Tonight's entertainment courtesy of a Flying Finn and a Scotsman, with a Welshman presenting.

Imagine being able to log into a single app to view your exam results, your driving license, your health record, your council tax information, beautifully joined up behind the scenes instead of needing to remember different credentials. We live in a digital age and need to adapt.

The sentiments in Keir Starmer’s editorial in yesterday’s Sun are broadly good. But it’s 2025, not 1995. Even pensioners are overwhelmingly online and on social. Where’s the 21st century comms strategy? Where’s the video? And where’s the urgency?

Ahem.

Funnily enough I pointed out to someone earlier that technically Max Verstappen can still win the Drivers' Championship. Is it realistic? Unlikely, but this is Max Verstappen we're talking about. I see its prompted this line of thought from The Race - www.the-race.com/formula-1/wh...

Silverstone, I love you. But I cannot justify paying £420 for car parking for the F1 next year across the weekend. This year, car parking for the 4 days was £170, so a 147% increase year-on-year. It's extortionate, and it's the first time I've really felt that.

The Times appears to have interviewed an 'ex Buckingham Palace cleaner' who supposedly divulges royal stain removal secrets but doesn't seem to exist, is possibly AI, and probably placed by a PR agency to boost SEO for a tiling brand. pressgazette.co.uk/news/royal-c...

ELMS says that 110,000 people attended their return to Silverstone last weekend across three days. Not only is that a really strong figure, it's actually higher than MotoGP earlier this year which had 99,328 in total across the event.

Shot, chaser Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men

Exclusive: big changes for the MotoGP paddock next year as another move towards the F1 model sees Moto2 and Moto3 set to be relegated out of pit lane www.the-race.com/motogp/motog...

Love pieces like this from @jim.londoncentric.media. Wish we had actual visible on the ground journalists in all communities in the UK rather than the Reach plc nonsense we're served with.

Breaking: there won't be a MotoE championship in 2026, with Dorna and the FIM deciding to suspend it because it 'has not been able to gain sufficient traction within our fanbase during its seven seasons of competition'

Without a well resourced and skilled Civil Service the country would descend into anarchy within a fortnight, sure it can always do things better but this myth that politicians pedal that you can massively cut it and still get everything done is just a lie.

British NIMBYism is truly a sight to behold. “We are rejecting this solar farm, because one time I saw an electric vehicle on fire, which reminded me that decades ago a coal mining disaster killed lots of children”.

Nigel Farage is the biggest charlatan in British political history. And here's what his constitutents in Clacton really think:

PSA: machinery of government changes on the ground are *hugely* disruptive and rarely solve the underlying problems around cross departmental working. This is not a good thing.

Turns out that there's a huge genre of F1 books that I didn't realise existed.... (I didn't buy either) 😅

Let’s see what the ethics adviser says, but maybe instead of all this jumping up and down, now would be a good time to discuss how we look after disabled children and build a more caring country.

Really important post on the @f1subreddit.bsky.social worth sharing more widely - "My Experience with Disabilities at the Dutch Grand Prix – Accessibility in F1 Needs Serious Attention" - www.reddit.com/r/formula1/c...

I turn on my TV and a TV presenter is asking a Govt minister why they are talking about rolling out free childcare when the big issue is asylum hotels. This is objectively insane.

Bluesky is shrinking rather than growing. It has no source of revenue. If it doesn’t grow, *it will die*. Constantly making it unwelcoming, saying who you don’t want here, setting rules for what other sites people should and shouldn’t use, and the like, will kill it quicker.

Just finished watching Sky's #DutchGP highlights after avoiding all socials. Worth the wait!

Haven't commented on broadcasting matters for a while (because: time, life, desire), but anyway. Worth noting that Channel 4 have opted to air bare bones F1 highlights for both the Dutch and Italian rounds in the coming weeks: 90 minutes long instead of the usual 150 minutes.

New post just out: "The financial crisis theory of everything" Why the 2008 crash was the WW1 of our generation that led to nearly all of the problems we have today - from the rise of the radical right to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

First #IndyCar race I've watched in a while, and it didn't disappoint!

