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Officials at No 10 and the Foreign Office were aware of supportive emails between Lord Mandelson and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when the prime minister initially defended the former ambassador on Wednesday, the BBC understands.

Sources stressed Sir Keir was not aware of the contents of the emails when he stood by Lord Mandelson at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

The BBC understands that a media enquiry outlining details of the messages between the pair was sent to the Foreign Office on Tuesday, and passed on to No 10.

Yet again, never crossed my desk and I didn't think to ask.

Interesting retraction by the Grauniad. It looks like they were being trolled about Tyler Robinson being a leftist.

"Editor’s note: This article was updated on 12 September 2025 to remove summarized quotes after the verified source who attended high school with Tyler Robinson said after publication that they could not accurately remember details of their relationship."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/charlie-kirk-suspect-washington-utah?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

This may be an example of the phenomenon whereby friends and neighbours disavow knowledge of the criminal, leading to observations like "he was quiet and kept himself to himself".

I think the speculation is ill-advised. If he committed murder (and remember this is still sub judice), then he's repulsive regardless of his views. It doesn't prove anything. There are certainly lunatics at all point of the political spectrum, and I've no intention of defending someone who I might agree with on something but who pursues it with murder.

Id ban children from being given combined surnames. So we protect future generations from having to invite the Smith-Templeton-Hydrangia-Brown-Roose-Billington-Smyth-Jones's over for dinner

Exactly. How can we tell PLU from People Like Them if even the oiks have double-barrelled names?

“I am familiar with the name Bassington-Bassington, sir. There are three branches of the Bassington-Bassington family - the Shropshire Bassington-Bassingtons, the Hampshire Bassington-Bassingtons, and the Kent Bassington-Bassingtons."
"England seems pretty well stocked up with Bassington-Bassingtons."
"Tolerably so, sir."
"No chance of a sudden shortage, I mean, what?"
"Presumably not, sir."
"And what sort of a specimen is this one?"
"I could not say, sir, on such short acquaintance."
"Will you give me a sporting two to one, Jeeves, judging from what you have seen of him, that this chappie is not a blighter or an excrescence?"
"No, sir. I should not care to venture such liberal odds.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves

The only author who can make me chuckle simply with a standard turn of phrase.

At the very beginning of the Johnson premiership, Private Eye experimented with a Wodehouse parody of Boris and Dom. Which did get to the satirical heart of the matter. I think it was called Leaves and Booster, which is a decent gag in itself. It didn't last. I like to think it's because, for even talented mortals, that density of funny is insanely difficult work.

And PGW made it look so effortless.

Id ban children from being given combined surnames. So we protect future generations from having to invite the Smith-Templeton-Hydrangia-Brown-Roose-Billington-Smyth-Jones's over for dinner

Exactly. How can we tell PLU from People Like Them if even the oiks have double-barrelled names?

“I am familiar with the name Bassington-Bassington, sir. There are three branches of the Bassington-Bassington family - the Shropshire Bassington-Bassingtons, the Hampshire Bassington-Bassingtons, and the Kent Bassington-Bassingtons."
"England seems pretty well stocked up with Bassington-Bassingtons."
"Tolerably so, sir."
"No chance of a sudden shortage, I mean, what?"
"Presumably not, sir."
"And what sort of a specimen is this one?"
"I could not say, sir, on such short acquaintance."
"Will you give me a sporting two to one, Jeeves, judging from what you have seen of him, that this chappie is not a blighter or an excrescence?"
"No, sir. I should not care to venture such liberal odds.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves

The only author who can make me chuckle simply with a standard turn of phrase.

At the very beginning of the Johnson premiership, Private Eye experimented with a Wodehouse parody of Boris and Dom. Which did get to the satirical heart of the matter. I think it was called Leaves and Booster, which is a decent gag in itself. It didn't last. I like to think it's because, for even talented mortals, that density of funny is insanely difficult work.

And PGW made it look so effortless.

And no-one (I think) has successfully parodied or imitated it. (Is this a challenge for AI? I would be interested to know if AI can produce Wodehouse so that it reads like PGW in his prime (1925-1940?)

The Faulks one isn't bad at all - I certainly kept my copy rather than putting it into the charity shop pile.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/10/jeeves-wedding-bells-faulks-wodehouse-review