Latest issue of the APCO Geopolitical Radar - I am one of the contributors, but all of it is good. apcoworldwide.com/radar/

@brusselsairport.bsky.social The length and slowness of the non-EU passport queue at Arrivals is a disgrace. What impression of Belgium does this give to visitors?

Another needlessly involved analysis of an old Target book. This time: Doctor Who and the Giant Robot (1975). With graphs, parliamentary Written Answers, and the Oedipus complex: 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/09/doct...

At the Galaxy Awards last night, the Best International Related Work category was jointly won by “Terry Pratchett: a life in footnotes”, by Rob Wilkins, and “No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters”, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

I have acquired a Chinese name, workshopped for me by Chinese friends on Tuesday night. I will now be known in Chinese as 白怀珂, Bái Huáikē - 白 means “white”, which is fair enough, and 怀珂 sounds a bit like “white” but also suggests that I have a heart like a semi-precious stone. I can live with that.

I get quoted in the Global Times: mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qfvge_9j8r...

Obama on Charlie Kirk:

Is that actually a record? Or did Truss push it further down?

Your occasional reminder that Ursula K Le Guin was an Only Tom Doctor Who fan and we have to respect her for it.

My article in the latest Zero Gravity News (translated from the one that appeared earlier this year in Uncanny Magazine). mp.weixin.qq.com/s/RonWHLBzAP...

It should be needless to say, but it is perhaps at this moment worth saying, that transgender individuals have the same right as anyone else to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Review of Michel Barnier's Brexit diaries by someone who is a keen observer of British and European politics @nwhyte.bsky.social : fromtheheartofeurope.eu/my-secret-br...

what we’ve seen from the right is the most insane case of cancel culture i’ve ever witnessed. the left has never even done close to a fraction of a fraction of what they want to do now

Maybe Ursula used the pen name Philip K. Dick for some of her work, just a conspiracy theory

Very interesting to read your own experiences triangulating the book review, Nick.

Dorothy and Billy Whyte go around the world on their honeymoon, visiting Hong Kong, Shanghai, Japan, Hawaii, San Francisco, her family in New York, his family in the UK and Ireland, and finish the year in France. She discovers that she is expecting a baby. fromtheheartofeurope.eu/family-histo...

That fact spawned a more fantastical discussion at my blog a few years back camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/c...

Your occasional reminder that Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick were in the same year in the same high school, liked each other’s writing, but never met in person.

As a fan of both Tolkien and Sayers (and particularly a fan of "Gaudy Night"), it always saddened me to read about Tolkien's "loathing" for her (and that novel). This paper provides some great context for the divergence. Recommended!

Came across this fascinating paper by David Doughan on J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy L. Sayers, sex and gender. dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcont...

A modest proposal for Canada: open.substack.com/pub/theline/...

Oh, come off it, Duolingo!

Fascinating (though possibly paywalled) long piece on Transnistria and the Sheriff company which controls it. on.ft.com/4njDPmq

Sir Robert Worcester, legendary pollster and founder of MORI (now Ipsos UK) has died at 91. He taught so many people so much about the value and importance of opinion polls in modern democracies - everyone in our industry and politics owes him a debt of gratitude.

Arthur Askey appeared on both John Logie Baird's experimental broadcasts, and the last series of Swap Shop

Simply the best slide I have ever seen in a powerpoint presentation care of @premeemohamed.com’s talk at @banffcentre.bsky.social re: Putting the Science in Science Fiction

Fuck them all.