If masked vigilante crime-fighters count, I have a true story that might give you faith that there are superheroes out there.

This is before COVID.

There were a lot of homeless people in Manchester City Centre. There still is, but before COVID, it was more pronounced.

There was a homeless guy who used to sit in front of the building where I worked. On my way out of work, I used to grab him a cup of coffee and chat with him for a few minutes before heading off for my tram.

One Monday as I approached him I notice that snaking out from under his hat is quite a deep and angry-looking cut that had been stitched.

I asked him about it and he said some guy had come walking down the road attacking homeless people with a broken bottle. They’d all been taken to hospital, patched up and given antibiotics, but everyone was really scared now.

A couple of days later, he mentioned that the police have found the guy who did it. And ‘found’ is the correct word - the guy was lying by the side of the canal beaten to a bloody pulp. Apparently he’d been attacked by someone dressed all in black wearing a black mask.

So, I know for a fact that there is at least one person willing to put on a costume in the height of summer and beat up villains - I imagine there are many more.

I was amazed, but you can buy a “dinasour” colouring book, so maybe they’re right.

Dinasour Coloring Book

Third’s the one with the hairy chest!

I’m surprised they have it in the US!

I knew they said it in Australia and Canada, though - I don’t know, I guess I just assumed it was a commonwealth thing. It’s got that specific flavour of daftness to it.

I probably get a month, possibly two, out of them between washes. I work from home though, so they don’t really get that dirty.

You can call me et al

Psychology.

• Feeding people bad news makes them scared.
• Scared people want to be kept updated, so tune into the news.
• Repeat.

Also:

• Scared people look for authority to guide them.
• Lots of money/power to be gained by having crowds of people who trust you.

Presenting people with scary news keeps them coming back to you and offers opportunities for the stakeholders to profit.

Exactly the same reason social media presents awful stuff all the time now. Social media does it because ragebait is more profitable than nice stuff.

I think some people genuinely like the taste, but I’m with you - they just taste kind of ‘meh’. Certainly not as nice as most other things.

They are extremely healthy, though - they’re considered a top-tier superfood.

You’re asking if head trauma can cause brain damage in animals?

Dogs do have thicker skulls than humans, wrapped in more muscle than humans. Both of these make the skull better at absorbing shocks, so much less force should transfer through to the brain.

As long as your dog isn’t regularly running headfirst straight into the corners of tables, I wouldn’t worry too much.

The Native Martians, obviously.

You’re kidding?

It was directly because of New Labour’s economic policies that the UK was hit so hard in the 2007 Economic Crisis.

He absolutely trashed the economy - before New Labour there were no food banks and people could buy houses on modest wages. Before New Labour there was no student debt.

New Labour left the country in a much worse state than they found it.

She has to defend her Masters thesis? Over here in the UK, you only have to formally defend Doctorate level theses.

Kenya’s system must be a bit more rigorous than ours.

Ha, I was just thinking that!

I bet over the last few months Kier Starmer has been thinking “well, we’re pretty unpopular right now, but at least we’ve not been dragged into an illegal war in the Middle East like the last lot”.

I read an interview with an actress who was asked why there’s so much step-family porn.

She explained that it’s an easy niche to make content for - it’s literally just two people having sex. The kink is entirely in the dialogue.

That’s why there’s so much of it around. Not because it’s super popular, but because it’s extremely low hanging fruit.

I definitely didn’t take it that way - they’re both politicians, Labour politicians at that. I think that’s enough of a link for a joke without needing to read anything extra into it.

It appears to originate from Tom Scotson’s Xitter account.

https://x.com/_tomscotson/status/2027364833847369976

She says we’re not a multicultural country. I disagree.

How does she define culture? The usual way? Shared values, social behaviours, stories?

I can’t think of a single common touchpoint that me and Kemi share - our values, our sense of what is considered an acceptable way to act, and I’d be very surprised if she grew up playing RPGs and watching anime.

I suspect the truth lies closer to the fact that the Tories need someone to blame. It used to be Jewish people, then it was black people and the Irish, now it’s Muslims. It’s always someone.

We’ve always been multicultural - even without immigration. We’re a country made up of four distinct smaller countries. English isn’t even the official national language - the only official language anywhere in the UK is Welsh.

As for a shared culture, I suspect I would have much more of a shared life experience with a 45 year old Software Developer from Sweden than I would a 70 year old Daily Mail reader from Cornwall.

I do like to think that younger voters get this, though. They’re less easy to scare, and less easy to trick. Hopefully this recent result is a sign of things to come.

I’d sign, but I’ve absolutely lost faith that this government won’t then disclose the list of names to a third party.

They’ve hardly been operating with transparency when it comes to this kind of stuff.

UK resident here. Absolutely no issues whatsoever - why would there be? People are people at the end of the day.

Funnily enough, the route between my bus stop and my office takes me through Manchester’s Chinatown. Even though I walk through it every week, I still think I’m really lucky - the archway is awesome, the decorations are interesting and the shops sell all kinds of stuff it’s hard to find elsewhere.

I wonder if I’ve got the same kind of thing. I love onions but absolutely hate leeks. They taste like the smell of stale urine.

I’ve never understood it - I know they don’t taste like this to other people. I like the other edible alliums, but leeks taste uniquely awful.

I keep trying them every few years hoping that my tastes have changed, but they haven’t until this point.