Matthew Kilburn

A 1983 Sears Wisbook catalog page showing a group of Cabbage Patch Kid dolls with different skin tones, hairstyles, and outfits, along with sample birth certificates and adoption papers. The page also displays accessory sets, including outfits, a yellow baby carrier, and a quilted doll blanket.

"Must-have" Christmas gift of 1983? The Cabbage Patch Kid 🥬 👶

It started the holiday trend. Desperate parents camped out, while some greedy Grinches resold the dolls at inflated prices. 🎁

This serene Wishbook page belies the holiday chaos.

Browse the full catalog ⤵️
archive.org/details/1983...

For the next two days I tried to bring every casual conversation round to "broadcasting.' It was a Glasgow schoolfellow, a chartered accountant in Pearsons, who enlightened me. Then I was quite sure of it. Having discovered what broadcasting was, reflected, given rein to imagination, I realised to some extent at least what had been committed to me. For to me it was committed. I had thought that the chairman or Sir William Noble might be around a good deal, and when Noble came to see me…

Heads up, you can apply to be Director General of the BBC through the job listing here: careers.bbc.co.uk/job/Director...

And if you think you're not qualified, just remember that John Reith had to find out what "broadcasting" was before his interview.

@0tralala.bsky.social Definitely the right Dalek pic:

Scottish nurse wins part of her tribunal in trans doctor changing room case Sandie Peggie wins harassment claim but tribunal dismisses allegations of discrimination and victimisation

Ignore the media framing, I think this is a glimmer of good news.

“The tribunal was clear that the law does not now require banning trans people from single-sex spaces” - @goodlawproject.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The core of the unitary executive theory seems to be “Charles I was right on the merits,” which is a position you can take, but you sort of then need to explain yourself if you are saying that this view was shared by the Framers

I have not heard of this Carns fellow, and suspect AI.

From Linor Goralik's remarkable "Exodus-22," about the wave of Russian emigrants after Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. asterismbooks.com/product/exod...

"This war has made Russian culture meaningless," says N, "because it was all about compassion. All of our great writers... had their experience of Golgotha – & all of those deaths and sufferings were in vain: what was any of that for, if it didn't save anyone & didn't teach anyone anything?"

The variety provided by the two celebrity instalments - Jarvis Cocker and Bob Harris - was welcome.

I think @pellegrina.bsky.social has a point about its faults, but we have found it of use.

We think it helps my mum get to sleep anyway.

Have you heard Radio 3 Unwind's Sleeping Forecast?

YouTube video by Georgia Harper Is Autism Overdiagnosed? I Read "The Age Of Diagnosis"

Now that the "overdiagnosis" framing seems to have been adopted wholesale by government (or at least large swathes of the media), I should probably plug The Video again youtu.be/JDxVGtarAME?...

Bring this back

Thank you. It's a wretched December.

It's all dreadful.

Sending copies of my dad's obituaries to one of his old friends seems a maudlin Christmas present, but we've been intending to reply to his letter for over two months. I wish to snap into a parallel universe where there was no need yet for these obituaries.

The Archaeology of Film Cans

The short video is one in a series relating to film material recovered from a former BBC employee. Many of the items were salvaged in the 1970s from outside BBC Enterprises, at Villiers House.

It was an unusual issue, bridging a gap between the end of Richard Landen's period as feature writer and the relaunch (on better paper stock!) with Gary Russell and Richard Marson as lead writers, and looking back to the 60s when we were between The Five Doctors and Season 21.

Parallels here, of course.

There was a time when I was one of the most tech-literate in my workplace of humanities people, other than the actual IT team, but socially mixed with scientists, including engineers, among whom I was an ignoramus.

Well, this is a pretty special way to start the week: a gorgeous email from the great Michael E Briant (director of “The Sea Devils” in 1972!), with some very kind words about last night’s omnibus edit. What a gent. I’m very aware we’re only here because of the work of people like Michael. 🙌

Oh, and [SPOILERS] if any of you were watching The War Between the Land and the Sea afterwards, this is how far they threw the Titanic...

bsky.app/profile/mary...

In fact, the Mary Rose wreck site had only recently been rediscovered when this was being filmed.

Fortunately, the Sea Devils left our divers alone...

It is one with which a lot of us are very familiar.

See also much of County Durham.

I'd need to see the whole thing before disentangling RTD and McTighe signatures!

A dig at Nigel Farage, I think, from when he was the former Brexit Party leader, but still treated as their main spokesman - and he owned the party, still. Now out of date.

The War Between part 2 is still going out now. Impressive so far.