Thatcher

Just an update on Mackinlay - both hands and feet amputated as a result of sepsis. Footage of him here.

Asma al-Assad, Syrian First Lady and wife of dictator Bashar al-Assad, diagnosed with leukaemia.

Lung inflammation and will undergo treatment.

More than two hours after the initial reports. Daylight is sharp disappearing and state related telegram channels are adding black flags to their feeds. Israel’s assessment here. Iranian state media starting to lay the groundwork for an announcement.

State media Fars requests the prayers of the people for the President.

Minister of Interior states no communication and rescue teams not yet at the site, contrary to some local media reports. Interior Ministry’s official line is just ‘awaiting further details’. As previously stated, if there was any notion that all was ok they’d be quick out the blocks to get that message across.

People spoke during the flight but appears phones have since disconnected.

Not so much a rigged vote as a statement vote. If everybody had accepted the fact that Israel were competing, sucked it up and got on with it without the insults and trolling, I am fairly confident her average song would’ve ended up middle of the leaderboard. But people wanted to make it political, and there we can see the result.

Sergei Shoigu dismissed as defence minister. Hope he steers clear of any windows or balconies.

I think a lot of people were motivated to vote for Israel purely on the bile that has been thrown her way, by ‘fans’ and other contestants alike. I voted for my winner, plus a vote for Israel just to piss off the lunatics. Andrew Neil watched it for the first time this year and voted 20 times for Israel, suspect many others of that ilk have done the same. You could see this coming a mile off after the Italian semifinal vote leaked. Anyway, thrilled for Switzerland - they got my vote. Disappointed Olly got 0 from the public - that seems incredibly harsh; as always the case there was much crappier songs that did way better. At least we were left hand side of the board, if even for a moment.

Trouble brewing… rumours of a disqualification of the Netherlands. They did not perform in their slot during the dress rehearsal. This follows incidents regarding the Israeli artist at a press conference yesterday.

Olly is a great performer but not consistent vocally and can be hit and miss. I think an issue is that he sounds great in the arena, but the vocals are more easily identifiable as weak over broadcast. See how the jury performance goes tomorrow, but if it’s performed well tomorrow and on the night he could hit top 15. Switzerland or Croatia’s to lose at this point I think. Netherlands could sneak it via the televote. I love gay Christmas.

Richard Tandy, keyboardist of ELO, has died aged 76. He’s no longer a livin’ thing.

Dead. Obituaries: BBC, Daily Mail, The Independent, The Sun, The Guardian, Daily Mirror

Peter Higgs has died aged 94.

Jerry Grote, who played for the New York Mets (1966-1977), LA Dodgers (1977-1978, 1981) and the Kansas City Royals (1981), has died aged 81. Two time All Star in 1968 and 1974, and World Series Champion in 1969.

Karen Yarbrough dead aged 73.

Doug Hoyle a hit for me here.

Audrey Chibis, Governor of Murmansk Oblast, stabbed and currently undergoing surgery.

He met a guy on Grindr and supplied him with the telephone numbers of other MPs, staffers and journalists. No real context given as to why he would do such a thing, but by his own admission he’s ‘weak’. So the implication being he met someone and was blackmailed. Will’s already announced he’s standing down at the general but I struggle to see how he could face his colleagues after spreading personal contact details about to unsavoury characters. What I can’t yet fathom is if this story is linked to the one the other week about the state actor and the honeypot snares, or if this is a different kettle of fish. The cyber security analysts quoted say this specific incident is not sophisticated so likely an individual as opposed to state actor. In my opinion it’s a resigning issue. What Will does with his personal life is for him, but to dish out numbers and open others up to it is a step too far. He may well just tough it out but it’s a sorry state of affairs.

Hazel Grove looking likely. The cesspit of Westminster Grindr.. those were the days.

Israel has struck nearby the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, with reports of senior officials targeted, possibly Ziyad al-Nakhalah or a leader of the IRGC along the lines of Esmail Qaani or Zahedi. Update: Mohammad Reza Zahedi, senior IRGC officer, reported dead.

Anyone pick Lagan Valley? No reason…

Joe Lieberman, former Senator for Connecticut (1989 - 2013), has died aged 82. He served as Gore’s running mate on the Democratic ticket at the 2000 Presidential election.

George Gilbey dead aged 40. Perhaps more known from Gogglebox than Big Brother. Obituaries: Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Mail