Not even 9am. So far on Radio 6, the news bulletins have featured a mother saying her daughters aren't safe because of asylum seekers, a Tory politician lambasting Labour for crossing numbers & Badenoch encouraging councils to lodge legal challenges against hotels. An endless stream of hateful bile.

Spot on from Olga Rudenko: "Russia could end the war in Ukraine at any moment by stopping its attacks and withdrawing its forces. By simply going home. Mr. Putin could end it with a phone call." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/o...

New post just out: "The Great VAT Panic" The claims made by the right-wing press about VAT on private school fees were wildly wrong. Why? What are the lessons about about (how not to) run a lobbying campaign? And what can government learn? (£/free) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

A rare, somewhat personal thread/appeal. Recently, @jburnmurdoch.ft.com wrote in the FT about the crime paradox - a sense that while violent crime is falling, 'disorder' is rising, "compounded by the sense that criminals are operating with impunity." www.ft.com/content/7488...

These are the top replies, being financially rewarded for posting this stuff, and the explanation offered by the site’s own AI for why it’s like that. Anyway just flicking through the Sunday newspapers reading about some minor content infractions that Ofcom might look into at the BBC/Channel 4.

I can sort of understand why so many journalists stay on twitter regardless of the politics. Inertia, not wanting to be shouted at by lefties etc etc.. But I can't understand why they are on a site that completely throttles links to their stories.

Holy actual... F2 is not starting on time at this rate. Biblical rain here now. #BritishGP

Not a chance F3 is restarting. Torrential rain over at Club. #BritishGP

Heavy rain has arrived at Silverstone... #BritishGP

Criticised Silverstone and the #BritishGP a lot operationally last year (sometimes unfairly). Really happy that there's been, on the evidence of the first two days, a huge step up on all fronts. Better signage around the circuit, improved traffic flows in and out and a much better fan experience. 👏

It's shameful that we were even considering renewing him. The people at the top of the club were not blind to this situation, and still considered it in the interests of sporting expedience. Lessons should be learned.

Lap 33. 🎉

And on it goes. Israeli politicians using UK media to stoke up outrage around Bob Vylan & Kneecap must be laughing their heads off at how easy it all is. I think this brings the Palestinian death toll *since the Glastonbury performance* in to triple figures. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I was about to compliment the top down angle at turn 3, but wasn't expecting to see a car go over on its roll hoop quite like that... #AustrianGP

Love how this resulted in Harry Benjamin throwing a Ralph Firman reference into #SkyF1 about a moment that happened "a few years ago". And by a few years ago, we actually mean 2003... 😆

Today's surreal moment consisted of seeing the actual, real Adrian Newey beavering away in his office ready for F1 2026... 👀 Great afternoon with @racingpride.com friends at Aston Martin F1 HQ. 🏳️‍🌈💚

UK: An average audience of 1.71 million viewers watched the F1 #CanadianGP across Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event, a slight decrease on the 2023 figure of 1.76 milion and down on the 2022 figure of 2.03 million viewers. (via Thinkbox - www.thinkbox.tv/training-and...)

Everything we know about the EU’s approval for F1 owners Liberty Media to buy MotoGP www.the-race.com/motogp/eu-ap...

ITV's VT retirement tribute to Steve Rider (shown earlier during their BTCC programme) is brilliant. A who's who of sports broadcasting and F1, and absolutely does him good for all he's contributed to broadcasting over the past 50 years.

Listening to Radio Le Mans is an absolute joy. #LeMans24

Learning to swim, running my fastest 10k ever, and getting myself out of the comfort zone. Some words on my 2025 so far - daveymn.substack.com/p/swimming-t...

The #Indy500 normally rates quite well internationally immediately after the #MonacoGP. Can't imagine they are too happy seeing the 500 and the #CanadianGP clash next year. Silly move.

Lacing up my shoes in 2020 and going for a run might have been one of my best ever decisions. Just set another ✨ 10k PB ✨ beating my previous best from over two years ago I feel on cloud nine right now. 🤩

Love seeing the MotoGP sprint interviews being done in what looks like the fan zones at the #AragonGP. Something other circuits should learn from and do (but probably won't).

In what feels like very big news indeed, Brad Pitt is going to produce a film about the Isle of Man TT for Amazon MGM Studios with TT fan Channing Tatum as the star www.the-race.com/tt/channing-...