The history books on the shelf / Are always repeating themselves #bbc

As a veteran of legacy media, I'll never pretend that we got things right all the time. Some of the worst stumbles arose from a lack of experience around the table, editorial & lived. But most of us believed in journalism & practised it honestly. And here's the thing: you'll miss us when we're gone

Gilead establishes itself not only through violence but armies of strawmen and the active participation of the media

Everyone keeps going on about how brilliant Joe was on #traitors but Ruth Codd was the standout star. (“Don’t piss in my ear and tell me it’s raining.”)

“Turn the volume up!” youtu.be/kOQT_4A1eb8?... #zohranmamdani

If ever you’re in trouble, best not to ask Lady Victoria Hervey to defend you. #panorama #themanformerlyknownasprince

Well quite

Overheard on the Central Line: “My children are all doctors, two real doctors and a doctor of philosophy. What can you do? Two out of three isn’t bad. “

Taking the risk of posting this podcast on How (Not) to Start a New Party without checking how my bit has been edited. Thanks to the Man Formerly Known as Prince, I'm too busy to listen, but this subject matters beyond the jokey title www.politico.eu/podcast/west...

Spot the 👑 mistake

Excellent ad placement.

If only Virginia Roberts Giuffre - Jenna - were around to see this www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...

For a moment there I thought the artist formerly known as Duchess had found a new hustle

Raise your hand if you don’t think this poll an outlier (Me: 🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️) 2nd chart shows the nub of the problem, Labour sacrificing its base and values in a doomed attempt to out-Reform Reform. www.thetimes.com/article/bbf3...

"Lest we remember" Please read this by @samfr.bsky.social about how populism is rewriting recent history to justify its ideology of hatred open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/n...

Short answer: yes. “On average, after 15 years, gross domestic product per head tends to be 10% lower in countries run by populist leaders than in similar economies with more mainstream regimes” www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Awful shock. Just found a slew of paper wadded up at the bottom of my cup of tea—the manuscript I’ve been working on for years…destroyed. Then I woke up. Good morning!

Happy days www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Good www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

How do you make a publisher blush? 😳 It was a real joy to see Sandi Toksvig’s show last night promoting Friends of Dorothy (Virago). We thought we were there to support @mayeroflondon.bsky.social, whose novel TIME/LIFE has been widely recommended by Sandi – but here’s what actually happened.

Two ironies of Keir Starmer “refusing to be drawn” on the controversy over Andrew remaining at Royal Lodge: 1) Starmer could actually do the monarchy a favour by intervening 2) He’ll be forced to take a position anyway www.thetimes.com/article/bc35...

Hard to see how this will end. If this were a commercial organisation or normal public sector body, there would be resignations, investigations, inquiries. There would be attention not only on the core allegations but the culture of impunity that shielded rather than insisting on accountability

Doing an interview about Andrew for NPR shortly and the torrent of news hasn’t let up all morning. Half expecting to come off air to discover more bombshells have exploded www.bbc.com/news/article...

The titles really aren’t the issue, are they?

Exactly so. And it’s what the political and media mainstream *and* social media have got horribly wrong everywhere and not just in respect of far right parties but every aspect of the war on woke www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Imagine having a slot on primetime television to discuss your friendship with a convicted paedophile and not at any point expressing concern for the victims

If you haven't signed up yet, there's still time to do so and to join the meetings that will shape the organisation

Christ. At least the Weimar Republic got divine decadence. This just sounds unutterably naff www.theguardian.com/food/2025/oc...

A man is judged by the company he keeps… www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Help. I seem to have woken up in 1933

Glad this mentions her self deprecation. She did it before Hugh Grant and at least as charmingly. When I interviewed her, it seemed to be how she was off screen too www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc... #dianekeaton

Learned last night that I’d made it to the shortlist for the Interwoven poetry prize just as I arrived to talk to a book group that had selected my novel TIME/LIFE for discussion. This morning I aim to finish the last chapter of my next book. This is the life I dreamed of from childhood. Except…

"Squads of volunteers... were preparing the street for Hate Week, stitching banners, painting posters, erecting flagstaffs on the roofs, and perilously slinging wires across the street for the reception of streamers."

And in more news about news... Google ignoring Manchester-based reporting of the synagogue attack in favour of distant brands pressgazette.co.uk/news/google-...

In news about news www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

“I’m not a rapist, that’s too heavy for me to bear,” he said. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o... FYI the Nobel Peace Prize is due to be announced on Friday.

In the words of Queen Camilla "may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs" #JillyCooper

That's my husband with his band Gang of Four at 25 mins. I Love a Man in a Uniform was their 2nd single to be banned. At a time when some of the best cultural output is being consigned to flames, this would be a good day to watch or just crank up Gang of Four LOUD www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

The BBC manages to make a truly important programme and then crashes?

In 2022 WE put up fake police incident boards highlighting institutional misogyny and racism in the Met police. Tonight’s BBC Panorama hows how bad it is. To quote one of our boards, the police cannot stop violence and discrimination if they do not recognise it in their own ranks.

The Royal Society has met to discuss Elon Musk – and they’re NOT removing his fellowship. They are criticising him publicly, but stopping short of actual removal. This feels like the kind of compromise that will please *absolutely nobody*.

Signed chng.it/V6vwGHMhGF

I forgot to say that I will be on stage with her in Bromley. Do come

Who’s that grooving to the beat? Yep. That’s Sandi Toksvig dancing to the Belle Stars on No 73. She’s currently touring her one-woman show Friends of Dorothy around England. And who knows. She might be persuaded to get out her dancing shoes. www.sanditoksvig.com #friendsofdorothy #comedy #standup

Another factor contributing to woeful coverage of the far right... elites trying to compensate by pandering to what they imagine non-elites are thinking pressgazette.co.uk/news/little-...

And the band played on… with Nero on violin www.thetimes.com/article/edc6...

👀 www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

That’s a wrap! @mayeroflondon.bsky.social’s Scottish Time/Life @renardpress.com mini-tour is complete! Book signing @ Waterstones Glasgow & Uni of Glasgow’s Creative Conversations in convo w/Nicky Melville. Edinburgh leg: @typewronger.bsky.social chatting & time-travelling w/wonderful Joanna Baker…

Good morning Glasgow

This isn’t protection. It is subjugation, instrumentalisation, exploitation. “The notion that male politicians need to protect women and children comes packed together with a shift towards a new strand of patriarchy” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...