Stephen Farrow
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stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Stephen Farrow
@stephenfarrow.bsky.social
6K followers 3.5K following 14K posts
Writer, reader, grammarian, shower singer, theatre addict, news junkie, eyeball-roller. European. Powered by Vimto. Love language, hate sushi.

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stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Funny-looking mice…
In the window of a cafe, a tray of individual round red velvet cakes, and a sign that says ‘red velvet mouse’.
January 17, 2026 at 2:49 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
[blank stare]
Headline from the Guardian: US foreign policy White House announces Gaza ‘board of peace’ with Tony Blair, Jared Kushner and Marco Rubio Body chaired by Trump tasked with overseeing reconstruction of Gaza and transitional administration
January 16, 2026 at 11:29 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
January 16, 2026 at 10:49 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Yep.
Cartoon by Tom Gauld. Two scientists looking at a blackboard. On the blackboard, various symbols and slogans - 'Crushing Darkness', 'Seemingly no escape', 'inhospitably cold', 'time drags'. Scientist one: "Black holes?" Scientist two: "January."
January 16, 2026 at 8:57 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Tonight’s entertainment: finally catching up with Opera North’s recording of Love Life, one year to the day after I saw their production.
The album cover of Opera North's complete recording of Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner's 'Love Life' [the cover picture - against a backdrop of New York apartment buildings, a man and a woman walking a tightrope] One year ago tonight. On a table in the stalls bar in the Grand Theatre in Leeds, the programme for Opera North's production of 'Love Life' and a cup of coffee.
January 16, 2026 at 7:42 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Today's inspirational message:
Cartoon by Captain Scratchy/Chuck Ingwersen: Two aliens, standing in front of their flying saucer, talking to a large brown bear. Aliens: We traveled light years to ask: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Bear: I'm not a people, but if you do get an answer I'd love to hear it.
January 16, 2026 at 6:14 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Perhaps the management at the Barbican should save everybody a lot of pain and suffering and just issue the front-of-house staff with electric cattle prods:
Tweet, translated from French, from a Belgian Ariana Grande fan account: Ariana Grande Belgium @TeamArianaBE Translated from French A We wish to provide an important clarification: "Sunday in the Park" is not a concert exclusively dedicated to Ariana. It is a professional theater production, presented to an audience of approximately 1,100 spectators, with 8 to 9 performances per week, over a duration of 3 to 4 months. As such, strict rules will be enforced, including: prohibition on filming or taking photos, prohibition on talking during the performance, and phones must be in silent mode. You are of course free to purchase tickets to see Ariana perform on a theatrical stage, but it is essential to keep in mind that this is not a concert, but a theatrical work that demands respect, discipline, and consideration for the artists and the audience.
January 16, 2026 at 2:54 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Evil lurks in the most unexpected places…
Next to the checkouts in Waitrose, a rack of free recipe cards with a recipe for plum tomato and sprout pasta
January 15, 2026 at 9:04 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Flashback to earlier this evening, and another brief check-in with early-to-mid-1990s me:

(Very brief, I didn't actually go in, I just took a short-cut through the lobby.)
The monumental-art-deco-fascistic Senate House building in Bloomsbury, photographed from the courtyard after dark in the rain
January 15, 2026 at 8:22 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Fuck.

Off.
Pop-up button that appeared when I went onto Bluesky on my laptop: "Show when you're live. Streaming on Twitch> Set your live status on Bluesky to add a badge to your avatar. Tapping it takes people straight to your stream."
January 15, 2026 at 8:19 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Faster than the one I’m waiting for…
January 15, 2026 at 7:07 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Best case scenario: the show goes on hiatus, fires the writing team, drops several problematic plotlines, recasts all of the lead roles, and comes back on a different network.

The leads from this season will be back next year in a reboot of 'Orange is the New Black'.
Cartoon by Benjamin Slyngstad. Two people sitting on a sofa, watching TV. One says to the other, "Is this the series finale of America, or do you think they'll release another episode?"
January 15, 2026 at 12:45 AM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
"This marks the West End debut for [Ariana] Grande..."

