Gwendoline Riley is one of my big personal discoveries this past year, her two most recent reviewed empathetically (they make complex demands on one’s empathy) here by James Wood. Looking forward to Riley’s new one out next year www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Such is the power of an apostrophe.

A lawyer for Nigel Farage (27th Oct 2025) promised "proceedings would be issued forthwith" if the Guardian were to publish "any allegation suggesting that Mr Farage engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour" A bluff? The paper has done so www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I had the pleasure and privilege of reviewing @svenbeckert.bsky.social's landmark "Capitalism: A Global History" for @bostonglobe.com. Out tomorrow from @penguinpress.bsky.social. Thanks to @katekilla.bsky.social for the opportunity. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/24/a...

Mamdani has an asset that isn't much discussed. Having been born outside the US, the office of President is out of bounds, which means he doesn't present a threat to the personal ambitions of a certain layer of prominent politicians in both parties. 1/3

"...in the city they call home." "...every New Yorker who calls the city home." So many of Mamdani's paragraph long responses end with these phrases. Don't underestimate the psychic and emotional charge of ending on the word "home," arguably the most powerful word in the English language.

On 8 Sept, at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, do come to the Jaipur Literature Festival event where Suketu Mehta and I will speak about Gujaratis. Do register! jlflitfest.org/new-york/sch...

!!

About sixth of the public hold extreme/toxic views on mass deportations even beyond asylum. This is not larger than a decade ago. Elites are shifting *much* more than the public (which is liberalising longterm & frustrated about asylum/boats in the short-term).

Such is the power of an apostrophe.

Actual freedom of movement, especially for the elderly, people with disabilities and families with children, depends on state-enforced rules like this

I learned too late in life what it is that could have made my life complete every day: devoting myself entirely to researching Corvidae. Really quite breathtaking creatures.

I was in Gujarat earlier this year and was struck by how much Gujarati sounds like Bangla or Bengali, surprising giving that so much India lies between Gujarat and Bengal.

Nice work led by two UMass physics undergrads who are apparently the first to ask whether viral-type particles actually are stopped by social distancing. The short answer: it depends a LOT on the room temperature. One takeaway: more physicists need to get involved in public health work.

Tree limbs merging!!

never really grasped the appeal of potholing

if dems want messaging help, stop telling people you're "fighting back." it sounds like you're being mugged. call off the podcaster search, take your ridiculous money pile and try opening some food banks and free clinics. hurricanes are coming and the feds have no plan. looks like an opening to me.

I wonder if British journalists have a custom keyboard shortcut for "whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon"

If the Immigration White Paper does indeed reduce immigration by 100K/year, this is likely to push up the deficit by about £7 billion a year. [by end of OBR forecast period - *after* taking account of reduced demand on public services.] New @ukandeu.bsky.social blog ukandeu.ac.uk/immigration_...

Net migration has halved. Should the Government be celebrating? @jdportes.bsky.social discusses ukandeu.ac.uk/immigration_...

Fox says farmer is not responsible for securing chicken coop

Came home to find a copy of this in the post. That feeling of joy when first holding a physical book I’ve worked on never gets stale. Lucy Rose is an amazing artist and the designers at DK have done an awesome job.

🚨 HUNGARY: A new proposed law would give the government sweeping and authoritarian powers to punish critical civil society organisations and media. It also sets a dangerous precedent for the EU and the wider corporate sector. Our statement here ⬇️ www.transparency.org/en/press/tra...

Astonishing. Paul is right. Well worth the time. Another bloody book I have to read.

😆

This column doesn't hang together, just at the very basic level of "is 1914 before, or after, 1925?"

I enjoy the Wisdom of Crowds podcast w/ @shadihamid.bsky.social and @dmarusic.bsky.social and always come away thinking, as I did on this occasion. But I have to say I felt Damir's Moral Repudiation—a rejection of morality's relevance in international affairs—was at its most unconvincing this time.

Above the, er, call of duty.

The High Court has allowed my client Mr Kerman’s Judicial Review of the Charity Commission’s report on Kids Company. It’s not often a judge finds a regulator to have made “unbalanced and one-sided” innuendos, and findings that were “extremely unfair” and irrational. Thanks to Leverets instructing.

UK ‘the sick person of the wealthy world’ amid increase in deaths from drugs and violence

I've now seen a bunch of articles about the dearth of white guys publishing literary fiction. The phenomenon is real, as far as I can tell, but IMO the articles would be better if they mentioned that "literary fiction," despite its historical cachet, is today just one small genre of publishing. 1/3

We are just over thirteen months away from the tenth anniversary of 23rd June 2016 EU referendum (which would be almost six and a half years of Brexit itself, from 31st January 2020). That can be used in various ways by a range of actors. It is useful to think about its constructive potential.

If I were a schoolteacher, I would start every class with the announcement "You kids need to be taught a lesson."

Agreed. May I say, with lofty condescension, that I use semicolons all the time? And I do so precisely because they moderate flow in a way other punctuation marks do not; they give clarity to "lists" of sentence phrases; and they otherwise enable an effective intimacy between sentence phrases.

Interesting

Quite a tale.

More voters now view Labour unfavourably than ever did under Corbyn - two thirds - with barely a quarter favourable. A quarter of the electorate on your side isn’t enough to win even with fragmentation and a big electoral system assist bsky.app/profile/youg...

Over half of Labour's 2024 vote is considering going to the Lib Dems and the Greens A much smaller share — 25% — is considering Reform UK And Reform switchers appear less willing to return to Labour than Lib Dem / Green switchers Finds exc @thinksinsight.bsky.social polling for PolHome

Yet another literary jewel from the Emerald Isle! Here's my review of Donal Ryan's "Heart, Be at Peace" for @nytimes.com. Out next week from @vikingbooks.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/b...

Here's the cover for my next book, "Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley," about the rise of the tech right and the 2024 election. Available for pre-order now. In bookstores 10/7/25. gildedrage.com

A headline so good that I don't even care what the story is >>

Immigration fell by around a third since the election. Visas for work, study, family down 460,000 (33%) in 2024 Visas for care + dependents fell 237,000 68% (348k to 111k) Asylum claims were up 25,000 @migobs.bsky.social summary/Home Office data migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/press/migrat...

Why did Labour not just shrug and point to these numbers? Baffling self-sabotage.

@stephenkb.bsky.social: I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the difference between “incalculable damage” and “everything is hunky-dory” is not “we were going to have 88,000 people coming in by the skilled worker visa a year, and now we are going to have 49,000”.

“People are only strangers if you don’t talk to them” is the line. That’s it. Print it on shirts.

Turns out it's actually not at all complicated. It's just dense with a lot of information, much of which is irrelevant, which becomes apparent once you get past the noise.