Wes Streeting saying on Today that Mandelson is ‘not the man we thought he was’ but the trouble is, he is exactly the man we thought, just on a much worse scale than almost anyone thought. And there is an alternative world where none of this is this govt’s problem, because they never gave him a job

Guy's turning into Mrs Doubtfire...

"This guy is clearly a monster, but he's a well-connected and well-resourced monster so I'm going to let it slide" is the universal lapse in judgement here among elites, and it's a huge issue that seems to be getting missed even though it's so damning of the culture around them.

This is really what I want people to appreciate. I get that it feels good to be like "well that person's a pedophile too!" But in many cases they weren't. They were just people who didn't think it was a big deal. That's terrible in its own particular way.

Anything by Rob is worth a read.

If you still haven't made your mind up yet about buying Drum, here's some thoughts I strung together for my website about the role comedy has played in my life. They have very little to do with the novel itself, think of them as conceptual neighbours. www.rob-chapman.com/cenestpasunc...

One of the things bothering me about how people are responding to the Epstein files is that there are tons of conspiracies being created and spread about what’s in them, rather than people just believing the victims like they could have been doing for years now

It's Elmo's birthday

I hope people understand what happened here. Yesterday in the late afternoon, Trump said that Putin had promised not to attack Ukraine in such a way that it would damage their heating. Then a few hours later, that is exactly what the Russians did in a massive attack.

You should be ashamed of yourself if you’re still defending Noam Chomsky in 2026. Discard him in the regrettable dustbin of history where he belongs.

Yeah but if most papers are written by AI now, AI is a peer

Pennines delight as drone survey offers hope for one of UK’s rarest birds

Alright then? Let joy be unbounded on quintidi 15 Pluviôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. On a rather dull and gloomy day like today, I'm very glad for the artificial lighting in the house. That's a good idea, let's celebrate lightbulbs today.

This latter all the more so important to me personally because Richard knows this landscape, culture and people intimately and the thing i wanted most to do with this book is to do justice to it and portray it in a way that those who know that world will see themselves, fam and friend in it.

you can almost recite this to Evidently Chickentown www.poetrynook.com/poem/holyhea...

Just finished Keshed, by @stuhennigan.bsky.social in three days flat. A book you can’t forget: behind the flash bang of fast moving syntax, raw social commentary & (accompanying) visceral imagery, there is a tender story here. Truly! Caliban is more than the sum of what Bill S told us! Chapeau Stu!

Barnaby - the dubbed French off-script adventures of a singing bear who ran away from home to join the circus, became King Of The Birds (with a cardboard beak) and ended up at the North Pole. Also very insistent that you called him by his correct name. timworthington.org/2022/05/14/n...

Reading Grant is always rewarding but this piece is especially informative, delineating the Scottish influence on London's mod/psych venues.

After the next stroke it will be Eleven o clock, twenty-two minutes and fifteen seconds

Am genuinely in the market for a social intern.

——-COSMIC HIKER———2026——— #gouache #gaydrawing #cosmicdrawing #inkwork #gouachepainting #expressionism #gayeurope #gaybrazil #surrealism

This little clip is really so beautiful youtu.be/7O20QaknYh4?...

Almost 4 years into this full scale war and Russian tankers are now using NATO territorial waters in order to avoid being attacked by Ukrainian drones. You read that correctly. Russians hiding behind NATO, because they lost control of the Black Sea.

Hi everyone, just sent out my free weekend update. First a note of thanks--readers donated enough last week to Come Back Alive that the Ukrainians could have shot down up to 10 Russian attack drones terrorizing Ukrainian cities. That is amazing and worthy of note. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Back to the 1640s

Spat my coffee out laughing. Goondwninin is such a wet nappy, isn’t he?

This thread I like. Straight off the top of my head… Lydia Lunch Babes in Toyland Venus Tropicaux Žen Maarja Nuut

The "hope you're enjoying Saudi" is the perfect sign-off line here, beautifully caps whole email

...they told her no, didn't they

No water, no heating, no power, -15 degree weather outside. It is not on the front pages of your newspapers, but Ukraine is living through a humanitarian disaster right now because of Russian bombardment and the world has barely noticed.

By all means dislike Chomsky for his Epstein Fan Club credentials but please remember to dislike him for his genocide denialism too.

One weird fact about Ukrainians during power outages. We're getting nervous when we have electricity while according to the schedule we shouldn't have it. #Ukrainianview

My new book Still In A Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers, and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-94 is out in June on @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social . It's a love letter to the music of my youth and a flashback to the most exciting time of my writing life. Pre-order geni.us/StillInADream

There is a serious point here that funding tends to ignore older musicians, writers, artists and is obsessed with youth. Seems unfair on those who start late in life, or have devoted years to kids, or being carers.

Memories of Drawings is an exhibition of 21 photogravures of drawings made by Georgia O'Keeffe between 1915 and 1963. It's at the Gerald Moore Gallery at Eltham College in South East London, and is open from 10:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays until 14 February. This is Ram's Horns II from c1949 (THREAD)

As someone who has met, and mostly liked, some rockstars, future rockstars even in some cases, you don’t really want to be a future rockstar because - that’s not the point here. Despite what denim dungarees AI says. But yeah…

Gently and enjoyably harrumphing my way through @alanallport.bsky.social’s account of the 45 Khaki Election and was reminded of this super book by “Lancastrian author”, T Thompson. 1/

Tbh talking football (en alles over Leiden) with Simon Kuper would be boss!

New Substack up, featuring @stuhennigan.bsky.social @ortacpress.bsky.social @galleybeggars.bsky.social @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social @davidcollard.bsky.social @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social @renardpress.com Laurel and Hardy, Some Like it Hot. And me. open.substack.com/pub/drewgumm...

And here's a thread of clips to celebrate Roddy Frame's birthday, starting with Aztec Camera performing We Could Send Letters on Switch in 1983. Watch the full song plus Walk Out to Winter at youtu.be/S6yJ3gn2a5s

Nowt wrong: classic Sheff imho. Embrace the differences.

“Tumblr Wokescold Cadence” (Live at Sough Trades Club)

Sounds like some of the accounts of Verdun I’ve read

Botox, fillers, bleph, face lift, contacts, hair dye, buccal fat removal x

profoundly dislike the hobbit's trademark loose curl, if you turned up in Hobbiton with a sleek bob people would die

“…Expense signed off by corporate acolyte / would be sidelined if accent was Hulme instead…”

"...Take your clever observations / from off my radiogram / your cringing podcast is not welcome / in Prestwich or Wurtenburg..."

Morning all. The oil tanker World Unicorn dominates a street in Wallsend during its construction at the Swan Hunter shipyard, Tyne and Wear, circa 1972. The ship was launched in 1973. Photographer John Bulmer.