Labour's communications woes in a nutshell. Rather than simply what its policy is, it relies jargon & nostalgia for a New Labour policy of the 2000s. I am sure that "Best Start Family Hubs" are wonderful institutions, but this messaging only makes sense to political anoraks. FFS stop doing this.

The ugliest building in the world is, incredibly, Iberia's most-visited tourist attraction. A useful fact in this New Yorker piece: once Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is topped out the second highest church in the world will not be a big city cathedral, but Ulm minister in Germany.

Defending Rayner as a working-class hero while she was buying an £800k flat in Hove was always lunacy (she says she's proud to be MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Droylsden & Dukinfield, all of them 260 miles from Sussex). The real damage is not to Rayner... 1/2 www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

This looks awful. The new #Eurostar 'terminal of the future' at #Amsterdam 'defines a new era for cross-border rail traffic, and brings together various time periods, technologies, aesthetics, and efficiency', its architects promise. 1/3 www.dezeen.com/2025/07/15/e...

This looks awful. #Amsterdam's new #Eurostar terminal boasts "minimalist interior design with curved ceilings... a nod to the station's barrel vaults". which "connects past and future," & "breathes new life into the experience of the station". It all screams... 1/2 www.dezeen.com/2025/07/15/e...

A rare voice of nuance in the Diane Abbott debate. Three things can be true at once: 1 that Diane Abbott is a mediocre MP with few real achievements, other than her important historical role as Britain's first black woman MP. 2 that she is also the victim of vicious racism on social media &... 1/3

Chaotic media management yet again. Removing the whip from these MPs (who are, apart from Maskell, unknown) does not make #Starmer look strong. It merely creates martyrs & distracts from today's real story: the Afghan data leak that the Tories tried to cover up. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

What short memories the media have. In their thumbnail sketches of the Marten family newspapers haven't found room to mention the role of Constance's great-grandfather & grandmother in the Crichel Down affair of 1954, which forced the SoS of agriculture to resign... www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

An ungenerous obit of Ian Blair. The Guardian views his career purely through the prism of the De Menezes case. In fact Blair deserves praise for rolling out neighbourhood policing, implementing the Macpherson recommendations, & resolving the Gurpal Virdi affair. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I feel sympathy with Metreweli: no-one shd be held culpable for the actions of a grandfather (especially one she'd never met). But had his Nazi past been uncovered by the positive vetting she must have undergone? Or was it unknown until the Daily Mail began digging? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Good reporting by the @greenwichwire.bsky.social as usual. The Greens' victory in Shooters Hill ward, #Greenwich, is a big upset. Labour ran a masterclass in how NOT to run a by-election campaign. Its candidate, Jummy Dawodu, boycotted hustings, & in a... 1/5 greenwichwire.co.uk/2025/06/27/l...

What a missed opportunity. Foster's proposed statue of #ElizabethII is essentially the same composition as Le Sueur's statue of Charles I, cast in 1633, put on a pedestal by Wren, & abominably sited at Charing X, where the regicides were executed. Has art not moved on at all in nearly 400 yrs?

Calling all south London friends... I'm speaking about my book about John Vassall (the 1960s spy) at the Catford Weekender festival next Friday, June 27th, at 6pm. Venue: The theatre at St Dunstan's College on Stanstead Road SE6 4TY. Tickets are FREE, at www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/sele... .

Good news. I've never understood opposition to #AssistedDying, with safeguards to protect the vulnerable (as in this bill). Improving palliative care isn't dependent on the current shambles continuing. MPs pompously declaring that AD will fundamentally... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

For Gen Xers like me, #FrederickForsyth is primarily remembered as a grumpy old man, always on TV in the 90s & 00s, complaining abt the world going to the dogs. Why are almost all the UK's thriller writers right-wingers? Ken Follett's the only exception IMHO. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Ali did good work calming tensions in Leeds last summer. But given his comments on Israel on October 7th, it's hard to see him a serious contender to be deputy leader of a national party. www.theguardian.com/politics/art...

