Having thus far failed to antagonise enough allies this week, the Kingdom of the Trumpster has begun a squabble with South Korea thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/alas...

The trouble with getting rid of Starmer is that it's difficult for men in grey suits to sack a man who is a grey suit and nothing else

UK to appeal against tax ruling cutting VAT on public electric car chargers to 5% HMRC confirms it will fight London tax tribunal’s finding that it has been overcharging for years under the law

As with just about every major issue, His Majesty's Government plonks itself securely on the wrong side www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Apparently she not only has Tommy Robinson's politics, but his manners as well www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Hamnet-era mourning jewel from celebrated painting rediscovered after 400 years Exclusive: pendant appears in 1635 painting Sir Thomas Aston at the Deathbed of His Wife that hangs in the Manchester Art Gallery

It's "Hamnet-era" in approximately the sense that the Second World War was Boer War era www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Apparently the choices of American voters, to say nothing of American church-goers, indicate that the nation is as yet insufficiently delusional thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...

Alpha review: Titane's Julia Ducournau returns with 'an impactful watch' Mélissa Boros is a girl turning to marble in Titane director Julia Ducournau's Alpha — in cinemas from 14 November. Read our review.

Since neither the epidemic nor the relationship between the "flashbacks" and "present-day" are presented at all straightforwardly, this is a bafflingly obtuse reading www.empireonline.com/movies/revie...

Two more Reform local election candidates accused of offensive posts Labour calls on Nigel Farage to sack candidates and says his party’s checks ‘clearly not fit for purpose’

1. If Labour really thinks the Farage Falange checks aren't fit for purpose, Labour has seriously misconstrued the purpose of the Farage Falange
2. This really isn't the time for Labour to lecture anyone on vetting www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

As anyone with a nuance of moderation in their sensibility will have realised, there are all sorts of perfectly grown-up reasons why the CEO of Team Starmer might not have been informed thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/it-c...

The Plague review – water polo camp turns into tween hellscape with impressive stylistic bite With Fincher-like intent, director Charlie Polinger scopes out concealed psychological depths in a debut that sees the laws of the jungle play out

Whatever the merits of Ozon's The Stranger, it looks as if Camus has been rather loosely adapted here www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ap...

Woman stranded in Dusseldorf after return UK flight blocked over Home Office admin error Liza Tobay, who lives in UK, was told her settled status had been ‘red flagged’ after trying to make a connecting flight from Munich to Edinburgh

Rah www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

More than 15m oysters to be released in the North Sea for UK rewilding project Exclusive: Experts say scheme will help repair damaged marine ecosystems while sequestering large amounts of carbon

Oysters oysters oysters spurt spurt spurt www.theguardian.com/environment/...

New times, same old arguments. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism blog discussing the latest developments in the rapidly changing international order and how post-Brexit Britain is stuck in delusions of greatness and cries of Brexit betrayal: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/new-...

After several days during which she has evidently had more important things to do, the Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed solidarity with the Pope's courageous declaration that God has taken a dislike to war thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/bles...

Angela Pleasence obituary Actor known for playing Monica Sutton in Coronation Street, her many stage roles, and film and TV appearances with her father, Donald Pleasence

RIP Angela Pleasence, "an actress entirely without the rubber stamp of routine" www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

While criticising the Righteous State may be morally equivalent to Holocaust denial, there is clearly room for flexibility when it comes to certain other aspects of the Second World War thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-ne...

Supposedly, Rachel Reeves does politics and economics

Reeves steps up criticism of Trump’s Iran war, branding it a ‘mistake’ UK chancellor tells US audience she is ‘not convinced that this conflict has made the world a safer place’

Not a crime, just a bit of a goof. More fool those Allied jurists at Nuremberg in 1945 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Certainly is a good thing we're dispensing with those outmoded paper books and their inconvenient lack of supporting machinery

Various states of the US are conspiring to overthrow the electoral college, which can cause presidential elections to hinge on a few swing states, and can occasionally put someone in the White House on a minority of the popular vote thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/coll...

The way to defeat right-wing populism is to call it a beastly immigrant www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

UK’s armed forces are in a sad state – and they have only themselves to blame The MoD shows little sign of learning from its mistakes – no wonder the Treasury is reluctant to agree to its demands

"Lord Robertson ... must know that no government department has been so complacent in the face of years of devastating evidence of waste, profligate contracts, and policy decisions that have avoided confronting new but increasingly clear security threats" www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"Imagine if Rishi Sunak were to lead a popular upsurge against a Nigel Farage Reform government"

Even Christians, who proudly outsource their personal morality to a megalomaniacal Bronze Age djinn, occasionally draw a line somewhere; and for some the Trumpster and his head-tribble crossed that line by exhibiting themselves in the guise of the Saviour thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/imit...

Written off, or Shredded Dreams thejudge.me.uk/Not_blog/Not...

Christians are denouncing one another as blasphemers, schismatics and instruments of the devil - which is almost as great a change from the past two millennia as Christians committing mass murder in order to accumulate worldly wealth

Thousands of unpaid carers to face DWP repayment demands during overhaul Ministers admit carer’s allowance penalties will continue while review of more than 200,000 cases is carried out

Change is all very well, but not when it benefits unpaid carers www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

She has made our great nation safer from Quaker grandma terrorism than at any point in history, and what thanks does she get?

As with the Blairites, the only reason Labour is tanking in the polls is that people are too thick-headed and ungrateful to realise what miracles Team Starmer has wrought theguardian.com/politics/202...

Despite a recent ruling by some enemies of the people in the High Court, the Metropolitan Police and the Minister for Britishness Enforcement continue to cover themselves in glory over Palestine Action thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...