Phlegmatic

"We can all put aside our partisan differences for a moment and agree that this Trump-Clinton “Dirty Dancing” duet is the best thing to come out of the debate."

Don't trust "factcheckers". Maybe it’s just my innate cynicism and a background as a professional sceptic that always makes me doubt someone who claims to be “unbiased” when giving you “the facts”.

Why Truman fired MacArthur. Fascinating account.

Weaker Sterling is (on balance) somewhere between good and very good for the UK economy.

...and another article making a similar argument.

Tolkien might not have been too impressed by the current trend to concentrate on the ethnicity of science fiction and fantasy authors rather than the quality of their work.

There is no such thing as trickle-down economics.

This is the best explanation of why so many people will vote for Donald Trump that I've seen.

Ched Evans is Not Guilty. Here's ten myths about the case that need to be busted.

Who is winning in Labour and the Liberal Democrats' race to be the most anti-semitic party?

Dennis Byrd didn't deserve to die in a car crash.

Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' slowed down is amazingly good. (Thanks beckyc)

18 Game of Thrones moments improved by quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Given the dearth of available options, who should American conservatives vote for in the presidential election?

Are we seeing the beginning of a political realignment in the UK? Interesting lecture.

Here's a particularly unsubtle example of simple corruption from the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

Political map of Europe, year-by-year from 3650BC to 2016AD.

70-year-olds play D&D for the first time.

The third most likely person to become the next President of the United States, and how he would do it. OK, it’s beyond unlikely, but not impossible…

You don't need this laptop.

Trying to understand the EU's actions against Apple and the Republic of Ireland.

It's not shocking that professional employers judge applicants for client-facing roles partly on their appearance and their dress. What is shocking is that not only do state schools not teach this stuff, they sometimes don’t like it when employers try to do it instead.

Useful smartphone test. When I last bought a smartphone, I read lots of reviews, but one question that was never asked was “How good is it at making and receiving calls?”, that is “How good is it at actually being a phone”"?”

According to the latest Rowntree Foundation definition, someone in the top 0.32% of global incomes is now "in poverty". Muppets.

British WW2 propaganda posters.

Think you're good at Lego building? This guy is better.

If you were an American games company raising funds on Kickstarter for a new family card game "that combines speed, hilarious gestures, and your silly side for 2-6 players, ages 6+", and you weren't that familiar with politically incorrect British playground slang, what's the worst name you could come up with...?

"Nobody ever got sacked for buying IBM" …but maybe in this case, someone should have been.

When I was an auditor, this sort of clever statistical analysis was called a logic check. This is a good logic check on why American police might treat certain groups differently. (Hat tip to ford_prefect42.)

Archaeological evidence of a major bronze age battle in northern Germany c.1250 BC.

Reid Hoffman's first job earned him $127 for contributing to the RuneQuest supplement 'Borderlands' (nothing to do with my shop). Now he's one of the richest people in the world You see? RPGs can totally make you rich!

Were the original big cats on Dartmoor actually from the closed Plymouth Zoo?

More links between Corbyn supporters and anti-semitic groups.

Kaunas' Seventh Fort - Ideal for weddings, parties and kids' treasure hunts. Not so good for Bar Mitzvahs.

The Work and Pensions Committee's report into the collapse of BHS is pretty shoddy work. I would have expected better of Frank Field, one of the Labour Party’s more sensible MPs.

How many people here have a Dragon 64? Are you still waiting for 'The Hobbit' to come out so that your Spectrum-owning friends will stop laughing at you?

Time Commanders is coming back! Yay!

The German authorities seem to be engaging in a cover-up of massive proportions.

Fireman Sam episode pulled amid Koran row.

"My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize."

Why bad ideas refuse to die.

Whatever happened to William 'The Refrigerator' Perry?

No, the British did not "frantically" google what the E.U. is hours after voting to leave it.

New Robin of Sherwood audio drama with original cast. (We’re working our way through the boxed set in preparation!)

Gordon Murray has died. No, not the bloke who designed the car in the userpic, the guy who did Trumpton, Camberwick Green and Chigley.

How the **** did a television journalist as bad at her job as this one get a flipping CBE? This is a total car crash and she comes across as (at best) incompetent and at worst borderline deranged.

Mapping the growth of cities over the last 6,000 years.

An interview with Matthew 'Pandemic' Leacock.

Five steps universities could take to revive free speech on campus.

NASA's mission in the 1960s: Get America to the Moon. NASA's mission in the 2010s: Reach out to the muslim world. (Wait, what?)

The latest target of the PC police - Gilbert & Sullivan.

"Controversy as Chester Zoo opens 'Wrexham Scally Enclosure'". (I should point out that Homo Wrexhamius Scalliensis Chavus is pretty much confined to the southern part of Wrexham, not the nice bit where I’m from…)

Why Gandhi is such an asshole in Civilisation.

The Curious Case of the (Medieval) Weapon that Didn't Exist

Why you can't just have more quantitative easing to get rid of the national debt.

This is not a 512gb microSD card.

The worst football kits of all time. They’re all bad, but Colorado, seriously…?

This month's best headline is from an astronomy website.

"A lousy, stupid, no good, bad, law is being proposed."

Star Wars Episode IV in a single image. (OK, it’s a very big image, but still…)

Minimalist, anonymous rooms are probably not a good place to do teamwork.

"We all owe a significant debt to Richard Murphy." No, really.

I'm an only child, so I can't really relate to this. Nevertheless I thought it was a sweet film about growing up being “Player Two”.

