A thread of inspirational quotes from two of my idols: Kemi Badenoch and Ange Postecoglou (uh-oh, I may have gotten some mixed up... or have I??) 🧵

@biggreenbooks.bsky.social Hello! I was meant to buy a stranger a book months ago, but life intervened. Anyway, I'm here today to offer a book up to £15 ☺️

"Paulino, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" from @mrandrewcotter.bsky.social made me actually laugh out loud 🤣🤣🤣 Run to the end woman! #WorldAthleticsChampionships #BBCSport

Nothing— and I mean nothing— about this decision is more than the bare desire to harm.

You ever just think about how much it sucks that Musk bought Twitter and absolutely destroyed it? Like man, that used to be where I'd meet new people, make real life friends, etc. Now, whenever I glance over there to check something, it's just unrecognizable.

I first bought, and completed, this during Covid. Life has been very unbalanced recently, so I dug it back out and it's been so comforting doing it again. Thank you @mooseallain.bsky.social 😊❤️

Clare Balding: "Andrew C........astle" Me very loudly: "Oh FUCK OFF" #Wimbledon

Wowsers.

On the plus side: we're returning to that blissed-out period in the noughties when a £ was worth two $ and we could holiday like kings in the US. On the down side: We can't actually go to the US because they'll arrest us.

I broke my leg at 12 and thought being a doctor seemed helpful. Now after treating thousands of patients, I know the truth: Prevention beats treatment. Community beats isolation. Small habits beat big gestures. Parkrun teaches all three.

Just 24 hours until DAN HANNAN day. How will you be celebrating?

In Praise of Kim Leadbeater Regardless of how today's vote goes, she has shown us a politics of compromise, compassion and decency. We should treat it as proof of concept for a better kind of politics. iandunt.substack.com/p/in-praise-...

I’d love to know what Macron knows and what he just told Meloni. That’s one hell of a reaction. #G7

Not sure why you need to chase Reform voters when there are millions of disaffected voters who would quite honestly make do with a Labour party that showed a bit of compassion and vision.

Enough of this racist fiction. Enough. Not a single non-white person in England is in a job in the NHS *because* they are non-white. Not a single one. And as for the idea that England's criminal justice system goes easy on non-white people because they are non-white. Well. Just think about that.

Letter in Times today

Breaking News: Bernard Kerik, the New York City police commissioner who was hailed as a hero for overseeing the department’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, only to fall from grace after he pleaded guilty to an ethics violation and felony tax fraud, has died at 69.

Whenever I have to go out (and I don’t feel like it) I imagine there’s a group of birds who are “people watchers” that have been waiting their whole bird lives to spot an introvert in the wild and that they’ll be telling their bird friends about me for years and it kinda helps

👏👏👏

BREAKING NEWS 𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐍𝐈 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒* 𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐍 * See also our deals with Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Japan, Chile and South Korea.  Last night, I was fuming at Labour over this. Then I just engaged my brain and read the official gov.uk summary... 👇

“Starmer needs to start governing. Labour need to stop triangulating and start running the country. They are wasting the term they were given, worrying about a second one. They can do a lot of good, if they stop being terrified of losing power in 2029 and start using the power they have in 2025.”

Thanks so much @biggreenbooks.bsky.social & @lnr.bsky.social . Looking forward to reading it 🧡💙❤️

A thing of beauty.

This!

WTH was that 1 across all about on today's Mini @nytimes.com ?? Have you ever even listened to Doh, Re, Mi?? #NYTMini

Second child dies of measles as western Texas outbreak worsens

April and May, before the return of international cricket, when it’s just the Championship, before it all becomes frenetic, is one of my favourite times. The petals of the season slowly unfurl and there’s still time to enjoy the old, familiar, comfortable, rhythms of the game ❤️

Ohhh I’d been wondering why Ant Middleton had gone full “anti-woke, fuck the government, I’m moving to Dubai”. He hadn’t paid his taxes and had been living off directors loans while trading insolvently!

So, Heather Knight’s tenure as captain is over. She’s seen off five Prime Ministers and overseen the transition to the professional era. She’s an immense presence in English cricket but no one can stay on after a 16-0 Ashes drubbing. The bigger failure, though, is that there is no obvious successor.

barney's column this weekend is sensational www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/m...

Trump could have pushed for an end to the war in Ukraine without becoming actively hostile to Ukraine. Instead, he has imbibed Putin’s lies. Have written about the emergence of a new US/Russia axis, where it comes from and the staggering implications for Europe. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

Having watched with growing alarm the developments of the last 24 and 36 hours in Washington, I thought I’d take a stab at how the US media would cover this story if it was happening in a foreign country. Here’s that story that should be written this weekend: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/musk-s-jun...

WOMEN’S ASHES – 3rd T20: Please Mind The Gap

Words from today's #Ashes T20. TLDR: Dire from England. Not much else to say is there?

England Women 🤝 Nescafe Blend 43 Roasted in Australia

The DJ here at Manuka is playing the Charlie and Lola theme when England drop catches - sounds quite like clown music… Here for all on the ground musical reporting

Drugs, tea, and tennis for breakfast in bed today.

kyle walker: one of the great modern full-backs. and yet leaves english football (probably) with a strangely contested legacy based - at least in part - on a weird, problematic tabloid obsession with his private life and his physical attributes www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Meant to be having a hospital phone appt in 5 mins........will they call on time?!

Good on Heather Knight for using her voice in this way. We absolutely need to keep in mind that there is a group of women cricketers at the heart of this, whose hopes and dreams have been wrecked by the evil of the Taliban. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

this is great by tumaini on the scourge of tennis players cheating during practice matches www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

Just in from mammoth interview session to two bits of news. One that a DV perp got locked up because of something I did and that a vulnerable constituent had a a massive wrongful debt written off after our intervention. This is why I came to politics, this is why I'll just keep cracking on.

In other news, Nigel Farage didn't bother to turn up to the debate on grooming gangs in the House of Commons just now

If you’re finding this winter tough, you’re not alone. The NHS is offering talking therapies to support your mental health. Take the first step—visit their site to learn more and get connected to help.

We now cross to Maryam Moshiri at the Worlds Darts Championship.

Sushila Meena: How Sachin Tendulkar made this Indian girl an online cricket star

In bed with excellent #endometriosis and #adenoymosis pain. Happy New Year 🙄🥴

And we're off

Spurs. Every. Time.