Bren McGowan

Or offer somebody else a FAFO prize?

Yes, but then there will be admin fee, /booking fee and delivery charge and then a check-out fee, plus a fee for collection - it'll end up costing you £3.4 million (plus taxes).

Nearest to that I've had was having to walk - very gingerly - to the shop when my shoe lace had snapped.

I was very slow.

Obviously, the sensible thing would have been to ask somebody else to go for me...

How does Trump keep henchmen like Rubio in check? He literally makes them wear shoes that are far too big | Marina Hyde The art of the heel: if you want a shot at the US presidency, you better be ready to sartorially debase yourself on the world stage, says Marina Hyde

I mean, if you were sucking up to your boss who bought you the wrong-sized shoes,wouldn't you just go out and buy the right size?

How does Trump keep henchmen like Rubio in check? He literally makes them wear shoes that are far too big | Marina Hyde www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A boot room? In central Manchester? Pretentious? Moi?

An adertisemet for various Christmas events.

Too early!.

Way-too-bloody-early!

Nice juxtaposition on my timeline.

Maybe someone went back in time...

The front of the Old Vic theatre. The facade in grey with the words The Old Vic in large white letters. Below that, the word Arcadia in red lights.

'Arcadia' at the Old Vic - Stoppard at his most fizzingly brilliant.

It made me feel very clever (for the bits I got) and very stupid (for those I didn't).

A sort of Schrodinger's audience member.

We're going slowly so the driver can check the line -rough rides have been reported!

So, as a treat we'll make an extra stop in Radlett - because thatmakes everything better.

Hmmmm. Increasing the number of dentists - OK. But will the contract changes and available funding be sufficient to provide work for them in the NHS?

(And for pedants: 'to practise' not 'to practice', please. We are not barbarians.)

It took me a couple of episodes, but now I'm hooked.

It's now got me started on 'Detectorists' - and why did nobody tell me it has Rachael Sterling AND Diana Rigg!

(Crook and Jones really ought to do 'Waiting for Godot' - this feels like prep for it.)

a man is playing a bagpipe in front of a poster that says joue . Alt: Ross from Friends is playing a bagpipe in front of a poster.

My neighbour is playing the bagpipes - which means he can't hear the yowling of his cat wanting to be let in.

Does life get better than this?

a man sits at a table with a bucket of ice and cans of soda including da4 Alt: Joey from Friends sits at a table with a bucket of ice and cans of soda. He shrugs, saying Such a rookie mistake.

I've made a BIG mistake.

There was an ad on Instagram for a holiday that looked interesting.

I clicked the link - big mistake.

Now my timeline is full of (very expensive) holiday ads.

And they all seem to be for tours when I want to go to one place and stay. I want a holiday not a route march.

You're definitely not missing anything!

I go to a small family-run one. It is way quicker than the chain stores - they know their regulars so get out your prescription as soon as they see you.

But some people seem to prefer queueing in Boots*.

*The shop, not the footwear.

I doubt I'll remember that, so I'll just stick with young 'uns.

Almost a third of people in England use private dentists amid NHS dental crisis Exclusive: Watchdog finds sharp rise in number of poorer households forced to pay for fillings and extractions

It's hard to believe so little progress has been made with dental reform, or that there isn't really a concrete plan to improve access to dentistry, longer-term.

I'm not sure the government acknowledges that if dentists leave the NHS, they may not return.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Just because the Guardian is obsessed with Gen Z doesn’t mean the rest of us are.

(I'm not even sure what Gen Z covers.)

It looks like stamp duty peaks at £1.5 million, so I’m going with 'silly'.

The £995 at the end of the price is just silly.

Call it £4 million and be done with it.

a man in a suit and tie is sitting in front of a window and says " i just want it to stop " Alt: A young man in a suit and tie is sitting in front of a window and says " i just want it to stop "

Someone at the Donmar - presumably the director - though it was a good idea to have 'Both Sides Now' playing on repeat before the show.

Twenty bleedin' minutes of 'Both Sides Now'.

Seriously! Twenty minutes.!

I may not have the same opinion of that idea as the director.

That is a very good point. Sometimes Pointless is the only thing that gets me to the gym.

You do want us to win the war, don't you!

I mean, a crew full of people who can't find their glasses and can't remember why they came into the room...

a man in a suit and tie looks surprised Alt: A man in a suit and tie looks pleasantly surprised.

I got given a prescription from outpatients that runs out soon.

I rang the practice and a message said that it would be quicker online.

Sigh...

So I went online and filled in the form.

Three minutes later a text arrives to tell me it's been added to my repeat prescriptions.

THREE MINUTES! Yay!

A poster shows a young man wearing headphones. The title, American Psycho, is below him with the words bloody and brilliant above him, plus lots of four starcratings from reviews.

I went to see 'American Psycho' at the Almeida this afternoon - and it’s well worth a visit.

I read the book not that long after it came out - early 1990s - and I know realise that most of the cast weren't even born then.

I shall spend the rest of the evening weeping.

I use the Merlin app. It's not 100% accurate but it has nice pictures.

For the last few weeks, everything has been a robin!

I don't go that far - but I say, "Alexa, play Radio 3" in a tone where "if you wouldn't mind awfully" is understood, if not voiced.

Good to see you correcting BBC's "hung, drawn and quartered". Standards are slipping at the Beeb.

a black and white photo of a young boy with his hand on his chin . Alt: A black and white photo of a young boy with his hand on his chin, tapping his fingers.

I think I've worked out why Royal Mail kept the word 'Royal' in its title: it's antiquated, expensive and doesn’t do what it's supposed to.

Yes, I've just spent a third day waiting for Royal Mail to deliver - all in vain.

I've tried to ring them but they have ahigher level of calls than usual...