@paddyarkwright.bsky.social
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My husband said "I wouldn't be able to move on that quickly" about a friend whose wife had died. I wouldn't either, but that's mainly because he's put me off men for life. When he dies I will live alone happily with my cats.
December 21, 2025 at 7:20 PM
My husband said "I wouldn't be able to move on that quickly" about a friend whose wife had died. I wouldn't either, but that's mainly because he's put me off men for life. When he dies I will live alone happily with my cats.
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So, just to confirm, the BBC can’t keep Robin Ince on the air because his trans allyship brings the organisation into disrepute, but they can keep David Walliams, who performed Nazi salutes at the recording of this very show, on the air despite him being predatory towards women. Cool. Very normal.
December 21, 2025 at 10:59 AM
So, just to confirm, the BBC can’t keep Robin Ince on the air because his trans allyship brings the organisation into disrepute, but they can keep David Walliams, who performed Nazi salutes at the recording of this very show, on the air despite him being predatory towards women. Cool. Very normal.
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So Bob Cratchit would have been paid £2,881.51pa in today’s money for a 40 hour work week. If he still did a 60 hour week it’d be £4322.26.
So Scrooge was a certified bastard, but at least he didn’t spend his money on space ships or AI
So Scrooge was a certified bastard, but at least he didn’t spend his money on space ships or AI
December 21, 2025 at 12:17 PM
So Bob Cratchit would have been paid £2,881.51pa in today’s money for a 40 hour work week. If he still did a 60 hour week it’d be £4322.26.
So Scrooge was a certified bastard, but at least he didn’t spend his money on space ships or AI
So Scrooge was a certified bastard, but at least he didn’t spend his money on space ships or AI
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40 hours per week at 1.25p per hour is £26pa (we can assume he wouldn’t get any time off so we can do that as a 52 week year rather than a 48 week year), £26 in 1843 vs today, is a change in value of 10982.7% with an average annual inflation rate over the intervening 182 years of 2.61%
December 21, 2025 at 12:14 PM
40 hours per week at 1.25p per hour is £26pa (we can assume he wouldn’t get any time off so we can do that as a 52 week year rather than a 48 week year), £26 in 1843 vs today, is a change in value of 10982.7% with an average annual inflation rate over the intervening 182 years of 2.61%
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Keep seeing people say that Bob Cratchit would be on £60k per year adjusted for inflation and that Scrooge was better than modern bosses, but, Bob Cratchit was on 15 shillings per week for 60 hours of work. So 75p in new money, but, doing that job now he’d be on 40 hours per week.
December 21, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Keep seeing people say that Bob Cratchit would be on £60k per year adjusted for inflation and that Scrooge was better than modern bosses, but, Bob Cratchit was on 15 shillings per week for 60 hours of work. So 75p in new money, but, doing that job now he’d be on 40 hours per week.
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I’ve been your best friend for over 30 years and you’re just going to sack me off for some guy you’ve know for, what? Like a year?
Friend: for the purposes of this conversation can we just agree to call him my son?
Friend: for the purposes of this conversation can we just agree to call him my son?
December 20, 2025 at 8:11 PM
I’ve been your best friend for over 30 years and you’re just going to sack me off for some guy you’ve know for, what? Like a year?
Friend: for the purposes of this conversation can we just agree to call him my son?
Friend: for the purposes of this conversation can we just agree to call him my son?
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Does anyone wanna see a really good Getty image of Rita Moreno and Sam The Eagle having dinner in 1979?
December 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Does anyone wanna see a really good Getty image of Rita Moreno and Sam The Eagle having dinner in 1979?
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Re-reading IT by Stephen King, and now having read his full canon and going back it strikes me how well that first chapter of the book is written, the first description in chapter 1 is of dead traffic lights, a reference to the dead lights of It that ends the chapter balancing the story of Georgie
December 20, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Re-reading IT by Stephen King, and now having read his full canon and going back it strikes me how well that first chapter of the book is written, the first description in chapter 1 is of dead traffic lights, a reference to the dead lights of It that ends the chapter balancing the story of Georgie
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Most people think teaching involves filling in empty spaces in children's knowledge. Actually, it's disabusing them of bollocks that they've picked up from halfwits on the internet and, often, their families.
December 18, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Most people think teaching involves filling in empty spaces in children's knowledge. Actually, it's disabusing them of bollocks that they've picked up from halfwits on the internet and, often, their families.
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These are the people who are willing to go on the record.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/u...
December 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
These are the people who are willing to go on the record.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/u...
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If any journalist wants to talk to a trans man with a PhD in Human Genomics who was trained in labs that studied the evolution of sex, I'm right here
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
December 18, 2025 at 5:27 PM
If any journalist wants to talk to a trans man with a PhD in Human Genomics who was trained in labs that studied the evolution of sex, I'm right here
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
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On the off-chance that you are one of the three people left in the world who hasn't heard me talking about stegosaurs, you can catch me here, on The Ancients podcast: youtube.com/watch?v=I9Vk...
Inside The Bizarre Biology Of The Stegosaurs
YouTube video by The Ancients
youtube.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:33 PM
On the off-chance that you are one of the three people left in the world who hasn't heard me talking about stegosaurs, you can catch me here, on The Ancients podcast: youtube.com/watch?v=I9Vk...
