Dumb question: can anyone share anything genuinely insightful about why more devolution is good?

Sad to see that Mark Singer died. His profile of the musician Ricky Jay is one of my favourite profiles of all time. www.newyorker.com/magazine/199...

It is the gig economy coming for all kinds of work. It's happening everywhere you look.

Not sure about 'low stakes', but a lot of companies now mention AI investment when making layoffs to protect their share price (and thus executive bonuses) when the real reason is underperformance because the economy is worse than anyone will admit

In the mid-2010s there would already be four major magazine staff writers on this story. (Specifically: Susan Orlean, Jon Mooallem, Chris Jones, and Chris Heath.)

can’t believe a narcissist is being so publicly humiliated by a reflecting pool

Stark. Brutal. Deadly. This is the temp map forecast for France for 5pm this afternoon.

Poor Anthropic. Imagine having your intellectual property illicitly extracted, what kind of company would even do that?

Using this freak heat wave to repost what I think might be the best magazine story of all time, @geneweingarten.bsky.social's story about kids left in hot cars, for the Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/ma...

When reality surpasses fiction! Top: fictional forecast for August 2050, broadcast by French TV in 2014 to warn about the consequences of global warming. Bottom: Real French forecast for yesterday, June 22, 2026.

Hard not to agree with @ianleslie.bsky.social's take on Andy Burnham, our new PM in waiting open.substack.com/pub/ianlesli...

They might have immorally and often illegally harvested the entirety of my life's work, but at least the AIs all know who I am. intheweights.com

In accordance with ancient tradition, our next Prime Minister is announced to the nation while standing between a furry and a man with a bin on his head.

I feel like I can spot this more and more on social media, particularly on X. But I worry others can't.

A fun one: for the awesome new design magazine TOTEI, I went to Florence to write about La Marzocco, builders of (imho) the world's best coffee machines www.totei.com/story/la-mar...

Someone explain to me how this is technically possible without creating a training set - and therefore exposing hundreds of moderators, inevitably poor, unsupported ones in the Global South - to the most horrific images there are

Anecdotally, the number of young people I talk to who are moving to Dubai, Australia, or other countries for work is absolutely staggering. It feels like it's more common than not.

Talked to Christian Pulisic, who was coming off a career long goal drought as the US team prepare to host the opening match of the World Cup, for @gqmagazine.bsky.social. Of course, the night before this story went live, he scored his first goal all year. www.gq.com/story/christ...

In case you missed it yesterday here's 4,000 words about potholes, the most important story in Britain* *according to Yougov polling

My favourite story in ages. I wrote about how the pothole became the symbol of Broken Britain - via austerity, devolution, and lawsuits - and the pothole vigilantes fighting back. Perhaps my favourite revelation? Nobody can agree what a pothole actually is. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Freelancing is hard enough already, and inflation sucks. Defector is raising our base freelance rates by 20 percent. Great time to pitch us. Email me or [email protected]

During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, I visited an orphanage and met kids who had lost their entire families to Ebola, including a toddler who had no direct relatives left. It’s not a “scam”.

They stole the internet’s knowledge and all the work that went into it and they want to sell it back to us for a fee. What a business model.

🔥 from @anjahuja.bsky.social on the Enhanced Games. (Peds = performance-enhancing drugs.) as.ft.com/r/2d4c7bc1-2...

Otherwise, the article was perfect

For people who don’t follow me on Insta:

we only know about the £5m Harborne donation thanks to journalists at the Guardian, but sure trash the MSM for clicks

UK freelancers: can you recommend a business bank account/tax software?

Great investigation by @olifranklinwallis.bsky.social into the murky world of testosterone therapy. All the classic wellness scam elements: vague symptoms, anecdotal benefits, anxieties over identity, and a medical-business complex playing fast & loose with facts www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

The lorry company being called "stabilised pavements" is what makes it art www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is literally a film about a disgruntled number two planning to betray and topple their old boss

Lobby journalists are literally the only ones trying to make Wes happen

The sad reality is that this "relaunch" speech would have been announced on Saturday, written hastily that evening, workshopped a bit on Sunday with spads folding in "new" policies that were already planned (Starmer far too cautious to announce new policy in 24 hours), and briefed last night.

The new direction Keir Starmer is taking in the wake of these catastrophic election results looks an awful lot like the direction it was taking before the election results. None of that was new.

Keir Starmer going for the Selina Meyer "continuity with change" relaunch, then

I see a leader who not long ago delivered a major triumph is facing calls to step down following a run of disappointing results, accusations of a dull management style, personnel selection issues, and lack of fitness

I love it when politicians in power give speeches about needing to be "bolder". It's like when football managers say they would have won, if only they'd scored more goals.

ICYMI: my new story on "testosterone-maxxing", and the private-equity backed online clinics that are aggressively targeting men with adverts for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). I found one in particular, Voy, engaged in some... interesting practices. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Everyone who participates in online discourse would benefit from knowing that authors/journalists don’t control the titles or graphics of their pieces in newspapers and magazines.

Wrote about “T-maxxing”, and the men being aggressively advertised testosterone replacement therapy by online clinics. I found one of the biggest testosterone clinics, Voy, engaged in some… interesting practices. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

I nearly fell off my chair when I found out that Gibraltar HAS NEVER HAD A SEWAGE PLANT and therefore ALL ITS RAW, UNTREATED SEWAGE (from a mere 40,000 people and their businesses) is dumped straight into the MEDITERRANEAN Sea. Great work, guys. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

I always new crosswords would save the media

Anyway, read WASTELAND by @olifranklinwallis.bsky.social to hear more from those paying the price for our stuff

So, I've got some questions for Nigel Farage, about his £5m gift. Here's one: "You have previously stated that on police advice, you hold no parliamentary surgeries…Given that we now know you have a large private security budget, why are you unable to hold constituency surgeries?" Here's the rest:

Jesus, that bull made a Magnum out of him

Fair play to Kemi Badenoch, that was absolutely savage.

Literally called this happening in February. New post: open.substack.com/pub/oliverfr...

Umm...What is going on here? This is a search ad from Associated Newspapers - the owners of the i and Daily Mail

Here’s a key reason why it’s very bad that we keep losing big, well-funded media outlets that publish real journalism: Only those organizations have the money and heft to protect reporters from inevitable legal battles with powerful people (like, say, sex offender politicians and tech CEOs).

Coming to the end of two weeks off for Easter and absolutely ravenous for some reporting, someone assign me something before I go insane