I follow and like this account. The stories are often about weird sexual stuff, or poo. Just occasionally they are lovely little vignettes, with punchy punchlines.

Lille has become my go-to staging point for onward (and, especially, sunward) rail journeys in Europe. I’ve now overnighted here several times and always find interesting things to see and do. Here’s one of many lovely deco shopfronts in the city.

Every day cases like this. Every day. If it were any other country, the civilised world would be protesting about this growing cruelty and abuse of human rights.

I don’t have soaring optimism that the calamity of Brexit can be reversed in my lifetime but at least, at last, the omertà has been broken. My guess is that politicians will now start talking more often, more openly about mechanisms for inching our way to accession as a different, chastened country.

English teacher here. There isn’t an ‘A-level’ to test language proficiency of non-native speakers. The Cambridge C1 Advanced exam is maybe what the government has in mind. Having taught and been an examiner for that exam, I can say with some confidence that many native speakers would fail it.

Mention politics in France and you get eye rolls. The French have lost patience with their President and may well also have lost it with their system. So I’m glad Rafael Behr has commented on the warning signs from across the channel. In both countries, the fascists are ready to pounce.

Yorkshire Photo of the Day - Morning on the Driffield Chalk Stream.

It is to the shame of all the male reporters in the room that they do not immediately leave

Olly Richards’ podcast about language learning has started up again after a break of (I think) a couple of years. My views differ a bit from his but he’s very insightful both as a prolific learner and a producer of really good materials. Recommended. #langsky

Read this sorry story about how an academic was axed from conference panels because he was deemed too interesting.

He was told no one on the panel was expected to air difficult opinions in front of MPs that could damage the oil and gas sector

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Every word of this from Polly Toynbee. Every good government has to be in the business of educating, storytelling, winning hearts and minds rather than appealing to the narrowest of self interest. Raise tax, tax the wealthiest most, and reform our wildly complex, unfair tax system. Wholly doable.

Faintly amusing that the IFS' argument to Reeves on tax reform is basically: You're fucked either way, so you might as well do something decent for the country while you're taking all this pain www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks...

Care workers from overseas have the very toughest gigs. We should be on our knees thanking them - and paying them properly. Instead they face growing racist intimidation. This drives me nuts and makes me so sad.

None of my Nighthawks photos are staged, they are all real scenes photographed on the streets as I came across them.

This is a crisper analysis of France’s constitutional crisis than any I’ve found in the French press. Macron can’t cope; more importantly, the quasi-monarchical Presidential system can’t cope. ‘The Fifth Republic may well have entered its terminal phase.’

I’ve been following the political news here, and gosh, France at the moment seems ungovernable. Not an expert but my sense is that the beneficiaries of the chaos will be the disgusting French far right. I believe there’s a progressive majority in Europe. It has a dog in this fight.

Chaque fois que je viens à Sète, je fais un pèlerinage à La Pointe Courte. Agnès Varda a tourné ici son premier film; il porte le nom de ce paisible quartier de pêcheurs. Les acteurs parlent lentement, posément. C'est un film magnifique, idéal pour les élèves de niveau B1+/B2. #langsky

Very good news from the east of Germany, where the far-right (AfD) has its strongest base - the AfD got soundly defeated in two mayoral elections, in places where they were trying to use the presence of people seeking asylum as a decisive issue. Many voters rejected that outlook. That's hopeful.

Good morning. I have a small starter cuppa in bed then a big one after breakfast and then a couple more - decaf or roiboos - after I’ve walked by the sea and as the day unfolds. Best is the big one after breakfast, while I read Tolstoy. Let me know if you require further details, OK?

Good morning, somehow this has only just come up on my instagram but it’s well worth 30 seconds of your time.

They look great as contact sheets!

Aegean pahtway finds.

En parlant des divisions linguistiques les Français évoquent souvent la limite entre « chocolatine » et « pain au chocolat » . « Chocolatine » est plus fréquent que « pain au chocolat » dans le sud-ouest. Ici, dans l’Occitanie, c’est 50/50! #langsky