Brilliant piece as always by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

I'm not sure if it's even worth trying ... but to correct the record. Though I don't at all claim to be underprivileged I did not get my job through informal networks. My dad was an English teacher in Newcastle and I had hardly met a real journalist before I was interviewed at The Times!

Can currently hear James Marriott blasting out tunes to a roaring crowd up in Crystal Palace park. Youngest is up there hangin out at the skate park getting it all for free!

I wrote this about Elon Musk's dangerous obsession with British politics - which is more about him than about us www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Intensity US preoccupation & comically wide range of diagnoses shld lead us to conclude this is more about them than about us. As their own democracy sinks ever deeper into dysfunction, US pride demands they find someone to pity (£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu... VG by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

I wrote this about the weird insecure American obsession with British decline www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

“If countries could be psychoanalysed, we might identify a classic case of “projection”… Frankly, if any country is an unrecognisable basket case it is America” @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social ‘Americans love to bash Britain. That’s their problem, not ours’ www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

There’s a lot to be pessimistic about at the moment - but @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social @ Dominic Sandbrook adding to it with the Death of Literacy with social measures last night was at least fun. @theresthistory.bsky.social

If only 😭

Lovely to see Dominic Sandbrook and @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social at Union Chapel tonight. The people behind me were saying it’s well known that James is a multi-millionaire.

I wrote this about David Hockney and the art of gusto www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

David Hockney, in 2021, explaining that his love of the poetry of George Herbert began when he noticed how glass is described in ‘The Elixir’ as something that you can look *on* as well as through

Most politicians who were driven mad in office in the past had fallen victim to fawning and flattery. With the maddening hoots and jeers of the crowd, I think we are learning that hatred can be just as disturbing as praise. (£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu... @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social is right

And nice reference to the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social’s Makerfield focus groups too!

Can you handle the hate? Perceptive from @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social on Andy Burnham, the Mayor who wants to be liked, & the hate that’s inevitably coming if/when he’s PM (see Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson &c) #r4today #LVIPolitics #AndyBurnham #KeirStarmer #Labour #Makerfield #skynews

Second picture is not me. I have not upgraded my phenotype, looksmaxxed my jaw or locked in my posture. I have no aspiration to aura farm on a generational (or frankly, any) level.

I wrote this because oh god some of the stuff I’ve dragged my parents to and they did recently say that, on the one hand it’s lovely when your child still wants to spend time with you and isn’t drunk on vodka in a hedge. On the other… www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/lifesty...

A really brilliant piece by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Good piece this, by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

Misery seems most glamorous to those who know least about it. We should respect it, certainly. But not immoderately. And we mustn’t underrate the power of the boringly well-adjusted. (£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu... Good again by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

“Sometimes suffering breeds empathy. Sometimes it breeds a callous determination to look after Number One.” @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

I wrote this about my increasing conviction that one of the defining facts of modern politics and culture is the trauma of living in the shadow of the peaceful and prosperous early 2000s, which we will look back on as history’s greatest golden age www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Be afraid, death as entertainment is back

“The activists who first took up social media were rather like small children playing with loaded guns… ineptly wielding weapons much more powerful and complicated than they understood, firing with naive conviction in all directions” @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

The iPhone is killing democracy Podcast with James Marriott on how the collapse of mass literacy is taking us into a new dark age

I think we want there to be more! @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social Maybe an Ong reading group, because he is quite DENSE and one needs to go over it a few times to get what he’s saying

had a great conversation last night with @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social on what our favourite philosopher of information - Walter Ong - can tell us about a historical moment when the most powerful leader in the English-speaking world is rowing with the Pope naomialderman.substack.com/p/understand...

This is good by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social though not convinced universities can or should teach character (£) www.thetimes.com/article//art... The late great John Diamond once modestly claimed (paraphrase) he got a job bcs seen to be nice guy who turned up on time. Possible to go long way with tht

Don’t overlook the power of a good chap

Have plugged this a couple of times already, but I’m guessing now’s a moment when some of you might particularly appreciate distraction from football. An excellent series (and exactly the kind of thing the BBC should be doing).

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/.... Afternoon stroll soundtrack: more of this marvellous series @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social @bbcsounds.bsky.social

late to this from James Marriott but it’s one of the best pieces I’ve read this year because going beyond day to day politics/struggles people share in focus groups it captures something bigger we hear - that we’ve passed our prime & it’s all been down hill for years www.thetimes.com/article/d123...

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/.... Evening stroll soundtrack: this really interesting podcast about the power of reading @bbcsounds.bsky.social

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s ep was recorded in front of a live audience: David talks to author & journalist @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social about Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan, which dissects the lives, loves & reading habits of a group of well-to-do young New Yorkers. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

Things don’t look good. But a wealthy, highly technological society surely has reasons for hope as well as despair. A culture’s dynamism depends on tempering pessimism with a certain brave and even irrational faith in the future. (£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu... By @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

I wrote this about my increasing conviction that one of the defining facts of modern politics and culture is the trauma of living in the shadow of the peaceful and prosperous early 2000s, which we will look back on as history’s greatest golden age www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

“The fate of civilisation hangs in your hands. No pressure.” All three episodes are worth the listen. @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Me too.

Absolutely loving @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social and @naomialderman.bsky.social on James’s radio show about reading /1 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Loving this series @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

I'm catching up on @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social's excellent Radio 4 series HOW READING MADE US on BBC Sounds. Picture book creators will take affirmation from cognitive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf's explanation of the importance of reading to children from an early age (from 4:20). #KidLitUK

Splendid work @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social well played!

I implore you this weekend to listen to 'How Reading Made Us', a 3-part series by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social for BBC Radio 4 — the story of how reading made us and what might happen if we stop Part 1: How Reading Made Our Brains — did reading rewire our brains and change the way we live today?

@j-amesmarriott.bsky.social Enjoying the radio series and looking forward to the book. Although slightly disappointed the BBC hasn’t approached alternative viewpoints for balance.

I strongly recommend this BBCRadio4 series on Reading from @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social. There are imv a few Just-so(-neuro) stories in Ep 1 & a sharp swerve near the end to acknowledge the cognitive capacities of pre- or non-literate peoples. But essential listening www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

When I'm not doing other stuff I listen to an awful lot of radio. This, by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social, is one of this week's (and, indeed, the next three weeks') absolute must-listens. Really fascinating - and one for fans of @jburnmurdoch.ft.com and @naomialderman.bsky.social too.

A rather gloomy read..., When I ask students whether they ever read for pleasure, the most common response is a look of total incomprehension, as if I've asked whether they play with dollies or ride a tricycle. Followed by "well, I did when I was a child". www.generationtechblog.com/p/are-books-...

Some weekend reading from me. First up, a brilliant edition of the Writer's Bookshelf with @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

My column this week is on the insanity of feeling dogmatically certain about anything in a world that is undergoing a series of profound economic, political and technological transformations: www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...