Jack Blackburn

One of the all-time great test matches. One of the all-time great series.

Topsy-turvy, up and down and, in the end, perfectly balanced. Can't say fairer than that.

I wanted to kick off when they called stumps

Another day in what sources from both the left and the right tell me is the “grotesque dystopia” of modern Britain

A draw would be a very fair result in this series

WinViz is giving England a 20% chance of winning from here.

Do the stats really show that teams chase down 374 once in every five occasions?

Do they even show that for Bazball England? #thecricket

Our son has become very excited about planes. He stands in the window and points at them and shouts “Plane!”. Except the aim of his pointing is a bit general and he hasn’t quite mastered plosives. So I think passers-by think he’s pointing at them and shouting “Gay! Gay! Wow!”

We had a similar thing in the post-delivery room

I assumed they were teenagers but no - early middle-aged couple

Tonight, the train to Bexleyheath is getting a concert complete with off key sing-a-long

Once again, if Starmer wants to rocket up the polls, he need only announce the launch of a taskforce to
tackle people not using headphones on public transport

Allan Ahlberg obituary: prolific children’s author Mischievous writer, who with his illustrator wife Janet produced more than 150 books including Peepo! and The Jolly Postman, dies aged 87

Very sad to learn of the death of Allan Ahlberg. Not only do we read Each Peach Pear Plum and Cops and Robbers to our son, but they are quite clearly some of his absolute favourites. A timeless contribution.

Allan Ahlberg obituary: prolific children’s author

www.thetimes.com/article/4af2...

For those watching #QueenVictoriaSecretMarriageSecretChild

Good slogan for the Marmite bomb - You’ll either love it or you’ll die.

Absolutely not. But Porton Down deserves some light relief.

This would very much be a scientists asking if they could rather than should thing

Particularly when combined with a Coke-Minto trigger device

We must respond with research into the destructive potential of Bovril

Australia’s weapons programme is wild

Does anyone else think that Tom Lehrer had a similar energy to @holland-tom.bsky.social?

I was at boarding school when my grandmother died. I told my housemaster and he gave me two bottles of Stella and introduced me to Tom Lehrer. And it made things a bit better.

Lehrer’s been a hero ever since. A genius. At least, however, he’s been proven wrong on this one.

youtu.be/frAEmhqdLFs?...

Farewell to the great Tom Lehrer

I was at boarding school when my grandmother died. I told my housemaster and he gave me two bottles of Stella and introduced me to Tom Lehrer. And it made things a bit better.

Lehrer’s been a hero ever since. A genius. At least, however, he’s been proven wrong on this one.

youtu.be/frAEmhqdLFs?...

Nice #lionesses

If there are no sandwiches at tea then that will do it

This makes him sound like Martin Crane’s chair

We need more duct tape

😂

Thrilled by the response to this. It’s been weeks of work and very pleased that people are taking it in the spirit it is intended.

Fern’s research is fascinating and moving. But could there have been a child?

It would be incredible, improbable, near-impossible… but wouldn’t it be rather wonderful?

Queen Victoria, her ‘secret love child’ and me For Angela Webb-Milinkovich it was a dinner-party story, but a historian believes the carer from Minnesota may descend from Victoria and a beloved servant

EXC - New material has been found concerning Queen Victoria & her servant John Brown

Historian @drfernriddell.bsky.social is confident her research demonstrates their romance & believes the pair wed...

And she's found someone who could be their secret descendant

www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-fam...