Lloyd Shepherd
@lloydshepherd.com
Books like The English Monster. Podcasts at The Curiously Specific Book Club
First three episodes of Beatles Anthology are just wall to wall joy. You can’t watch it without smiling.
November 28, 2025 at 7:27 PM
First three episodes of Beatles Anthology are just wall to wall joy. You can’t watch it without smiling.
Non-work day which I spent listening to @theresthistory.bsky.social on young Elizabeth, and then rewatching the Cate Blanchett movie on the same subject. I loved that film when it came out - Cantona! Cassell! Ardant! - but it really is a right load of twaddle isn’t it?
November 28, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Non-work day which I spent listening to @theresthistory.bsky.social on young Elizabeth, and then rewatching the Cate Blanchett movie on the same subject. I loved that film when it came out - Cantona! Cassell! Ardant! - but it really is a right load of twaddle isn’t it?
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Sorry but anyone who gives an interview slandering a family member in front line politics is what we used to call a rum cove, if not a blackguard or a knave. Doesn’t deserve attention, deserves a horsewhipping.
‘It’s a disgrace’ — Rachel Reeves’s uncle gives budget verdict ⬇️
‘It’s a disgrace’ — Rachel Reeves’s uncle gives budget verdict
‘It’s a disgrace’ — Rachel Reeves’s uncle gives budget verdict
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Sorry but anyone who gives an interview slandering a family member in front line politics is what we used to call a rum cove, if not a blackguard or a knave. Doesn’t deserve attention, deserves a horsewhipping.
This is *such* a good interview by Andrew Hankinson. observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
Graham Linehan won’t shut up | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 9:14 AM
This is *such* a good interview by Andrew Hankinson. observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Patisserie Valerie.
Luke Johnson, Chairman of Gail's Bakery, who was pro-Brexit, critical of lockdowns and is a climate skeptic criticises Labour's budget #BBCQT
"This is not how prosperous and happy societies become that way"
"This is not how prosperous and happy societies become that way"
November 27, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Patisserie Valerie.
My God, but Down Cemetery Road is the absolute pits.
November 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
My God, but Down Cemetery Road is the absolute pits.
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
November 27, 2025 at 6:09 PM
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Even @channel4news.bsky.social opens its budget coverage by asking "What will this do for Labour's position in the polls?"
Polls are not even a good predictor of future elections. They're certainly not a test by which budgets should be measured.
We have to break their cold, dead grip on politics.
Polls are not even a good predictor of future elections. They're certainly not a test by which budgets should be measured.
We have to break their cold, dead grip on politics.
November 26, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Even @channel4news.bsky.social opens its budget coverage by asking "What will this do for Labour's position in the polls?"
Polls are not even a good predictor of future elections. They're certainly not a test by which budgets should be measured.
We have to break their cold, dead grip on politics.
Polls are not even a good predictor of future elections. They're certainly not a test by which budgets should be measured.
We have to break their cold, dead grip on politics.
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Sensible decision. The Bonapartist menace still stalks the continent.
Big news, income tax is being charged this year.
(It has to be renewed each year or it ceases to apply. Because it's a temporary tax, introduced to fund the Napoleonic wars)
(It has to be renewed each year or it ceases to apply. Because it's a temporary tax, introduced to fund the Napoleonic wars)
November 26, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Sensible decision. The Bonapartist menace still stalks the continent.
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Westminster Council has shut down its computer networks following a cybersecurity issue.
www.westminster.gov.uk
www.westminster.gov.uk
November 25, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Westminster Council has shut down its computer networks following a cybersecurity issue.
www.westminster.gov.uk
www.westminster.gov.uk
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
November 25, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Pleased to hear that Cardiff University’s Professor Richard Sambrook has been appointed as an independent advisor to review the work of the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee. The right man for the job.
November 24, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Pleased to hear that Cardiff University’s Professor Richard Sambrook has been appointed as an independent advisor to review the work of the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee. The right man for the job.
