Very good article

Perfectly chosen word, as usual.

Word of the day is ‘foozle’, from the 19th century: of a golfer, to bungle a shot. More generally, to make a complete mess of something.

15,000 people protested fascism and racism in Amsterdam yesterday.

Department for Education confirms launch of natural history GCSE Campaigners have been calling for the qualification for years but plan stalled despite a curriculum being drawn up

Brilliant news! At last, confirmation that the Govt *will* go ahead with the #NaturalHistoryGCSE 🎉 We have to get to know our fellow travellers on this planet again. Young people who know & love nature are far more likely to protect & restore it - as well as enjoying better physical & mental health

Word of the Day is ‘ingordigiousness’ (18th century): extreme greed at the expense of principles.

1/ If the Government goes ahead with its proposals on AI, it will give tech companies the ability "to take what they like, when they like, without informing or compensating the writers of the work they use to train their models," says WGGB President Sandi Toksvig

writersguild.org.uk/copyright-ai/

Thank you to the charming and quick thinking couple in Hampstead who found my wallet, searched the name then looked for me and found me. All that on a beautifully lit afternoon.

Zelensky reminds me of the child in the fairy tale who watched the Emperor’s parade and shouted “The Emperor has no clothes!”The question now is when will others see that and say out loud : « The Emperor has no clothes! »

Save Audio Drama on World Radio Day - The Writers' Guild of Great Britain Last month, alongside Equity and the Society of Authors, we launched a petition to Save Audio Drama at the BBC, following the corporation’s decision to axe audio drama from Radio …

Tomorrow is World Radio Day + we need you to help Save Audio Drama by sharing a short video to tell BBC
Director-General Tim Davie that you oppose their cuts to audio drama + why it is so important to you

The more noise we can make the better!

writersguild.org.uk/save-audio-d...

#SADatTheBBC

Word of the Day is ‘bayard’ (16th century): one who has the supreme self-confidence of ignorance.

A very useful word these days.

Word of day is ‘unasinous’ (17th century): united in stupidity.

A riff on ‘unanimous’: which comes from the Latin for ‘one mind’. ‘Unasinous’ means ‘one ass’.

My letter in today's Guardian. Just asking, like. But I think we know the answer.

Gorgeous and terrifying: The Year from Space on Channel 4.
Beautifully narrated by Robert Lindsay.

Word of the Day is one I keep posting at the end of the year, hoping its time will come.

‘Respair’, from the 16th century, is fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.

Here’s to a few drops of respair in 2025.

A brown river otter twists its body as it swims down toward the bottom of a rocky body of water. It's intent on trying to snag a white and grey fish called a tulibee swimming near the rocks on the bottom.

Day 21 of the #ArtAdventCalendar. I've brought this one back every year, but it's still one of my favourite paintings. This river otter and cisco (tullibee) are part of the larger mural I posted a few days ago. I felt they needed to be worked up into a standalone piece.

One reason to be cheerful: tomorrow we will have 10 more seconds of daylight in London and by New Year, it will be a whole minute. Small shifts of light but so precious, even in a city.

I loved that show. Tender and beautiful.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: possibly the most underreported story on earth is how Elon Musk, who not just the richest man on the planet but also puppeteering the US government, is actively talking to and promoting completely unabashed Nazis through his personal media platform

Word of the morning is ‘williwaw’ (19th century): a sudden violent squall or a toppling gust of wind.

Goes well with ‘thunderplump’: a sudden downpour that soaks you to the skin in seconds.

A weekend of revelatory Shakespeare at the Orange Tree Theatre and the San Wanamaker playhouse. Both wonderfully acted, spare, truthful. The tender melancholy of Twelfth Night, the blade like darkness of All’s Well that Ends Well. Layers uncovered and laid bare. So good to see.

Nice. Clever.

Storyville Books Bookshop UK Nestled in the rolling hills of the South Wales valleys, we are the only independent bookshop in Pontypridd, selling new books and more.

⚠️ Pontypridd has been hit by devastating floods and our wonderful independent bookshop, Storyville Books, has seen much of its stock destroyed.

If you’re able to buy a book from them, this would go such a long way to help support them rebuild in the aftermath.

👉 uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyvi...

Word of the day is ‘librocubicularist’: one who loves nothing better than reading in bed.

(Not easy to say, but I’m glad to know it exists).

A really positive approach. Well worth reading.

How we can meet the challenges of authoritarianism This is not our first rodeo with authoritarianism. Americans have collectively risen to seemingly impossible challenges in the past, and we can again.

Important set of resources here
wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/how-...

Such a pleasure to meet old friends here . I left Twitter when the musket arrived but missed it. I had spent most of my time reading and sometimes reposting things I found interesting and I’ll try to do the same here.

“It’s not just the evil people who wreck havoc on this world, it’s the good people who don’t do enough to stop them.”Allan Lichtman