No it doesn't, unless someone is planning to magically shift the Barbican Centre two miles west.
Two paragraphs from a Hollywood Reporter article, apparently written by an idiot, about the forthcoming revival of 'Sunday in the Park with George' at the Barbican in London: The musical, which features a score by Sondheim and book by James Lapine, follows a fictionalized Seurat (Bailey) as he tries to complete the portrait, including his muse, Dot (Grande). The musical is produced by Empire Street Productions and presented in association with the Barbican. This marks the West End debut for Grande, and comes on the heels of her Golden Globe nomination for Wicked: For Good. She is set to go on tour this year with her newest album, Eternal Sunshine. Grande began her career on Broadway in the musical 13. Grande told 7%e Hollywood Reporter in November that she hoped to return to the stage. [The sentence 'this marks the West End debut for Grande' underlined in red by me]
January 14, 2026 at 6:28 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Nothing to see here, just the official White House Twitter account posting a meme suggesting Greenland has no choice but to submit to US rule, because if they don't they'll be taken by Russia or China.

[1/2]
A tweet from the official White House Twitter account, quote-tweeting an earlier tweet from the same account. 1. The tweet: Text: Which way, Greenland man? [picture - AI-generated cartoon of two dogsleds, each with a Greenland flag, in front of two diverging tracks - one leading to the White House, the other leading to Moscow and Beijing] 2. The quoted tweet: "The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. IF WE DON'T RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN - President Donald J. Trump [stars and stripes emoji]
January 14, 2026 at 6:12 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Having more money than God probably helps.

(…and really, fuck off.)
Thumbnail of a sponsored Video on YouTube that appeared in my 'recommended' feed: [picture - Bill Gates sitting on a chair, in front of a neutral backdrop] Text: How I stay optimistic during hard times Bill Gates
January 14, 2026 at 4:08 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Today's inspirational message:
Cartoon by Jeremy Nguyen. Two women, in bikinis, lying on sun-loungers. They have slices of cucumber over their eyes. Behind them, a large bush, and trees. Behind the bush, two bears. One bear says to the other, "If you don't like cucumbers, you can pick them off."
January 14, 2026 at 2:38 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
So it looks like that rumour might be more than just a rumour. RIP my credit card.
Instagram post from Jonathan Bailey [@jbayleaf] and Ariana Grande [@arianagrande] Picture - at the Art Institute in Chicago, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey sitting on chairs, talking, in front of Georges Seurat's 'Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte'
January 14, 2026 at 1:09 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Did you think I’d crumble?
Did you think I’d lay down and die?
On a shelf in Waitrose, a greyish-blue plant-pot with a saucer. The pot has 'I will survive' written across the front of it.
January 14, 2026 at 12:38 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Your occasional reminder that there are endless wonders to be found in the English-language subtitles in Japanese travel videos on YouTube:
On my TV screen, a YouTube travel video from a Japanese account. The picture is the view from the window of a Shinkansen train somewhere between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto; at the bottom of the screen a large English subtitle reads 'No one came next to me".
January 13, 2026 at 11:31 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
It's coming. Try not to scream.
Cartoon by Goat to Self: [a Santa-like man wearing a blue postman's uniform and carrying a sack of mail] "Ho, ho, it's me! Mid-January Claus! Delivering goodies to one and all!" [he slips a Visa bill into a letterbox. Behind the door, a voice says "Awww, fu-"] "La la la la laaaa..."
January 13, 2026 at 8:42 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Shoot a protester in Minneapolis at point-blank range as she tries to drive away, on the other hand, and he'll probably throw you a parade.
Headline from the Guardian website: Iran crisis live: Trump says killers of protesters will 'pay a big price' and urges Iranians to 'take over your institutions' US president cancels meetings with Iranian officials 'until senseless killing of protesters stops'
January 13, 2026 at 7:16 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
Q: What's a Grecian urn?
A: About €7.50 an hour.
Cartoon by Joe Dator. An early-nineteenth-century Romantic poet sits at a table, writing with a quill, as his wife watches. In front of him on the table, a wonky-looking urn that has obviously been glued back together. He complains to his wife, "I could be as famous as Keats if we had a Grecian urn that didn't suck."
January 13, 2026 at 6:54 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
The cold never bothered me anyway.
Big sign saying 'Frozen' above the freezers in the food hall in M&S
January 13, 2026 at 6:17 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
He has quite a gift for understatement. The scale of the orange fascist shitbag's idiocy is global, it could never be confined to a single village.
Headline from the Times: Australia's US ambassador resigns after calling Trump 'village idiot'
January 13, 2026 at 5:34 PM
stephenfarrow.bsky.social
No no,
No no no no,
No no no no,
No no there’s no limit…
Headline from Bloomberg: Greggs tests limit of Britain’s appetite for its sausage rolls
January 13, 2026 at 1:23 PM