Woman accidentally joins search party looking for herself.

Today's most widely misinterpreted piece of economics, from the IMF. There are two arguments put forward in the paper. The first is that there are risks associated with capital account liberalisation (allowing money into and out of the country with less regulation). The second is that although high public debt is bad for growth and welfare, for countries with excellent records of debt repayment, like the US, the UK and Germany, a “credible medium-term fiscal consolidation” makes more sense than a “fiscal noose today”. In other words, slowly bringing down debt as a percentage of GDP, not slashing everything to balance the budget as soon as possible. Now that’s pretty much what the UK’s current fiscal policy is. Still I suppose “IMF economists broadly agree with George Osborne” isn’t quite as good a headline as “You’re witnessing the death of neoliberalism – from within”. Seriously, this is a paper that says “There is much to cheer in the neoliberal agenda. The expansion of global trade has rescued millions from abject poverty. Foreign direct investment has often been a way to transfer technology and know-how to developing economies. Privatization of state-owned enterprises has in many instances led to more efficient provision of services and lowered the fiscal burden on governments”… and Facebook (and one of our less reputable newspapers) is full of idiots claiming that “we are witnessing the death of neoliberalism”.­

Here's a clever way to make interstellar travel real.

"Around 50% 'hold authoritarian views'". Sounds shocking. What’s more shocking is the ignorance of the researchers (three politics professors no less, albeit from second rate universities) as to what constitutes “authoritarian”. Authoritarians would presumably favour powerful state control, right? You know, like Stalin or Hitler or Mao. Not according to these three clowns. Apparently “ideological sympathy for… rolling back the state” is an authoritarian point of view. Incredible.

Thankfully I wasn't the only person to spot this.

Did you own a copy of Buckaroo or MouseTrap when you were a kid? There's a good chance it was assembled by Irish slaves. Seriously.

The new president of the National Union of Students sounds like a lovely girl.

The Game of Thrones Mock Draft.

The Stevland Angus Appreciation Society

Brave socio-political commentary in 'My Little Pony'. Yes, really.

The man who put 50p on Leicester City to win the Premier League at 5000/1 and cashed it out for 45p after one match (which they won 4-2).

Richard 'fuckwit' Murphy had to publically apologise to Lord Ashcroft and make a donation to his charity for being wrong. I wish the legal system could force him to make an apology every other time he’s been wrong.

Paramount is trying to claim copyright over the Klingon Language. The Language Creation Society's legal reply is wonderful.

Why are we so understanding towards the crimes of Communism? A suggestion I’ve seen elsewhere is that International Labour Day should be replaced with a day of remembrance for the victims of communism and socialism. Good idea.

Gerry Adams apologises for tweeting the word "nigger". I’m amazed at the fuss about this. Might it not have occurred to the twitter commentariat that heading a terrorist organisation responsible for the deaths of 1,800 people is ever so slightly worse than typing a naughty word into social media?

10 things the bookies thought were more likely to happen than Leicester City winning the Premier League.

When the US Navy had flying aircraft carriers.

One-star reviews of ebooks you like but thought were too expensive. Let's ask an author who's also a trained accountant to explain why that is dumb.

Yet more anti-semitism among the far left.

...and on a not unrelated note...

This is not an aberration - "it is just what the modern Labour Party looks like".

The 'Roots' hoax.

The reigning Miss Universe is a total Final Fantasy geek.

Sorry, what? In what sort of society is it the responsibility of a professional association to tell its members not to **** children? I'm pretty sure the ICAEW never had to tell me that.

Explaining to Guardian readers about Facebook's tax situation.

The Russian Navy is a LOT smaller than the Soviet Navy.

Someone asked me the other day if we had any "politically incorrect" board games in stock in the Shop. I had to admit that we didn't. I'm all for tweaking the sensibilities of the terminally politically correct, but I think even I would draw the line well before this point.

Bill Gates's philanthropy will achieve more than Mark Zuckerberg's. Why? Because while Zuckerberg is just giving money away, Gates is using his skills and his contacts to get things done.

"We are all Jews here." The US soldier who led a revolt against German prison guards.

Fitness advice: How to Lose Fat.

Reports of 'Giant Rats' in London leads to increased sales of Chainmail and +1 Longswords.

What does the galaxy need most after the destruction of the Second Death Star? A Central Bank. (I would actually love it if this is the plot for Episode VII, but then I liked all the stuff about taxation of trade routes in Episode I…)

McLaren's idea of what F1 cars might look like in the future.

The genius of Tusk. (And isn’t Christine’s hair truly tragic in that photo?)

The Stop the War Coalition's Greatest Hits.

Why did the Great Depression last for so long in the US? The US Government's economic policies.

In a university of several thousand students, all with smartphones, how likely is it that precisely none of them would take a photo of a "poop swastika"?

Right wing? Apparently it's your fault that muslim terrorists killed over a hundred people in Paris. Who knew?

10 top writing tips and the psychology behind them.

"Why I wish I hadn't sold my Star Wars toys." (This guy’s lucky. Mine were either given away or chucked out.)

One of Jeremy Corbyn's own frontbench team thinks he's a "fucking disgrace".

Yay, one of my old politics tutors got mentioned in Guido Fawkes! Not necessarily in a good way…

Problems that normal people don't have.

Let's not give the vote to schoolchildren. (I wonder if people who think this is a good idea have ever spent much time with schoolchildren. Hint: They’re like students, only even less mature and even more extreme.)

More problems that normal people don't have: "We earn £190k a year. Do we need to sell our flat to afford private school fees?"