iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I have just bought an extremely stupid (and stupidly expensive) present for this cat and his sister. I assume his instinct will be to ignore it entirely but I have planned for this: it will become for a time the only way he can get chicken Thrive (which he spends 90% of his time trying to get).

A derpy black cat is curled up on my lap, with one bright orange eye open. He looks quite pleased with himself.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 28/09/2026

"What I need to know", Huffpost, is contained at the top of the news story, at least if it's competently written. What I don't need is three junk questions for engagement bait between the headline and the top of said story. Utter slop.

"What you need to know"

What conditions were imposed on the suspects' bail?
Which hostile state is being considered in the investigation?
Why did Trump criticize the suspects' bail decision?

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 28/09/2026

It is genuinely quite weird seeing Unite pick up the political agenda of the Lib Dem Orange Book authors. As a policy agenda, it's much closer to Thatcherism than a traditional social democratic agenda, let alone democratic socialism.

A Unite TV monitor calls for “fair tax thresholds” for higher rate UK taxpayers, saying it should be set at £66,000 instead of £50,270

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 27/09/2026

#CurtisFest2026 #CurticeFest2026 (Bonus chart on the death of class as a predictor of voting, which is a *hugely* under-appreciated phenomenon)

Sorry am on mobile so can’t type out the full table but it’s a photo of a slide as described in the post.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 26/09/2026

🎵One dreamie morrrrre…🎵

A tuxedo cat looks an awful lot like she's singing. For some reason she has a pink shoelace draped around her (she likes to carry it around).

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 25/09/2026

Socrates added that the collapse of society has accelerated when people share absolute modern day nonsense and attribute it to him.

An incredibly stupid socrates meme too long to type out, sorry.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 24/09/2026

Sometimes people ask how my cat came to become called Cersei. This is why.

A black and white tuxedo cat stands in her hind legs, face towards the camera. Her pink nose and lips give her an *extremely* severe countenance. She chooses violence.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 21/09/2026

Round the decay Of that fun world, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Gates and a sign on a beach say “FUN WORLD”. They mark around a 20ft square fenced-off area, containing nothing.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 20/09/2026

"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational triumphal arch!"

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 16/09/2026

A recent one. (I now routinely do it as a quick pass just before I file).

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 16/09/2026

When the Conservatives go for the ice cream van shot they dispense the ice cream

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 12/09/2026

Pictured: Andy Burnham being informed of the second £36 million donation to Reform.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 12/09/2026

The blurred face of a cat denying there has been a recent Incident, that if there was an Incident it wasn't his fault, and if your leg is bleeding, no it isn't.

A black cat with a snooty face (blurred) is looking to camera from very close by. He's on a lap. A second cat is on the floor, not looking to camera, partially covered by a pink shoelace.

Have the two cats staged an epic battle over said shoelace, maybe using the lap as a staging ground, perhaps resulting in civilian casualties? Who can say.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 09/09/2026

Jaime has his chairman of the board photograph already.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 07/09/2026

Date yourself with a snap of your first ever computer.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 05/09/2026

Sky News has, at least, put "protest" in quote marks, which is more than the BBC has done, even after several updates.

BBC headline: "Disruption at Port of Dover as masked men hold protest"

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 01/09/2026

Got a label printer and Jaime is already learning things.

A black cat is curled up on a bed. He appears to be reading a label that's been very loosely stuck to his fur. It says "cat". Fact check: true.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 31/08/2026

I broke the news to my dad and stepmother, having found it out myself because it was on instead of the cartoons I was trying to watch.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 30/08/2026

Everyone's got their under-desk bunkers fully stocked already, no?

Under the legs of my desk, with a pair of converse resting on it, is a hatch, just about visible on the laminate flooring.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 28/08/2026

Cers has gone nearly nine minutes without attention and, as ever, she has chosen violence.

A dangerous blur that might just be a tuxedo cat is clawing at the arm of a desk chair, occupied by me. Her face is just about visible and her expression looks Serious.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 28/08/2026

Go on then, for old time's sake: here's something I wrote in 2017: Milo Yiannopoulos is the walking embodiment of bullshit. archive.ph/ZK2co

Milo Yiannopoulos Is the Walking Embodiment of Bulls**t

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 28/08/2026

I left the desk for...30 seconds? And she's moved the keyboard a good 10 inches or so. And I can't find the document that was open when I left, either. 😬

A tuxedo cat sprawls on a desk pad. Beside/beneath her bum is the computer keyboard she has displaced to sit there.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 25/08/2026

The black cat on the right has just spent five minutes clawing at me so I'd put my feet up – instead of working – so he could use me as a bed. The tuxedo cat in the spot he'd worked so hard from jumped up out of nowhere about 0.1 nanoseconds after I put them up. He is: not thrilled.

A blah cat is sitting on a desk. His expression shouldn’t be readable – he’s a cat – and yet it’s obvious he’s seething.

There is a tuxedo cat next to him, sitting on my legs, facing away from the camera but with her head turned back to look at him (and us). In a similar way, she is somehow *radiating* smugness.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 24/08/2026

🎵I dreamed a dream in times gone byyyyyy🎵

A black and white tuxedo cat looks an awful lot like she's gone for the big operatic note

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 23/08/2026

There are dozens of us, I tell you! Dozens!

The vintage classic: "I'm one of the dozens of people worldwide that live in a country that's not America"

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 23/08/2026

If you've found yourself thinking that we're in the darkest timeline and wondering where it all went wrong, I think I've found the culprit:

A museum exhibit of a dead weasel. An accompany text panel too long to reproduce here explains that this weasel broke into CERN and interfered with the machinery.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 20/08/2026

I have made a handy visual guide to illustrate this point.

A Google Map showing Europe, with a red pin showing Ghent university, which is notably not within the UK.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 20/08/2026

Yet another burst water main in North London. Sure am glad Thames Water emailed us tips on saving water during this drought!!

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 19/08/2026

North Korea: 57 nukes Heinz: 57 varieties And we're supposed to believe that's a coincidence???

The red string conspiracy board meme from It's Always Sunny

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 19/08/2026

I did some actual reporting in Northern England! Featuring community pantries, beach baptisms, homeless refugees relocated from London to County Durham – and the problems that's caused – and a genuinely nice tale of County Durham parishioners paying for people's bus fares to go to mosque.

A green barred gate blocks the way to a jetty. The sea and sky are visible through the bars, and it’s a nice sunny day. A poster on the gate asks: BOATS ARRIVING AT UNUSUAL TIMES?

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 18/08/2026

Yeah this code just isn't at all ready for deployment, is it.

Number one trending topic: "Zohran Mamdani becomes NYC mayor".

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 16/08/2026

Just adding this as I never get a chance to use this gif.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 13/08/2026

"PSA: don't leave the house. Make our low-paid contractors do it for you instead."

A shitty notification from Zoom from Ocado

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 13/08/2026

I have been trying to write while in deadline this morning. Cersei has been demonstrating how little she cares for such concerns. THIS IS HOW I BUY YOUR THRIVE CERS.

A tuxedo cat has displaced the keyboard on a desk to spread herself out widely. She is looking directly at the camera as if to say "what of it?"

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 11/08/2026

I'm sorry, but if you run a pub called the Three Horseshoes it should be an actual crime to have this as your sign.

Three horseshoes hang from a sign post. Two of them are upside down.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 09/08/2026

Here's the long run graph...

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 08/08/2026

Jaime says happy international cat day to all international cats. Jaime is not an international cat. Outside is not his thing. He once got so scared outside he stayed under the decking for five days and nearly starved to death. In his own garden. But otherwise is a brave hunter, of course.