David Bishop

Finally, some good news.

'Smiling' fossil discovered in Northumberland The unusual looking fossil is estimated to be a few hundred million years old dating to the Carboniferous period.

Can't help thinking this is the sort of thing a 12th-century chronicler would record as an unheard-of prodigy, just before something really bad happens www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

You may laugh, but the Macbeths are a much better role model for a marriage than Romeo and Juliet. They discuss their problems (killing the king of Scotland), share their hobbies (killing the king of Scotland), and resolve their conflicts (by killing the king of Scotland).

Lots of chat about the *last* English royal to be arrested, but who was the first? The Anglo-Saxons typically bumped off their rivals, so I'll start the bidding with Odo, bishop of Bayeux, arrested and imprisoned by his half-brother, William the Conqueror, in 1082.

Gun crime. Socialised medicine.

You’ll be amazed to find out what we did to a monarch *checks notes* 377 years ago…

The point - missed by lots of western observers - is that a lot of this investment is driven by what young Saudis want, not what others think they ought to have.

It’s also just a spectacularly ignorant and prejudiced thing to say, of the sort that 10 or 15 years ago would have been beyond the pale.

Also extremely naive as to how this sort of influence will be exerted and how it will affect public opinion.

Yes it should be easy to arbitrarily remove people from Parliament…

I absolutely agree he has to go. But let’s just be alive to the unintended consequences of further undermining the few limits the UK has on executive power.

A compendium of West Yorkshire landowners called Maslow’s Squirearchy of Leeds.

Well this is nauseating (but an important read).

Still the greatest list ever complied.

Friends, if you see this, please share and like. It costs nothing, but it helps my small business in Ukraine survive in these difficult times!🙏💙💛🫂

If only there was some organisation within government that looked into whether people in positions of responsibility have been compromised.

9-9-6 was a Chinese term invented mostly to show how depressing and lifeless work culture was; watching softbrained AI guys adopt it as an ideal is ... well, entirely predictable

A typically great piece by @edwardluce.bsky.social

But this anecdote is straight out of Brass Eye…

Have started a re-read of the Aubrey-Maturin novels, for the first time in about
20 years.

And they’re just bloody marvellous aren’t they. Gripping stories, great characterisation, and a meditation on human nature, not just adventure stories.

Four VCs for UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two of them posthumous. An obvious question for his British admirers.

541 British men and women killed on active service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Fighting America’s wars.

I know this is hijacking a fun post with a serious point, but: the Feast of the Flight into Egypt is a commemoration of the fact that Jesus and his parents fled to Egypt as refugees, which should be more often remembered, particularly by those who say they want to defend the West’s Christian values.

I grew up near the source of the Medway… so it’s the Medway.

If only the king knew what terrible things were done in his name.

Yes I saw that. Wondered what damage - in your lore - would be enough to essentially mean the Ent could be considered a total constructive loss.

Q - because is hard to tell from the episodes. What was the damage to the Enterprise? And how serious, would you say it was?

This isn't getting enough attention in Western media: Ukraine is effectively imposing a civil aviation blockade on the most populous part of fascist Russia ahead of the Orthodox Christmas (Jan. 7) holiday.

The air war could be decisive in 2026, and it's already intensifying.

This is what happens when consecutive governments cut defence to the bone, and go all in on coalition warfare with the US. And don’t have the economic or fiscal strength to overcome the impact of those decisions.

Excited for Reform pledging to reintroduce Bills of Attainder for people they deem too woke.