The latest podcast from @zaphmann.bsky.social before a well-deserved break: inmemoryofjohnpeel.com/2025/11/02/t.... Has, for my money at least, four really good, if not outstanding, tracks.

Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America

I wondered if any academic economists had a take on Tom Calver's recent piece in the Sunday Times (archive.ph/Sf8L9) on the impact to the UK economy of Brexit? @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social or @jdportes.bsky.social perhaps? I note Simon's piece from last year (mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-....

Theme for Great Cities - Simple Minds cover by Open Mind: www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_s5...

Deal 🤝 inktober day 18

107 days, zero ideas: www.persuasion.community/p/107-days-z... HT John Naughton (memex.naughtons.org/friday-17-oc...).

Great write up of IfG's findings on local government by the Guardian

Watch this! It's fantastic and made me cry. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Heavy 🎈 inktober day 9

Just listening to Radio 4 and a woman is talking about swifts. And I thought: I recognise those words... Katherine Rundell on the Swift: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/.... There's a fuller version: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4....

"Don't you try to bully me, you shameful, cowardly bastard", says the Aussie Bloke. Was that Nick Cave to Roger Waters? www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCu...

As well as the fantasy £234 bn, journalists should also be clear Farage's claims most new migrants don't work, and those who do are on low wages, are entirely false. In fact, 1.8 million recent migrants are on payrolls (others will be self employed). migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/co...

Good reporting here by @annasophiegross.bsky.social of Farage's nonsense numbers. www.ft.com/content/4e16...

More good news from around the world + sources! (3/3)

UK living standards have collapsed while govt after govt have sat on their hands. Now the vacuum they left is being filled by fascist agitators like Tommy Robinson and super-rich big-business-backed politicians like Farage. There is an alternative–and we can all play our part in fighting for it.

Surrey cricket Chair Oli Slipper in conversation with Dan Norcross about the options for the format of the county championship next year and going forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m-k.... #SurreyCricket

we revealed in FT two years ago that Mandelson stayed at Epstein's luxury house in Manhattan while the financier was in jail for soliciting a minor he was deputy prime minister at the time always seemed weird that broadcasters didn't really pick this up at the time www.ft.com/content/0723...

Streatham Free Film Festival - runs, I think, from 9 September to 4 October: freefilmfestivals.org/filmfestival... #SFFF10

For over a decade, The Clink Charity has helped prisoners retrain in catering, upskilling them and reducing reoffending. With its flagship restaurant at HMP Brixton facing closure, I've written to @MoJGovUK urging them to give full and fair consideration to their renewal bid.

I'm not understanding why FA staff including the CEO, Mark Bullingham, aren't losing their jobs over this. It seems a serious misjudgement to have brought the case and there have been serious impacts for the player and the club.

The Guardian's Matt Hughes on the Regulatory Commission's report on the spot-fixing case the FA brought against Lucas Paqueta: www.theguardian.com/football/202...

They're often referred to as illegal migrants and yet "Between 2018 and 2024, the asylum grant rate for people who arrived by small boat was 68%". Source: migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/br...

Please don't describe yourselves as left-wing. Say instead what you stand for: fairness and equality, kindness, education, peace, addressing climate change, taking responsibility...

"Shave your legs - I'm coming home... You show me your face, you show me your eyes You give me the waves, oh you give me life You show me your arms, you show me your legs You give me the ocean, oh don't give me the rest, the rest Save me, save me Save me, save me".

“If I said I was wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt would you get here quicker?” From the new Private Eye, in shops now.

Piece in the Metro newspaper yesterday about #Streatham resident, Cynthia Payne: metro.co.uk/2025/08/17/i.... What I didn't know and has been pointed out on Facebook is that George Galloway was a neighbour - see standard.co.uk/hp/front/tak....

Andy Beckett in LRB reviews a recent book by Philippe Sands on the Pinochet regime and Nazi fugitive Walther Rauff. Lots of grim details, but Beckett's closing remarks about democratic backsliding in moments of extreme political "acrimony" are haunting beyond Chile. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Catching up on recent issues of the LRB and thought the referenced piece was a good summary, from a month ago, of what Israel, with assistance, is doing to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Chloe Kelly with the winning penalty!!! #Euro2025 #England

Meta-study says "Although 10,000 steps per day can still be a viable target for those who are more active, 7,000 steps per day is associated with clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes and might be a more realistic and achievable target for some." www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The Wolfgang Press: - in 1985 - I'm Coming Home Mama: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnUM... - in 2024 - The Garden of Eden (with reference to Greta Thunberg?): www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpb...

Time for some good news! 🌍 🌱 Unclench your jaw and enjoy (1/3)

I've received a number of enquiries about the decision to remove me as a trade envoy. I particularly want to thank the UK-Ghanaian diaspora for all their support in the role, which, like their jollof, is unmatched. My statement on the issue 👇🏾

Coming from Theda Skocpol, this is absolutely bone-chilling analysis. H/t @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/criti...

I've written about Keir Starmer's government in its first year www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

Have just watched Gaza: Doctors Under Attack on Channel 4 which the BBC declined to broadcast. What a shocking film and I wonder again about the UK's involvement in what appears to be genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel.

The film "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack", that the BBC commissioned but has refused to show, is aired today on the UK's Channel 4 at 10 pm. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...

Rant alert. Mega rant alert. How about our leaders stop wringing hands, issuing feeble denunciations, and actually DO something? Stop the moral equivalency. Stop pretending we’re helpless. There’s plenty we could do if genuinely committed. Here’s some suggestions for starters. 🧵

In 'The Chess Players, (1929) William Roberts has placed us in the underdog's camp and not for nothing is the player looking lost, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he desperately seeks a way out of a position that seems to have only one outcome.

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts currently live at Glastonbury: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live...

Setting aside the many reasons to oppose disability benefit cuts, the government is leaving MPs *no option but to block the Bill* on Tuesday for these reasons alone:

Y'days post: A minimum tax on billionaires mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/06/a-mi... The super rich pay a much lower % of their income in tax than almost everyone else. The 'Zucman tax' prevents that in a way that everyone should agree is fair, so why not do this rather than cutting welfare?

Praggnanandhaa vs. Rapport, 2nd Uzchess Cup, round 6 (24 June 2025). Black to move. What would you play? Game score with Stockfish annotations: lichess.org/broadcast/2n.... Daniel King commentary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEc9....

Just a reminder that the West destroyed Iran’s progressive democracy in 1953, deposing a leader beloved of the people, and installed a dictatorship in his place. The US and UK have been terrorising that country for as long as any of us have been alive. It’s sick.

Take a deep breath and enjoy recent positive news from around the world 🌱 (1/3)

An article in the Guardian on supermarket sourdough bread: www.theguardian.com/thefilter/20.... I have some questions: 1. What qualifies a loaf to be described as sourdough? 2. What are the health benefits of sourdough in general and, say, a rye sourdough loaf or a multigrain sourdough loaf? ...

We’ve got enough going on 😐

Return to Planet Ivanchuk: www.chessclub.com/news-and-art...

It seems to me that Bell has become a little more outspoken and critical (if not directly) of the Government. Good on her.