As if there's not enough to be upset about right now, I finally showed my kids Broadcast News last night and one of them promptly fell asleep while the other, possibly to troll me, started vocally rooting for William Hurt.

Ian Parker on Pete Navarro is every bit as elegantly savage as you would hope. A profile in hack politics for the ages.

A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:

It's like he learned English by reading only Zagat's guides

Now THIS???? is a white man! this is how you white man!!!!!!!!!

I have been thinking about this line today, on the value of editors, from the late great John Bennet, for no reason in particular.

mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one

Re-watched "The Beat My Heart Skipped" which led me back to "Fingers" (1978) and the original trailer which promises "Fingers ... will touch you." Simpler times!

I bet he can pronounce it now

Philippe Sands has written a terrific (and terrifically well timed) new book on the subject of impunity, and I'm going to be interviewing him about it next week at @92ndstreety.bsky.social. Come! @philippesands.bsky.social www.92ny.org/event/philip...

Now available at @acappellabooks.bsky.social: www.acappellabooks.com/pages/books/... Intro by @praddenkeefe.bsky.social #AnthonyBourdain

With apologies for more talk about a book that isn't out til the Spring ... I'm partnering with the wonderful indy bookshop Three Lives to handle orders for signed copies of LONDON FALLING in the US (slightly different setup in the UK about which more soon).

Two new job postings at the terrific org my wife runs, @thesentryorg.bsky.social, both of which might appeal to journalists who are looking to transition to an adjacent sector, or to social media/video/comms/editorial folks with interest in investigative work 1) thesentry.org/jobs/directo...

Last night I watched ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER and was fairly blown away by how prescient it feels in capturing the encroaching dystopia of this moment in American history. Today I woke up to this clip which feels on about 5 different levels like it could be an outtake from the movie.

First review of my new book LONDON FALLING, from Kirkus. At a moment when every day feels like a month and every month feels like a year, April 7 is still a very long way off. But the book is available for pre-order now. 🙏

that's right

Fascinating new report from @thesentryorg.bsky.social on what happened when Mali invited the Wagner Group into the country to help fight terrorism. Short answer: nothing good. thesentry.org/reports/merc...

In the weird, terrible moment we're all experiencing of contested reality / distorted reality / unreality, I was heartened by this wonderful Zach Helfand piece about the brilliant, heroic fact checkers of @newyorker. May they save civilization.

Big update on this piece tonight...

The gargantuan Upper East Side residence of Arthur and Jillian Sackler just hit the market. When the Sacklers lived there, the 12,000 square-ft triplex had its own dedicated address --- 666 Park Avenue --- but someone decided it might be a good idea to rebrand as 660M 😂 nypost.com/2025/08/21/r...

I saw George Mitchell give a talk last night about the diplomatic effort to end the Troubles, culminating in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and he said something so sobering but obviously true: if social media had existed in the 90s the negotiators would never have been able to get an agreement.

New book coming.

Reminiscent of one of my favorite articles from years ago: "Mexican Clown Convention Condemns Cartel Assassins Who Dress Like Clowns: 'These People, They're Not Real Clowns.'"

This is very sad news. Pineapple Street was a real pioneer, a dominant force in what I guess in retrospect was the golden age of narrative podcasts. It was also, in my experience making Wind of Change, just a wonderful company full of decent, creatively brilliant people. variety.com/2025/digital...

Kind of sobering to realize we've crossed some invisible time threshold and now when you hear people generalize about "millennials" it's no longer old people complaining about young people but young people complaining about old people

Growing up, a lot of the romance I associated with journalism was tied to war reporting, of the Vietnam era but also the Balkans - dashing, flawed, passionate characters like this. “What was the point of being a journalist if you didn’t make hidden injustices visible?”

I will always think of heat like this as Do the Right Thing weather

This searchable map of No Kings marches to join on Saturday is impressively crowded: www.nokings.org#map

Book publicity conundrum: at what point does your memoir receive so much advance coverage that by the time it is actually available to read people feel like they've already read it.

Baltimore's fledgling answer to the decline of independent American journalism -- the online non-profit daily known as the Baltimore Banner -- has just been awarded its first Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the city's overdose crisis. Subscribe now. Great cities have great metro dailies.

The New Yorker won three Pulitzer Prizes—the most ever awarded to a magazine in a single year—for its journalism on the effects of war throughout the Middle East.

What a wonderful surprise: SAY NOTHING just received a Peabody Award. I'm so proud of this series. If you haven't watched yet, it's on Hulu in the US and Disney+ everywhere else, please check it out!

Early contender for a defining image of this era.

Hope everyone with HBO sees these 2 new films- real life thrillers on how Dark Money took over America, setting the stage for Trump: news.wjct.org/2025-04-14/w...

Happy pub day to @michaelluo.bsky.social. STRANGERS IN THE LAND is a sweeping & meticulous account of the history of the Chinese in America, full of suggestive parallels to our present moment, as this terrific @steveinskeep.bsky.social review makes clear: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/b...

Piper, NO!

Happy pub day to @forestissacj.bsky.social, whose new book GOOD TROUBLE tells the story of how the movement for Catholic civil rights in Northern Ireland was inspired and influenced by the civil rights movement in the U.S. www.derryjournal.com/news/people/...

It feels so surreal as an American to hear about Green Card holders asking relatives of mine to delete text exchanges on their phones for fear that they'll be searched by the authorities and those private conversations will become the pretext for illegally deporting them. But here we are.

It seems weird to post good news in the midst of all this fresh hell but this was a nice surprise, and I'm so grateful to everyone who helped make Say Nothing. www.irishnews.com/entertainmen...

A few years ago I visited the National Museum of African American History & Culture with my grandparents. When we stepped out of the building my grandmother kept repeating the words “I lived it. I lived it. I lived it.” She’s still here. That history is still in her bones. You can never erase that.

A good reminder for all you journalists out there: never underestimate the power of (sic)

You guys have to read the full article. This shit is insane.

Ah yes, I do love a tricky "ethical question"

new saddest six word story just dropped

Congrats to my brilliant wife @justynapg.bsky.social who has just been named Executive Director of The Sentry, a fantastic organization dedicated to investigating and combating illicit finance, corruption and kleptocracy. thesentry.org/2025/03/03/8...