Pod listeners have probably picked up from Mike that something went wrong at SPLC, which abruptly kicked him to the curb. He sued and won a settlement. Here, Mike explains what happened. His story feels familiar to me and many others on the beat. michaeledisonhayden.substack.com/p/what-happe...

In Scottish lore, folk born on Good Friday not only have the ability to see ghosts but to order them about... #PhantomsFriday

I agree with this. I think he is ill - & it's likely he got targeted by political influencers - but it's too much, too soon. Also agree that publications should think carefully about their coverage - it's not socially or morally responsible to feed far right discourse just to give him a bad review.

This seems to have lasted forever & I still don't understand what it's actually about.

Pentangle.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYMk...

@bsky.app Cast announcement for Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil! A Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh Production A moving, funny, and deeply human story of family, football, and finding your way home. 📅 Fri 8 – Sat 23 May 🎟️ Tickets on sale now #Edinburgh #WhatsOnEdinburgh #Theatre

Jack Rosenthal is becoming a neglected writer but he's brilliant.

NEW: In my column for @talkingpointsmemo.com, I unpack some of the basics of what a conspiracy theory is and is not, where the term came from (spoiler: not the CIA), and why people find comfort in someone telling them who the enemy is. talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/what-th...

It’s lights up the aisle for #TheHighLife -The Musical opening night and on Captain Duff’s orders: be prepared to SING FOR DEAR LIFE. It's is jetting off on a Scotland wide tour. Tickets & full creative team here: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/the-h...

Most people hate the far right so they disguise their arguments in other arguments - like protecting native wildlife - but applied to people. They're all over environmentalism, history, folklore & pretend to care about animals, women's rights, gay rights or vaccines - but they're just racists.

Piss off Stephen Marche. | Marie Le Conte

New blog post in which, prompted by this quite unsettling picture of musical comedy star Gertrude Lawrence, I go on a deep dive into the KKK on the variety stage in 1923. Didn't post this yesterday in case it looked like an April Fool. It definitely isn't. www.naomipaxton.co.uk/blog/april-0...

Required reading if you want to understand our “not normal” politics now. US far right crypto funding, racial ‘science’, Christian nationalism and the transnational revival of fascism all come together at a nodal point in the heart of Westminster: investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/the-sanctuary/

The anecdote about him blaming crime on 'race' does indicate he was always dodgy.

What I'm Here For has its Scottish Premiere at the Tron tonight! Directed by Matthew Lenton and text by Josephine Eusebius, What I’m Here For is a co-production between internationally acclaimed companies Vanishing Point & Teater Katapult. www.tron.co.uk/shows/what-im-here-for/

If we could make this a comedy celebration day instead of a lying prank day I would be happy.

Only 3 weeks left to catch the Café D’Jaconelli exhibition! Step into the story of a true local icon: from bustling café days to community memories that still live on today. Don’t miss your chance to experience it before it’s gone. 📍Maryhill Burgh Halls 📆Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm

My second book, NUCLEAR FEAR, about Cold War pop culture can't find a publisher. I'm writing a nuclear war novel instead. In the meantime, here's Part 1 of the prologue to NUCLEAR FEAR where I talk about my childhood in the nuclear 1980s. FREE TO READ.

"myths go viral, and context doesn’t."

When I was 13, Alan Taylor, my school’s inspirational head of music, took a choir incl. me (treble) to the Berlin Bach Festival to sing Bach’s B minor Mass. I fell in love with Bach and have since sung this (master)piece umpteen times. A favourite moment. Happy Birthday JSB youtu.be/V1W_IgUg5-4?...

Been gawping at XCancel & James Dreyfus thinks the media are pushing stories about people who are scared of dogs because Muslims in the UK are going to ban dogs under Sharia Law. Glinner thinks antiwhite racism is a thing & Wings Over Scotland is smearing the SNP as antisemitic trans perverts.

Spotify and Apple Music “minutes away from being obsolete.”

The government seems determined to make them morally indefensible while dependent on Western backing. I don't see this ending well unless someone with better judgement takes over.

James Baldwin said “the human responsibility” is “to love each other.” it’s through love we learn how other people suffer. it’s through love we learn humility. it’s through love we grow up. & it’s through love we fight for justice. we need more love theorists.

