As an unbaptised agnostic (but former CofE chorister) I sometimes choose to give something up anyway partly for self-discipline, wellbeing and focus reasons. I think I'll give up working at weekends and doomscrolling this time.

"I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated."

You may laugh, but the Macbeths are a much better role model for a marriage than Romeo and Juliet. They discuss their problems (killing the king of Scotland), share their hobbies (killing the king of Scotland), and resolve their conflicts (by killing the king of Scotland).

Tahani really was a better judge of character than we sometimes gave her credit for.

In addition to various notable people (eg DH Lawrence) my school also includes awful Brexit grifter Lord Frost on the alumni list. He went back to give a talk last year and I briefly considered going along and throwing rotten fruit, but decided I couldn't bear to be in the same room as him.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. As someone who really likes maths and spends a lot of time and effort teaching it, and doing outreach, this kind of story makes me so cross. Some people shouldn't be allowed to be teachers.

I think this is my favourite response to all this "is it sentient?" nonsense: bsky.app/profile/ewac...

He's adorable. Congratulations!

I'd never had a pet (apart from a few goldfish when I was a kid) until about 4½ years ago, when my daughter started asking if we could get a cat, and I thought "hang on, I really like cats, why haven't I got one?"

So I adopted Pudding, and she's lovely. We love her very much.

Cats are the best.

I think it also does this to otherwise clever people who, with just a little bit of practice, could perfectly well do the difficult thing themselves with their own brains. I try to discourage my students from going anywhere near it, but I'm not sure I've been totally successful yet.

"Hey, so you like Doctor Who?"
"Yes, I've been a fan since the late 1970s."
"Great, here's a tiresome, rambling, hour-long video diatribe from some alt-right bigot about how it's all gone woke and political now."
"Er, no thanks. Also, it's been political since November 1963."

Regardless of anything else, if Larry doesn't have confidence in him, he'll be gone by the end of the week.

I'd argue that he's had an astonishing lot of good luck - anyone normal who'd been involved in that many scandals would surely be in prison, or at least irretrievably unemployed by now.

I'm sorry to hear you've been suffering from burnout. It's horrible. I had it a few years ago (and I'm worried I'm heading in that direction again). Best wishes.