Yet another example of a big story in an "unfashionable" town in middle England not getting the attention it deserves. If the fire had been in Cambridge, Oxford or a wealthy London suburb (rather than #Rushden, Northants) this would be headline news in national media. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mixed feelings about this. There's nothing wrong with occasional use of parks for ticketed music festivals, as long as they are well-run & damage is mitigated. Some opposition to them is selfish NIMBYism. But I dislike big business bullying even more. Bottom line: a good story should not be spiked.

I'm always amazed by the oddities of FPTP. In Hamilton Labour wins despite a fall in its vote: a boost for Starmer. Compare & contrast with the Uxbridge by-election of 23, when a 6% jump in Lab share, and a Tory majority cut to <500, was seen as a disaster for Starmer. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A really good piece about Lucy Connolly (the Northampton woman jailed for her Southport tweet). The nonsense from Toby Young & others needs to be challenged: she pleaded guilty to a serious offence, & if anything her sentence was more lenient than expected. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Extraordinary stuff is going on in New York City. It's a bit like Jeffrey Archer running for mayor of London regardless in 2000, despite his perjury conviction, or Ken Livingstone running again in 2008 and 2012. Er, hang on a minute...

1st rule of politics: learn how to read a map. 2nd rule: learn how to count. It seems that Reform in North Northants can't do either, selecting 4 candidates for a 2-member ward, Higham Ferrers. And the one who's withdrawn isn't the 1 who's moved to China... www.northnorthants.gov.uk/elections-an...

This is a big deal. This ind estate is on the edge of #Rushden (which is often overlooked as its one of the UK's largest towns without a railway station), right by the Rushden Lakes shopping centre. Question: why is a huge recycling plant, prone to fires, here? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

90% of this speech was inoffensive & in line with what any Lab leader (incl Corbyn) might have said. #Starmer has been badly damaged by the choice of two phrases: "island of strangers" (suggesting that immigrants are incapable of integration) & "incalculable damage"... 1/1 www.gov.uk/government/s...

If you're a #YIMBY looking for some amusement, read this moronic objection to a new town at #Taplow, which uses the presence of a station with frequent trains to London as an argument against, on the basis that the railway line will divide the new town in two! taplowpc.org.uk/wp-content/u...

I don't know Ivis Williams, or the full pros and cons of these property disposals, but this sorry tale is reminiscent of the Roberts administration's worst days in @royalgreenwich.bsky.social. Why does Greenwich Labour keep shooting itself in the foot like this? greenwichwire.co.uk/2025/05/09/l...

80 bottles of alcohol over 4 years works out as about 1 every 3 weeks. This really is not an extortionate level of gifts for the speaker of the mother of parliaments. Compared to his two predecessors (Martin & Bercow) Hoyle is an excellent speaker. Why the fuss? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

It's a wrenching read - Virginia Giuffre was abused and exploited by many men from the age of 13 onwards - but this is a stellar obituary in the Times today. For once the focus is not on Epstein and Maxwell, but on the human carnage they left behind them. www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

This looks like a v good new public building: certainly #Woolwich's best in the last 40 yrs, tho' the competition (execrable Waterfront Leisure Centre which, er, blocks access to the Thames, & bombastic 'Woolwich Centre' on Wellington St) is admittedly not strong. greenwichwire.co.uk/2025/04/16/n...

I am very surprised the job title "clerk" is still being used anywhere, least of all at the MOD. Does no-one remember John Vassall? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Extraordinary that BBC coverage of today's #boatrace made no mention (not in my 2 hours of viewing, anyway) of the bitter row over eligibility, aside from brief footage of a tearful Matt Heywood. Both Oxford & Cambridge crews cleared coached to say nothing about it. www.thetimes.com/uk/society/a...

I see that even the Jehovah's Witnesses have started using AI, to produce a photo of this happy crowd, suitably diverse in its range of age, race and gender, in one of its "no commitment or obligation" meeting invitations. The lack of authenticity makes the invitation even less appealing.

When will this performative virtue-signalling by politicians end? I can see a case for renaming places named after slave owners or those who opposed abolition. But claiming that the word "plantation" glorifies slavery is like saying "camp" glorifies the holocaust. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

On the day that the #silvertowntunnel opens, here is a piece I wrote a decade ago about why a new road tunnel is the last thing east London needs. The scheme seemed outdated then, and seems even more outdated now. alexgrant.me/2014/12/04/t...

