Elite cycling stays close to its roots. My tale of Tadej Pogačar's return to his home village on this week's From Our Own Correspondent on BBC Radio 4 and World Service. From 23'10" - it's the the "and finally" item. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

There are certain media outlets I will not work for, even for decent pay. Continuing to create content for Twitter/X, for no pay whatsoever, became untenable with the change of ownership and resulting changes to the platform. Jim's points are spot on.

My take on Albania's "AI minister". That's a minister who's an AI, rather than a minister for AI. @andihoxhaj.bsky.social reckons there may be some substance behind the PR. Edi Rama also explains himself. www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Serbia is on the brink of civil war," said Crotia's PM Andrej Plenkovic at today's Bled Strategic Forum. Is that correct? Well, thousands of high school students and their supporters are on Belgrade (and other cities') streets tonight. But peaceful protests, not combat. n1info.rs/vesti/najnov...

The gig itself was one thing. The rhetorical contortions that members of Croatia's governing HDZ party subsequently got themselves into were even more dispiriting. When you find yourself justifying the use of an actual fascist salute, it's time to look in the mirror. But what if they already have?

Three years ago today, I saw De La Soul in Liverpool, ticking off a very large entry on my gig bucket list. Look at that set-up - a nine-piece band. Other hip hop acts take note - you can do better than a backing track and an empty stage (Tyler and Travis, I'm looking at you). Vale Dave/Trugoy.

Being a lazy journalist, I asked for a link for this. Then one dropped into my inbox, c/o @petepaphides.bsky.social. Truly, the universe serves the indolent (word chosen advisedly). For less than the price of six British flat whites - enduringly wonderful music. burningshed.com/index.php?ro...

Rounded up a lot of aspects of reconciliation and enduring divisions in Bosnia in a feature for DW's Inside Europe programme. Link in the post below.

I met Hasan Hasanović at Srebrenica Memorial Centre last week. We remembered one another from a very intense conversation 10 years earlier. Hasan now runs the Centre's Oral History project. Our chat went into my feature for BBC World Service's Weekend. From 26'30". www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

It's the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre. In neighbouring Bratunac, which is majority-Serb, photos of Serbs who died between 1992-95 have been placed at the side of the road. A Serb politician asked me why Bosniaks only talk about Bosniak victims, never Serbs. Genocide denial spreading.

Imagine how high the rating could be if successive British governments hadn't starved the BBC of funds, causing it to lay off countless numbers of experienced and committed staff.

Just a regular morning at Paris Gare de l'Est.

Final Monocle Daily of the week! Tom and Elliot have got that Friday feeling...

Another Monocle Daily coming up! Stand by...

My take on the "Trump Hotel" story in Belgrade - on the site of the NATO-bombed Defence Ministry/General Staff building. The project is currently in doubt following the arrest of an official accused of forging a document to justify the removal of the complex's protected heritage status.

How far down the Brian Wilson rabbit hole did I go? A couple of CD box sets, a t-shirt (thanks to The High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan) and tickets for this 2002 "comeback" gig. A very uncomfortable experience. Like a hostage video set to exquisitely beautiful music. www.theguardian.com/culture/2002...

Brace yourselves! About to go live on the Monocle Daily, with Elliot at the controls and Tom in the producer's chair.

Snakes on a plane? No, in the parliamentary debating chamber of Bosnia's Federation entity. The reptilian intruder sparked a rush for the exits during Tuesday's session. Interior minister Ramo Isak not impressed: "We were working when the shells were falling". www.klix.ba/vijesti/bih/...

It's hard to understand how safety regulations can allow the sale of passenger cars which are so dangerous to pedestrians and other road users. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Odd that there is a qualifier in front of "popular music". For an artist who had 3 US number one pop hits, plenty of top 10s, was a proper multimedia phenomenon and resolutely refused to have his music put in any one "bag". Sly and the Family Stone's influence was much broader than implied here.

I think this was posted before the news broke of Sly Stone's death. There's never a bad day to play the Family Stone. Music of joy, righteousness and funk, in sharp rebuke of those who would deny those qualities. That will remain so.

This is encouraging. Hopefully enforcement follows. The "green transition" won't mean much if car owners just swap their petrol/diesel cars for electric SUVs. Ideally they'd swap 'em for walking, cycling, public transport and car share. But that's another story.

In recent months, Labour has been in a huge fight with creative industry - and the House of Lords - over is plans for AI copyright, which are widely seen as being v v friendly to big tech This feels less surprising if Google has been 'sense checking' policy, as these documents suggest

Good to read this from a member of the governing party in the UK. One hopes the leadership of the BBC are making similar arguments.

