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markwcorbett.bsky.social
@markwcorbett.bsky.social
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markwcorbett.bsky.social
It's good to know that even the British Museum has a bit of Nookie.

www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

One of these, I assume:
A 32 millimeter, circular pin badge from the 1970s. On a white background, it features the copyrighted slogan "I LOVE NOOKIE", above three-colour image of the head of comedy puppet, Nookie Bear. He is a brown bear in the mode of a teddy, has a smile, and perfectly round, dark-ringed eyes with a thin, red iris surrounding giant black pupils. Honestly, just like the on-screen puppet I remember from the television of my childhood, it looks like a fucking psychopath. Those perfectly circular black dots of its eyes look like they're trying to suck out your soul. If you found it on your house, you'd bury it at a crossroads with a stake through it. The nudge and a wink name - Nookie - utterly belies how sinister it was. If he likes actual nookie, then it is definitely the depraved sort. Real sick shit. Urgh. Bad bear.
November 12, 2025 at 11:19 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
They are so Charlie Kirk that even their taste in houses is basically identical...

(He had sold this one at the time of his demise, but hard to imagine he'd traded it for a brown brick semi.)
October 11, 2025 at 8:59 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
If it's mining bees, they are charming little things - quite placid, and living in colonies of burrows.

These photos were from 2022, and I think either Clarke's mining bee or Early mining bees. (There's around 67 species on the UK, and only some of them are very easily identifiable to me.)
A mining bee digging into it's burrow. It has a buff, fuzzy thorax and a dark abdomen. It is digging into the dry soil of the bank of a stream. There are a number of burrows visible as part of a colony. It could be one of a number of species, such as Clarke's mining bee or the Early mining bee. The photo was taken in North Yorkshire in March 2022. A mining bee with heavily-loaded pollen pouches in its hind legs. It is walking on the ground amongst the colony. It has a buff, fuzzy thorax and a dark abdomen. There are a number of burrows visible as part of a colony. It could be one of a number of species, such as Clarke's mining bee or the Early mining bee. The photo was taken in North Yorkshire in March 2022. A mining bee digging into it's burrow. It has a buff, fuzzy thorax and a dark abdomen. It is digging into the dry soil of the bank of a stream. It has full, bright tellow pollen pouches on its hind legs. There are a number of burrows visible as part of a colony. It could be one of a number of species, such as Clarke's mining bee or the Early mining bee. The photo was taken in North Yorkshire in March 2022.
September 28, 2025 at 6:48 AM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
"The UK's first "super-university", stretching across an entire region..."

Eh? University of Wales, when founded in 1893, stretched from Cardiff to Aberystwyth and Bangor.

The University of the Highlands and Islands stretches across 10 sited, from Dunoon to Lerwick.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC headline, stating that "UK's first 'super-university' to be created as two merge from 2026". It is accompanied by an image of two apparently male graduates, wearing academic robes, looking towards the domed building of Queen Mary Court at University of Greenwich's London campus. (The building was designed and built between 1696 and 1742, designed by Sir Christopher Wren as the Royal Navy Hospital. It resembles St Paul's Cathedral, another of his works. It is elaborately built in the classical style, in off-white and grey coloured portland stone. It features columns along the sides and is topped at one end by a large grey dome.) An image of the text of the first two paragraphs from the BBC report saying, "The UK's first "super-university", stretching across an entire region, is to be created through the merger of the universities of Kent and Greenwich, the BBC has learned. Under the proposed name of London and South East University Group, the single institution will have one vice-chancellor from the academic year starting in autumn 2026."
September 10, 2025 at 9:27 AM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
At least one daughter loves him enough to make a movie with him that took $300,000 dollars in Mexico.

