OK, we haven’t had a Phligm Phlagm post since mid-October, and the world was a different place back then.

I’ve been busy all right? Anyway, here’s the first load of links to catch up on. Feel free to take your time over them…

Christmas Reading List 2025

The Red Dwarf theme tune has secret lyrics, and they've only just been discovered. (But they’re ( Read more... )

BBC admits Bake Off is catastrophic social experiment

A pretty clever piece of political profiling and surveying from the Social Market Foundation.

Terror attack stopped by heroic activist who established a safe space in local mall.

A blog that examines the use of fonts in science fiction. What a time to be alive.

Labour's new shadow minister for ( Read more... )

Testing Godwin's Law

The McLaren F1 needs a 20 year old Compaq laptop

The pilot episode of Korgoth of Barbaria. Why didn’t this make it as a series? It’s great!

The Game of Thrones title sequence, done with slime moulds

Those Finns sure like their metal.

"Dr Heimlich saves choking woman with manoeuvre he invented."

Kim Jong-Un's aunt runs a drycleaning ( Read more... )

I'm just about old enough to remember when Bryan Adams was cool, something that I imagine anyone not well into their forties would struggle to believe was ever the case. But there was a Bryan Adams before that awful Robin Hood song that spent seemingly most of 1991 at number 1 in the charts. (I'm also old enough to remember when singles charts ( Read more... )

The Cold War historian Robert Conquest has died. Second obituary.

The Tornado is still a useful combat aircraft.

The antirant - "What an amazing time to be alive!"

Global median income doubled between 2003 and 2013. Global income inequality declined over the same period.  Absolute poverty rates have fallen around 80%. Understanding why is very ( Read more... )

"Sepp Blatter deserves Nobel Prize" says Vladimir Putin.

The Complete Blake's 7 Costume Index

Total respect to the owner of this Porsche 918 Spyder.

Really nicely done Star Trek fanvid set to William Shatner singing* Pulp's 'Common People'. (* Maybe singing isn’t quite the right word. If you’re familiar with Mr Shatner’s musical career, you know what ( Read more... )

A new series of The Clangers!

Paul Krugman on Scottish independence. (And it's nice to see that even neo-Keynesians have come around to my way of thinking on the Euro.)

Prices, Paul Krugman, and Consistency

This is why poor kids don't grow up to be interior designers.

Is Apple quietly killing off its best product?

Why US forests are fuelling Europe.

( Read more... )

Before and After Photoshop celebrity portraits

The world's cutest frog.

Ricky Gervais's 'Derek' was brilliant (I agree) - moving, superbly acted (especially Kerry Godliman), but many people will hate it just because they don't like Ricky Gervais or because it deals with taboo subjects.

"Scarfolk is a town in North West England that did not progress ( Read more... )

I saw this pointed out the other day. It had never occurred to me before, but it is a bit odd:

Nobody in The Big Bang Theory ever seems to read a book.

Well yes, the four boys read comics, but that's about it. Wouldn't they read books too?

Surely Sheldon would read hard SF - Arthur C. Clarke for example. I could see Leonard liking classic SF, but ( Read more... )

Poll Yes, Prime Minister