Coming from a month in the Fringe into reality is really tough - predominantly because you realise how completely stupid life is when men are in charge of everything and do everything to protect their little pride rather than help people or provide solutions to problems.

Not only should Amanda Knox's show not be cancelled - its actually the perfect show to show how rumour and conjecture prevents people from moving on with their life and people's obsession with policing reactions. Its a bloody show, if you don't like it, no one is making you watch it.

Right, let's be clear: there is no "both sides" on the Falklands. The British found it in the 1690s, landed on it, populated it. Argentina tried to claim it in the 1800s. There is no legitimacy to the claim apart from proximity. Thank you.

If we're honest: the football was unacceptably bad due to the heat in Miami. We have another week of a heatwave in the UK, London Climate Week cancelled due to it, crop failures in France due to the heat. It's pretty obvious we need to adapt to the new environment. Let's stop delaying action.

Imagine a payment so dodgy that bankers thought "yes, that's probably laundered money". Cripes: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Revealed: Farage’s £5m gift reported to UK crime agency over money laundering concerns

Exclusive: Latest Guardian revelation about gift from cryptocurrency tycoon comes as Reform UK leader forces byelection

theguardian.com

The interesting thing about people defending Tommy Robinson, calling him a patriot etc, is that he incited a riot whilst he was in central Russia where he praised it for being a "beauty of a civilised society" - and has praised Vladimir Putin in the past. The man is a traitor.

No matter how you slice it, this country is not in a good place at the moment. We need something to unify us. Please: Art, Sport, something. Give us something to be proud of or the bastards will win.

As she tours her Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning show tours the UK, we catch up with @samnicoresti.bsky.social www.theskinny.co.uk/comedy/inter... @standcomedyclub.bsky.social @monkeybarrelcomedy.bsky.social

Sam Nicoresti on her Comedy Award Winning Show, Baby Doomer – The Skinny

Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner Sam Nicoresti chats Baby Doomer, fandom and success.

theskinny.co.uk

I just saw Donbas at @theatre503.bsky.social. Wow. I was blown away by this piece. Absolutely overwhelming in a way. I’ve never seen anyone put that level of complexity about intergenerational identity, about linguistic alienation, about forced nationalism and the damages and trauma...

You know what I miss about being in the art world: actually making art. I couldn't feel more distant from actually making art than right now despite working on arts projects every day. Weird.

I am getting really tired of American companies ruining good things. Just stop selling to me and do the thing and leave the good beer alone: www.theguardian.com/food/2026/fe...

Doom Bar maker Sharp’s Brewery in Cornwall to be closed by US owner

Molson Coors says site, as well as national call centre in Wales, ‘no longer financially sustainable’

theguardian.com

There is nothing better than Fargo. Magical realism, real life slow hyper violence, astonishing cinematography, perfect music. I could watch it on a loop.

Bench CJ Stroud. How many chances does he need?

Dear America: Deal with your president immediately. This behaviour cannot stand.

"Brexit is bad", who knew? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I stand with all of my Jewish friends today and forever. This has been a horrible day. Sending love to all of you who are affected.

Today, obviously is despicable in Sydney. But Primal Scream's imagery at the concert is awful too. Enough of the antisemitism.

Edinburgh Fringe With Spice have posted our 2025 update - a highly visual book, digital platform and ticketing giveaways for global majority audiences. Thank you all for your support including Underbelly @lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social @thestage.co.uk. <3 <3 x substack.com/home/post/p-...

Edinburgh Fringe With Spice 2025 - Addressing the audience imbalance of the Edinburgh Fringe directly

An update on the book and digital platform created by LULA.XYZ - debuted at this year's Festival

substack.com

I'm going to say something controversial: AI is great for those of us with severe ADHD. It means we're no longer editing from a blank page. That is an amazing gift.

Oh wow - David Lammy really passed it. Imagine throwing away a process that's been in place for 800 years because people can't create a proper working process....?

Christopher Spring@springwritenow.bsky.social · 11mo ago

This has been a right for literally a thousand years - stop framing underinvestment as somehow a thing we have to lose rights about. What. The. Fudge.: www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...

Stranger Things is just brilliant. It's so good to see a new blockbuster created in a large studio with budget and actually be a successful new story. Love to see it, want to see more of it

From an accessibility POV: Warner Brothers Studios has nailed it at Harry Potter World. Incredible. They've incorporated accessibility into absolutely everything - beautiful to see. Intro videos giving a visual tour ahead of time, subtitles, clear instructions, quiet rooms, all sorts. Well done.

Petition to ban flashback episodes in Netflix series; they are just terrible substitutions for exposition.

This has been a right for literally a thousand years - stop framing underinvestment as somehow a thing we have to lose rights about. What. The. Fudge.: www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...

MoJ to remove right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in controversial overhaul

Exclusive: Courts minister says change needed to stop criminals opting for juries to delay cases, sometimes by years, and clear huge backlog

theguardian.com

Hearing a major CEO telling the business editor of the Today Programme that they have projected they will cut 1/3 of their office workforce on the radio is toe curlingly scary. #r4today

I cannot be the only person dismayed when you spend 2-3 hours on a draft to then send it to someone and have it returned with a "I've had a re-jig" to only put it through ChatGPT and make it distinctly worse? Unbelievably depressing time.

Some pieces of TV are just pure THEATRE on-screen; a prime example being Peaky Blinders. Throughout the show the sets, costume and even the cinematography is just pure pure pure theatre in its heightened naturalism. Now I'm out of London, on a mission to find more TV like this - suggestions please!

Theatre ... Bluesky... is there a play about the moment of the downfall of the Berlin Wall? I am obsessed with it and want to find a way of dramatising that exact moment.

Dear Mr Starmer - we live on an island. Our borders aren't going to be made safer by digital IDs, just our personal freedoms made more complicated when we (excuse me whilst I laugh - "non-white" people) will be asked to show our IDs at every conceivable opportunity by the police.

@canongate.co.uk - attacking @thetimes.com for a bad review is just not a good look. There is a remarkable similarity between both endings, and pointing it out is covered under "honest opinion". Goodness me, folks. You're allowed to receive a bad review. www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Len Pennie — Scotland’s worst poet since William McGonagall

Poyums annaw, the latest collection by the TikTok-famous poet Len Pennie, deals with serious issues — but it’s hard to take her poems seriously

thetimes.com