MoneyWeek – 2023 Oxford Landing Estates, Chardonnay, South Australia matthewjukes.com/?p=82131 That wine is £7.49 in store and online.

Me for Tablet Paris: Gilles Kepel,one of France's great lightning-rod public intellectuals, talked abt the civilizational stakes of the post-10/7 period, and why he fears a woke deconstructionist will inherit his office's espresso pods at the Ecole Normale tabletmag.com/sections/arts-…

Instead of listening to Sunak v Starmer, Biden v Trump, I listened to this. Informative, and puts the candidate “debates” in perspective. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

Black and white footage of Dionne Warwick singing “Anyone Who Had a Heart”. Shivers… (“Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over”, BBC2).

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

In 1987 my Spanish flatmate introduced me to a novel by an American I’d never heard of. I loved it, but have no idea what became of my copy. Today, without noticing the sticker “My favourite book of all time”, Billy Connolly, I bought a Penguin Modern Classics copy.

It’s going to be hard to read without imagining Billy as Ignatius J. Reilly.

“Politicians come and go. Music is forever”, a Deadhead correctly observed earlier today. True, but youtu.be/ZWijx_AgPiA?si…

Seems like a good time to mention, with #smell trending, that if anyone wants to buy me Harold McGee’s “Nose Dive”…

Not ready yet to hear “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” or “Merry Xmas Everybody”, but it’s Advent, which always gets me nostalgic for my early teens, when we sang plainchant every day till Christmas Eve. Simple brilliance. youtu.be/67o_tbwf48E?si…

Heads up to anyone going to Tesco for the Zinfandel Jane McQuitty’s Times article says will have £1 off from today. It doesn’t, though if you have access to a Tesco where the puritanical fuckwits’ MUP+ legislation does not apply, you can get £2.37 off a bottle if you buy six.

The Guardian is pushing ahead with its 'sale' of the Observer. But the journalism continues... If you value the Guardian or Observer, I urge you to read this. It's my attempt to investigate 'the money behind the money'. Who is 'buying' us? And why? open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…

Today’s earworm youtu.be/aCPh8ADCMHg?si…

Would it be unfair to Yvette Cooper to paraphrase her statement as "trust me, I'm a politician"?

So looking forward to seeing this again for the first time since original broadcast. bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

If I only get to take one Claudia Cardinale film to my Desert Island, this one. These I'll just have to replay in my head: Rocco and His Brothers 8½ The Pink Panther The Professionals Once Upon a Time in the West Fitzcarraldo

Music I have come to love, #GabriellaSmith's #BreathingForests, is about to disappear from BBC Sounds, and I can't find it anywhere to buy or to listen to. Help!

It's been so good to read/hear how appreciated #Danny #Thompson was. Would be nice to think some 6Music Riley & Coe listeners will check out Tim Buckley after hearing Danny backing him on Buzzin' Fly live in London in 1967. There's much better stuff on Dream Letter.