Brett-Butler

The song is called "Choke Me", and the singer has a pet chicken. Hmm.

Let's admit Bulgaria to the EU. 2 minutes research later. Let's admit Bulgaria to the EU again.

Josh Simons, who has definitely resigned because he wants to put country first, and not because he reported unfavourable journalists to intelligence services claiming them to be pro-Putin stooges. Anyway, the constituency in question is Makerfield, which had a 5,399 Labour majority over Reform UK in 2024. It forms part of Wigan council, in the most recent council elections Reform UK won 24 of the 25 seats up for grabs (including two in Ashton-in-Makerfield), so will fancy their chances here, even with Burnham running.

Now to see how long it takes until we see posters with “Wes He Can” in it.

Still don't like that the performances have a frame rate of 25 fbp whilst the rest is in 50 fbp. At least it's an improvement of the year that it was all in 25 fbp, but I prefer it when it's not shot like that.

He's probably getting 50 grand a word for that.

Looks like the radiators will be unbothered for the next 3 minutes.

Finland do feel like winners.

There will be two by-elections in Scotland following elections to the Scottish Parliament by two SNP MPs, in Aberdeen South and Arbroath Broughty Ferry respectively. In 2024 Labour were only 859 votes behind the SNP in ABF, so if Andy Burnham were to attempt to get back into parliament in one of these, that one would be his best bet (SNP's majority in Aberdeen is a healthier 3,758), although I very much think it'll be a double SNP hold. Fun fact about Arbroath - it is one of the few cities/towns in the UK that has a street with "Battenberg" in its name, alongside Belfast, Bolton, Romsey, Portsmouth, Abercynon, Leicester and London.

Sweden is a bangery banger let down by a singer who just can't hold a note. Would probably dig the instrumental.

So after Labour's historic losses in the local elections, apparently the antidote to reviving Starmer's reputation of being out-of-touch with what the voters want is...to bring back Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman (the latter being an strange one given Starmer's problems started due to the appointment someone p****-adjacent). Catherine West (who?) has said she will challenge Starmer for the leadership if no minister does by Monday, which could lead to the first leadership challenge of a sitting Labour since Jeremy Corbyn was challenged in 2016 by Owen Smith (who?). I think we'll see manoeuvres with someone else before the end of next week.

That is some top tier lineup. There’s not as many “big dogs” as last year (although Richard E Grant’s probably the biggest name), but lots of household names, and a few “I’m sure I know that face from somewheres” too that people will get to know over the series à la Cat Burns. Feels a lot more comedian heavy that last year though.

In Crocodile Dundee, the line is "That's not a knife. THAT'S a knife!" It's probably mis-remembered as "You call that a knife? This is a knife!" due to the Simpsons spoof a few years later.

He's played an animated superhero an a supporting role before. He played Metro Man in "Megamind".

Numan’s Buffet Boy advert. Those danish arse-cheeks are the stuff of nightmares.

Four films clearing £2 million is some going, including one I hadn't expected to crack that on week one. It definitely feels like cinema is on course for it's best year in some time. Also nice to see quite a few family films in there, seems like there'd been a dearth of them for a while.

This will probably be one of those situations where the free market will end up dictating the situation. Already it's had an effect with two major sponsors pulling out, which will already hit the Wireless organisers in their pocket (particularly given how hard it is to put on a concert these days, the economics of putting on one has become near improbable due to increasing costs and regulations). There will be the down-bill effect as well - I imagine there will be quite a few artists that will be hesitant to play on the bill with him, even if it's on a different day, which means that finding other performers will be harder, and those that do will be able to command a higher fee as a result. The question will be whether this will lead to increased ticket sales or not - no publicity is good publicity in most cases, and Wireless has just been handed wall-to-wall coverage in the press for the past week, for better or worse. Whether the additional ticket sales gained from the publicity will offset those who may have considered going remains to be seen - it will be interesting to see how quickly it sells out, if it does at all. As for Mister West himself - whilst I am willing to forgive those who have sinned, even if the sins are as monumental in relation to his gross anti-Semitic outbursts, in a public facing position like entertainers he'll need to do a lot more to convince that his confessions are genuine, and take public actions that match his professed sorrow. I also don't agree with baring him from entering the UK (which has now been confirmed); by doing so you just run the risk of making him a martyr.

Add me again.

That gives it a screen average of £92, which is tiny and well below the screen averages of films in the top 10, so if it is expanding I'd be very surprised.

I take it One Last Deal with DANNY DYER didn’t do much then? What a shame…

The Bride (no relation) is on course to be the first big-budget flop of 2026 then, it also majorly underperformed in the USA (just over $7 million), and barely outgrossed a "goes down well with tea and a biscuit" cosy British film "Mother's Pride", which I barely saw any publicity for compared to the wall-to-wall coverage for "The Bride". Pixar will definitely be happy with the performance of "Hoppers" then, although still lower than one may come to expect for Pixar, although I imagine that like Zootopia 2 before it, it will have a long tail (if you pardon the pun).

Given that there's been a dearth of new, decent budgeted Hollywood spoof films for over a decade, I'm guessed that people have been so starved for one for so long that they'll take what they can get. They're definitely starting to have a moment again, with last year's Naked Gun reboot doing decent numbers, and Fackham Hall performing better than I expected. I wasn't a fan of the first two Scary Movie films (found them too crass), but enjoyed the more Naked Gun-esque 3 and 4 (never saw 5), so I don't expect to be as keen on this one, given it brings back the original writing cast. Not too sold on the trailer, but if it leads to Hollywood dipping its toes in the spoof genre again in a big way, then Godspeed. Also, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, despite being credited as writers, did not contribute anything to the script of Scary Movie. They were credited due to the quirks of the WGA system. Then they used that as leverage to destroy spoof films for everyone.

I’d thought that Labour would have no chance until Keir Starmer went to the constituency this week to campaign. If he’d thought that Labour were toast here he would’ve stayed a million miles away from it, so he must have some good data for his party on early postal voting. Of course if they lose now then he’s even more tainted. I’m still thinking a slight Reform win, but I think Labour will be second, rather than the Greens.

For such a wide release, £7 million does seem a bit underwhelming. What was its screen average like compared to other films released this week, and some of the other big tentpole films recently?