a decade is a long time in politics

The Cardiff Lions do an annual Drag Rugby charity match for children’s charities and it’s as beautiful as you imagined

a text post that says: I installed switches on my car's dash that don't do anything. When someone gets in my car I look them in the eye, say "buckle up," and start flipping switches in what appears to be a purposeful order. Then I'll drive like a grandma while refusing to answer any questions about the switches over a picture of a bank of 6 toggle switches with safety covers over a manual shifter in a car

art

White image with the words "The evolution of the trash icon". On it are seven Windows "Trash icons", each with a year under it. (1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2015, 2025, and 2026) For 2025, the "Trash icon" is replaced with the Microsoft Teams icon. For 2026, the "Trash icon" is replaced with the Microsoft Copilot icon.

The US government is now freely killing people at sea, in other lands, and on its own streets.

It is difficult to see what more is needed for Congress and the Supreme Court to exercise their constitutional duty to check and balance what is now a rogue state abroad and a gangster state at home.

Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter A look inside Elon Musk’s big tent

Absolutely fucking tremendous from the FT.

At some point in the future, everybody will have managed either the Man Utd, Chelsea, or Celtic men's teams

A magnificently detailed dalek made of snow, complete with sink plunger.

My niece in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, has made a snow dalek that's featured in the Aberdeen Press and Journal. #proudaunt

Yes, hello? I don’t think 2026 is working properly. I’d like to cancel my free 5 day trial please.

The detention of Noriega in 1969 is clearly the closest precedent for the Maduro operation. But events in Caracas remind me of a now-forgotten episode in which the US invaded a Commonwealth Caribbean state, giving the UK Gov’t a few hours’ notice and ignoring their objections 1/9

Apart from everything else, invading a country for oil in 2026 is somewhat like doing so for horses in 1931.

OMG. Just read to the end of the first paragraph ...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_T%C3%A9n%C3%A9r%C3%A9

Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.

A shop window on Charing Cross Road. The letters “UNT” are shiny and highly visible. Disgracefully, there is no graffiti.

My “London is falling” moment: some company called Until has hung giant shiny letters spelling out their name in a curved window on Charing Cross Road so the UNT really stands out as you walk down and nobody, not one of you, has added a C.

For shame, London. For shame ☹️

Fascinating from Tom’s piece

“The Charity Commission has now launched a full investigation into these patterns of foreign donations.” - do you know if anything came of this investigation?

Some of the words that have made me smile this year.

Which words have given you happiness this year? I’d love to hear them.

(And if you fancy some distraction over the holidays, do give my word game Two Words a try.

twowords2.page.link/play)

Spotted in a Mumbai restaurant: “London corner shop style samosas” and “Birmingham Balti”.

Feeling sorry for any future history students who have to set out the origins of the Third World War in a sequence of neat, ordered paragraphs.

(‘If there is a future,’ types a reply-guy, fairly.)

Just your regular reminder that public ownership is hugely popular ❤️