Some people watch It's a Wonderful Life every Christmas. Sajid Javid re-reads Ayn Rand.

Interestingly, even The Times can't provide an explanation in this piece of why trail hunting 'addresses the countryside's needs' and nor does it deny what trail hunting's opponents claim: that the practice is often a cover for illegal fox hunting.

Tremendous story for non-NFL fans.

Metcalf says the fan racially abused him and that this was not the first time he'd had a run-in with him. The fan claimed Metcalf was upset about being called his full name, saying, "he doesn’t like his government name."

"I ceased in the year 1764 to believe that one can convince one’s opponents with arguments printed in books. It is not to do that that I have taken up my pen, but merely to annoy them, and to bestow courage on our own side, and to make it known to the others that they have not convinced us."

The Times is running a front-page story about the Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv away fan ban without noting Maccabi's long history of racist disorder, which includes a €20k fine *this week* for racist disorder for singing the "rape song" at the club's *first* away game with fans since the Villa ban.

The Times is running a front-page story about the Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv away fan ban without noting Maccabi's long history of racist disorder, which includes a €20k fine *this week* for racist disorder for singing the "rape song" at the club's *first* away game with fans since the Villa ban.

Absolutely astonishing that she was able to obtain so many high profile, prestige appointments - including being the principal of several FE colleges - without anyone ever checking that she had a doctorate.

The Ten Books I Enjoyed Most This Year... 10.The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes by Zachary D. Carter A fascinating, accessible biography exploring the extraordinary life and mind of one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. bsky.app/profile/ugly...

It's not just David Walliams who should suffer professional ruin, it's all the senior staff at his publisher involved in implementing a policy whose only possible interpretation is that they believed that he represented a danger to their employees but continued to work with him anyway.

Only justification people - promoters, media, supposed boxing fans - seem able to offer for Anthony Joshua taking that fight is "How can he turn down [insert silly sum here] for an easy night's work?" And I think that tells you lots about both boxing and much of society now too

Jeffrey Epstein & David Walliams leading all the bulletins but Kemi Badenoch knows that only men from ‘different cultures’ pose a threat to women.

I cannot think of *one* "here to stay" argument that survives the VCs running out of money to set on fire for chatbots in 1.5-2 years at most. Then the API prices 10x. I have a list, and all the "here to stay" arguments fall to it: pivot-to-ai.com/2025/07/10/a...

There are nearly 70,000,000 dogs in the UK? Are you quite sure?

Really good to hear Kevin Day out of hospital and back on @thepriceoffootball.bsky.social.

This, but for all the people reporting on corruption, maladministration and unethical behaviour in international and club football.

This is really grim - and yet another reason to get off Twitter. inews.co.uk/sport/footba...

Exciting to re-enter the era of personal colonisation under a political philosophy whose primary tenet is that the rate of income tax and the age of consent are too high.

The Ten Books I Enjoyed Most This Year... 10.The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes by Zachary D. Carter A fascinating, accessible biography exploring the extraordinary life and mind of one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. bsky.app/profile/ugly...

Interesting background on Paul Doyle, who drove his car into the Liverpool parade www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Priceless

This year, Newcastle United's owner had people put to death at a rate of nearly one-a-day.

ZKP, Barca's crypto sponsor, claims both that (A) it spent $100m developing its business, including $17m designing and manufacturing a piece of hardware called a "Proof Pod" and (B) it has already sold out of Proof Pods. It seems quite unlikely to me that both of these claims can be true.

"Premium newsletter: my 18k word..." Is there a super-premium tier with an 1,800-word post?

this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

The really shitty thing about 2025 is there's no reason at all to suppose that 2026 won't be worse.

It's so strange that Barca's crypto sponsor ZKP has a "live" transactions map on its homepage, claiming to show crypto sales averaging hundreds of dollars a second when it has 858 followers on Twitter, almost no one tweets at or about it and its Discord channel is like a graveyard. zkp.com

Thread on a scandalous failure to hold a law firm accountable for becoming a willing participant in prolonging a multibillion dollar fraud.

Area man unveils plan to destroy one of the UK's largest banks.

Football sponsors just openly engaging in illegal action and public deception... and football just shrugs its shoulders.

Still time to get a copy of this for Christmas for any sports fans you know who are interested in fraud, organised crime, dirty cash and missold tech at the highest levels of English football. Link below as well as the first chapter free, so you can browse before you buy.

Racist, islamophobic, tax dodging would-be Mayor of London* says that the Met police are "not the feared and respected force it once was." And he should know, having been sentenced to 14 months in prison in 2013 for violently attacked two officers from next door Essex Police.

Also published by Penguin. UK publishers seemingly don't fact check at all. I know several authors who care about getting it right that have hired fact checkers at their own expense. as.ft.com/r/15a6acf1-1...

The chief executive of any company not offering a "guest checkout" option on its website shall be barred by law from completing any transaction in a coffeeshop, restaurant, supermarket or on any public transport without first presenting their birth certificate and two recent utility bills.

The Observer to Raynor Winn.

It's strange being old enough to remember Andy Burnham first time round, knowing what an unremarkable, passionless, on-message, Blairite non-entity he was. I don't know what the Labour party think they'll get from someone whose primary political disagreement with Starmer is who should be PM.

Strangest thing: Barca's crypto sponsor ZKP, which claims to be building a blockchain business based on total privacy and which refuses to disclose who owns it or where it's based, publishes a live transactions map purporting to show the location of its customers. Interesting way to handle its data.

Whenever I encounter the work of Peston, Mason or Kuenssberg, I'm reminded that the role of political editor on TV seems, bizarrely, to demand the churning out of the political equivalent of transfer rumours - trivial, ephemeral gossip that contributes nothing to our understanding of the world.

You're telling me they practiced *all year long* and the best they can manage is: Ding-dong, ding-dong Ding-dong, ding-dong Ding-dong, ding-dong Ding-dong, ding-dong The soft bigotry of low expectations.

Strangest thing: Barca's crypto sponsor ZKP, which claims to be building a blockchain business based on total privacy and which refuses to disclose who owns it or where it's based, publishes a live transactions map purporting to show the location of its customers. Interesting way to handle its data.

I've often been critical of violent, racist, tax dodging, would be Mayor of London Ant Middleton, but you have to applaud someone who, having said that people who are "anti British culture... [should] Leave," has moved to Dubai. 👋

Juventus Tether 🤝 Inflated asset valuations www.ft.com/content/0858...

Important to understand that a significant contributor to these huge losses was an excitable and wilfully under-informed media who genuinely talked up the idea that crypto was a transformational technology that could make everyone rich. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

"Under no circumstances shall the Company be liable for any loss, damage, or claim arising from the non-existence... of the Blockchain." This disclaimer is from the Ts&Cs of Barcelona's new... blockchain partner. They took $22m from guys who say, 'if our product doesn't even exist, tough luck.' 1/

Instead of finishing The OA, Netflix gave $55m to a guy whose sole directing credit was a film that has 16% on Rotten Tomatoes.

How's this for grotty, racist intimidation? I mean, what even is this? A childish daub on a used t-shirt. Embarrassing. There's no pride in this, no reverence, no unity, just cowardice and prejudice and deliberate division. Tear this shit down, everyone.

The terms and conditions of Barca's new crypto sponsor say that its product might be imaginary and that, if it does turn out not to exist, there's nothing you can do about it.

"Under no circumstances shall the Company be liable for any loss, damage, or claim arising from the non-existence... of the Blockchain." This disclaimer is from the Ts&Cs of Barcelona's new... blockchain partner. They took $22m from guys who say, 'if our product doesn't even exist, tough luck.' 1/