My view on the Briefing Room 5 weeks ago was:
If the Strait reopens in the next week, we have economic disruption but it’s manageable.
Closed for another 4-8 weeks & we have high energy prices throughout the year.
Closed for few months & all bets are off and we’re in a really grim economic world.

I bet they blamed the Gauls ;)

why doesn’t the US increase the number of corners in the four corners area for more tourists?

The Duke and Duchess of York and Princess Elizabeth, May 1926

Relaxed in her pram

April 21, 1926: A first child is born to the Duke and Duchess of York at 2:40 a.m. at the Mayfair, London, townhouse of the duchess' father, the Earl of Strathmore. The British press surmises—correctly—that the baby girl, third in line to the throne, will be named Elizabeth after her mother. 1/4

Those lovely memories can be a real comfort at times like this and are to be cherished 🥰

The replies are a treat!

For the most part, men's faults are perfectly amenable to a wife's gentle influence.

VIOLENCE is never the answer, my granddad used to say. As such, when I appeared on The Weakest Link a few years back, and Anne Robinson asked "What "V' is a noun meaning 'physical force intend. ed to hurt, damage or kill?'," I said I didn't know, and subsequently got voted off without winning a penny. Thanks a fucking bunch, granddad. T Ellen, London

🥹

A.E. Housman

“It’s great to get away from the screens and just enjoy a real live experience”

From the latest Private Eye, out now.

Steve Wright Quits Radio 1

#OnThisDay 1995 : Steve Wright presented his final breakfast show for Radio 1.

Listen to the final link here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDHH...

A Hidden Side of the Maasai Mara For many months last year, a camera trap beside a remote river crossing in Kenya’s Maasai Mara quietly watched the forest...

These camera trap pictures from the Masaai Mara are absolutely, jaw-droppingly beautiful. Great story as well.

blog.burrard-lucas.com/2026/04/secr...

The U.S. Has Ditched Professional Diplomacy The first priority is Trump’s image, not national interests.

It is interesting to compare to the UK with the political appointment of Mandelson and others.

foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/21/t...

Daily Mail front page banner with "I've only been taking testosterone for 3 days - and it is working already" Nadine Dorries

Folks, folks, FOLKS!

In February 1777, General George Washington ordered the first mass immunization campaign in American history by mandating that his troops be inoculated against smallpox. He protected the Continental Army from an epidemic that was deadlier than British forces.

249 years later, we have this idiot.

Notorious paperback

Back of book

I'm just admiring my new paperback, and I see that @headlinebooks.bsky.social has put my Bluesky handle on the back.

We're here, folks.

Nothing has killed more soldiers in the history of humanity than disease. While worst is a more complicated question Hegseth is absolutely the dumbest secretary of defense the United States has ever had. bsky.app/profile/ones...

Philippa Islington-Smythe - aka my cat Roscoe - hanging out on her favourite armchair, but mentally trapped in a reverie about the summer of 1995.

THREAD. In her exclusive interview in today's Daily Telegraph Magazine, the actor, influencer and designer Philippa Islington-Smythe (pictured) discusses the price of fame, her controversial new perfume, working with Margot Robbie and how becoming a parent changed her perspective on the world...

Some Photographs I Have Taken Of Dogs During My Adventures In The British Countryside, And Some Important Details About Their Lives A dog who is running excitably towards me across some wet grass, having heard a rumour that for one week and one week only I will do a cut, shampoo and blow dry for just £14.99.

www.tom-cox.com/some-photogr...

can’t stop thinking how renaming the defence department as the war department has such 10-year-old boy energy

Playschool

#OnThisDay 1964 : The first edition of Play School was broadcast on BBC2.

The multiple series would run until 1988. It would also become BBC2's first programme.

#60s

This iconic music video was produced by Aardman Animations, with one of the animators being Nick Park, the future creator of Wallace & Gromit www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJ...

Sledgehammer was released 40 years ago today!

Junior doctors’ leader backed pay deal days before BMA called strike

Junior doctors’ leader backed pay deal days before BMA called strike

WELL NOW, would you look at that?

A massive, 26-YEAR-LONG study of MORE THAN 2.4 MILLION people in Sweden found NO EVIDENCE to support a causal link between acetaminophen (the API in Tylenol) use during pregnancy and increased risk of autism, ADHD, OR intellectual disability in children.

It’s officially Silas's third birthday, join us in sending him birthday howls! 🎂🐺

Looking for the perfect birthday gift?🐾 Symbolically adopt Silas in celebration: https://adoptions.nywolf.org/products/adopt-silas