"The picture of Orwell with his Indian nanny is the most violent image of the absurdity of racism. In that colonial relationship, the woman you despise, you give your most trusted being – it doesn't make sense" Very insightful to speak to the acclaimed Raoul Peck about his new film, Orwell: 2+2=5 👇

Some harsh attitudes to mental illness. I've seen 2 people have episodes, one thought she'd seen the Queen kill Diana & MI5 was after her & the other thought he'd been evicted & accused of grooming because he was a Muslim. He wasn't a Muslim or evicted, his mind had latched on to a news story.

It's depressing that yet another person in Entertainment is dodgy. We're probably going to have to accept that the 90s & 00s are going to be as tainted as the 70s & 80s.

If Matt Goodwin wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar 🐛

Bloody hell... Blair dragged us into a war that created ISIS & he has the nerve to act as if 'the left' protesting about wars is an 'alliance' with Islamists.

🔴 NEW 🔴 Reform’s policy chief James Orr last weekend shared a stage with a white nationalist politician whose immigration policy is “if you’re black, go back.” 📝 @desmog.com 👇

If someone says something along the lines of "it's not racist to like ice cream", their statement is true, but there's a 99% chance they're the kind of person who'd somehow find a racist way to like ice cream.

‘The CIA kept my client in a coffin for 11 days in Guantanamo, then waterboarded him until he died’ I talk to Scotland’s leading human rights lawyer about British complicity in US torture, and how the behaviour of the west led to the collapse of human rights globally In @heraldscotland.bsky.social

The dystopia of Nineteen Eighty-Four was drawn from George Orwell's lived experience, not prophecy Raoul Peck, director of stunning new documentrary, Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5, interviewed by @dorianlynskey.bsky.social Link in post below ⏬

If a spy drama involved random teenagers being recruited from Snatchat you'd think it was fanciful, but they are getting recruited from Snapchat.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski may have won his campaign to kick pro-Trump US data spy company Palantir out of the NHS. UK ministers have sought advice on triggering a break clause in Palantir’s contract to eject the controversial American company from NHS England data systems.

I think AI for creative writing will fizzle out but it's brutal right now.

Muriel's Wedding franksfilmreview.com/2026/03/27/m... I’ve seen Muriel’s Wedding more times than I can count, and honestly, I could watch it a million more. There’s just something about this movie that sticks with you — it’s funny, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s so real... #FranksFilmReview #Film

Orbán’s Ceaușescu moment. Booed at his own rally, ranting and pointing fingers. His final message: Ukraine hatred.

Train wreck 🧵

“March is the month of Blackthorn, the creamy buds and white flowers exquisite upon their twigs of ebony. It is the month also of daisies, opening their eyes among the grass (daisy means ‘day’s eye’)”

To add to the Lola discourse - I think in the line "... I'm glad I'm a man & so is Lola" he's saying that Lola is glad that he (the narrator) is a man (because they fancied each other) & it conveys the idea that a man & a trans woman can be in love & it's not "mixed up". It's just love.

Wings Over Scotland has gone to Reform. I never liked his style because I worry I'm wrong a lot more than he seemed to - but I'm still shocked he'd go that far to the right. (Probably shouldn't be, but anyway, I am.)

🧵

She crashed our economy but the fundamental problem is imaginary deep state Islamism? The lettuce was a better politician.

Great article on filmmaker Martin Ritt and moral integrity in new @cineastemagazine.bsky.social

Orwell 2+2=5 tracks the continued relevance of George Orwell's political observations in today's turbulent world.

Synchronicity max as 2025 marks both the #ArtDecoCentenary & #Glasgow850 celebrations! 🎉🎉 Looking forward to much more of both in the year ahead as revealed in the places, stories & designs that've shaped our unique landscape 💚 #Glasgow #ArtDeco #DearGreenPlace #ArtDeco100 #ArtDecoSouthsideAlive ✨

NEW | Hmm… I wonder what inspired this young person to write such a vehement anti-NHS column… THE TELEGRAPH SCHOOL FOR JUNIOR CONTRARIANS Listen carefully and you'll hear a new set of controversialist columnists starting to hatch. brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-telegr...