Nick Pollard

ARTEMIS II AS SEEN BY THE OFFICIAL NASA CESSNA THIS IS THE BEST LAUNCH VIDEO AND IT ISN'T CLOSE

I get that this is an unpopular view but: We need more journalists & fewer pundits. We need more original reporting & fewer hot takes riffing off the news. We don't have this because reporting takes work and is difficult & pontificating on YouTube is lazy & easy.

After she quit, I kept texting my ex-coworker. Just silly memes and random office jokes. “You’re missing this chaos,” I’d send. She would reply with laughing emojis. It felt normal, like nothing had really changed between us. We continued like this for months until one day she suddenly stopped responding. At first, I didn’t think much of it. I told myself she was busy with her new job and new life. I tried not to take it personally and moved on, making new friends and creating new inside jokes. Still, every now and then something funny would happen at work, and I’d think she would understand it instantly. So I kept…

New Bristol City manager Roy Hodgson, 78, was alive at the same time as the player who scored the first ever FA Cup goal in November 1871 Hodgson: born 1947 Jarvis Kenrick: died 1949 (age 96)

Pressed by my questions, Trump’s judicial nominees give identical, nonsensical canned responses—looking ridiculous & demonstrating an abject absence of independence & integrity. Lacking a backbone now, they won’t have one on the bench.

This video remains incredible.

Jim Hacker: Humphrey, we have to do something about Iran. Sir Humphrey Appleby: Prime Minister, the government is already doing a great deal. Jim Hacker: Such as? Sir Humphrey Appleby: Monitoring developments, coordinating with allies, reviewing contingency plans and expressing concern. Jim Hacker: That all sounds like nothing, Humphrey. Sir Humphrey Appleby: On the contrary, Prime Minister. In diplomacy it is vital to appear active without becoming involved. Jim Hacker: The Americans are bombing things, the Iranians are firing missiles, the Strait of Hormuz is practically closed and we’re… appearing active? Sir Humphrey Appleby: Precisely. Jim Hacker: Innocent people are dying, Humphrey! Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes, Prime Minister. That is why the Foreign Office is drafting a very strongly worded statement about it. Jim Hacker: A statement won’t stop a war. Sir Humphrey Appleby: No, Prime Minister, but it will ensure that we are on record as having been extremely concerned while it was happening. Bernard Woolley: If I may, Prime Minister — the Cabinet Office has identified six possible courses of action. Jim Hacker: Good! What are they? Bernard Woolley: We can condemn the escalation, call for restraint, urge negotiations, support our allies, assist defensive operations or participate directly. Jim Hacker: And what do they recommend? Sir Humphrey Appleby: Supporting our allies. Jim Hacker: That sounds suspiciously like participating. Sir Humphrey Appleby: Oh no, Prime Minister. Participating means fighting. Supporting merely means allowing others to fight from places that technically belong to us. Jim Hacker: Humphrey, if Iranian missiles hit one of our bases, we’ll be in the war anyway! Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes, Prime Minister, but we shall have entered it with the invaluable diplomatic advantage of being surprised. Bernard Woolley: It’s generally considered the safest way to enter a war, Prime Minister. Jim Hacker: How on earth can that be safe? Sir Humphrey Appleby: Because if the war goes badly, we can say we never meant to join it. And if it goes well, we can say we were there all along.

Tom Bower's new Harry & Meghan book (serialised today) has a very jolly passage about the weird Invictus Games

The chances of being attacked by a mattress are low but never zero.

A team of Filipino fraudsters got a brutal reality check when a YouTube vigilante hacked their call center live, hijacking cameras, renaming accounts, and sending their boss into full meltdown mode.