Dafydd O’Connor

Interviewed her once. Great value for money. Regaled us with tales of entertaining an entire Welsh (though not Wales) rugby team on tour: “Well I had to. They were all missing their mammies!”

As is R4 journos’ pronunciation of it

No-one ever said life in the Brigade for the Repression of Banditry would be easy.

970: Annie Jacobsen | The Nuts and Bolts of Nuclear Annihilation Podcast Episode · The Jordan Harbinger Show · 28/03/2024 · 1h 32m

A useful primer for Kathryn Bigelow’s disturbing nuclear thriller, A House of Dynamite, out on Netflix tomorrow. Jacobsen’s book is terrifying. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Stalin

The nebbish picks up what the schlemiel drops (photo: Stefan Rousseau for PA)

Am I on mushrooms or is Lynx now promoting a Lower Body Spray with an arse/crotch-sniffing ad? If post-late capitalism wasn’t a thing, it is now!

RIP. There’s an Authoritarian Provocation Goin’ On

If Mike Leigh decided to have a stab at a folk horror movie, this would be the opening scene.

That he was wasted when Cruijff played him in midfield? Everybody’s thinking it.

@jackthurston.bsky.social Hi Jack. Can you please follow me back so that I can message you re. a cycling-related photo research job I’m doing? Thanks.

Oh, so you’re into conclaves? Name three papal bulls from the Second Council of Lyons.

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…”

Inconceivable!

Still recovering from the shock that creepy killer Greg was Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite

Was really looking forward to this, but the wheels came off for me as soon as Milo opened his mouth - couldn’t suspend my disbelief after that. Might have to give it another go.

Robert Eggers’s pitch for Nosferatu: “Dracula, but with a moustache.”

“We have always been at war with Eurasia”

The no-nonsense treatment EJ got at the club (in contrast to the fawning and pampering of showbiz) was one of the highlights of his memoir. In un-related news, we need to compare notes re J Coe’s latest. Definitely a game of two halves, that one!

That council HQ must be bursting with manly creativity.

Aerial shot from the 1990s of Carmarthen town centre.

Leafing through a 1990s Wales from the Air book, and surprised to see that Caerfyrddin/Carmarthen appears to be built around a cosmic phallus. Is it Merlin’s?

Next week: Shrek 5 as an allegory of the British housing crisis

Time to do a Lee Child and write that novel. The world’s crying out for a hard-bitten detective with a taste for jazz and a complicated relationship with Aston Villa.

Dissecting Elon Musk’s Hostile Takeover with Anne Applebaum, Eoin Higgins & Ryan Mac Podcast Episode · On with Kara Swisher · 06/02/2025 · 1h

Dadansoddiad diddorol fan hyn podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...

Shell Game Technology Podcast · 7 Episodes · Weekly series

Sticking with the dystopian future theme, and given your interest in AI, you might like this: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...

Bunker: Building for the End Times Bunker: Building for the End Times : Garrett, Bradley: Amazon.co.uk: Books

I don’t sorry, but can recommend this on the non-fiction front www.amazon.co.uk/Bunker-Build...

‘It was carnage – in the best way!’ Manic Street Preachers, Sleaford Mods, KT Tunstall and more pick their favourite small gig venues The drinks are thrown, the crowds are feral – and the bands are right in your face. On independent venue week, musicians talk about their most cherished concert sweatboxes

‘The fringes of Tiger Bay’? [I fall to my knees, howling at the heavens] Lord, will the marginalisation of Grangetown never end? www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...

Make Mars Great Again!

The Martians must be blocking the signal before they attack