It was a door chime. If the insides are still functioning and the old plastic is intact it might have an eBay value to someone who likes that period. I don’t personally and found that 3-D Perspex thing rather ugly.

Blair’s essay was masterful and timely. Britain will be poorer if we end up going back to old Labour and the folly of believing that you make the country richer through Robin Hood fantasies. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgp…

This is a timely reminder of how people should think about their politics. His use of the phrase Radical Centre chimes with @Radix_UK

Excellent piece by Evan Davis on the lucky baby boomers but why we are unfortunate to live in a struggling economy. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6p…

This video is less than two minutes long and I implore everyone to watch it. It is indeed rather extraordinary. As Holocaust Awareness Ireland says, Patrick Kielty exhibits utter callousness with respect to the attacks on the Jewish community, astonishingly saying ‘the backdrop of that is obviously the horrors in Gaza, this is a complex thing.’ Boy George remains calm and says ‘if you don’t know any Jewish people maybe that’s the problem.’ He then asks the audience ‘do you know any Jewish people?’ Boy George is visibly taken aback by the ensuing silence, and vocalises his shock twice, remarking that it is ‘weird’ and ‘surprising me a little bit.’ Patrick looks uncomfortable and ends puts an end to the topic with a dismissive ‘mmm’. Extraordinary viewing. Just extraordinary.

🗣️ 'No one cycles when it's cold!' Kids & parents of #Oulu🇫🇮 didnt get that memo. At –20°C, 7-year-olds in Oulu bike to school alone. Not because they’re tougher—but because the city made it safe & easy. This isn’t about weather. It’s about priorities. (🎞: @harrivaarala)

Perhaps the greatest failure of the economics profession has been our inability to sell the idea that we should tax "bads" like congestion and pollution. One reason building is so expensive is that we have so many regulations instead of just prices.

You’ve been lied to about Africa. @MagatteW: “Africa is not poor because of colonialism. Africa is poor because we have made it impossible for our people to create wealth.”

This sheepdog doesn’t mess around. Job done. ✔️

It's hard to talk about peace after the last two years, but I want you to know that people in Israel do. And one of the clearest voices out there in Israel right now is that of hostage survivor Gadi Moses. He said, “We can at least try to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, with Syria and with Lebanon. It is good to live for our country, and we must spare no effort so that our children, grandchildren, will no longer know war. Yitzhak Rabin, who was a soldier and a commander for a long time before he was Prime Minister, also believed in these things and he paid for it with his life.” Thirty years ago, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Rabin was Israel's prime minister, a military commander turned crusader for peace. He knew that you make peace with your enemies and he fought hard for his and Shimon Peres' vision of a new Middle East. He tried to implement the two-state solution to create a Palestinian state which will live peacefully side-by-side with Israel. The Palestinian resistance movement, which calls for no Israel from the river to the sea, did not like it, and extremist Jews did not like it either. And on November 4th, 1994, thirty years ago, he was assassinated. I was young at the time, and idealistic, and I also believed their dreams of peace and I was devastated when that dream was shattered. And after 30 years of blood and extremism and of the Palestinians consistently refusing peace offers again and again, I, at times, also lost hope. But we can never lose hope, and people like Gadi Moses should be our north star. If a man who was kidnapped by Hamas saw members of his community and family murdered, spent two years at the hands of the Islamic Jihad in captivity in underground tunnels, tortured, abused, starved, if he can still talk about peace and still strive for peace and dream of peace, so can I, and so can you. We remember Yitzhak Rabin, and we keep our focus on peace. Am Yisrael Chai

The High Court today rejected Freeholders’ bid to overturn legislation effectively barring them from demanding excessive payments for ‘ground rents’ or lease extensions which otherwise make leaseholders investments worthless. Sanity & fairness have won! caselaw.nationalarchives.gov…

Today and tomorrow a group of pianists is collaborating on playing a work by Erik Satie (d.1925) repetitively around the clock. People are welcome to dip in or watch the stream and please donate to help musicians. projectvexation.github.io/40…

Parts of my body lie scattered on the asphalt. An arm has landed on the rubble of a neighbor's house, a leg rests on a burning tent, and my head has rolled under a horse cart. I wish I could rise to gather my body parts and bury them, but I cannot find my hands, and it is growing dark, and I’ve lost my eyes. Yet I can still feel the weight of the darkness. I can still hear the angel of death collecting my dismembered soul. And I can still feel the cold at night. Bury me tonight, oh angel of life! Mosab Abu Toha Oct 3, 2025

To all those observing Yom Kippur in the UK and around the world, we wish you a meaningful fast. G’mar Chatima Tova.

This is worrying. West Bank residents now have no route to the outside world and are effectively being imprisoned against their will.

This is actually a good statement from Bernie Sanders Worth the watch

🚨 SUCKING UP TO VESTED INTERESTS 🚨 @UKLabour promised to END leasehold. That’s what the people voted for and expect. But, strangely, this government is dancing to the tune of Big Freeholders and hand-wringing lawyers. Meanwhile, leaseholders keep being looted.

Late evening jazz duo this evening facebook.com/share/173WNgGpz…

Bravo. Israel, and Hamas, need to change direction to get a durable ceasefire. Then there needs to be clear progress towards a two state solution, with an end to 70 years of illegal occupation.

The Whittington monument (listed building) on Highgate Hill sought planning consent to be relettered recently.