The Romans called the town Ivybridge because the name Forth Bridge was already taken.

Every time I watch North by Northwest I am struck by the proufound but totally unacknowldged influence Hitch had on the Bond franchise. (Dr No came three years later.) This gibson-drinking, unflappable, debonair man, in an impeccably tailored suit, fakes his own death so he can act unseen. 1/3

Kemi Badenoch is absolutely right about this.

At the time she hacked Harriet Harman's emails it was an offence carrying a prison sentence of up to five years

I see the museum have taken your photo down.

Just fucking stop hoping i'm well. Say hello and get to the point.

Updates on the the latest attacks on vaccines in the USA Attacks on MMR are gaining pace- could this threaten access to the MMR vaccine?

RFK Jr has commissioned working groups drawn from his hand picked ACIP to look at the childhood vaccine schedule but there is no evidence that supports a need to change the schedule 🧵🧪#HealthPolicy

Bloody hell.
I've just got back home to disaster. I'd hired a joiner to come in and build me a double bed,
but he's done a bunk.

1/ I guess I’m ‘The Good Immigrant’:

Been here most of my life now, never claimed benefits, paid taxes, worked for the NHS, taught students, done research for public good, volunteered, spoke English fluently.

So why do I feel so alienated and hurt by the government’s anti- immigrant rhetoric?

British.

If someone invented a miracle pill that reduced your risk of cancer, heart disease and strokes as well as boosting mood, memory, and lifespan it would be the most popular drug ever. Except we already have it and it's called exercise, and most people can't be arsed doing it.

LiberalLecter @LiberalLecter Talking to my 82 year old mom about all the news of Trump. She interrupted me and said, "Hoss the only way I can stomach to watch that pre-death bloated Mango Mussolini on the news is with my resting bitch face applied and a glass of wine at the ready!" Holy Wisdom Shit Balls

median bluesky poster

Donkeys at my local animal sanctuary having a party to celebrate one of them living there for 20 years.

As Reform's Nathan Gill admits taking bribes from Russian 'secret service pawn' Oleg Voloshyn, here’s a nice photo of Nigel Farage with Voloshyn’s wife.

Train named Ctrl Alt Deleaf to tackle leaves on the line A leaf-removal train has been named Ctrl Alt Deleaf after a public vote.

Ten options for future leaf-removal trains...

10. Keanu Leaves
9. Twiggy Pop
8. Axel Foliage
7. Britney Clears
6. The Regional Branch Manager
5. Leaf No Trace
4. The Fall Guy
3. That Don't Impress Me Mulch
2. A Good Railing
1. Maybe She's Born With it. Maybe It's Maple-leaves

Names for the three-in-a-row game, around the world…

*Tic-tac-toe (US)
*Noughts and crosses (UK)
*Crosses and buns (Denmark)
*Butter, cheese and eggs (Netherlands)
*Sausages (Latvia)
*Cat (Mexico)
*Game of the old lady (Brazil)
*Tripp-trapp-tresko (Norway)
*Pubic louse (France)
*Hobo chess (Sweden)

To move from food to wine, 'kyykkyviini' (squatting wine) in the Finnish word for the cheapest wines, which invariably are on the bottom shelves.

In Swedish, a word for what you eat to bridge the gap between meals (or while waiting for the main course to cook) is stödmacka. It means "support sandwich."

A similar word in Norwegian is ventepølse, or "waiting sausage."

@mrjamesob.bsky.social Today I can’t decide which story to be more moved by, man buys his disabled Mum a field so she can rescue Donkeys or penniless waitress with a recently bankrupt business finds £800,000 down the back of a sofa to buy her boyfriend a house.

No, your kid isn't addicted to their iPad/Xbox/PlayStation. You're a parent and you're fully in control of how long they spend on these devices. It's you who's addicted to how easily it pacifies them.

"…and Magda Goebbels made a great strudel.”

22 year old Reform councillor Joseph Boam has been sacked as deputy leader of Leicestershire C C. Not sure why, but I wonder if it was anything to do with his homophobic, sexist and islamophobic social media posts, or claiming that depression wasn't real.

News channels somehow managing to cover a War Summit as if it were a Royal Wedding - both breathless and adding no insight.

This isn't a dig at Sky - have shopped around. They're all like this. "Oh what jolly fun this is!" seemingly oblivious to the actual stakes for an entire nation at war. ~AA

So today I sold some books to Pierce Brosnan, which made up for working a Sunday. I NEARLY made it past the casual “how not to be awks around a celeb” thing when my colleague said “ooh, you look familiar?”. He said “Bob. James Bob. I’ve saved the world four times”.
He is our new favourite

Look what Trump and Hegseth have already made our military look like. How long can we endure this shame?

I'm going to post this now everytime a new social media row starts on the theme of "legitimate concerns"

And, also, a rule of thumb: whose legitimate concerns are being listened to, platformed, turned into law?
Whose ideas and expressions are being made illegal?

Just a thought.

Happy World Rain Day! It’s raining…

– Cats and dogs (English)
– Old ladies and sticks (Welsh)
– Like a pissing cow (French)
– As from Esteri’s ass (Finnish)
– Penguins headfirst (Uruguayan Spanish)
– Pilot whales (Faroese)
– Chair legs (Greek)
– Wheelbarrows (Czech)
– Men (hallelujah)

And to bring to an end this thread about rain on a sunny note… There’s a Scottish version of “every cloud has a silver lining” that goes “today’s rain is tomorrow’s whisky.”