Bellend Sebastian

Well I didn't have Robert Smith guesting in Olivia Rodrigo's set on my Glastonbury Bingo card

I'm watching Wunderhorse now and am getting into it a bit. I was initially a bit put off by their oversized trousers, it really doesn't take much

All the watering I have to do as well! These fossil fuel magnates aren't giving a second's thought to that, I bet!!

Well the kids seem to like these Kneecap lads very much

We watched the start and my friend's teenage daughter could simply not get her head round it on any level, and I wasn't without sympathy. I think we were all a bit relieved when we switched over to Charli XCX

1 in 5 chance of a heatwave that kills a bunch of people in any given year now. They are mainly the over 65s so I suppose it's one way of tackling the ageing demographic problem

We're clearly NOT their target audience. I did notice a very good review of one of their albums on Pitchfork, and they're usually very sniffly about pretty much everything

Just had The 1975 set on in the background. Obviously they're a popular turn but I don't think I've ever heard one of their songs before, knowingly anyway. I know their singer is called Matt or Matty something, but I don't believe anybody has ever mentioned them to me in conversation let alone told me they like them. Are there loads of 1975 fans on here? That I'm out of the loop is the least surprising thing ever, as I lurch towards late middle age and increasing irrelevance but they seem to have not touched ANYONE I know culturally, which is a bit unusual

English Teacher now. Young people playing music to young people, which feels like a bit of a rarity these days in some ways

Watching their set now. Really good, had forgotten how much I used to like them

In fairness that's about how long our lot last when they realise they're actually going to have to do some work https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93knke95peo

Big enough so that he doesn't need to cheat? 🤣 That's me banned from the US for the next 3 and a half years then

He's just furious at the collapse of the rules based order! Very relatable

Well I'd be surprised if a council under the control of the Tories for a quarter of a century until this year that had had its budget from central government reduced by the extent it has been since 2010 to have been enjoying the luxury of "stupid spending", but I might be wrong about that, of course. Obviously publicly funded services should be as efficient as possible but this idea that the public sector by its very nature is profligate in all circumstances is in danger of being ridiculously out of date. You'd think that trimming the fat was a new idea that nobody had thought of before. You can make things as lean as you like but there comes a point where you're either offering a service or you're not, and that's where a lot of councils are at now. As a political strategy I think this stuff is close to having run its course anyway. The public might be wedded to the idea of inherent waste but surely that's down to media portrayal, and a media largely owned by individuals that I'm assuming don't really care if there are public services or not. Whoever's in control of budgets will be faced by a choice of doing either not much or cutting stuff that people actually notice

Absolutely transformative policy on flags 100% delivered. I fear this may be the high water mark though. They're going to struggle to do anything positive as there's no money, and it's difficult to cut anything when everything's been cut to the bone already - often literally down to the level of what you can get away with without breaking the authority's legal obligations. That's going to be the same for any administration, but any idea that Reform is the change the country desperately needs is probably going to be a bit undermined by the first experience of them getting hold of any of the levers of power being all a bit meh

Have we got anybody on here that works for the County Council? I know someone that does and according to them it's going just GREAT under Reform control

At last some sense

The true cost of the endless cycle of violence is revealed https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ndtv.com/world-news/benjamin-netanyahu-says-sons-wedding-delay-a-personal-cost-of-war-stuns-israelis-8711666/amp/1

Honestly, what's wrong with the traditional approach of giving money to people say any old shit and print that. I will tell you the lies you want for £££. No kinky stuff, discretion largely guaranteed

Absolutely screw THOSE guys

It's that great time of year when people come in from outside all hot and go "get those windows open" and let in a lovely blast of hot air and make it four degrees warmer inside, thank you learned friends

Good luck with that https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/19/telford-grooming-gangs-survivors-interview-inquiry

BUMP! I've still not bought a new guitar because stupid things keep getting in the way like buying food for my children and getting the boiler fixed. I'm still at the fun stage of debating what I really want, and as well as the above I've got a couple of alternatives on my radar. Some current Les Paul Studios are down to £1299 at the moment, so only slightly more expensive than the new IBGC Epiphones. But are they sexier? Debatable. Also, as this is a largely unnecessary exercise anyway, I could save money and buy a used Studio, which with a bit of care and perhaps compromise on condition, can be had from about £700. As usual, some years are supposedly better than others, but I don't get the sense any are real dogs. What would YOU do? And if you say, play them all and choose which one you like best then that's a completely sensible answer

Well, you can reduce risk down to a level by being on top of those things, certainly and maybe largely eliminate the chance of causing an accident, but you can't eliminate being in one, can you? When someone drove into the back of me while waiting at the lights near Braunstone Leisure centre there wasn't a thing I could do about that, and that that has happened to me but not the hundreds of thousands of other drivers who've waited there without some div hitting them because they're chatting to their girlfriend and not looking at the road properly is down to their good fortune

An American gentleman did once ask me why the British weren't into flags more. What are you supposed to say to that? Because there are other things to be into?