Claire Read

An Alpe d'Huez year is a good year. Two finishes there in one year? Doubly good, surely #TDF2026

The Guardian is Guardianing particularly hard this morning.

Thanks. Happy to pay an extra couple of quid for priority delivery, incidentally. Let me know 😀

Waiting for an #LFF screening to start, listening to someone tell mates about another festival film.
“Was it good?”
“Yeah… I mean, it was weird. But it was good.”
That’s how you know you’re festivalling right. And how I know the two of us have the same taste, because I also saw the film in question.

Do you deliver? 🤤

First #LFF film this year: quirky, charming Aussie comedy #Fwends, filmed guerrilla-style in Melbourne, entirely in sequence and fully improvised. Was followed by a sweet Q&A with the director, two leads, and the director of photography. An auspicious start.

Hi Emma! Thanks so much for coming back to me, and no apology needed 😊 It's not necessarily too late! Would you mind following me? I'll then drop you along a direct message explaining a little more!

This being the funniest 8 seconds of television all year 😭 #CelebrityTraitors #TheTraitors

I’m hoping he stays around long enough to seduce Lucy Beaumont as a traitor, for absolute maximum chaos 😄 #CelebrityTraitors

Yay for representation on #TheTraitorsUK! So powerful to see myself on screen – a cuddly bespectacled bag of nerves with hyperhidrosis, a voice that carries, an inability to lie, and a suspicious manner when with a secret. Oh, Alan, love. Hope you packed Mitchum and Propranolol #CelebrityTraitors

It'll be wild when Charlotte Church reveals she's been pretending to be Welsh this entire time #TheTraitorsUK #CelebrityTraitors

Totally in favour of having a conversation about reparations, but I'm not sure *all* of them should go to Lenny Henry.

I suspect purists would already take issue with the presence of hash browns, but the fruit... My goodness.

a man in a trench coat is saying i would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable ALT: a man in a trench coat is saying i would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable

One of my regular bouts of klutziness means my wrist and forearm are currently nestled in the tight yet comfortingly soft and warm embrace of Tubigrip. What George Costanza feels for velvet I feel for this stuff. I genuinely find it so delightful that it's almost worth spraining something for.

Google Gemini has been integrated into my email, and so I have an overeager coworker who is barely competent yet displays unshakeable confidence in their abilities. Its suggested responses to an email today asking if I'm available tomorrow or Friday for a call. God. Take a 12-hour lunch break, Gem.

The dream team 😊

I will require your expert verdict on it!

The state of the world being what it is, I briefly wondered at what point we'd decided to authorise a real-life version of the Hunger Games.

Hi Emma. Forgive the message out of the blue from an unfamiliar name! I'm writing an article for Nursing Standard about returning from maternity leave and wondered if you might be willing to speak to me for it. Can of course send further details if you'd be interested in principle!

@katesonanadventure.bsky.social Hi Kate. Forgive the message out of the blue from a stranger. I'm working on a piece for Nursing Standard about returning to work after maternity leave and was wondering if by any chance you might be willing to speak to me for it. Can of course send further details!

charlie brown is sitting on a chair with a sad face on his face . ALT: charlie brown is sitting on a chair with a sad face on his face .

It is with deep regret that I inform you I have just seen a Christmas advert on telly.

(Hang your heads in shame, Smyths Toys.)

These adverts from a 1954 Streatham Hill Theatre programme give a fascinating glimpse of the local area.

YouTube video by Doctor waffle Music is good for business

I randomly came across this on Instagram yesterday. There may still be three and a half months of 2025 to go, but I am confidently declaring it my favourite song of the year. #DoctorWaffle #MrPangolin

www.youtube.com/shorts/PS8am...

In London, hate will never win.

Ready to unleash mischief. Adorably.

Oh, and if you're disappointed that the Saturday 11 October 6.25pm showing of Seeds is sold out – that's down to me. I got the last available ticket.

Sorry you missed out, but also luxuriating in smug delight.

#LFF

The queue was long, but the website experience swift and seamless. Missed out on a ticket for the Chloé Zhao screen talk (was always going to be a long shot) and couldn't grab one for The Mastermind at a time that worked for me, but landed everything else I'd wanted. Result.

#LFF

One of these years I’m going to get assigned a really good spot in the London Film Festival ticket queue.

This, however, is not that year.

#LFF

Oooo, this is a great question.

Let's start with the obvious while I muse on the others: Pog.

I used to be so up to date on good TV, and then the streaming age hit and my decision paralysis flared right up, and it is in that context that I tell you I’m currently really enjoying Dopesick (2021) and Maid (also 2021).