Nicholas Jackson

I keep thinking of Wilhoit's definition of conservatism: "there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect". This inconsistency isn't accidental, it's fundamental and deliberate.

Nearly 30 years ago, while living in York, I went to a fancy dress party as a Vorlon. I made a version of the purple (Ulkesh) encounter suit. It was rather fragile (mostly made out of polystyrene) and unfortunately I don't have any photos of it, but I was quite pleased with the result.

Amazing!

"I have always been here".

The Dragon is like... like...
*Crash!*
Like lightning, yes, that was it.

Anál nathrach, orth' bháis's bethad...

Sean Connery in Dr No’s lair, about to go up a short flight of stairs when he spots a portrait of the Duke of Wellington on a stand. The original had been stolen from the National Gallery the previous year, and this was a joke by the Bond production team

Today is the 63rd anniversary of the London premiere of Dr. No, which means (well, obviously) it’s time to tell you a ridiculous shaggy dog story about the theft of not one but two portraits of the Duke of Wellington

I certainly watched a lot of random films when I lived there, but I don't think that was one of them.

From what I've seen of it, I'm not sure it's exactly my sort of humour. But I do remember enjoying Young Frankenstein. ("It's Fronkensteen, actually".)

8. Who directed the 1974 western Blazing Saddles? * Lars Von Trier * Frederico Fellini * Stanley Kubrick * Mel Brooks

I've never actually seen it, but now I want to watch all four of these: Von Trier's harrowing Dogme 95 version, Fellini's baroque masterpiece, Kubrick's cinematic perfectionism, and Brooks' screwball comedy.

(From quizoftheday.co.uk)

[Scene is ANCIENT GREECE - where SOCRATES and PLATO and others are sitting round, thinking] 1 SOCRATES: Plato.. PLATO: Yes Socrates? 2 SOCRATES: Can you tell me, are you human? PLATO: Why… yes, Socrates 3 SOCRATES: And would you agree, Plato, that a human knows what a chariot is? PLATO: Um, yep 4 SOCRATES: So you can tell me, then 5 [Socrates produces a papyrus, showing a drawing of the corner of a chariot wheel] SOCRATES: *Is that a chariot*? 6 PLATO: Well that’s more just a bit of wheel 7 SOCRATES: So not a *chariot*. PLATO: No. 8 SOCRATES: [Producing another papyrus with the full drawing of the chariot, chopped into boxes] So if a man were challenged to “tap the boxes containing chariots to prove you’re human” when he was just trying to check his ClubCard points... *where could he tap*? 9 PLATO: Well you can’t tap any of them really 10 SOCRATES: So are we not human? PLATO: ‘Spose not. 11 [Bleak pause] 12 PLATO: I’ll get the hemlock SOCRATES: Yeah [ends]

🎶 Reach out, touch faith.
Your own virtual Jesus. 🎶

Pudding, an adorable little black and white cat, standing on my desk, in front of the monitor, just about to type something on my keyboard.

Pudding, a very cute little black and white cat, sitting on my desk, in front of my keyboard and all three monitors, starting intently into the camera. I think she wants to be fed.

I'm currently doing a part-time postgraduate course on curriculum design in higher education. Pudding is helping me write up my project.

Absolutely. If you think you saw a trans or non-binary person using the "wrong" toilets, no you didn't.

In a sense, yes. In another sense, they haven't existed since about 2016. My dad wouldn't recognise the party he was once a member of. My mum votes LibDem now. They've lost or expelled all the small-C conservatives. They're just a bunch of far-right, hate+fuelled grifters now.

Thei did the Mash; thei did the Monstere Mash.
The Monstere Mash: beholde, sepulchral smash!
Thei did the Mash, and it kaughte on moost fast -
Hark, heare the Mash! Forsooth, the Monstere Mash!

*revoked, not rebooked, sorry. I had a cataract surgery followup appointment today and my eyesight is still a bit blurry from the dilating eyedrops they gave me.

A senior colleague who is an FRS once remarked "basically the only thing that'll get your fellowship rebooked is if you don't pay your subscription fee". I thought he was joking, but now I realise he wasn't. Apparently even spearheading a fascist, anti-science coup of a major country isn't enough.

I sometimes wonder how differently everything might have turned out if things went differently on that particular day.

I'm almost tempted to ask whether he's some sort of avant-garde conceptual art installation at this point. But sadly he's actually just a massively deranged fascist.

Killer Bob from Twin Peaks. A sinister, grinning man with long grey hair.

"Fire, walk with me!"

I’ve been training my cat to play ambient music.

Last night he hit me with this hauntingly beautiful chord change after 10 minutes of A7sus4

This, from the Quakers, is a pretty good example of how to resist pressure from bigot lobbying groups. Effectively “we legally can allow trans people to use the loo, we morally should, and we tried it and nothing bad happened”

This is brilliant!

i will strangle a horse by BRAINMAGE A comedy twine-based choose-your-own-adventure game where it's your first day on The Farm, and you have One Job

BEHOLD!

My first ever choose-your-own-adventure game!

"i will strangle a horse" - over seven and a half thousand words of absolute nonsense, as you help Martin Jenkins on his first day at The Farm.

brainmage.itch.io/i-will-stran...

Totally free to play! I mean, you can pay, but you can also not!

Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.

It is 2025, and yet again Labour want to introduce a massively intrusive, technically and ethically problematic national id database with associated card. This is a really bad idea, and currently nearly 700k people have signed this petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

It is the year 3857. 3am. The mummified cadaver of Tonty Blair creaks upright, drags on a wetsuit, and shambles outside, heading for the pressurised bubble that preserves number 10 Downing Street under the waters that flooded London when the ice caps melted.

The prime minister sleeps fitfully.

Yes, absolutely. A hundred more important problems that are actually achievable and economically beneficial.

What the hell is the matter with these people? Every time, without fail, they try to do this. It's a toxic, self-destructive obsession. They'll try to crowbar "AI" into it this time, and that won't work either.

What the hell is the matter with these people? Every time they get into government they try to introduce mandatory id cards. It's a self-destructive obsession.