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Tonight in The December Comfort Watches: John Wick! Or, why you shouldn't mess with Keanu Reeves. Or his dog.
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/16/t...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/16/t...
The December Comfort Watches 2025, Day 16: John Wick
John Wick didn’t have to go so hard. It could have just been about what it says it’s about: A retired bad guy named John Wick (Keanu Reeves), who left the life for the simple pleasures …
whatever.scalzi.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Tonight in The December Comfort Watches: John Wick! Or, why you shouldn't mess with Keanu Reeves. Or his dog.
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/16/t...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/16/t...
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![Comic. [Two people one one side of a pile of seven apples, next to person with long hair next to five apples.] PERSON: Okay, with my seven apples added to your five, we have… let’s se… twelve apples! PERSON 2 [with hands raised]: Incredible! Perfect agreement with the theory! [caption] Experimental Mathematicians](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifgv5skm72kzcxgexs4hbpex45met5vxhb6kf2aqshmktmo37nl5a@jpeg)
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My little nephew is too young to read my stories, but he adores me and wants to read my stuff. So I wrote him a children's book, just for him. He loved it.
This year he wrote his own version of that book as a gift to me. It has the same color cover. It has crayon illustrations. It owns.
This year he wrote his own version of that book as a gift to me. It has the same color cover. It has crayon illustrations. It owns.
2025 has been a rough year. What's one piece of art that's brought you absolute joy despite everything?
December 16, 2025 at 9:26 PM
My little nephew is too young to read my stories, but he adores me and wants to read my stuff. So I wrote him a children's book, just for him. He loved it.
This year he wrote his own version of that book as a gift to me. It has the same color cover. It has crayon illustrations. It owns.
This year he wrote his own version of that book as a gift to me. It has the same color cover. It has crayon illustrations. It owns.
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Dial M for metaphor.
WATCH: Replica of the Statue of Liberty topples due to strong winds in Guaíba, Brazil
December 15, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Dial M for metaphor.
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Earlier this year all conservatives agreed that mocking somebody's murder should cost you your job, so one of them should go fire the president.
December 15, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Earlier this year all conservatives agreed that mocking somebody's murder should cost you your job, so one of them should go fire the president.
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Sounds about right.
December 15, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Sounds about right.
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Hoo, this blew up. If you like this sort of thing you should probably buy Private Eye - I write the Street of Shame pages about newspaper ridiculousness there.
Private Eye - Select Your Offer share.google/jHbB5qkXWjac...
Private Eye - Select Your Offer share.google/jHbB5qkXWjac...
Private Eye - Select Your Offer
share.google
December 15, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Hoo, this blew up. If you like this sort of thing you should probably buy Private Eye - I write the Street of Shame pages about newspaper ridiculousness there.
Private Eye - Select Your Offer share.google/jHbB5qkXWjac...
Private Eye - Select Your Offer share.google/jHbB5qkXWjac...
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Great sketch on the empty space that is Reform.
Does Keir Starmer know he's prime minister? Does Danny Kruger know how Bonnie Blue makes a living? My SKETCH of today's big questions. thecritic.co.uk/only...
December 15, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Great sketch on the empty space that is Reform.
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No idea what telly Lord Sewell is watching, because I can't think of a single show with this plotline let alone it being something that is inescapable for young white men who subsequently now face a crisis of masculinity drawing them to the far right?? 🙃
December 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
No idea what telly Lord Sewell is watching, because I can't think of a single show with this plotline let alone it being something that is inescapable for young white men who subsequently now face a crisis of masculinity drawing them to the far right?? 🙃
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This column by @stephenkb.bsky.social on the antisemitic mass murder in Australia, reflecting on the justifications for acting on ancient hatreds, is very good indeed. Depressingly comments have not been enabled. Because they couldn’t be.
www.ft.com/content/4209...
www.ft.com/content/4209...
Bondi attacks show old hatreds are flourishing again
A permissive environment has been created in which Israel is conflated with all Jews, everywhere
www.ft.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM
This column by @stephenkb.bsky.social on the antisemitic mass murder in Australia, reflecting on the justifications for acting on ancient hatreds, is very good indeed. Depressingly comments have not been enabled. Because they couldn’t be.
www.ft.com/content/4209...
www.ft.com/content/4209...
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Is it because you write about it in the Daily Mail? Oh - it actually is.
December 15, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Is it because you write about it in the Daily Mail? Oh - it actually is.
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came dangerously close to spitting out the tea I was drinking when going through that shot/chaser
Is it because you write about it in the Daily Mail? Oh - it actually is.
December 15, 2025 at 10:27 AM
came dangerously close to spitting out the tea I was drinking when going through that shot/chaser
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Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama.
Us: Across your entire career?
Reiner: In a 6 year period.
Us: That sounds-
Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.
Us: Across your entire career?
Reiner: In a 6 year period.
Us: That sounds-
Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.
December 15, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama.
Us: Across your entire career?
Reiner: In a 6 year period.
Us: That sounds-
Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.
Us: Across your entire career?
Reiner: In a 6 year period.
Us: That sounds-
Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.