Chris Ward
@mostxlnt.com
Writer since I was 6. Earned my living writing for 25 years. Now teach for a living & write for fun in the South of France. @mostxlnt everywhere. mostxlnt.com for longer meanderings.
Naive art, landscapes, beaches, opera esp. Mozart, cook, pride.
Naive art, landscapes, beaches, opera esp. Mozart, cook, pride.
While I'm shouting at clouds, how is it that Grace Dent has just given up reviewing restaurants and is instead phoning in stuff she wrote weeks ago? Yes, Sleb (sic) Masterchef but she could equally have reviewed a couple of extra restaurants a month or few ago. Also, Rayner's gone completely Luvvie.
December 14, 2025 at 7:34 AM
While I'm shouting at clouds, how is it that Grace Dent has just given up reviewing restaurants and is instead phoning in stuff she wrote weeks ago? Yes, Sleb (sic) Masterchef but she could equally have reviewed a couple of extra restaurants a month or few ago. Also, Rayner's gone completely Luvvie.
Below is the full list Sleb Masterchef contestants:
Alfie Boe OBE
Alun Wyn Jones OBE
Antony Costa
Ashley Cain
Chris Hughes
Dawn O'Porter
Gaz Choudry MBE
Ginger Johnson
Jaki Graham
Jamie Lomas
Jodie Ounsley
Katie McGlynn
Michelle Heaton
Noreen Khan
Uma Jammeh
Nope, me neither. But then I'm old.
Alfie Boe OBE
Alun Wyn Jones OBE
Antony Costa
Ashley Cain
Chris Hughes
Dawn O'Porter
Gaz Choudry MBE
Ginger Johnson
Jaki Graham
Jamie Lomas
Jodie Ounsley
Katie McGlynn
Michelle Heaton
Noreen Khan
Uma Jammeh
Nope, me neither. But then I'm old.
December 14, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Below is the full list Sleb Masterchef contestants:
Alfie Boe OBE
Alun Wyn Jones OBE
Antony Costa
Ashley Cain
Chris Hughes
Dawn O'Porter
Gaz Choudry MBE
Ginger Johnson
Jaki Graham
Jamie Lomas
Jodie Ounsley
Katie McGlynn
Michelle Heaton
Noreen Khan
Uma Jammeh
Nope, me neither. But then I'm old.
Alfie Boe OBE
Alun Wyn Jones OBE
Antony Costa
Ashley Cain
Chris Hughes
Dawn O'Porter
Gaz Choudry MBE
Ginger Johnson
Jaki Graham
Jamie Lomas
Jodie Ounsley
Katie McGlynn
Michelle Heaton
Noreen Khan
Uma Jammeh
Nope, me neither. But then I'm old.
“We’re not racist. One of my best friends is black.”
Classic. Farage et al need locking up for provoking and encouraging this nonsense.
Classic. Farage et al need locking up for provoking and encouraging this nonsense.
‘Not in our village’: asylum camp rumours prompt fear and night vigils in East Sussex
Crowborough on edge as unconfirmed plan to house asylum seekers in training camp spurs street patrols and pre-emptive protests
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:19 PM
“We’re not racist. One of my best friends is black.”
Classic. Farage et al need locking up for provoking and encouraging this nonsense.
Classic. Farage et al need locking up for provoking and encouraging this nonsense.
Reposted by Chris Ward
French government organisation: Of course you can pay your (sort of) tax bill in instalments; one of €525 this month, and one of €25 in January. Pfft, I thought, how ridiculous. I'll just pay it all at once.
Oh no, you can't do that. Now you HAVE to pay in instalments.
How generous.
Oh no, you can't do that. Now you HAVE to pay in instalments.
How generous.
December 7, 2025 at 10:11 AM
French government organisation: Of course you can pay your (sort of) tax bill in instalments; one of €525 this month, and one of €25 in January. Pfft, I thought, how ridiculous. I'll just pay it all at once.
Oh no, you can't do that. Now you HAVE to pay in instalments.
How generous.
Oh no, you can't do that. Now you HAVE to pay in instalments.
How generous.
Excellent news from the Girl Guides (WI too soon, I hope). What do the national leaderships of these organisations expect local groups to do? Demand birth certificates and do a genital inspection before each meeting (because you never know those wily Trans could have an op in between meetings).
Girlguiding leaders refuse to enforce 'horrific' trans ban
Girlguiding leaders have told PinkNews they refuse to enforce a new policy banning trans girls from their groups.
www.thepinknews.com
December 6, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Excellent news from the Girl Guides (WI too soon, I hope). What do the national leaderships of these organisations expect local groups to do? Demand birth certificates and do a genital inspection before each meeting (because you never know those wily Trans could have an op in between meetings).
Bread, pea soup and cake. All the main food groups in one day.
I quite like cooking
I used to cook for a living, as I may have mentioned before (cf My Book), but haven’t done it very much for a while now for one reason or another. Laziness, being too busy, whatever. I have s…
mostxlnt.com
December 6, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Bread, pea soup and cake. All the main food groups in one day.
Ask me - go on, I bloody dare you - how much I love people who send me an email asking what they say is an, and I quote, "Important Question" but then, when I reply literally within four minutes of receiving it they send an auto reply saying "I'm away until the SEVEN BLOODY TEENTH of December".
December 3, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Ask me - go on, I bloody dare you - how much I love people who send me an email asking what they say is an, and I quote, "Important Question" but then, when I reply literally within four minutes of receiving it they send an auto reply saying "I'm away until the SEVEN BLOODY TEENTH of December".