I was a London cyclist for 6 years, starting more or less at the left side of this graph. Why did we wear lycra? The choice was: ride as fast as the cars, or die. The difference now is staggering. Congestion charge from 2003 started the change. Cycling started feeling (and was) much safer.

It's more than just a tax issue. It's symptomatic of the impunity which plutocrats enjoy - and their disregard for both the letter and the spirit of the law. It's not too late for authorities/regulation to change this - but it feels uncomfotably close to midnight.

Could be tricky for Kosovo to "hold talks" with the UK about acting as a "return hub" for people whose UK asylum claims have failed. After all, it hasn't had a functioning government since February. But hey, nice headline. news.sky.com/story/uk-to-...

Perfect response to Nick Clegg's complaint that the AI industry "will die" if artists'/authors' rights are (shock, horror) respected.

Pocket will soon be no more. Which is a major drag for journalists who rely on it for saving articles by country and subject (hello!). Tell me what I should be using instead, and why, please! www.theverge.com/news/672924/...

Just gave the Sky Follower Bridge extension a go for the first time in a few months. Found about 200 of my 700-odd Twitter follows, give or take a few false positives. That's a very decent proportion. So: Hi! Please follow back. share.sky-follower-bridge.dev?q=212 #skyfollowerbridge

This makes me want to download Docomo emoji immediately.

The pent-up demand for Stereolab biscuit cutters will finally be unleashed. Crunchy.

Yes.

Further reasons to push back against editors/proprietors boosting "working with AI". Because this is what they mean. And it undermines what remains of the public's trust in the profession. H/T @dlknowles.bsky.social

File transfer trouble resolved. Stumbled across a code for WeTransfer that brings the cost down to slightly below what I had been paying. Quite why I needed to get this from Reddit rather than their customer service is another matter. So, for any other frustrated WeTransfer users: WELCOME50

Britain is a wonderful country. But so much still depends on whether your family was on the right side of the Battle of Bosworth Field. Which was in 1485. www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ma...

Few publications have ever provided as much pleasure as The Phoenix comic. Chunks of Looshkin, Bunny vs Monkey, Doug Slugman and Squidbits have entered our family argot. And I possibly learned more from Corpse Talk than from my History degree.

#BBCNews - Melania Trump statue goes missing in Slovenia www.bbc.com/news/article... By @guydelauney.bsky.social

I appear to have written about Melania Trump being chopped off at the ankles. The statue of her in her Slovenian hometown, Sevnica, that is. In the course of writing I realised just how many Wes Anderson films I'd seen. And how many of them involve an unlikely heist. www.bbc.com/news/article...

A (righteous) response to an advert for a Hummer with "crab steering" or some such nonsense. A justification for buying SUVs/trucks is that there are so many of 'em that it's unsafe to drive anything smaller. By this spurious logic, we'll all end up commuting in 18 wheelers or cement mixers.

Last night's views on Albania's election. Much the same as today. Have a listen to the top of the Monocle Daily with @andrewmueller.bsky.social - link in the post below.

Here's an idea. Fund your leading source of soft power and information properly.

Got my Albania election chat on this morning with Emma Nelson on Monocle Radio's The Globalist. Get yer shell-likes round this. monocle.com/radio/shows/...

Curious about the music coming out of Yugoslavia in what Casey Kasem would have called "the Rock Era"? These people know their Crvena Jabuka from their Bijelo Dugme.

Four days left to get my novel #Luka for free on #Kindle. Pick up a copy now! Inspired by #Bosnia-#Herzegovina and the wars in the former #Yugoslavia. www.amazon.co.uk/Luka-novel-I...

To mark VE Day, here's my Dad. Talking to a younger relative back in 2015 on his 90th birthday in Trieste, where he served during WW2. During minesweeping operations in the Adriatic, his boat, the HMS Aries, came a cropper. There's a reason they got double tots of rum on minesweepers.

My dad would have appreciated this. He would have been 100 last weekend. And he lied about his age so he could serve in the Royal Navy in WW2. Dad was an eccentric fellow. But he was always very clear about where he stood on fascism. I suspect he and Ken would have got on famously.

They've missed arguay the best career u-turn of the lot. Steely Dan guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter's transformation into a missile defence specialist. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Erm, hang on... How can it be a "decisive" victory if there still has to be a second round? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Good on R.E.M. Aside: I always think of this as side 2, track 1 of Murmur, rather than the opening number. The LP sleeve lists the tracks in non-consecutive order. So I played the "wrong" side first - and still do. Open with Catapult, finish with A Perfect Circle. Perfection.