the booker prize judges make a lot of fuss about having to read 153 books. but assuming an average weight of 750g per book, that comes in at 115kg of literature - or just under the weight of a single adult male ostrich

When a typo in your Google search leads to new and exciting philosophical positions

Worth remembering many people will be unfamiliar with terms like "indefinite leave to remain" and "settlement". People know what immigration is + citizenship, but settlement is less intuitive So its important for those countering the proposals to put in schoolgate language what is being proposed

This is beautiful and fitting, Hen. And you're so right about production functions, sacrifice and self-interest, collective spaces, all of it. x

Sam is right to say that the correct argument is that a Reform government CAN & probably would attempt things that are ethically reprehensible + currently unlawful + broadly unpopular if they commit to using majority power in the UK political system to repeal all judicial limits on govt + parliament

Elegant and true, from Nick Spencer in the Spectator: "Auguste Comte, surely the man with the greatest claim to being the most influential philosopher no one today has read"

Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart. Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point. Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.

It was obvious when EU citizens had the terms of their settlement here retrospectively revoked that a precedent was being set and that, in time, the argument would move on to other categories of migrant, always tending towards a purity test of who is ‘indigenous’. Unless resisted.

Astonishing, both technically and in the intensity of how it captures the scene. #London #SouthBank #Linocut #Printmaking #Rain #Puddles #Art #WomensArt miss London

Well this definitely feels like a sensible mass distribution format for a “big intervention” from the PM. Honestly nuts isn’t it, probably more people will see your posts on here than read a print-only op ed.

What I find odd about the earnest debate over whether the US is "sliding into authoritarianism" is that no serious political commentator could put their hand on their heart today and say they could imagine a US election that could result in a peaceful handover of power to the Democrats.

So excited for this to be in the world

From Feb 4th 1939

Why I am catsitting in a city tyrannised by cars

A government that tolerates this presides over the de facto decriminalisation of racial hatred in Britain. A blind eye is not acceptable. bsky.app/profile/sund...

I just think there are specific reasons why, however hard she tries, Kemi Badenoch is never going to get the votes of racists.

I have come to appreciate the sociopathic fluidity with which taxi drivers negotiate the Jeddah traffic. It’s either that or curl into a whimpering ball until we hit something or even reach our destination

[me, a journalist who spends all day every day on a social media app where the discovery algorithm is personally controlled by its owner, captain birdseye] you know, a lot of people are talking about fish fingers, we should probably cover that

One of the worst things about progressive, or leftwing, social media is that the discourse is so heavily shaped by America - home to the developed world's worst and most ineffective left. I feel they should shut up until they've achieved, say, paid maternity leave and proper universal health care.

Bluesky delivering a purity outburst against *a senior black MP* talking about racism is a great example of everything wrong with this website.

I think it's a sign of how cowed the American media is that we're getting pieces like "you have to understand, in Korean culture, it's considered very rude for someone to lock you in a brutal prison camp for a week for no reason." Like yeah, any free people would be offended by that?

I just keep thinking about how if South Korea locked up a group of American engineers for arbitrary reasons the American media would treat it like the Iranian hostage crisis

The FT has, among the media, the best incentives to be sensitive to reality.

What Musk said in his prophecy of violence is a significant step worse than what Powell says in "Rivers of Blood" in 1968 Powell wants an extreme policy of remigration, ostensibly to avert his prophesised disaster Musk tells UK citizens to prepare for violence, to support violence & to take part

There is a serious failure in UK govt, politics & media to take sufficiently seriously what Musk said & meant with "fight back or die" = Violence (interethnic civil war) is inevitable so pre-emptive violence - vs migrants, minorities & political opponents - is necessary to avoid existential erasure

There aren’t many, precisely because the culture here is so relentlessly hostile to them. Also, a lot of men here have soft GC views and simply never mention the subject.

Until we make Twitter Lawful Again, our government are presiding over the de facto decriminalisation of racist abuse in Britain. I am unclear if they simply haven't noticed, don't particularly care to prioritise it, have no idea of how to stop it, or are just frozen by fear bsky.app/profile/sund...

RFK Jr. Warns Mistress That Condoms Cause Autism

ChatGPT was only pretending to write a book? Wow, it really is human.

People seem to think that "British security” means making sure no tanks arrive in the British Isles. It is a bit more complicated

If you think the LLM told you something, ask yourself: What is your belief about who's talking? What is feeding that belief?

Expect Reform to offer roles and recognition to figures from the disordered counterpublics that make up their coalition, a way to secure the loyalty (and votes) of their cohort. It worked for Trump, so expect a poundshop version of that from Farage.

This is wonderful from Sean Ingle on Leonard Barden, the longest serving columnist of all time and one of the greatest chroniclers of chess www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/s...

Back from Sweden and Norway, I have restarted the substack with some thoughts on poetry and death. open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...

Nigel Farage just repeatedly denied – under oath! – to @raskin.house.gov ever banning journalists he doesn’t like from his party’s conventions. This happened to me *literally today*.

Exciting news: Christmas bookings are now open at a pub I went to precisely once at some point during the pandemic which needed my email address in order to sign up to the then compulsory table service system. Glad they’ve emailed me about it.

At an event with DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said officials will push to end "all vaccine mandates" in law. "Every last one of them is wrong," (Politico) That’s measles, polio, chicken pox and tetanus… America’s anti-science anti-intellect shift is going to kill so many people.

1/ As we celebrate for them, here are twelve ways trade policy could impact the upcoming nuptials of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce...

If you honestly believe the Russians hit the EU delegation in Kyiv by accident, I don't think you should be allowed to operate heavy machinery and I frankly question if letting you dress and bathe yourself is a violation of our collective duty of care.

The saddest truth

Don’t come to the Lake District, it’s horrible here. All the inhabitants have webbed feet and bad breath, the sheep are feral and two of them can bring you down, and most of the food is radioactive. I recommend Cornwall.

An odd choice for JD Vance to come to Britain on holiday, where he might get arrested for saying a prayer

I am Spar… No, *I* am Spartacus

www.theguardian.com/society/2025... I wrote about the death of Naina Mishra, and what happens when family estrangement and mental illness combine. What do we owe to vulnerable young adults who want to be left alone?

McCabe was great.

reverse heist movie where a single snake has to chase all the priests back into ireland