I feel like small matters such as “selling off most of the things that help governments to make themselves useful, out of pure hardcore ideological conviction” and “a pathological loathing for investment in services and infrastructure” may also have contributed

Amsterdam pop up now SOLD OUT - we can't wait🌷 Watch this space for news on PARIS and ROME very soon.....

Found my visit to Pope Francis’ tomb surprisingly moving. In the middle of the too-much-ness of Roman churches, it’s quiet and contemplative. Plus, the kerning forces your eyes shut so it looks like you’re praying.

tHeY r thE bəSt

So we have what in systems design we call Rational Irrationality. That is a series of individually rational decisions which lead to an irrational outcome. It is rational to limit access to highly sensitive information on an individual. It is rational to airgap the vetting process. /1

Types of American plays 1. I hate my parents 2. I hate my children 3. I hate my spouse 4. I live in an exciting/boring town 5. I am a special boy/girl/mystery.

No10’s account is incredible. I held Developed Vetting for nearly ten years and spent three years at the heart of the Cabinet Office. I have never heard of a Developed Vetting denial being overruled. Here’s why…🧵 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Read this while laying awake last night (after seeing the news about the collapse of the AMOC/Gulf Stream - civilisation ending stuff that’s already bumped from the headlines by More Oil Wars). In many ways the perfect companion to climate panic since, like the best art, it contains hope.

Shout out to my neighbourhood cherry and plum trees on this windy day, whose blossoms of confetti turned my walk into something triumphal.

Enjoyed this Brian Eno quote (in the always-excellent Maria Popova newsletter, The Marginalian) on burnout. The glue that connects artists, new or old, wildly successful or scrabbling for credibility, is our readiness to admit how much we can’t stand ourselves.

Not to brag* but it almost doesn’t matter where my kid goes for uni**, I got such a good spreadsheet going on***. (*patently a lie) (*also not strictly true) (***v much the truth, thank you)

The greatest trick the devil (Bernini) ever pulled was convincing the church that this horny sculpture was about god.

I don’t have faith in this cup of tea.

Almost finished reading this. Fascinating and horrifying in turns. The ‘our family is not going to talk about this’ brand of dysfunction taken to a national level.

I’d like it if one day my brain got the message that yes, I packed my passport and yes, I set my alarm and no, there’s no need to stay awake all night just because I’ll be travelling the next day.

Phwoar. This is some hot, hot knowledge right here.

Come to @adapalmer.bsky.social for her excellent book on Renaissance Italy; stay for a continual drip feed of the world's most fascinating stuff.

"The unearthing of the videos could prove damaging to Farage." Sure could. If we lived in a timeline where accountability were still a thing.

Right now, the UK is running mostly on wind and sunshine. When the Tories and Reform argue we should scrap Net Zero, fossil fuel companies and countries are speaking.

Mother’s Day was a lunch at my favourite restaurant and a trip to the bookstore so my family could chose me books. My teens must really love me because this (and not some great doorstop designed to get you thru a Russian winter) was my selection.

Wholesale electricity was nearly free overnight because of wind power. Why isn't that headline news on #r4today?

Apropos of nothing, it took humanity 2,700 years to finish digging the canal across the Isthmus of Corinth.

This is interesting, and not just for Americans searching for the escape hatch. So many countries are tightening up laws around who can get citizenship, and here’s Canada expanding one.

Mine believes my husband is named ‘tomorrow’.

Watched this last night. It was..fine? 3 star fine. Very similar in tone to Shrinking (and shares writers/producers/showrunners). Middle class people whose lives are at once chaotic yet somehow superior to yours. Says a lot when the character you most care about is the location.

People talking about how low their country ranks, which is fair. We should also celebrate Rwanda being at the top. This was deliberate, post-genocide legislation (min 30% women MPs) because of how sexual assault was weaponised during the war. ~64% is a change born of necessity and hope.

I hadn’t heard of Kanopy before. If you’re UK-based, there’s a smattering of UK libraries on there. Mine isn’t, but maybe you’ll be luckier.

I don't have kids so I dressed up my book as a child for world book day

Pure, delightful schadenfreude. I too have been Deutsche-bahn’d and I too want to fake-benefit from this continued suffering.

If I were paying $6mil for an apartment on the Upper West Side, I'd prefer my luxury en suite bathroom not to come with a glass prison for my farts.

Started watching this on @gralefrit.bsky.social’s rec and it’s as excellent as it is enraging. Profiteers not giving a shit about people while simultaneously giving them literally too much shit. There’s a connected, almost-too-on-the-nose metaphor looming after the news this week: /1

PSA for anyone else with a magnolia in their garden and the bravery to fight off their local squirrels.

This - after a public consultation that came down c95% against corporate copyright theft - is a hearty move towards this government’s spineless purchased representatives needing to be hoofed in the crotch by us all, in a big queue until they get the message.

🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work. This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public. Please spread the word. 🧵 1/4

Phew. Looks like Be Funny Or Die is going to be back as an ebook *this month*, courtesy of my lovely new publisher… (Revised edition in paperback to follow soon-ish…) But we rise from the ashes like a fart joke phoenix. AT LAST!

Early bird tickets sold out in less than a week, so buy yours soon!

Tried out an Italian conversation lunch group today. Stocked full of warm, friendly retirees, they all said I looked younger than I am and my Italian was great and this is now my favourite activity and I’ll be there every week.

If I understand numbers (and let’s be honest, I prob don’t): - the net drop in Labour + Tory + Lib Dem = 12kish - the net gain in Green + Reform = 15.5kish That’s a gain of 3.5k voters from last election. Reform’s total is that 3.5k plus the Tory drop. Have we hit the Reform silent-voter ceiling?

Nature, continuing to walk the line between 'I will amaze you (complimentary)' and 'I will amaze you (derogatory)'.

Made a perfect cuppa this morning (/humblebrag).

My therapist today called me as ‘a great person’ and I will now pay her whatever she charges, what a genius business model.

In case you, too, were thinking, ‘How do I let the BBC know that their choice to cut a pro-Palestine BAFTA speech (cause it’s a political hot potato) but leave in a racist slur (that the right wing is *dying* to bring back in circulation) was a terrible choice?’, here’s the complaints link.

Keeping the bay leaf in so someone can be king for the dinner.

Starting from the 1400 passage, I channelled my Middle English professor who would sway to the intonations. That got me through to the 1100s when the runes arrived. Not sure what it said; may have conjured the unheimlich.

Have spent the morning re-learning atoms, molecules and moles to help my kid with science homework. My brain is now cleft into 2 distinct zones. 1) yes, I remember this, this is easy, nay even enjoyable 2) I am old now and everything is hard

Just sitting here reading my Marcella Hazan cookbook like it’s a page-turning novel.

It’s Mardi Gras again (and, in some ways, 1958 again, minus the good tailoring).

17th cent. Quakers used fixed pricing in their shops because a) everyone is equal (so don’t charge some people more) b) honesty is paramount (so no haggling) c) excess profit is immoral (so don’t be a greedy grubby anti-reform Puritan) Our era = greedy grubby anti-reform Puritans but with tech

Washing machine: This cycle will take 1hr27mins Me: You sure? Last time you said that it took 3hrs38min WM: 1hr27mins Me: Promise? WM: Promise. Me: *watches it* WM: *time changes from 1.27 to 1.26* Me: *does 10mins of tasks and looks again* WM: 3hrs28mins