Simon Barraclough

I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better

Selective Concern for Children’s Lives Syndrome #r4today

It’s a selfie

Hope you guys aren’t tired of this face yet cos tomorrow morning I’ll be joining ITV @goodmorningbritain.bsky.social at 7.15 tomorrow morning to “bang on ideologically about safe routes” all over again 😊

Israel's Tech Boom & the Economy of Genocide Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur, joins Naomi to discuss calls for her removal and her latest report documenting the 'corporate machinery sustaining Israel’s settler-colonial project.’

It was my great honour to interview the one and only Francesca Albanese yesterday. Watch here, and find out why Trump and Rubio are so determined to stop her vital work:
zeteo.com/p/israels-te...

Carl Sagan on why books are human’s greatest invention:

New entry for the OED (Orwellian English Dictionary) — Humanitarian City.

1. One thing you need to realise about the British Establishment is that it uses clowns to express its deepest desires. People like Rod Liddle offer a kind of deniability - "lighten up, he's just having a laugh". But they deliver a closer representation of its truths than any sober editorial.

The Broken Spine Summer Competition 2025: Submit Bold Poetry and Fearless Prose for Publication - The Broken Spine This August, The Broken Spine opens submissions for our 2025 Summer Competition. We’re seeking poetry and prose that refuses to flinch, writing that risks,

Writers of colour. Queer writers. Working-class, neurodivergent, disabled, uninvited. I’m not checking boxes. I’m building fires. Submit Aug 1–31.
👉 shorturl.at/eTSjI
👤 @AlanParry83.bsky.social

Guardian headline: Keir Starmer says good relationship with Donald Trump based on shared family values

Who writes this stuff?

Remember the Pocket Shepherd from The Day Today? 🐑 🐕 🚁

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

I support Palestine Action.
I hate all forms of violence.
I wish no harm on anyone.
I just want a kinder, fairer, greener world.
Apparently this makes me a terrorist.
But I am the opposite of a terrorist.

YouTube video by LBC 'What disturbs me? Bob Vylan got more attention than Gaza.'

This woman absolutely nails the Glastonbury controversy - and isn't interrupted, either.

But a commercial news media that needs to monetize outrage cannot afford such sense.

#r4today

youtube.com/shorts/Qo81s...

A wood duck perched on a wooden fence rail

Enjoy this wood duck for your #DuckOfTheDay.

trickle down economics
trickle down economic
trickle down economi
trickle down econom
trickle down econo
trickle down econ
trickle down eco
trickle down ec
trickle down e
trickle down
trickle dow
trickle do
trickle d
trickle
trickl
trick

I don’t think the BBC should have to apologise for Neil Young playing songs from Greendale. #r4today #glastonbury PS: I love Neil Young.

‘Back to bombs, back to diplomacy, back to the here and now …’ #soullessIIsoulless #r4today

See #OCEAN at the cinema if you can. Uplifting, heartbreaking, mind-resetting. Plus you get to spend 90 minutes with one of the great humans. #davidattenborough

If this person sat next to you on a bus or train and started ranting about Bruce Springsteen in this way, you would get up and move to a different seat.

In the United States, we have him the nuclear codes.

Rubio publicly criticizing an ally for cracking down on right-wing extremism. And Germany hitting back. We are in a new world

I don’t know why but lately I feel a tremendous lack of, and need for, lionsmane 🦁 🍄‍🟫

‘Marriage feels like a hostage situation, and motherhood a curse’: Japanese author Sayaka Murata The Convenience Store Woman author is renowned for challenging social norms in darkly weird near-future fiction. She discusses sex, feminism and her struggles to be an ‘ordinary earthling’

Can’t wait for Vanishing World English edition. nhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/19/marriage-feels-like-a-hostage-situation-and-motherhood-a-curse-japanese-author-sayaka-murata

❗️🇯🇵Japan agreed to provide satellite images to 🇺🇦Ukrainian intelligence

Dunno why chocolate mint, strawberry, and cookie & cream gelato options keep flashing through my mind.

Conclave’s excellent run at the Curzon is set to be extended further.

The Women going to the Sepulchre, 1912, Robert Anning Bell Painting of women in blue garments walking leftward, one woman, and then five behind her, on a flat plain, hazy sky ....

Thanks to my friend Harriet for pointing out that the women went to Christ's tomb and saw he was not there, the angels showed up to describe what happened, & the women then told the apostles, who dismissed them. A Biblical account of women not being believed.

I went to see Rye Lane at the Peckhamplex on Rye Lane. There’s a scene inside the Peckhamplex. Very pleasing.

The question of if a country could fuck itself harder than the UK did with Brexit has today been answered.

Ketamine King: Tech Bros, AI Delusions, and the Politics of Disassociation Podcast Episode · Acid Horizon · 30/03/2025 · 1h 5m

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...