#Badenoch should remember an iron law of politics: be nice to people on the way up, as you may meet them again on the way down. Defaming two Labour MPs for "coming in [to Israel] to do something that they were not allowed to do" is a catastrophic error of... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Good news, & long overdue. For years #GreenwichPark has been overpoliced by officious policemen who shout rudely at skateboarders, & even "have words with" parents of toddlers who remove their clothes in the playground. Good idea to merge them with local police. greenwichwire.co.uk/2025/04/02/g...

#Guardian journalism 101. Pick a successful British company (Tesco, Gail's Bakery, or in this case #Pret). Whinge about "homogenisation" & quote from jealous rivals. Segue to unrelated developments (such as closure of a cinema). The finale? Revealing that... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/business/202...

This may be one reason (among many) for Labour's woes. #Pennycook is a competent minister & MP, I'm sure, but he doesn't ooze charisma (and never has done). Labour shd keep Pennycook & McFadden in the background & push fwd ministers who 'speak human': Kyle, Nandy etc. labourlist.org/2025/04/matt...

This. There's a slight difference btwn Sarkozy & Chirac on the one hand, & Le Pen on the other, as they were both convicted after their presidential terms ended, not ahead of elections they might win. But the general point is valid. The media's amplification of far-right talking points is pitiful.

Why the left's failure to be sceptical about lockdowns was one of Covid's biggest tragedies- and what we should do about it. #fiveyearson #Covid alexgrant.me/2025/03/30/f...

Why am I not surprised that #KenLoach has lived in Bath - arguably the UK's most exclusive city - since the 70s, and is now heavily opposed to its new Rugby stadium? There's often much conservatism on the left, and ludicrous nostalgia for what places were like when... 1/2 issuu.com/mediaclash/d...

Quite apart from #AbuDhabi's poor human rights record, and the cheesiness of this ad, its central gag - Hollywood action hero in mortal danger concluding that "I need a vacation" - was done so much better by Arnold #Schwarzenegger, in #Terminator2... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/film/2024/no...

I don't like the slightly sneering tone of this. I'm sceptical about #AI, but its use for these purposes is akin to Googling. Another factor is that #PeterKyle is acutely #dyslexic. I don't see any need for a pile-on. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Strong Starmer/Rebecca Long-Bailey vibes from the contest to become Liberal Party leader & #Canada's next PM. Mark Carney is a technocrat with a long career outside elected office; Freeland a career politician striving to distance herself from the outgoing leader. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

In these dark times, the implosion of #Reform, with #RupertLowe losing the whip amidst allegations that he threatened the party's chair with violence, is more than just light relief. It is side-splittingly funny. Buckle up for a long & entertaining ride, folks. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Armstrong is a Gen X Giles Brandreth: occasionally funny, bearable as a DJ, but a deeply unserious man whose sincerity is always in doubt. Expecting him to talk sense on VAT on school fees, or any other political issue, is as absurd as asking Owen Jones to present Calm Classics on weekday evenings.

I've written about news of the death of my old house tutor at Sevenoaks School in the early 90s, Jim Scouse. I hope this is not just reminiscence about a good teacher, but a tribute to how a particular brand of Englishness made boys from all over the world feel at home. alexgrant.me/2025/03/06/j...

Labour must be the only political party in Europe that starts fights in empty rooms like this. Hasn't a party of government got more important things to do than make martyrs of members for advocating tactical voting in unwinnable constituencies like this? Pitiful. labourlist.org/2025/03/labo...

My instant reaction to Netflix's #ToxicTown (a 4-part series about a land contamination scandal in Corby, Northants): bravo. It captures the laissez-faire economics of the 90s, & the complacency of a Labour council desperate for "regeneration" at any cost, well. 1/5 www.netflix.com/gb/title/813...

No surprise that this is happening in Cambridge. It is almost a year since the László portrait of Balfour at Trinity was ruined, and still no arrests or charges. By allowing the destruction of Jewish art to go unpunished, Cambridge is now reaping what it sowed. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...