Anyone in any way responsible for forcing the wonderful WI into this position, or anyone rejoicing at this news, needs to hang their head in shame while sodding right off.
Women’s Institute will no longer accept trans women as members from April
Exclusive: CEO says decision taken with ‘utmost regret and sadness’ after supreme court ruling on definition of a woman
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Anyone in any way responsible for forcing the wonderful WI into this position, or anyone rejoicing at this news, needs to hang their head in shame while sodding right off.
Whoa!
November 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Whoa!
Reposted by Chris Ward
"Quiet, piggy!"
November 19, 2025 at 8:33 AM
"Quiet, piggy!"
So both Jay Rayner and Grace Dent have reviewed the new Lilibet's restaurant in Mayfair this week. Looks like they both have increased expense accounts now.
November 9, 2025 at 7:22 AM
So both Jay Rayner and Grace Dent have reviewed the new Lilibet's restaurant in Mayfair this week. Looks like they both have increased expense accounts now.
Reposted by Chris Ward
I lost the framed original of this while I was going through St Pancras on Sunday Nov 2nd around 3pm. Would love if it had been found by anyone?
November 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
I lost the framed original of this while I was going through St Pancras on Sunday Nov 2nd around 3pm. Would love if it had been found by anyone?
Hardcore.
I do all my work in Emacs and have done do since 1996. I'm not going to scrap my highly tailored work environment for a barely managed corporate Win11 installation.
October 31, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Hardcore.
Reposted by Chris Ward
Why would they? He's such a polite young man. He works at a temple!
Has anyone cross-referenced Locke Lamora's whereabouts with the Louvre heist
October 21, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Why would they? He's such a polite young man. He works at a temple!
Reposted by Chris Ward
making a living vs making a life
here is the best advice I have about making your life in the creative arts. it's advice from my mum. it has made my whole life better and if you want to be an artist I think it'll make yours better too:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-best-a...
here is the best advice I have about making your life in the creative arts. it's advice from my mum. it has made my whole life better and if you want to be an artist I think it'll make yours better too:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-best-a...
making a living vs making a life
or "can you earn money from your art?" (and is that even the right question?)
naomialderman.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
making a living vs making a life
here is the best advice I have about making your life in the creative arts. it's advice from my mum. it has made my whole life better and if you want to be an artist I think it'll make yours better too:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-best-a...
here is the best advice I have about making your life in the creative arts. it's advice from my mum. it has made my whole life better and if you want to be an artist I think it'll make yours better too:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-best-a...
A correction: it's been 10 000, not 17 000, days since I arrived in France. Nearly. We regret the error.
10 000*
Ten thousand days ago today I arrived in France. Not for the first time but the last. Since then all my journeys have started and finished here. On July 1 1998 I drove from our house in Peckham to …
mostxlnt.com
October 18, 2025 at 8:28 AM
A correction: it's been 10 000, not 17 000, days since I arrived in France. Nearly. We regret the error.
There's not enough people who haven't had a go yet at being French Prime Minister so some of you are going to have to do it twice.
I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Good grief.
I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Good grief.
October 11, 2025 at 6:10 AM
There's not enough people who haven't had a go yet at being French Prime Minister so some of you are going to have to do it twice.
I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Good grief.
I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Good grief.
Badenoch is culturally illiterate, and proud of it.
I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?
It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.
October 8, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Badenoch is culturally illiterate, and proud of it.
@swearsky.bagpuss.org - cockwombling excellent.
October 1, 2025 at 12:43 PM
@swearsky.bagpuss.org - cockwombling excellent.
Reposted by Chris Ward
Article. I can read faster than any YouTuber can speak, even with the playback speed cranked up to comical levels.
THAT SAID, article writers these days need fucking EDITORS they spend whole paragraphs FAFFING ABOUT before they get to the point IT'S CALLED THE INVERTED FUCKING PYRAMID MY DUDES
THAT SAID, article writers these days need fucking EDITORS they spend whole paragraphs FAFFING ABOUT before they get to the point IT'S CALLED THE INVERTED FUCKING PYRAMID MY DUDES
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video
September 30, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Article. I can read faster than any YouTuber can speak, even with the playback speed cranked up to comical levels.
THAT SAID, article writers these days need fucking EDITORS they spend whole paragraphs FAFFING ABOUT before they get to the point IT'S CALLED THE INVERTED FUCKING PYRAMID MY DUDES
THAT SAID, article writers these days need fucking EDITORS they spend whole paragraphs FAFFING ABOUT before they get to the point IT'S CALLED THE INVERTED FUCKING PYRAMID MY DUDES
If you see this, post a bridge. (Pont du Gard near Uzes).
September 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM
If you see this, post a bridge. (Pont du Gard near Uzes).
Reposted by Chris Ward
Do you have experience of driving a bus or a lorry but you'd rather carry books?
Would you like a job driving around #Orkney, going to schools and delivering books to people?
There's still time to apply for the job of driving #BookyMcBookface at:
myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/ork...
Would you like a job driving around #Orkney, going to schools and delivering books to people?
There's still time to apply for the job of driving #BookyMcBookface at:
myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/ork...
September 16, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Do you have experience of driving a bus or a lorry but you'd rather carry books?
Would you like a job driving around #Orkney, going to schools and delivering books to people?
There's still time to apply for the job of driving #BookyMcBookface at:
myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/ork...
Would you like a job driving around #Orkney, going to schools and delivering books to people?
There's still time to apply for the job of driving #BookyMcBookface at:
myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/ork...
Most Excellent!
Hosting a WebSite on a Disposable Vape:
https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/
https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/
September 15, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Most Excellent!