SOLD

Here’s some of the senior officials that Starmer has sacked. Just trying to work out what seems to be the problem here.

open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...

The latest iPad Pro and Air have got and M5 in them, which is more powerful than most laptops. They’re ridiculous beasts only held back by the OS.

Should potholing be banned?

You'll only drive it underground.

(Thanks for the wandering apostrophe, autocorrect)

It’s the eternal mystery; do only horrible prick’s accept the role, or does working with HO staff all day turn you into one?

So her two main statements yesterday was ‘how very dare anyone suggest my policy position is similar to those nasty bigots; they must be racist themselves to say that’ and ‘oh how I’d love to torture and deport the black woman and gay Jewish guy.’ Do I have that right?

Actually, thinking further I’d rather not have to talk about it at all, so this suits me fine.

Apparently, people have added me to both an “AI Propagandists” list for the crime of posting “propaganda on behalf of AI-pushing corporations” and yet, at the same time, an “AI Haters” one for being mean about their Fancy Eliza.

Saw talk of blocklists, went to clearsky out of curiosity to see if I’m on any.

Impressive.

A black and white photo of two of Stenness’s stones, taken edge on to emphasise their remarkable height and thinness. The day was cloudy, so while the sky is dramatic we have no defined shadows. I also had to hang around for ages to get any image without loads of people in it.

Wow - more impressive than I managed there.

The poster, on a boat (of, ironically, perfectly adequate size) off Crete in a bright pink t shirt with a neon-bright Jaws poster on the front and Amity Police hat. He is, for reasons that aren’t immediately clear, pointing at his camera, and more relevant to the thread, wearing sunglasses.

Meant to say - thanks for the T recommendation!

Everyone who criticises anything I ever do or say must be a massive racist, because I’m not white.

Also, I think we should deport the Jewish guy.

The RSD 2026 clear vinyl pressing of Here Come The Tears, the first time it’s had a proper record release. For those who don’t know, it’s Brett & Bernard Suede’s “getting back together” project. Which was, sadly, a one-off.

God, I forgot how much I love this.

Mahmood told Forde’s Political Party podcast at the Duchess Theatre that claims she was chasing Reform votes were “just a way of delegitimising the point of view that I bring to the table”. “It’s also a way of delegitimising the perfectly valid, legitimate views of millions of people in this country, including ethnic minorities in this country. And it’s not acceptable, right? And also, you’re trying to put me in a box, which includes a lot of people who think I don’t even belong in my own country. “That’s why I said this individual can just fuck right off, because I know I belong in my own country. You’re not going to be able to do that to me,” she said. She said there was an aspect of racism to the claims. “I do think there is that element of it, which is: ‘How dare you, a brown woman, say a thing that we white liberals think you’re not allowed to say?’ Well I’m saying it.”

Can't think of anything funny to say about this. Mahmood's repeated weaponisation of racism to defend her racist policies might be the most immoral thing a minister has done since Osborne's Philpott comments

Run the film, by all means. Don’t tell me that seeing your new edit of the film is “crucial to understanding” the new one. Because if I bother to rewatch Endgame at all, it’ll be by putting my quite expensive UHD in the player.

The last time I saw a Marvel in the cinema there were still people who’d leave the moment the credits started. They’re wrong to do so, but it still shouldn’t lead to them being confused by having missed things next time they see one.

I suspect I’m being an old man here, but I am tired of important things being after (or in the middle of) the credits. Let the film stop when it stops.

Or, you know, put the twist in the body of Doctor Strange. However you do it, don’t meaningfully advance things in credit sting stuff.

It’s literally the same shot. I’m glad it works for you, but it just felt like it was the actual end of the film, but because Marvel dictates a mid-credits bit, they cut that up and moved it across.

Oh wait, I mean the one before. Where the film “ends” with Tom & Zendaya mid swing, credits roll, then we cut back to them for the rest of the shot and the JJJ “Tom is Spidey” reveal. That’s the end of the film, not a post-credit sequence.

Though the worst actual example so far isn’t the Russia’ but the final scene of the last Spider-man being after the credits. It’s part of the story. It’s not even a new scene, just a continuation from before. Just no reason for it to be post credits, other than “there should be a post credits.”

I’m sure that the new edits will both be made to the D+ version and illegally uploaded to YouTube in short order. My reaction was in no small part just because I’m so very fed up with the series’ inability to tell a whole story within the confines of a single film.

Lot of good stuff in it, but also an awful lot of panicked nonsense where (eg) The Evil Dead’s slapstick fun is treated the same as the unsimulated animal cruelty of the worst of The Video Nasties List.

Volume of ads is much lower, but yes - you still get the idents into/out of shows even if you don’t get ads between them.

It’s basically on all the bought-in stuff, as far as I can see. I can imagine (eg) Disney being contractural that the viewing experience must be inferior to what D+ people pay for, and I know Sky are with the F1.

Hang on, I’m sure I’ve got something on the 1984 Video Recordings Act somewhere. Probably near an article on the Dungeons & Dragons / Satanic Panic stuff.

Re-releasing it is fine, I guess. Though the idea that rewatching this is more relevant than, say, Thunderbolts* is another damning indictment of how desperate they are.

Saying that watching this Lucassed reshoot version is “critical” to understanding Doomsday is either a lie, or terminal.

Meanwhile: I am declaring myself Too Damned Old to go see anything starting at 22:15 on a work night, sadly.

Browsing the 2026 Proms lineup, and the Paraorchestra are doing 18 Musicians! In Bristol.

Still, people near enough : GO

(I’m already hoping to go to the Barbican’s one later in the year, so managing both could be a challenge to logistics)

(Yes, yes, Barbenheimer. Barbie is not three hours long, the way you know both Dune and Avengers will be.)