It’s taken me four weeks to write this, because I barely knew where to start.
Channel 4 showed the singular and vastly wonderful The Banshees Of Inisherin at the weekend, and as brilliant as it is in its own right, it also came loaded with all sorts of resonances and finally prodded me into action.
The equally singular and wonderful Jonathan Nash, who will be known to readers of this isolated and quiet island parish under a variety of names, died last month, of death. It was sudden yet expected, and in those respects very much the opposite of the man himself.
Alert viewers may have already noticed a new addition to the central links column: The Sealand Gazette. (If so, they should award themselves 200 Alert Viewer Points and add them to their Viewerscore card.)
The Gazette came about because I have a bad habit of using Twitter as a sort of Post-It Note for news stories I want to keep on file for future reference. It is, of course, singularly badly suited for this purpose, because finding anything you posted on Twitter more than a couple of days ago is a hideous trial and – as I learned only recently – Twitter deletes your old tweets forever when you exceed your quota, which varies according to how prolifically you tweet but can be as little as a few weeks.
So instead, now there's the Gazette, the newspaper for people who increasingly wish they lived on an isolated former gun platform in the middle of the North Sea. Published through the rather nifty Scoop.it platform, the benefits are that it's incredibly easy to use – a couple of clicks adds a story – and both persistent and searchable.
(NB To search the Gazette use the "FILTER" function below the banner, not the Search box at the top of the page, which searches the whole of Scoop.it instead.)
At launch many of the stories are old-ish, because I've been going through my Twitter account grabbing everything I've posted there since April before it gets wiped, but from now on it'll be hot-off-the-presses stuff, and there's even a Page Three girl today as an introductory bonus. (Though of course, it's a rather sinister and troubling one.) Readers can also easily suggest stories to add.
The Gazette should be a lot less trouble to maintain than the short-lived "Reasons Not To Recycle" blog, and fulfil much the same purpose. (Misanthropic nihilism, essentially.) But I'll make a special effort to throw in a few nice stories too, because mass reader suicide isn't the goal. Although in the broader sense, it is a bit.
Southernbystander on The Land Of No Laws: “Hatey, ‘Sure. But the wokerati infesting the NHS . . .’ Yes, but that ain’t socialism. Socialism is what founded…” May 19, 20:58
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Right, I’m bored with this place now… too many colonialists on here the nicht. Anyway, I’ve skelped thair erses raw…” May 19, 20:52
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Land Of No Laws: “AUSTRALIA URGED TO PROTECT WOMEN-ONLY SPACES AFTER ‘INSANE’ COURT JUDGEMENT Australian legislators have been urged to uphold biological reality after…” May 19, 20:44
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “You are hilarious… I bet no-one has ever said that to you before, eh? Well, said it and meant it,…” May 19, 20:40
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Fuck off. I found that comment to be quite useful, but only if you follow my instruction and… well, fuck…” May 19, 20:31
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Looks like the SNP is in a death spiral despite the electoral “victory”. As for the Presiding Officer’s comment on…” May 19, 20:22
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: ““Which is why you plug the book in English.” As I now have you doing, too. Really it’s just too…” May 19, 20:00
Aidan on The Land Of No Laws: “That’s five posts from you Northcode – none of which say anything interesting or useful.” May 19, 19:56
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: ““And again, that’s why we find that close to 82% of all comments BTL for these articles are written in…” May 19, 19:54
Mark Beggan on The Land Of No Laws: “Are these colonialists with you now? Do the voices keep you awake at night?” May 19, 19:47
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of No Laws: “@ Northcode says: 19 May, 2026 at 7:01 pm “Professor Alf Baird’s book, Doun-Hauden, is a must-read for indigenous Scots.…” May 19, 19:29
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of No Laws: ““According to the Scottish 2022 census 82% of Scots can speak in the Scots leid” And thus, dear readers, that’s…” May 19, 19:06
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Professor Alf Baird’s book, Doun-Hauden, is a must-read for indigenous Scots. And at only £4.99 (I think) it’s braw value.…” May 19, 19:01
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of No Laws: “if I were a king I’d be crying oot: “A POINT, A POINT, MY KINGDOM FOR A FUCKING POINT!” Is…” May 19, 18:59
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “” Hoo mony fingers am I holding up? Ane? Or Twa?” A dout ye hae the wit tae coont as…” May 19, 18:55
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “According to the Scottish 2022 census 82% of Scots can speak in the Scots leid. Hardly a minority. Three hundred…” May 19, 18:42
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “The colonialists have been spraying their pish all over this place theday, hiv thay no? Thank God for Alf Baird…” May 19, 18:36
TURABDIN on The Land Of No Laws: “«Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed that HS2 will cost as much as £102.7bn – £70bn more than originally planned –…” May 19, 18:36
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of No Laws: “I guess we should hyphenate Alf-Northy, all the better to capture the mysterious and near miraculous fact that one pops…” May 19, 18:22
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Hyphenated compound words aren’t just two or more words joined together… the joining creates a new single word with a…” May 19, 18:08
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of No Laws: “Breaking news from the Grooming Gangs inquiry. “Anne Longfield, a Labour peer who was appointed in December to lead the…” May 19, 17:45
Aidan on The Land Of No Laws: “Since you’ve obviously never been there, don’t know anyone that’s worked there and haven’t done any reading on the subject,…” May 19, 17:42
Aidan on The Land Of No Laws: “Are you saying this kind of thing doesn’t happen in “R”?” May 19, 17:32
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of No Laws: ““Wee Barbara fae Manchester semi naked trampling all over Mecca in flip flops eating egg & chips is an insult”…” May 19, 17:27
Geri on The Land Of No Laws: “Aww.. & How exactly did they escape & where did they find the money to go track down the BBC?…” May 19, 16:21
Geri on The Land Of No Laws: “Gawd, whit a bunch of hyenas. The GCC don’t need the USA. It’s the other way around. America needs GCC…” May 19, 16:15
Aidan on The Land Of No Laws: “No, former soldiers smuggled it out of “R” and provided it at significant personal risk. As you rightly point out,…” May 19, 16:02
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of No Laws: “@ Geri says: 19 May, 2026 at 3:40 pm Just when I conclude there really is no hope for you,…” May 19, 15:57
lothianlad on The Land Of No Laws: “yet again…. 100% correct Stu!” May 19, 15:53
