Mike Parker

Never seen the civilian version but after the celebs, I’m definitely giving it a go. The money was a pretty incidental part of the celeb one; a life changing amount for a real person must really up the ante.

*2019 election. God it was grim.

Sadly so!

Hic!

Reminded today of when I tweeted in despair at the gruesome 2017 election campaign that the choice between Corbyn and Johnson was 'cult v cunt', only to get so piled-on by Corbynistas that I deleted it.

Hell, I was right though.

Penda’s Fen reinvents Mercia for the modern age How an experimental British 1970s television play pioneered a folk horror revival

The excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social (which has done such great reporting on the flag epidemic over the last few months) delivers the goods again today with this deep dive into the Midlands mythology of Penda's Fen.

Again, not to go on about ai but I have a few thoughts.

1. I've genuinely never seen an actual creative get excited about using it. Someone who has actually made something before. Its people from marketing and finance backgrounds getting excited about a false sensation of making something.

Wonderful news! Anthony’s book is exquisite.

I’ll be in conversation with Anthony at an event in Machynlleth next Tuesday (18 Nov), discussing our writing journeys as queer men.

Details: www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/finding-a-pl...

A peace prize?

Yeah, you wouldn’t know it. It goes to a different school.

This is a great piece.

The Ringways Map is here The wait is over! The full map of the Ringways, London’s unbuilt urban motorway network, is now online. Not even the system's planners had anything like this.

New! After eight years of waiting, they're online! See London's unbuilt motorways as even their planners never could in our amazing, immersive Ringways Map, hosted by the amazing SABRE Maps. It *might* be the best thing we've ever done. #ringways

Amazing to think it’s only two years ago tomorrow that a British PM sat interviewing Musk on stage like a starry-eyed schoolboy who’d come face to face with his hero.

I once interviewed the boy that Enoch Powell said was the only white child at West Park Primary in Wolverhampton. Lies then, lies now.

The cover of this week’s edition of the current affairs magazine, The Week, showing a fire-breathing dragon chasing Farage and Starmer.

Terrific front page from @theweek.com

Mark Garnier ogling a pretty lady’s chest very much on brand.

Spinal Tap 1.0. You’ll be sticking to a swirly carpet by the end of it.

Happy bidet John! X

Excellent as always Sunder.

This is a lovely chat, as you’d expect from two of the best.

And after 5 minutes of dutifully noting Plaid’s victory, Caerphilly will be quietly forgotten and they’ll be back on Reform-boosting duty for the next 6 months up to the full Senedd election. They are gagging to install Farage in no 10, and everything else will be calibrated to that end.

That presenter was almost combusting with excitement over Reform, and knew - or cared - nothing about either Plaid or the Senedd.

Coventry Cathedral has the best postcode.

Heard nowt yet! 🤞

This Newsnight section on Caerphilly is abysmal.

Birmingham’s Christmas market being built in Victoria Square.

Birmingham’s Christmas market being built in Victoria Square.

The festive market going up in Victoria Square is giving Birmingham a real Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang vibe.

Should think Queen Vic herself is more than happy to be surrounded by an ersatz Germany.

Thank you Chrissie! What a lovely thing to be told.

Loved doing it! We had a right good natter.

So true. Just spent a few days walking right across the Black Country and Birmingham, and it was an epic and thrilling experience. Saw so many great things and had countless fine encounters with the people who live there. Loved every minute of it.

Bluesky search function, stating ‘No results for Farage’

No search function, but every cloud and all that…

A dear departed mongrel dog named Patsy.

Camping in Jilly Cooper’s Cotswold village twenty years ago, my partner went to the shop and tied my dog Patsy up by the door.

Suddenly, JC herself burst in. “Whose is that DIVINE dog outside?” she boomed. “What an absolute beauty!” Patsy lapped it up, Preds even more so.

Jilly was a good ‘un.