5/ My piece in today's
@theguardian.com is the story behind the book. I hope you like it. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
5/ My piece in today's
@theguardian.com is the story behind the book. I hope you like it. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
4/ The quest took me from the East End of London to the other side of the world.
3/ For a long time I tried to forget this £7m egg existed. Then I realised I needed to find it - & understand what really drove him to risk everything
2/ He was obsessed with Fabergé. The egg took years, millions, and a jewel heist at dawn to complete. Nobody bought it. The business collapsed. His marriage fell apart. A decade later, he was dead.
1/ In 1990, my dad, Paul Kutchinsky, made the world's biggest jewelled egg. It flew Concorde as Mr Egg, starred on Wogan, and destroyed everything he built. This is that story. 🧵
Excited to see this brilliant extract of my forthcoming book Kutchinsky’s Egg in @theguardian.com - read it!
Lineker leaving BBC early after Zionism ‘rat’ post
He and BBC bosses believe situation has become untenable
Story broken by @theipaper.com on Friday, more info on breakdown of trust here
inews.co.uk/news/media/g...
filling time on air until the new pope is announced is known as "pontiffication"
As of Monday night, when users in the US search for "Gulf of Mexico" in Google Maps, they are presented with a result for "Gulf of America."
I’ll miss thinking about you, and remembering your love of silly hats, when this is over… #amwriting
Sunrise through frost…
Chart showing families with children in after-housing-costs relative poverty, by economic status: UK
The proportion of families with children in poverty who are in work has increased over recent decades.
Since 2000, the fraction of families in poverty where the adults are doing no paid work has fallen from 51 per cent to 30 per cent.
Read more: https://buff.ly/4iZATds
I'm looking for small mercies this week so I'll pat myself on the back for the fact that I just successfully folded a fitted sheet for the first time.
ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION SPECIAL: Jess Phillips: the inside story
@jessphillipsmp.bsky.social talks about the past week, the abuse, the disinformation and we talk about child sex abuse and grooming, the inquiries past and what she wants to happen next
podfollow.com/electoraldys...
Meant to be a great walk
Luke Littler says historic World Darts Championship win 'incredible' for his family
In the process of writing my first book, I’ve read a lot in the same genre: memoir… here are a few of my top picks from the wealth of brilliant writing I’ve consumed…
Return of the jedi theft/reward poster
In 1983 6 copies of Return of the Jedi were stolen from cinemas around the world (assumed to be turned in to pirate videos) including one from Hastings where thieves broke down the cinema doors. A copy of the original poster asking for information is up for auction with bidding currently at £1400
Trying to put together a list to make sense of what's happening in Syria. I'd emphasize this is a list in process, will be added to, pruned, edited. Lots of fog of war too. But still includes a lot of knowledgable people and gives some sense of what's happening bsky.app/profile/did:...
Chart showing Real spending on childcare provision: England
There's consensus around the need to invest more in childcare, with a major increase announced last Parliament and confirmed in the recent Budget.
Spending in England this year (2024-25) is 41 per cent higher in real terms than a decade ago (2014-15) – up from £5.1 billion to £7.2 billion a year.
UPDATE - Sudden increase in naval activity around the Chinese carrier Yi Peng 3. Two German RIBs are active and another Danish navy patrol boat P525 is back. Plus another Danish RIB has launched.
Love this festive joy from my youngest…
A handful of new Sky News people have been added in the past few days... @serenakutchinsky.bsky.social @laurafitzpatrick.bsky.social @jamesscurry.com @joecookj.bsky.social @clairegilbodyd.bsky.social @adamtate4.bsky.social
TV tonight: Loaded magazine’s wild story of naughty 90s nostalgia
If you've signed up for the Festive Big Green Book Swap, you should have received an email from me asking what books you enjoy reading and whether you prefer milk or plain chocolate.
If you're interested in joining, here's more info.
www.biggreenbookshop.com/index.php
Had an inspiring and stimulating time at @websummit.bsky.social in Lisbon last week, chairing talks and meeting brilliant people with brilliant ideas. Thanks to @janrezab.bsky.social Catherine Mulligan Ph.D, Andrew Skrypnyk, Iryna Volnytska Matthieu Delac for making my job so much fun!
The Bluesky app is designed to let users have more control over the kind of social media posts they see. Bluesky is “built by the people, for the people,” said Rose Wang, Bluesky’s chief operating officer.
"Bluesky’s growth has exploded, more than doubling to 15 million-plus users as people seek alternatives to X. It has rocketed to the top of Apple’s & Google’s app stores as the most downloaded free app. Its ascent has been so rapid that the company has been forced to grow up practically overnight."
“I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”
This was probably my most viral tweet. I've seen it pop up in a lot of quote aggregators, sometimes attributed to a wonderful but definitely not-me filmmaker.
Finally ventured to Christmas at Kew, which was fully worth the two-hour North Circular mission… we’ve done a few of these festive fam-friendly attractions & this was by far the best!