Not sure my mum would have approved of them singing the 7th verse of O Come All Ye Faithful ahead of Christmas Day in #CarolsfromKings (I hope she would have done) but it's put a smile on my face. That half diminished 7th chord is one of the great moments for any organist.

I'm thoroughly looking forward to running the annual #Knaresborough Bed Race on Saturday with Bessie on board as our passenger this year. We're raising money for #ANDYSMANCLUB - if you'd like to sponsor us, click here: justgiving.com/page/ian-phill…

So Labour suspends a candidate because he's being investigated for betting against himself, and also says it's returning £100k he'd donated to the party over the last few years. Don't know how much his bet was for, but I bet his winnings were going to be less than £100k!

Seeing as there can't be many MPs in the new parliament who have voted against a Labour government more often than #Corbyn, it's quite fitting he'll be sat on the opposition benches.

We have recalled Agent Truss from the field, her work is complete.

There's something quite psychologically appealing about French two-round voting isn't there. Round One: Vote with your heart. How's that working out? Pretty scary isn't it. Round Two: Let's vote with our heads this time.

I don't think this myself, nor am I strongly of an opposing view. But imagine what the reaction from most Spectator / Daily Mail / other Tory press readers would be if this sort of thing appeared I'm The Guardian! spectator.co.uk/article/real-f…

A world in which Tom’s government dismantled the criminal justice system through a decade of defunding, leaving our prisons overflowing. It is also the world in which Tom’s own government released 10,083 criminals onto our streets, for the very same reasons.

Lovely question from my 8 year old boy this morning: "Dad, is there a Mr Sippee river too?"

Marco Rubio says sanctions were imposed on Russia due to "conflict" in Ukraine, and so should be lifted when this ends. This is untrue. Sanctions were imposed due to Russia's invasion. They should remain at least until Russia ends its invasion --that is, withdraws from Ukraine.

I try to be pragmatic. But there's not really any other way of putting it. Trump's just a disgusting individual. A shallow, petty, egotistical, man-child. The US should be ashamed he's their leader. And those British politicians who suck up to him should be ashamed too.

Being in opposition may actually accelerate the haemorrhaging of Tory votes to Reform. Few voters know much about Badenoch and shadow cabinet always find it hard to cut through. It feels like they're in the news less, and have less of relevance to say, than Farage / Reform.

Is there any difference between the one-in-one-out deal Macron and Starmer have just struck and the solution proposed by Kit Malthouse MP 2 years ago? I thought it sounded sensible then, still do now. kitmalthouse.com/2023/a-humane-…

There is a lot of truth to this. It really needn't be the case, especially when there is a Labour government when lots of cabinet ministers will represent the sorts of areas David references.

Whichever strategic genius has decided that what is needed now is to trigger lots of speculation about Keir Starmer leadership is not as clever as they think. Whether done to shore him up or undermine him it is about as dumb as it gets. For heaven’s sake just get on with

I wanted to give TNT Sports the benefit of the doubt when they announced their commentary line up and approach to covering this series, but this is just awful. Feel sorry for Finn and Cook. I'd far rather just have the Aussie Fox feed than this soulless, innane, detached rubbish.

Luckily enough it's not up to him . As England coach if you fail to beat Australia home & away , fail to beat India home & away - and get nowhere near competing for the WTC it's not good enough . The brand was cool to begin with but the novelty soon wore off . Also his ODI

Today marks not only the start of 2026, but also our 20th anniversary year - marking 2 transformative decades of life-changing NIHR research 🎉 Throughout this year, we'll be celebrating our enormous impact across health and care, showcasing how our work: 👨🏾‍👩🏼‍👧🏻‍👦🏿 changes

When was the last time England's opening pair in a white ball game were the same as in their test side? Crawley and Duckett today feels like 1st time in years. They both played in the ODI side in Dec 2023 but didn't open. Strauss and Trescothick maybe? Andy Zaltzman do you know?

This seems completely mad. How is this not a huge incentive for more to come and submit a claim they know will probably fail? I'd seriously consider it if the government offered me £40k of free money to emigrate! bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…