Reporting to you live from the hottest place in the UK and the hottest place ever in the UK during the month of May (Kew not Heathrow) and I can confirm it is quite warm outside.

Powerful exposition of the importance of BBC and public-service media in general by Alex Mahon. Based evidence to MPs yesterday ona panel with Sir Peter "Baz" Bazalgette and @tcmbigcheese.bsky.social aka Pat Younge who were equally brilliant in their evidence. www.linkedin.com/posts/dralex...

www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u... Wtafwtafwtafwtaf

Early War Goal Was to Install Hard Line Former President as Iran’s Leader www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u... This is what is known in my former trade as a “marmalade dropper”.

Must watch masterclass in the future of the BBC and public-service broadcasting. Brilliant performances, lessons & ideas for UK MPs from panel of Alex Mahon, Sir Peter "Baz" Bazalgette and @tcmbigcheese.bsky.social AKA Pat Younge. From 11.29.00 onwards. parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...

If Ed Milliband changes his name to Chaos With Edward Samuel Miliband, it will almost certainly make more people vote for him in a General Election. Discuss.

NYT says Iran has access to 90% of its missile storage so when Pete Hegseth said the US had “decimated” Iran’s missile capacity he was telling the truth! But I don’t think he realised it. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/u...

Unironically just want to read about Attenborough the channel controller who made snooker, saved rugby league and did stuff like this….

Despite having been Foreign Secretary, David Lammy has obviously never heard of the long haul. Where pilot changes are often mandatory.

“You don’t change the pilot during a flight — you carry on.” Listening to David Lammy speak is so tiresome. If the pilot turns out to be incapable of doing the job, you replace them, because the lives of all the passengers depend on having someone competent in control. #r4today

Which is stranger: that Trump started a war guaranteed to raise domestic inflation as he runs into the midterms? That he has given a huge fillip to the green energy lobby that he and his base so hate?

RIP Ted, the most televisual dog since Lassie, gone to the great briefcase warehouse in the sky.

It is a tragedy for the world that the country that led the way in developing AI is also the country in the world most obsessed with "shareholder returns" and the country in the world where those responsible for the first two elements of this are the least bothered by ruining other people's lives.

Message continues: "...AT RUINING WORLD'S ECONOMIC PROSPECTS."

I am very sorry to hear There is a case then for an additional tax on Lime to account for the additional cost to the NHS and impact on citizens

Opposite of the little ships of Dunkirk.

More than 1,400 British soldiers have boarded a chartered civilian passenger ferry to travel to a major military exercise in Germany, the first time the British Army has used civilian sea transport on this scale https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-army-charters-ferry-for-first-time-in-20-years/

Iranian defies odds to defeat Trump.

Ting the Taco Bell

Breaking news: President Trump said that he would extend a ceasefire with Iran hours before it was due to expire, pledging to refrain from attacks until discussions with Tehran “are concluded, one way or the other.”

Someone I know told me today that she was selling a property she currently rents out because "this new law has made it impossible to be a landlord". I think this is probably good news.

Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer. I'd genuinely be better. #VoteBinface

Colleague just remarked that Starmer is trying to do a Geoffrey Boycott, straight bat, stay put, bore the opposition to death. I agree, but, like Sir Geoffrey, the Prime Minister is more likely to be run out by his own side than dismissed by the opposition.

My goodness, the rest of the world will be looking at Britain today, then looking at the Gulf, then looking at Britain's diminishing role in the world and thinking: "Yup, figures."

"After a long, exhaustive and gruelling inquiry into exactly what happened, we have concluded that it was human error exacerbated by the use of AI," a government spokesman would like to have said.

Darren Jones has this morning said that Keir Starmer is "furious" not to have been told by officials about Peter Mandelson's security vetting failure Jones said he had suspended the Foreign Office's ability to overrule vetting advice, and insisted that the PM had not knowingly misled Parliament

www.ft.com/content/5407... “Dogs return to their own vomit” shock. This is how Global Financial Crisis began.

If you've ever thought about going to the fabulously foodie province of Galicia (think El Camino/Santiago de Compostela), you will most definitely need a Grub Guide: juliusgrubguide.substack.com/p/mejillones... PS I'm not connected to the Galician Tourist Board but I am the Father of the Scribe.

The answer is: considerably more than if one hit Mar a Lago.

No-one: Literally no-one: Scott Bessent: "I wonder what the hit to global GDP would be if a nuclear weapon hit London." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Love or hate The Daily Telegraph - in the distant past I loved working there - it can only be good for plurality of news that Lisa Nandy has not extended the wait for its takeover by Axel Springer. In my view, Springer are too smart to ruin the old beast and will bring it back towards the centre.

"Here's another fine Messiah you've gotten me into."

If you are a believer in Trump the political genius, then both the attack on the Pope and the Messiah post could be seen as counterblasts to Vance's manoeuvring. If you are a believer in Trump the spoiled brat, they are attacks on all the attention Vance is getting for his shit diplomacy.

Europe can use the defeat of Putinism, in the shape of Orbán, to rally support for a Trump-free continent. Britain would be insane not to jump on that bandwagon as quickly and powerfully as possible.

If Hungary can free itself from the rule of a corrupt Russian agent, the USA can too.

Having read some of Peter Magyar's early promises to reverse years of Putin-pleasing, I hope he takes care to avoid high buildings with large windows in them.

Crispin Odey has dropped his £79mn libel claim against the Financial Times over its reporting of sexual misconduct allegations against him, acknowledging that the FT would win in its defence.  www.ft.com/content/6966...

This love letter to Canary Wharf by @stephenkb.bsky.social is only slightly marred by the line that states the tower is one year older than him. I sat in the Telegraph newsroom in South Quay watching from my window as it went up www.ft.com/content/362b...

Stop interfering in other people’s elections, screams man interfering in other people’s election www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Donald Trump has just convinced another tranche of American nationalist voters that involvement in foreign affairs is damaging and humiliating. And thereby hammered another nail in the coffin of America's self-esteem as well as its global status.

In this very detailed account of the discussions before Trump went to war, this juxtaposition of paragraphs is striking. You could almost believe that following Hegseth's alleged statement with a paragraph that starts: "General Caine was sober..." is an attempt at humour. Somehow, I doubt it.

Is his name Pontius, or have I got this story mixed up with something else? (Although "Pontius Weapon Systems Officer" doesn't sound quite so Roman.)

The NYT has 2,200 journalists but not enough it seems to spot this telling error. Is it carelessness? Ignorance? Mindset? The NYT once had a mission to be the world’s news organisation but remains an American camera on the world with a very narrow lens. HT @ivorgaber.bsky.social

They’ve missed April Fool’s Day by a full 48 hours.

As some may know, I am a little obsessed with the number 42 and its continuing, strange presence and interference with our lives. Today I learned that a barrel of oil contains 42 (US) gallons.

It's come to something when we have to explain the difference between "historic" and "historical" to the BBC. I know they're only quoting the Mirror (which used to have the best subs in the business), but just because you are quoting from them doesn't mean you have to mimic their ignorance.

Do as I say, not as I do... www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

National Car Parks, one of Britain’s largest car park operators, has entered administration, with three PwC partners appointed as joint administrators. Since 2017, NCP has been owned by Tokyo-based Park24. The business was previously owned by funds managed by the “Vampire Kangaroo”, aka Macquarie.

Just a reminder that the Washington Treaty defines the geography of NATO’s mutual defense pledge — at U.S. insistence in 1949 — to prevent allies from committing us to their wars outside of Europe.