Read this post approximately 0.5 seconds after the BBC 'UK unemployment rate in surprise fall' push notification.

Perhaps the quickest optimism-dashing I've ever experienced.

ONS says the surprise fall in the unemployment rate reflects rising inactivity - particularly people becoming students - rather than rising employment.

From Clickhole's "Incredible! We Asked These Astronauts What It’s Like To Be In Space," Barry Wilmore: You never know true beauty until you see Earth from space, or true terror until you hear someone knocking on the space station door from outside. You look through the porthole and see an astronaut, but all your crew is inside and accounted for. You use the comm to ask who it is and he says he’s Ramirez returning from a repair mission, but Ramirez is sitting right next to you in the command module and he’s just as confused as you are. When you tell the guy this over the radio he starts banging on the door louder and harder, begging you to let him in, saying he’s the real Ramirez. Meanwhile, the Ramirez inside with you is pleading to keep the airlock shut. It really puts life on Earth into perspective.

One of the very best from Clickhole

Genuinely losing track of the various nightmare energy infrastructure strikes / escalations in this war. Not a great sign.

Yowza

Radical with Amol Rajan - Trump v China: How Oil Is Defining Great Power Politics (Professor Helen Thompson) - BBC Sounds What is this new era of global politics and where it does it leave Europe?

Helen Thompson talks about oil price as factor in the GFC here (33:30ish): www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

What an absolute let down.

I remember doing a piece on this a few years ago where the really worrying thing was that you can build up significant pockets of low vaccination without the spark needed to start an outbreak.

But once that spark appears, an outbreak can spread frighteningly quickly.

Everyone staying up for the big event?

More or Less - Is an ancient charioteer the best paid sportsperson of all time? - BBC Sounds Did a Roman charioteer really earn the equivalent of $15 billion dollars?

Absolute delight to talk to @wmarybeard.bsky.social for an episode of More or Less.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

The ONS vs Industry The stats agency / prestige television beef we didn’t know we needed

The ONS vs Industry www.ft.com/content/12c6... The ONS vs Industry

@tommckinney.bsky.social

What a sensational piece that I'd never heard before. Feel like it's transformed my day already.

"Your AI engineers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could they didn't stop to think if they should."

IF ONLY THERE WAS A SNAPPY ACRONYM

'We are totally in line on Christmas
We can do great things on the patio
I do not understand what you are doing on your pension'

Big revelation of the morning for me is that Macron texts like your dad.

Neanderthal voice YouTube video by Ragna Þórsdóttir

the greatest documentary ever broadcast www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTkF...

Since when did the terminology shift from 'recruit' (HR approved) to 'seduce' (very weird)?

Keep 'em coming.

First saw this on @benansell.bsky.social and @jim.londoncentric.media's feeds. Also of interest to @paulmainwood.bsky.social, I think.

Fwiw, Ofcom’s figures say 8 and a half million individuals use X to access news.

tl;dl version:

We can't access gov's data. Ofcom say 3% of population (roughly 1.8m individuals) say X is their most important news source.

Gov has corrected Hansard and now says '10.8 million families use X as a news and information source'. But it's unclear how many individuals this equates to.

Almost right, Tom. Ofcom figures say 1.8m individuals (not families) say X is their most important news source.

The gov now says 10.8m families use X as a news and info source (not main source), but it's unclear what that means in terms of individuals. Ofcom say 8.5m individuals use X for news.

More or Less - Have more than 100 private schools been forced to close because of VAT? - BBC Sounds Tim Harford investigates closing schools, X users, Covid deaths and churchgoers

Did you see the claim from the Government in the House of Lords that "10.8 million families use X as their main news source"?

Well, the government has admitted it was wrong.

I investigated for Radio 4's More or Less - you can hear it here, starting at 14:55.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Hi Tom, Nathan from More or Less here. We have actually looked into a similar statistic, cited by Baroness Anderson in the Lords last Monday.

You can hear the results tomorrow at 9am in Radio 4.

*Rachel Reeves banging table*

safe haven, safe haven

*Andrew Bailey joining in*

safe haven, safe haven

*entire DMO chanting as one*

SAFE HAVEN, SAFE HAVEN

BBC Radio 4 - Stand-Up Specials, Why in the Name of Pierre Novellie Pierre Novellie focuses on the deep and the shallow in a comedic answer to In Our Time.

Check out my BBC Radio 4 stand up show! First ep is already out, three to come!

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

@adamjkucharski.bsky.social did a great analysis of the series two years ago.

We did it for More or Less and he also wrote it up for the Times, I believe.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...