won't disagree 😂

Just found myself standing in Liberty wailing at an assistant – with quiet, frenzied desperation – "You had some lovely mugs, HERE, where are the lovely mugs that were HERE?" and that's my Miranda Priestley "Where's that piece of paper I had in my hand last week?" moment for the day done with.

"Ooh no that's a bit new for me" says a contestant on Popmaster, to Ken Bruce's audible disdain, unable to identify Reach by S Club 7, from...2000.

In Vauxhall, both apply

One of my clients, always immaculate in Savile Row tailoring, loves taking the piss out of how I dress. Zingers include:
– Did you run here?
– What time is your tennis match?
– This is restrained for you, usually you dress like Christmas
And then yesterday,
– Are you on your way to repair something?

Ha me neither, at this place you pay at the counter when you leave and I'd been to the loo and just walked out without thinking 🤦🏻‍♂️

Had lunch in a gorgeous restaurant in Leeds today, and as I left and stopped to take a photo the manager (possibly owner) stuck his head out the door and I thought, Oh, he's going to say he's recognised me, or thank me for coming, but no, I had walked out without paying. A big, humbling WHOOPS.

"My family is bankrupt" er no they're not mate they're still worth billions. They're a bit less obscenely rich with you dead than they were with you alive. Boo fucking hoo.

Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris says ‘Tory incompetence’ forced him to quit UK - on.ft.com/4jHItJ6 via @financialtimes.com

JD Vance killing the Pope is the new Liz Truss killing Queen Elizabeth II

Trump is creating a selfish, miserable world. Here’s what we can do | Michael Plant The president is both a symptom and a cause of unhappiness and mistrust. But we can respond by rebuilding our social fabric

This is so, so good, and expresses in much greater depth and detail what I've been saying a lot recently which is that the best thing those of us who give a damn can do to improve the world right now is to be abundantly, excessively, constantly kind to others

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Non-doms quit London private members’ clubs to avoid UK tax links Lawyers advise wealthy clients that HMRC could use membership as evidence of strong ties to Britain

It's so, so, SO much simpler to stay and pay your taxes. If you choose a life of constantly moving around the world in pursuit of paying the least tax possible, then excuse me if I don't shed a tear over you having to give up your membership of Annabel's

on.ft.com/3GgnZcc via @financialtimes.com

Chef Guillermo Bitanga is bringing his refined French-Filipino cuisine to Pied à Terre's Kitchen Table for just eight services, from 29th April to 3rd May. With only eight seats at each service, just 64 diners will get to experience Guillermo's menu, so book now! 🇵🇭🇫🇷

eepurl.com/jcsFn6

#Sebastian is a terrific film, raw & clever & powerful & challenging & uncomfortable & REAL and just brilliantly written and acted – Ruaridh Mollica is extraordinary in the lead, and I squealed at Stella Gonet's all-too-brief appearance. Baffled it's not on wider release; had to hunt it down!

Just walked through Leicester Square for the first time since the busking ban came into force and my God, it's like a totally different place! Still teeming with people but it's a) peaceful and b) you can actually move freely around rather than having to navigate round static crowds. Amazing!

Trump blames Zelensky for starting war day after massive Russian attack The US president said that you "don't start a war against someone 20 times your size" and hope people give you missiles.

It's dawned on me why Trump is blaming Zelensky: he thought he could negotiate with Putin, and realising that he can't, is willing to sacrifice Ukraine to 'end' the war so he can take credit for that. Failing on all fronts, Trump needs any 'win' he can get, at any cost.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Meanwhile, back in earth, MacKenzie Scott quietly goes about giving away $19 billion.

Sky News being unintentionally honest.

The environmental impact is the single biggest reason why, as far as I possibly can, I'm avoiding using AI. I'm not scared of it, I'm not worried about it taking my job (yet...) I just don't want to fuel - literally - the destruction of the planet for the sake of a search or generating a silly image

*person. World's richest person.

Israel military razed Gaza perimeter land to create ‘kill zone’, soldiers say Combatants’ testimonies describe how areas were destroyed to create ‘a death zone of enormous proportions’ Israel’s military razed huge swathes of land inside the perimeter of Gaza and ordered troops to turn the area into a “kill zone” where anybody who entered was a target, according to testimony by soldiers who carried out the plan. Israeli combatants said they were ordered to destroy homes, factories and farmland roughly 1km (0.6 miles) inside the perimeter of Gaza to make a “buffer zone”, with one describing the area as looking like Hiroshima. Continue reading...

Israel military razed Gaza perimeter land to create ‘kill zone’, soldiers say

Séamas O'Reilly: I discovered my own memoir had been used to train Meta AI I hate that writers and artists must suffer the indignity of being pickpocketed by the richest men who’ve ever lived.

‘Big AI consumes so much energy that every time you generate a six-fingered portrait of Anne Frank or a scene from the Vietnam war in the style of Studio Ghibli, you might as well just kill a polar bear with a crossbow.’

www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...

The Guardian view on Israel’s killing of paramedics: a new atrocity in an unending conflict | Editorial Editorial: Impunity over Palestinian deaths in Gaza will lead to further cases like this massacre of rescue and healthcare workers

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Israel changes account of Gaza medic killings after video showed deadly attack Israeli forces killed 15 emergency workers in a convoy of ambulances near Rafah on 23 March.

The IDF murdered 15 paramedics in cold blood and buried them in shallow graves, then lied and lied about it until video evidence emerged proving their crimes. How, @teamlabouruk.bsky.social, can Keir Starmer continue to allow UK arms sales to Israel in light of this?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NGL might actually have a second breakfast to celebrate