Beachcomber Farage delighted with haul of washed up Tories

'I come down here every day to pick up any piece of flotsam lying about which might be of use to me," Nigel Farage told reporters at a press conference on the beach at Clacton, carrying a bucket and a litter-picking stick.

'It's really quite amazing, the stuff you can find washed up on thr shore which was swept overboard from the sinking Tory ship.

'I've found a bedraggled Nadine Dorries and an oil-soaked Lee Anderson, and earlier this year I picked up a semi-comatose Danny Kruger which I've been trying to coax back to life.

'And, just this week, I stumbled across a beachcomber's dream - a 2018 vintage Nadhim Zahawi. I bet you'd forgotten they made those, hadn't you?

'I'm going to scrape the rust off it, hammer out the dents, and try to sell it to you as new.

'And just remember - all these specimens might look like political rejects who were nothing short of a joke when they were in government. But now they're getting hosed down and flogged as the fresh and exciting Reform government of the future.

'Now excuse me while I go and look for a half-drowned Matt Hancock."

Our foreign policy is - ooh look! Another pothole!

The government is taking action on potholes.

A spokesman told us, 'Potholes are a big issue on the doorstep, and in the road.  We're keen to show that we're addressing the everyday issues, like potholes, that affect hard-working families.  And working people.  And NASCAR Dads.  And Mondeo man.

'Was Mondeo man invented by a focus group?  Never mind.

'The great thing about potholes is that we know where we stand.  Potholes are bad.  There are no good potholes.  And potholes are caused by the weather, and everyone knows that we can't control the weather.  Putin can, but we can't. It's an affordability issue.  Difficult decisions.  Broadest shoulders.  You know.

'The situation in Gaza is scary.  Iran is scary.  Venezuela and Cuba and Syria and Greenland and Ukraine are scary.  And hard to understand.  But potholes are only a bit scary, and they are easy to understand.  So we are comfortable about declaring war on potholes.

'Just don't ask me about any of those countries - too complicated.  Shifting sands.  Shifty operators.

'It's so hard to know what to believe these days.  Keir has sent everyone a book called War for Dummies, but it's way too long.  We're waiting for the podcast.

'So we have nominated January as pothole month, and we will be laser focused on potholes.  We'll be counting them, ranking them and giving prizes for the biggest one.  That's all we have the bandwidth for.  Nothing else.  Just potholes.'

hat tip to Titus for title

7 corporate buzzwords to try and avoid in 2026

You've made it through the first couple of weeks back at work after Christmas and New Year. Back at the coal face, picking off some low hanging fruits and regularly having lunch al desko to meet a hard deadline for a soft launch. But what meaningless corporate jargon will you have to endure throughout the rest of the year? Thankfully, Newsbiscuit has 'got in the weeds' and 'curated' the 'best of class' business buzzwords for 2026:  

'Shoulder to the wheel' - a phrase dating back to Aesop's fables, circa 550 BC. and the story of Hercules and the Wagoner. After the Wagoner's wagon gets stuck, Hercules implores him to put his shoulder to the wheel and start up his horses, as the good Lord helps those who help themselves. How appropriate it is, then, then Mike from sales, is using this historic phrase to convey to a meeting that he's spent all of 15 minutes using ChatGPT to help him put together a piss poor powerpoint presentation. 

'Skin in the Game' - are you Warren Buffett, looking for a phrase which gets across the importance for investors to have substantial personal risk in business ventures they are promoting? Or perhaps you play a lot of American sports, and are familiar with the complexities of skins scoring systems? No, thought not. So please don't use this to try and indicate that you have even the slightest interest in contributing even a paragraph of text to the interim report your team have to write for a client by 5pm today. 

'Proof of Concept' - are you designing a prototype for a space shuttle? Or building a bridge using innovative, more sustainable materials? Great - definitely interested in seeing some early workings as to whether this thing might work. But we don't need it for Richard's 5 question satisfaction survey to all customers that he's spent nearly 3 months working on whilst avoiding all other work tasks. 

'Scuba Mode' - the 2026, TikTok friendly phrase to replace the now dated 'deep dive'. When a colleague says they're going 'full scuba', gesticulate at them by moving a clenched hand up and down vigorously, and say that its a universally recognised scuba hand-signal. Also caution them against getting the bends by finishing the work task too quickly. 

'Sunday Scaries' - unnecessary workplace relabelling by your HR department of the horrible fear you had on a Sunday evening as a child when the music to Ski Sunday, Songs of Praise or Last of the Summer Wine came on the telly, knowing that school was only 12 hours or so away. Tell Helen, your HR manager that under the capitalist system, the relentless extraction of labour from labour power to create surplus value inevitably generates a sense of alienation. And can she sign off your request for a half day next Thursday for your son's school play when she gets chance - thanks.  

'Sweep the Sheds' - unless you're a stable hand, a pig farmer, or a peasant living in a small outhouse in the 16th century, you've really got no excuse for using this phrase to indicate that you're willing to do the most basic and humble of tasks for the benefit of the organisation you work for.  Note to your CEO - picking up a couple of half empty coffee cups at the end of an all staff meeting does not constitute sweeping the sheds. 

'Reverse mentoring' - the idea that everyone, even the most senior person, can learn from someone more junior to them. Sometimes dismissed as 'teaching your grandmother to suck eggs', this would make traditional mentoring 'teaching eggs to suck your grandmother'. Not sure that works.