WASPIs: 'we had no idea about our pension age despite many marketing efforts, news headlines and availability of Google'. Also WASPIs: able to organise a template letter, tailor to own details, send to DWP.

Alternatively, if you wash every right-wing talking point as “legitimate concerns” don’t be surprised that racists feel able to chat shit. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

What does Robbie Gibb actually want? Because it looks like he wants to destroy the BBC from within

The astonishing thing about Musk's comments about 1,000 people turning up in villages and raping kids which has happened 'god knows how many times in Britain' - is that ROGAN just goes 'yeah' rather than 'what? Show me any fucking evidence'. He just let's it pass. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4wB...

The problem with having a royal family is that you don't get to choose them. So ex-Prince Andrew is never really going to go away until we abolish the whole rotten institution. Time for real change.

And this polling was done *before* the Reform MP Pochin said something that is unambiguously racist about people in adverts.

Next week: is ok to be racist? And mass deportations - edgy fun or sadly necessary?

Philp never fails to impress. You could show him two apples and he’d happily claim one of them was a misunderstood pear.

RE LIVERPOOL: No team has won the Premier League in last 30 years with more than 6 losses. So to retain the title after losing 4 in a row, LFC will have to go on one hell of an almost-unbeaten run over the next 29 games. Not seeing it.

I'm very NOT OK with the Economist (and prior to that, the FT) platforming Bannon. He's a dangerous fascist. 3 mins in he's ranting about civil war and some imaginary enemy while the hosts ask gentle questions about 'history'. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijf7...

Arsenal/Ecuador footballer Piero Hincapié translates to "Peter Emphasis" which is possibly the most Toast of London name you could come up with.

A pretty insane 4.8 goals per match (43 across 9 games) in the UCL tonight - some hefty scores (7-2, 6-2, 6-1) in there.

The club with the 65th largest football stadium in England are top of the Premier League, as it stands.

He’ll hate it! “Terrible blow to his sense of entitlement”. Justice is done at last!

Justice at last!

If there’s one thing you read today, this should be it: insightful, funny, both skewering and kind. Helen Lewis on top form. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

BBC: US Ryder Cup fans probably crossed line - Morikawa 'Before the tournament 28-year-old Morikawa, a two-time major winner, called on fans to "create absolute chaos".' www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/a...

In personal news I’ve been asked to be the next-but-one French Prime Minister, starting late-November / early December. Very excited.

Strong Kevin-the-teenager vibes

Where exactly did she “check”?

In other news, Kemi Badenoch's party has taken at least £7 million in donations from funders and directors of climate change denial lobby groups bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...

Just too close to reality for anyone’s liking

Making American Golfers Ashamed www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/s...

Rory McIlroy saying what the world is thinking.

ID cards are a bad idea as the UK can’t do large IT without huge scandal or data breaches, plus massive cost overruns, and also it will get outsourced to some nefarious outfit like Palantir. And it won’t solve anything regarding immigration.

Just looking back through the Ballon D'Or winners list, and how the hell did Andrés Iniesta never win it? What more could he have done?

"So, how exactly did we get to the point where the UK is being compared to a dictatorship and, given how inflamed the conversation has become, what - if anything - would it take to turn down the heat?" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Gatwick expansion is wrong. We don't need more capacity. The only infrastructure build that would actually make sense is a direct shuttle train from HRW to GTW to make connecting flights easier.

My vague hope that Your Party would make a contribution to national debate / stick it to the man is diminishing by the day.

Being "more serious" than Boris Johnson is a pretty low bar.

Labour MPs eyeing up a change in leader

Cold take: in 2 years time we will have forgotten this far right rally, Musk will have moved on, Starmer will still be PM and Labour will be narrowly leading the polls.

The media loves an angry fascist widow.

Despite Radiohead's best efforts to make ticketing fair, there's no getting past the absolute shitshow of a ticketing website (AXS) that gets you right to the end of the queue then decides you are a bot and kicks you out.

This profile is... rather kind to Kirk. He said outright racist things, frequently. But let's not go into that, eh? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Again that orange oaf has ruined my evening.

This is the most Wes Anderson leaders photo I’ve ever seen

This is one of those days where a burly man in a newsroom strides around shouting “Raynor’s gone! Yup, she’s gone” about 25 minutes after all his far younger colleagues saw it on social media.

Last year alone Farage will probably have avoiding paying about 4 times the tax that Rayner should have paid in stamp duty - paying 25% corp tax rather than 40% on increase in net assets of 1.2m. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Coldplay affair exposé is bad, but the company - Astronomer - has 12 'leadership' profiles and only ONE is a woman. Board of Directors - 6 men, zero women. It's a Bro shop. www.astronomer.io/about-us/

We've gone from 'inability to sweat' to 'inability to wear underwear'.

Club World Cup by attendance numbers: 62% overall, with 76% for the knock out games. Real Madrid got the best crowds - 95% across their 6 matches. 1,532,189 overall empty seats. minto.net/CWC-DASHBOARD/

#CWC with the last 3 matches all delivering over 70,000 spectators in the 82,500 capacity MetLife stadium, the attendance is now up to 61% overall. minto.net/CWC-DASHBOARD/

And so the Club World thingy will end with what Fifa probably wanted all along - a big European club final: Chelsea vs current CL winners PSG or previous CL winners Real M. Over 1.5million empty seats though. minto.net/CWC-DASHBOARD/

When will this guy catch a break? www.nme.com/news/music/f...

Good column by Hadley Freeman on Coombs and MeToo today, but no mention of Depp and the disgraceful puff piece her paper did last week which is all part of his “rehabilitation”.

Club World Cup Attendance tracker: knock out games deliver 72% seats filled, boosting overall rate to 60%. Real Madrid remain a huge draw. minto.net/CWC-DASHBOARD/

Fifa's Club World Cup hasn't seen much of an increase in attendance in the Knockout stage - it's running at 62% for those games, compared to 57% for the overall Group Stage. Big boost from Real Madrid - Juventus (96%). minto.net/CWC-DASHBOARD/

Fifa #CWC knockout begins, but the first R16 matches aren't yet filling up. Benfica - Chelsea only 1/3 full. Overall attendance tracker dips slightly to 56% attendance, 1.36m empty seats. minto.net/CWC-DASHBOARD/

This is quite an achievement www.bbc.com/news/article... 'I'd never heard of the Glastonbury Festival' - BBC News