I still do a little food and drink related writing but largely I eat, drink, loaf around, walk my dog and rant about Birmingham City and the Government.
Who else will join me in challenging
@GavinWilliamson
to spend next week sitting, unvaccinated, in crowded classrooms next week to prove that he's convinced they're a safe environment? Please RT.
Kurt died peacefully tonight after a stomach condition that developed rapidly and catastrophically. If I don't respond to messages, don't regard me as rude - I'm simply too sad. He was a delight for the five years I knew him.
Anyone know the political leanings of the person who took a picture of Diane Abbott harmlessly enjoying a G&T on the Tube? Odd but I can't remember Boris Johnson's fans getting outraged by the photographer's actions.
OK. Can anyone with a knowledge of urban history or architecture suggest why this door in a garden wall in Hackney is so much smaller than other doors nearby and what the meaning of the caldron-shaped brickwork above might be?
Just saw some customers kicked out of Aldi, without being allowed to buy their trolley-full of stuff, for being rude to the checkout assistant. Quite fucking right.
Another 359 deaths recorded. If Boris Johnson is "proud" of his Government's response to Covid-19, I hate to think how many would have to die to make him ashamed. Incompetent, lying, inept fraud.
47 years since the Birmingham pub bombings. I was unaware of the horror until my mom raced into the Norton pub in Pype Hayes to check I was there rather than in town. How sad that 21 mothers were never to see their children alive again.
I've just checked available online bookings at several Birmingham restaurants for tomorrow evening. Virtually all are full. So if you've booked and fail turn up, you're denying other customers a table and costing the restaurant money. But mostly you're a great big flaccid dick
Let's hear Trevor Francis's name ring out loudly round St Andrews at our first home match, with banners held aloft celebrating Blues' greatest player
#bcfc
Good to see our mayor Andy Street's chummy relationship with Johnson and Hancock has left Birmingham's pubs, restaurants and cafes fucked. Nice work, Tory boy.
The Met appears to believe that the way to prove they take violence against women seriously is to be seriously violent towards peacefully protesting women.
At the very least Garry Cook should explain to Blues fans tomorrow why he thinks Wayne Rooney should remain in charge after his disastrous start as manager has caused us to plummet down the table.
#bcfc
Expect something absolutely wacky when Blues play Reading on Wednesday, like the manager choosing two strikers and putting players in positions to which they're actually suited. It'll be sheer lunacy!
The lead story on Birmingham Live's website is about how lovely it is to live in New Mill, Derbyshire, a two-hour drive from Birmingham. Reach's appalling ownership has wrecked the Birmingham Mail and its digital sibling.
Tories - welcome to Birmingham's fantastic ICC... you know, that place was built with the help of £50 million of EU money. Now sod off back to the 1950s and take your Brexit nonsense with you.
The usual reminder: if you've booked a table to eat in a restaurant, cafe or bar, bloody well turn up or if you can't, have the good manners to cancel.
@nadhimzahawi
No explanation in your arrogant letter about why you instructed lawyers to threaten libel action against those telling the truth about your tax affairs.
Soon pubs and restaurants will be able to serve customers outdoors. If you make a booking, turn up or at least have the courtesy to phone if you can't. Let's do all we can to help the hospitality industry.
I've just read that some sufferers of Long Covid complain that they can constantly smell fish and urine. Have scientists considered these people may simply be Villa fans?
Meet Duncan. A week ago Duncan was rushed to the vet because he nicked a chunk of cake containing dried fruit, which can be deadly to dogs. Today he was rushed to the vet after nicking a mince pie. He's fine. I'm poorer.
I've tried to be calm and have argued that Rooney should be given the January transfer window and several games afterwards to prove himself. But it's clear he's clueless about tactics, selections and man management. He needs to go now
#bcfc
@bruceydarlo
@jessphillips
Are you the same Bruce Atkinson who threatens to block anyone calling you a "gammon', the Bruce Atkinson who's ready to insult others but runs away when anyone insults him?
This is very long but well worth reading if you want a perspective of Birmingham without the mannered use of the word "bab" and endless mentions of Snobs and Mr Egg.
@i_iratus
Perhaps fee-paying schools could also set up branches in Rwanda and Tory MPs could send their kids there since it's a perfectly safe country.
