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Practice interview at the boys school - he told me he liked it “every time you lent forward”, I was 17 and in a V-neck

One moved to the boys‘ school next door. Another said it was “just how he wore his trousers”. Also, separately, quite a day on Facebook four years after we’d left over www.itv.com/news/anglia/...

Two maids (I.e. in service), in later life cleaners. One labourer and, in ww2, navy. One painter and decorator although as a child he was the ‘boy’ at Blitz-era card games, so his parents ran illegal gambling houses and he’d be there to sell the players cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate etc

Spotted in a charity shop window, St John’s Wood

Just read an article mentioning law firm Carter Ruck which surprised me because until now I’d half assumed it was something made up by Private Eye.

I’ve become obsessed with the ‘incidents at Disney’ Wikipedia page.

Waterstones. The queue is getting long so the bloke working on the till hits a little panic bell to signal that he needs someone to join him. Oh fiiine. He does it and a woman comes over immediately. But when I tried to set up something similar it was all “Beth, we’re not respecting that bell“.

Phoned a number in the belief it was the Mexican Embassy but a woman picked up and said the name of a company. I said “I’m terribly sorry, am I not through to the Mexican Embassy?” She replied “No, that’s why when I picked up the phone, I said ‘hello (Company Name)’, not ’hello, Mexican Embassy’”.

The President of Kazakhstan has called for Putin to freeze the war in Ukraine. Why? Me for @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/rus...

Russia’s allies are pushing Putin to strike a peace dealWar should be the art of disposing of enemies rather than friends. But yesterday Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly called on Russian leader Vladimir Putin to “freeze” the war in Uk...unherd.com

A while ago I saw The Mousetrap with a friend who’s seen it over 30 times. And I hadn’t realised it was inspired by a real life child abuse case. I felt like I was having a stroke. Imagine being abused in childhood & someone makes it a bestselling West End play that families go to for a fun day out

Yesterday I was talking to someone who asked conversationally if I have a gun at home. Horrified, I replied that I don’t, they lead to violence, I fundamentally disagree with them and only police/army should be allowed to have them. She seemed pretty surprised. Turns out she was saying ‘garden’.

Watching ‘And Then There Were None’. And to actors who always play sinister characters - at what stage did they realise they give off exclusively malevolent vibes?

South West London. A Russian language lunch from one of the Soviet dissidents whose defections my late friend Liz Teague handled. There’s a spontaneous quiz and if I’m the first to match these Russian proverbs to their English equivalents I get a scone.

A pleasure to write this for @thespectator1828.bsky.social Many thanks to Sir Malcom Rifkind, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Sir Andrew Burns, Sir Jeffrey James and Asif Ahmad for kindly sharing their insights and experiences spectator.com/article/how-...

How Britain’s imperial history affects diplomacy todayThe legacy may decline naturally. As the Foreign Office becomes more diverse, old preconceptions and divisions fadespectator.com

Swan Lake at the Coliseum. I always choose a seat at the front of a box there as it’s the only way I can guarantee seeing and, when I walked into the box for The Nutcracker 2 days before Xmas, all the others were an extended family who fell silent & shuffled away. ”Now it feels like Xmas” I thought.

One of life’s little joys is spotting improbable or mismatched couples.

I googled “Niles crane pillows” as I wanted the exact quote of ”take the mints off the pillows” and I’ve discovered these exist www.redbubble.com/shop/niles+c...

Niles Crane Pillows & Cushions for SaleHigh quality Niles Crane inspired Pillows & Cushions by independent artists and designers from around the world.All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours.www.redbubble.com

Someone I follow on Instagram has posted his girlfriend frolicking on the beach in golden light at sunset and it’s like *Sterling Archer voice* do you want a wife who dies within the first 20 minutes of the movie? Because that’s how you get a wife who dies within the first 20 minutes of the movie.