Richard Wainman

A man with a spectacular 1970s mullet, wearing big wellies and a v-neck jumper over a T-shirt, looks at camera as he stands on a boat which is itself standing on the muddy bottom of an empty canal. He is holding up an enormous wooden plug on a long chunky chain

Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out

This was something we said again and again in interviews and talks about the Ladybird books.

When you give a child something made carefully and skilfully, they feel it. A treat. “For me?”

We all remember that feeling.

When you give a child something half-arsed, you tell them they don’t matter.

A few years ago during Covid, when like a lot of the country, I was going batshit, I started a mini Grand Designs, on Twitter, using tiny 18mm figures.

And if people enjoyed it there, maybe they'll enjoy it here.

Meet Tom & Sue.

"A.i." doesn't empower anyone. It strips them of belief in themselves and the power of their own minds and hands and abilities and stories.

EVERY KID CAN DRAW. EVERY KID CAN TELL STORIES AND MAKE COMICS.

Fuck "A.i." for telling kids lies and making them less-than.

Does she share a PR team with Liz Truss?

They’re from two different worlds. It’s like in Get Back/Let It Be when they cut between the rooftop and the grumpy businessmen in the street.

In September 1980 EMI asked Roger Scott to record promos for the reissues of The Beatles’ Rock’n’Roll Music volumes 1 & 2.

Perhaps unwisely, EMI also arranged for these to be produced by Kenny Everett

I saw this at the cinema! And confess to having watched it on TV too.

I really enjoyed that. I followed some links and have just come across your Not the Beatles playlists, so thank you in advance for those.

‘Model trains are my meditation' | The Observer Model railways offer a ticket to a safe world – no wonder it's good for hobbyists' mental health

Often when consumed by anxiety and feeling awful in the head, I calm myself by following disused railway lines on maps, and imagine the layouts I might build based on them. For The Observer, I've written about engines big and small, masculinity and mental health:

observer.co.uk/news/first-p...

Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel (1850-1913), Jeanne d'Arc

All the Gerry Anderson series are on there. It feels like it's a secret, which is not a great model for a subscription service.

It's possible that no artist was more felicitously matched with an author than Charles Keeping with Alan Garner!

Graphic designer life: singing Sweet Caroline, but substituting 'mise en abyme' (oh oh oh).

And Hergé, obviously. That probably goes without saying.

Ten writers by whom I’ve read more than five books:

Graham Greene
P.G. Wodehouse
Tove Jansson
John le Carré
Russell Hoban
Sue Townsend
George Saunders
John Berger
J.G. Ballard
Ursula K. Le Guin

‘You are living with a difficult person who is waiting to die’: my harrowing time as Patricia Highsmith’s assistant The long read: I worked for the author of The Talented Mr Ripley in her final months. She was so mean and secretive, I imagined she wanted to kill me

Ignore the somewhat clickbaity subheader – this is a fascinating read.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

"The Master & Margarita", illustrations Gennady Novozhilov

Seeing him playing at Glastonbury reminded me of my long-held dream album.

I would like Father John Misty to record a cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Death of a Ladies' Man' album in its entirety. Add on Do I Have to Dance All Night? as a bonus track. It would be *phenomenal*.

Brilliant.

It's so hot I could fall asleep in the Australian wilderness only to wake up and find my schoolmates and teacher have disappeared in unusual circumstances

It's so good. Saw them in Glasgow and they were phenomenal. It's one of those albums that invites repeat listens – when it finishes (on the gorgeous A Sunset) it's 'let's go round again'.

I'm assuming that swimming pool slides back for Thunderbird 1 to launch.

Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire De Melody Nelson View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2016 Vinyl release of "Histoire De Melody Nelson" on Discogs.

I have this 2016 Mercury reissue, which sounds really good to my ears and includes a second LP of session tracks: www.discogs.com/release/2112...

+BBC CLOCK COMPETITION+

We won't be making a run of these but this Bank Holiday weekend you can win a one-off 90s inspired BBC ident clock. Follow, Like & RP to enter. Winner announced Mon AM. We've also restocked our 'Radiophonic' inspired signs & other items.

hiddenbritain.bigcartel.com

There's also a degree of them measuring their drawing against something that already exists: it doesn't look exactly like this Marvel character, therefore it's a failure. Finding a drawing style that works for them – that's an expression of themselves – takes time, and needs practice and patience.

The fact that AI generated kid-lit is a thing shows that some people view kids' media as something meant to distract children, and not something that's integral to cognitive development.

So it turns out my brain had blocked all memories of Pigsty until I saw that photo. For good reason.

Whoa! That sounds amazing; I can't wait.

I only watched Edge of Darkness for the first time a few weeks ago. My word, he was good.