Wiki editors couldn't even be bothered with it. There's a February 2003 note that, "This article's plot summary needs to be improved."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_D...
A screen grab of Wikipedia text about the film "Daddy Daughter Trip" The text reads: "...Box office As of October 7, 2023, Daddy Daughter Trip grossed $301,859, in Mexico. Reception Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic awarded the film one and a half stars and wrote, "Too often the jokes don't land. Neither does the physical comedy. The story doesn't really hold. It's clear that Schneider and his daughter love each other, and this film is a way to express that. But it's a lot to ask of the rest of us to watch it." A synopsis of "Daddy Daughter Trip" from Wikipedia. "A man (Rob Schneider) takes his daughter (Miranda Schneider) on a Spring break road trip as they have various misadventures along the way." There is a note on the Wiki page to say that "This article's plot summary needs to be improved. (February 2023)". Clearly, nobody has bothered to try to improve it in the last two years. Which suggests no-one cares enough to try, or that the plot is so flimsy that there's nothing else to add.
September 8, 2025 at 12:03 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
The views from Travis Perkins will never be the same again.

I cannot believe that they would desecrate this unspoiled wilderness.
August 12, 2025 at 1:06 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
These guys lived more life than they or anyone else had a right to.
July 22, 2025 at 7:16 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
What a life lived. There are very few artists who get to be such a foundation for so much that follows.
July 22, 2025 at 6:52 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
Saying she doesn't regret the previous incident, seemingly at odds with her apology for the letter which started it.

I don't disagree visible minorities may experience racism differently, but the letter was offensively wrong.

Comparing prejudice towards redheads to anti-Jewish racism, for a start!
July 18, 2025 at 12:51 AM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
It wasn't true last time.

Implying Irish and Jewish people weren't subject to codified racism in pre-civil rights USA is splitting hairs. It was systemic.

Use of "NINA" in adverts was rife in C19 America.

American Jews were banned from many public places in the early C20 and targeted by the KKK.
July 17, 2025 at 7:41 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
Quite. And he gave support for Defence Committee Inquiries, for which his feet can be held to the fire if need be. Ed Davey also associated himself with Starmer's words in PMQs.

It is hardly surprising the Opposition did not venture questions on it.

hansard.parliament.uk/search/Membe...
A screenshot of an excerpt from the parliamentary transcript, Hansard. It records Prime Minister, Kier Starmer's, opening words in Prime Minister's Questions on 16th July 2025, concerning the recently disclosed Afghan data breach: "There has always been support across this House for the United Kingdom fulfilling our obligations to Afghans who served alongside British forces. We warned in opposition about Conservative management of this policy, and yesterday the Defence Secretary set out the full extent of the failings that we inherited: a major data breach, a super-injunction and a secret route that had already cost hundreds of millions of pounds. Ministers who served in the Conservative Government have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen. The Chair of the Defence Committee has indicated that he intends to hold further inquiries. I welcome that and I hope that those who were in office at the time will welcome that scrutiny."
July 16, 2025 at 3:30 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
Modern?

www.oed.com/dictionary/p...
July 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
This is an incredibly dubious figure in the BBC's report.

"...The average price of a new EV in the UK is nearly double the cost of a typical petrol car at £22,000..."

What does "typical" mean? What average is used?

A Dacia Sandero - UK's cheapest new car - is £14k.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
July 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
Every online mention is a massive tease!

www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/1130677...
A quote from an Oxford Mail article, mentioning young members of the Rendezvous Club at Cowley, Oxford Including, one Richard Cockhead, who went on to be a policeman.
July 7, 2025 at 7:41 PM
markwcorbett.bsky.social
Clearly, growers of oversized onions are joyful people.

Image searches would suggest that they are merely a subset of giant vegetable enthusiasts who all appear to be having a great time.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Gareth Griffin, a Guernsey vegetable grower, holds aloft his 8.9kg potential world record onion as though it is a rediscovered religious relic. The holy grail, perhaps. It is a very large onion indeed, possibly three or four times the size of Mr Griffin's head. The caption reads, "Mr Griffin said there had been huge media interest in the onion". I'll bet there was. It was massive.
April 8, 2025 at 5:54 AM