Dave

I've been calling her Krandle 😭

Of only he were fighting the rise of the far right instead of Andy Burnham

I'm a stupid moron with an ugly face and a big butt and my butt smells and I like to kiss my own butt.

😭

Ofc an even more accurate description would be "the run-down hotels where asylum applicants, a majority of whom will prove to be refugees fleeing persecution, are being dumped with minimal subsistence and no right to work, while the Government takes years deciding a huge backlog of their cases"

but tea made of tea what do you mean? One box: Tea

Yeah yeah, we're in trouble

📌

Let’s be clear about what happened to Jimmy Kimmel Trump’s most brazen attack on free speech yet.

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

wow there's a lot of layers to this

bro

I can't believe I've got this far through the chat before reading this point. I love rinsing with (to most people) scaldingly hot water (negating need for the tea towel) but it definitely seems a privilege

We have found our new ambassador

the dailup sound was a protection spell the computer said for us every time we went online but we thought we were too good for it. we wanted to be on the phone and the computer at the same time. we wanted to be on the phone and the computer at the same time and now we’re fucked

The timing of this grab is so perfect that I laughed hard despite forgetting the actual line because the tone/intonation etc. then I got the bonus chuckle where I remembered the line. Excellent

Reminded me of when Americans try to do Austen

I've just started watching it and agree with your casting eval. Shame BBC didn't get it and do a series: 2 hours is too short and it's made with an international audience very much in mind. Steven is perfect though.

I quite agree. Who would you have as Ron? My partner went for Phil Daniels (Parklife!) which beat my Ray Winstone (erm porklife?)

NB It's 1000x, not 10.5x; I think Charlotte missed her typo in the subheading. Please let her know if you can

The calculus of risk

Photo of an IKEA manual depicting a solo figure on the left, frustrated, crossed out. Next to it, two figures, smiling, working together. Each stands near a pile of boards over which the text SOCIETY has been imposed in yellow, meme-style.

Page 1

I'm bankrupt orange slime mould

Patriotism is about caring for your fellow citizens – all of them, not just the ones who buy peerages. It is about decently funding our national institutions and investing in our collective futures. It involves delivering a full and enriching education for the next generation, and providing decent care and respite for the elderly and vulnerable. It’s about ensuring we have a capable and well-founded health service, a justice system that is open to all – and which applies equally to all. Patriotism is about ensuring equality of life chances, and the possibility of a home and a family. It recognises that it doesn’t matter what colour, faith, gender or sexuality you are: every person in Britain is equally British, and division demeans us all. But simply being British isn’t enough. We live on this planet with billions of other people, and we have to make it work. So patriotism is building sound and convivial relationships with our neighbours and allies. It is tackling global climate change in congress with the entire world, not seeking ways to screw our rivals and condemn our grandkids to a terrifying heat death. Patriotism is about crushing corruption and fostering decency, rather than the other way around. Those things are patriotic. Not flags. Fuck your flags. Flags are just the wrapping paper around those things, and nothing more. Yet increasingly they’re wrapped around a hollowed-out nation.

Wrote this about flags and patriotism in 2021 (in The Decade In Tory). Stand by every word now.

I was told it was unlucky to thank a bless (kills an angel or something). I quietly clap 4 times when I hear the double whammy to bring it back to life

I hate these so much. That cursed sausage dog was a harbinger of bad times

Ray Winstone would be famous enough presumably

Great shout. My partner suggested Phil Daniels (the Parklife geezer) which is also excellent casting IMO. I'm rubbish at this game and offering nothing thus far

I read a review today and couldn't believe who they cast as Ron. I'm sure I'll enjoy it despite that