I was fascinated to read the Broadcasting Standards Commission’s latest bulletin (as a result of rob’s post). I entirely agree with him that some of the things people complain about are hilarious. Call me childish, for example, but I couldn’t read: “A listener complained about the presenter’s repeated use of the word ‘twat’.” without laughing. ...

This whole having to look smart for the new job thing has a couple of interesting side effects. Popping into Enfield this lunchtime to pick up a new toaster for Sal (admittedly perhaps not the most romantic gift I have ever purchased), I was asked by a fellow shopper for advice on her deep-fat fryer ...

Fun with maps: I found this exercise to be a very illuminating experience. Well worth a go.

Last year at Glastonbury I went to see the band Elbow perform. At one point they had the crowd sing something from one of the songs for their new album (just one line: “we still believe in love, so f*ck you”). I was there. I was singing as loud as I could (of course!) I’ve ...

Announcement on the GNER train service returning to London Kings Cross at around 9pm last night (the train had been packed for the entire journey, with people standing in the vestibules at least from Newcastle): “[Having apologise for the delay...] we’d also like to take this opportunity to apologise for the overcrowding to this service. ...

And so it is finally here. After 2 1/4 years, almost to the day, my last day at work has finally arrived. It’s certainly been an eventful couple of years. [Hmm, well let's see, there's been the 5 rounds of redundancies that I somehow scraped through while holding onto my job (May 2001, August 2001, ...

I don’t know what it is I like most about pub conversations. Maybe it’s the belligerence that sets in around the fourth pint and makes you convinced you are right, and makes you begin to formulate wild assertions with little in the way of fact to support your argument. Last night, I somehow got sucked ...

Nice implementation of the old George Bush speech creator thing. Sure, it’s been done before, but still entertaining…

Art, meet life. “US promises to take over control… of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk…”. Why don’t you get your war on. There’s nothing more for me to say, really. [Apart, perhaps, than to link to this article by Julian Barnes in the Guardian.]

Very interesting article from the Guardian about the whole ticket touts/ebay situation. Getting into the festival mood this last weekend, I finally got round to looking at the videos from last year’s festivals (cheers Pete!). Managed to spot myself in the crowd on the BBC coverage a couple of times. This is during The Doves’ ...