Goddammit, I don't want to like him, but then pictures like these keep showing up. That grin . . .

I am from the north of Scotland and am frequently told I have no accent by English-speaking people. That, or they say, "Are you . . . Canadian . . . South African . . . Polish - just where are you from!?"

His eyes ... They're like lasers!

Also they stay on for like 3 days before running out of battery.

Naked women=art, I guess. Plus ca change.

One of my favourite books, The Crow Road, starts with the sentence 'It was the day my grandmother exploded.' It turns out that she is cremated with a pacemaker.

I'm going to see him do a talk about his book at an author's evening this weekend. I am so freaking excited!

That's a big move, so it's natural to feel worried! Good for you though :) I know a fair few people who've gone over to Canada, so I'm sure there will be people there in your shoes - could you look for a meetup group or something for when you get over there?

Oh, sure. Massively creepy and controlling either way.

I think it was a gay relationship.

Rolf Harris was the tipping point for me. There is no good left in this world.

Apparently they collect them and stack them together. They literally shit bricks.

Didn't Byron keep a bear in his rooms at Cambridge (Oxford?) because he wasn't allowed a dog but the rules didn't say anything about a bear?

It's not about 'shaming' children, it's about explaining to them what is and isn't an appropriate costume. Dressing up as a concentration camp inmate is inappropriate, which the teachers recognised, but they decided it was ok as, as far as they knew, no one was Jewish.

The suggestion was tongue-in-cheek.

She suggested slapping the staff, not the children.

I agree - I don't think the kids were doing it out of any meanness at all, but I think it would have been a good opportunity for a teachable moment.

Obligatory 'no one will see this as I'm in the greys', but recently while I was working at a school a number of students dressed in striped clothes for World Book Day ('come dressed as your favourite literary character'). They were dressing up as 'the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'. I said in the staff room that I…

I swear to Christ I can't tell those three apart.