The Blues team I'd like to see on Saturday:
Tony Coton
Martin Grainger
Noel Blake
Steve Bruce
Stephen Carr
Robbie Savage
Lee Bowyer
Aliou Cisse
Martin O'Connor
Kenny Burns
Geoff Horsfield
At this time of suffering, spare a thought for
@briandick
who is compelled to watch every minute of every Blues match and write copy that doesn't read simply: "They were shit."
Meet Duncan, a Weimaraner puppy who'll be coming home with us next month. I still miss Kurt terribly but it feels right to offer love, fun and a caring home to a new pup.
Eating two curries is all very well
@TomCruise
but in Birmingham you're no-one unless you head to the Blues after 12 pints of lager and eat five lukewarm meat pies. Up for the challenge?
BREAKING NEWS: A source has revealed that at tonight's top-secret meet-the-fans summit, Blues owners pledged that the ground will definitely be fully open by 2036. Maybe.
#BSHLOUT
If you've booked a table at a pub, cafe or restaurant tomorrow, turn up or at least have the manners to phone to cancel. Otherwise, you're a a great big smelly steaming turd.
When I was a child my mom would ask if I wanted a "piece" - by which she meant a slice of bread, usually covered in jam. Was this a Brummie term and is it still used?
Perfectly reasonable question and the small minded idiot Hancock responds in a way thats enough to make anyone’s blood boil. Insulting garbage. He should be prosecuted.
#torybrexit
#covid
catastrophe
@annettedittert
@AndrewW66619812
Badenoch leaking an anti-Gove story to the Times because she wants to be Home Secretary and is scared he'll get the job?
Just had breakfast with Maxi Lopez at the Square Peg. After he'd finished his Full English and two pints of snakebite, he said the Blues deal would be completed by midday
#ITK
Birmingham Live has begun a series of articles about notable places allegedly easy to reach for us Brummies. The latest is a beach only three hours' drive away. Three feckin' hours. A six hour round trip. What cack.
I just bought tickets for
@SolihullMoors
on Saturday. Website couldn't have been more user-friendly. Tickets as cheap as chips. How different from Blues.
Hey,
@BBCNews
, your impeccable impartial website doesn't seem to mention today's news that taxpayer-fleecing Boris Johnson has already made £3.7m this year from outside interests while rarely venturing into the Commons.
Arrest women protesters.
Introduce laws to make it harder to vote.
Outlaw "noisy" protests.
Appoint lackeys to key media posts.
Sack TV presenters who criticise you.
FFS, how much more evidence do we need that this is a dangerous authoritarian right wing government?
Things Northfield MP Gary Sambrook likes:
Big dinners (sometimes at public expense),
Pumping shit into rivers.
Thing Gary Sambrook dislikes:
Feeding hungry children,
Punishing corrupt Tory colleagues.
WATCH: Nigel Farage has a meltdown as he's caught out lying about his support for NHS privatisation, attacks on migrants and admiration for Vladimir Putin.
#Marr
It's nearly 6 hours since I had my Covid jab and I've yet to feel a compulsion to buy any of Bill Gates's products. I'm starting to think the anti-vax conspiracy theories are a load of shite.
So it's OK for Tory MPs to present TV shows but not acceptable for a TV sports presenter to offer his political views off-screen? That's a totally fucking coherent argument.
Getting caffeined up ready for my
@TalkTV
presenting debut this morning! I’ll be filling in for
@petercardwell
from 1000-1300.
Just going through the papers now - some big stories to cover!
If you're poor and vote Labour, it's the politics of envy. If you're comfortably off, you're a Champagne Socialist. At what income level is it acceptable to want a fairer society?
The Cubanos at Early Bird in Kings Heath is sensational - fabulous bread filled with slow roasted pork shoulder, ham hock, emmenthal, pickles and mayo served with avocado dipping sauce. Outstanding.
Pan fried...pan fucking fried... unless it specifies on the menu that it's been fried in a sock, I'm always going to assume that it was fried in a pan
#menubollox
Before you gloat too much about beating the Baggies, Bluenoses, just remember that there's a horse in a living room somewhere in Tipton that's going to get a right thumping when its owner return home drunk and angry.