Some flags?

Good morning. We are open. 📖☕️

As we prepare for Advent, the team behind the Diocese of Salisbury X account has decided to withdraw from the platform, as have its three bishops @BishopSarum, @BishSherborne and @RevAndrewRumsey. We explain why below.

Rupert Grint just lost a tax tribunal case, and owes about £1.7m. Because of the Beatles. Quick thread:

High octane football

My The Observer New Review column today is about Rachel Reeves, Elon Musk, Keir Starmer, Donald Trump and Michael Caine. So, you know, the usual gang. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Yes, I know how much I have to do, but I have absolutely no regrets about the proportion of this morning I've spent making a Christmas playlist. I am now listening to Thankful Heart from Muppets' Christmas Carol, and the last track was Last Christmas, and I am delighted.

Never stop buying books! Sally

This year our properties will host 58 Santa’s grottoes and 2 Mother Christmas story times. The Mother Christmas reading events are not new. The world may have gone mad but I don’t think this has been caused by 2 children’s reading events.

Next year, 2025, is the only square year most of us will see in our lifetimes (45 x 45). The last was 1936 (44 x 44), the next is 2116 (46 x 46).

Festive Giveaway! RT and follow by 5pm on Friday 27th December. I’ll pick one lucky person from all entrants on Twitter and Bluesky. One lucky person can pick either shelf 1, 2, 3 or 4 from my Bertvent books of the year as a New Year treat! UK only.

The best books I read this year, fiction and non-fiction.

Top 10 fiction and non-fiction books this year. Oddly, fiction is a much bigger pile! The best non-fiction books I read this year were all diminutive and the best fiction books were pretty chunky!

🚨 BREAKING 🚨 The delay in sacking Julen Lopetegui and hiring Graham Potter is down to a new candidate emerging as front runner Unknown Spanish manager Davidé Mojés remains in negotiations over a 7 year deal with option for a further 3 Via Alex Crook ⚽️🎙 talkSPORT

What is Keir Starmer's record on prosecuting grooming gangs? bbc.in/4hmTFdh

Two divisions of Test Cricket is a terrible idea. The number of test playing teams is already too low - 12...of which only 9 currently feature in the World Test Championship. Widening the gap isn't the way to save the format...it's the way to bury it.

Mark Selby is not moving to do his interviews and media bits, despite official-y people trying to drag him away, because he is busy signing autographs and doing photos with fans. Brilliant to see.

3. J. R. R. Tolkien's letter from Aragorn to Sam Gamgee, in which the King of Gondor informs the hobbit of his future visit and expresses his desire to "greet all his friends." This handwritten letter, penned in Sindarin Tengwar, was created as an epilogue to The Lord of the

So good to see her back in the runs.

“I need to reach my friend!” Korok Travellers 🍁🍃