Chris Addison

Happy Advent to you and your kin! And everyone else's kin too, come to that. As every December so far this decade, I'm going to do an Advent Calendar of beautiful and brilliant carols, with each day's added to a YouTube playlist and also to the ongoing Spotify one, now in its sixth(!) year.

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

Oh, I know!

A mugshot registration photograph from Auschwitz. A woman wearing a striped uniform photographed in three positions (profile and front with a bare head and a photo with a slightly turned head with a headscarf on). The prisoner number is visible on a marking board on the left.

1 December 1912 | A Polish woman, Kazimiera Szczerbińska, was born in Żywiec.

In #Auschwitz from 28 January 1943.
No. 32059
She perished in the camp on 22 April 1943.

I did it to spite you.

Advent Posted

And the ongoing Spotify playlist, containing everything I've posted for the last five Advents, and now running at seven and a half hours(!) is here:

open.spotify.com/playlist/5sD...

Advent Carols 2025 - YouTube

You can find this year's YouTube playlist here. I'll add as we go along:

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

YouTube video by bachakademie Max Bruch »Wiegenlied der Hirten« | Gaechinger Cantorey | Hans-Christoph Rademann

1. It's been A Year, hasn't it? Maybe this time we should start with something delightful and calming. In that spirit, here's Max Bruch's lovely lullaby, 'Wiegenlied der Hirten', cradle-song of the shepherds, as sung incredibly sweetly by the Gächinger Kantorei.

youtu.be/FqFwp_NiKAs?...

Happy Advent to you and your kin! And everyone else's kin too, come to that. As every December so far this decade, I'm going to do an Advent Calendar of beautiful and brilliant carols, with each day's added to a YouTube playlist and also to the ongoing Spotify one, now in its sixth(!) year.

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

Black and white photo of a smiling girl with curly hair, wearing a bow and a star-patterned outfit, sitting at a desk.

30 November 1936 | A Belgian Jewish girl, Anna van Kreveld, was born in Borgerhout. She emigrated to The Netherlands.

In November 1942 she was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber after the selection.
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Ggas chambers & crematoria of Auschwitz: https://youtu.be/-A05i25j9Ck

So, happy 50th anniversary to Melody Maker’s review of Bohemian Rhapsody: “Queen, with a suitably baroque vocal orchestration, contrive to approximate the demented fury of the Balham Amateur Operatic Society performing The Pirates of Penzance”

YouTube video by Michael Bowen Robbie Fulks Fountains of Wayne Hotline

I've lost count of the number of times I've posted this brilliant, hilarious love letter to one of the great unsung bands of all time.
The perfect pastiche/homage.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vVJ...

Vintage photo of a young boy with curly hair, seated in a classic wicker chair, indoors.

23 November 1937 | A Dutch Jewish boy, Siegfried Robert Spanjaard, was born in The Hague.

In October 1942 he was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber after the selection.

A mugshot registration photograph from Auschwitz. A man with a shaved head wearing a striped uniform photographed in three positions (profile and front with bare head and a photo with a slightly turned head with a hat on). The prisoner number is visible on a marking board on the left.

28 November 1909 | A Pole, Teodor Zubrzycki, was born in Nowy Sącz. A teacher.

In #Auschwitz from 30 July 1941.
No. 19406
He perished in the camp on 9 February 1942.
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"Poles at KL Auschwitz”: http://lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_2020_06_polacy/

It's Black Friday so we've put a 0% discount on items in the Bugle store, which we haven't even linked to.

It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.

A mugshot registration photograph from Auschwitz. A man with a shaved head wearing a striped uniform photographed in three positions (profile and front with bare head and a photo with a slightly turned head with a hat on). The prisoner number is visible on a marking board on the left.

27 November 1912 | A Pole, Janusz Żak, was born in Zawiercie. An accountant.

In #Auschwitz from 11 December 1941.
No. 23968
He perished in the camp on 27 April 1942.
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A podcast about registration photos: https://youtu.be/c2l9hDA5MZc

Cheque in post. ✅

Agreed. Ranking stuff is my second least favourite activity.

It’s like a George Orwell themed chocolate box.

Last ask, I swear. Local film makers shooting a story written by my excellent, clever and funny school writers group. Ignore the figures here. We're £350 short with three days to go. If you've bunged us some money THANK YOU. If you'd like to, THANK YOU. ❤️
www.spacehive.com/angeline#/la...

The whole thing felt like a take on the Trumpian era. Plus songs!

Hugely enjoyed Wickeds 1 & 2 but MY GOD - for one of the most beloved musicals ever, the story is incredibly bleak. Essentially a satire, whose messages are: the masses are irredeemably stupid, acceptance of The Other is impossible and the triumph of Good over Evil can only be weak and compromised.

one of the things that makes me most mad about genAI (and there are many) is we've been told there's not enough money for hiring. but there's billions poured into ai.

so not enough money to hire workers. but infinite money to pour into technology whose goal is never having to pay workers again.

Exactly so. It’s the parasite, test cricket is the host.

Yes, but we won the Moral First Test. #MAshes

An illustration of pens, pencils and paint tubes with the text “Every small purchase makes a big difference. Shop independent and support small creative businesses this Christmas”

Buying #Christmas cards or presents?

Shop with small independents (like me) instead of the big high street names.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk

Are you a small business? Reply with your link. Let's support each other this Christmas.

Two more losses in a row and we’ll hear the faint sound of the New Coach Now drums beginning to beat, I’d say.

And that’s a sort of endemic cultural problem now, rather than something that’s just turned up.

Truthfully, I suspect there’s a huge amount of influence from the short form of the game going on, where it doesn’t matter if you swish the bat around like an idiot.

I think that’s fair. A match for which five days is budgeted wrapped up within two days does feel like it’s not going precisely as maybe you might hope. Some terrific bowling, Australia are unusually fragile with the bat, England traditionally fragile with the bat.