The list itself is funnier than about a third of the movies included.
Making a list so bad people will actually share it is a high art, and including quite so many films that aren't actually comedies but just have 'some jokes in there somewhere' is a masterful contribution:
The 100 Best Comedy Movies of All Time
Variety's list of the 100 best comedy movies of all time includes 'Annie Hall,' 'Pretty Woman,' 'Waiting for Guffman' and 'Young Frankenstein.'
variety.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The list itself is funnier than about a third of the movies included.
Increasingly - and not in a good way - Starmer is reminding me of Gordon Brown when he became PM. Deeply aware of his own shortcomings as a media communicator, schooled by low-wattage advisers in How To Speak Normal, turning into a massive weirdo. It will end the same way it did for Brown.
November 23, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Increasingly - and not in a good way - Starmer is reminding me of Gordon Brown when he became PM. Deeply aware of his own shortcomings as a media communicator, schooled by low-wattage advisers in How To Speak Normal, turning into a massive weirdo. It will end the same way it did for Brown.
The Life of Chuck reminded me why I love Stephen King, the soppy sentimental bastard.
November 22, 2025 at 9:48 PM
The Life of Chuck reminded me why I love Stephen King, the soppy sentimental bastard.
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
type for books used to be set using little metal letters built into words in racks and then inked and pressed on to paper. If you had stock phrases you wanted to reuse a lot you could make a cast of them called a ‘stereotype’. The sound of them *clicking* into place, in French, is ‘cliché’
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 10:17 AM
type for books used to be set using little metal letters built into words in racks and then inked and pressed on to paper. If you had stock phrases you wanted to reuse a lot you could make a cast of them called a ‘stereotype’. The sound of them *clicking* into place, in French, is ‘cliché’
Ok I finally gave Exorcist II a try after decades of resisting, hoping for some ‘how bad can it be really?’ revisionism. I lasted 30 minutes.
November 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Ok I finally gave Exorcist II a try after decades of resisting, hoping for some ‘how bad can it be really?’ revisionism. I lasted 30 minutes.
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
A society that was doing well culturally, politically, intellectually would show zero interest in Curtis Yarvin
November 19, 2025 at 11:27 AM
A society that was doing well culturally, politically, intellectually would show zero interest in Curtis Yarvin
I read ‘make Norwood interactive’ as suggesting she was going to open an AI hub on Beulah Hill.
The UK-based former actress Eline van der Velden on the backlash to her ‘Bafta-optimised’ creation, the benefits of AI and her plan to make Norwood interactive
I invented the AI actress Tilly Norwood. She’s no threat to Hollywood
www.thetimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:33 PM
I read ‘make Norwood interactive’ as suggesting she was going to open an AI hub on Beulah Hill.
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Reading about the Cagots, who were savagely persecuted for centuries despite lacking "any distinct physical or cultural traits differentiating them from the general population". Not race, not religion. They were ostracised just because they were people that you ostracised
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagot
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagot
Cagot - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reading about the Cagots, who were savagely persecuted for centuries despite lacking "any distinct physical or cultural traits differentiating them from the general population". Not race, not religion. They were ostracised just because they were people that you ostracised
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagot
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagot
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Reposted by Lloyd Shepherd
Wrote about Todd Snider, East Nashville and how the more things change, the more they change.
www.dontrocktheinbox.com/something-go...
www.dontrocktheinbox.com/something-go...
Something good comes along, then it’s gone: Farewell, Todd Snider.
When I moved to East Nashville in 2012, legend had it that if you wanted to find Todd Snider, all you had to do was go to Drifter’s BBQ in Five Points, and he’d be there at the bar. Nashville always h...
www.dontrocktheinbox.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Wrote about Todd Snider, East Nashville and how the more things change, the more they change.
www.dontrocktheinbox.com/something-go...
www.dontrocktheinbox.com/something-go...