this is a beautiful cover of Dancing in the Dark www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofVo...

He also has no idea who Peter Mandelson is.

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

I went to see a film and heard from two of the stars. I’m not saying what film it was but there is a little clue in the photo- good luck trying to search it out.

I would love to know if there was ANYONE who was rich and/or famous who met Jeffrey Epstein and decided he was a sick creep.

Lib Dem Tim Farron MP tells party conference Reform UK "spent a lot of their time [at conference] giving a platform to people who think that the Covid vaccines gave the royal family cancer, to self confessed convicted racists, and worst of all, Lembit Opik"

If you like Woody Allen (if you don't feel free NOT to tell me) you will love this interview- it is so much better than the one with Bill Maher which mostly featured the thoughts of Bill Maher. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc9t...

this is a much needed shot of joy and the long walk to the punchline at the start is very much worth it www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQr2...

This just in: Jon Stewart normally only hosts “The Daily Show” on Monday nights nowadays, but tonight he is returning to his longtime desk for one Thursday edition, Comedy Central says. His guest: Maria Ressa

Anyone who follows me flown from London to JFK in the last month or two?

I didn't think it would be her- I guess Starmer really is cracking down.

It would be funny if Jimmy Fallon's first guest on tonight's show is Jimmy Kimmel.

Remove two letters and this headline is bang on.

NOTHING will prepare you for this 45-second story arc. From "I'm just doing this because I love the flag, it's totally grassroots, and I'm not part of anything political"... to who actually gave him the flags the night before. Anyone who believes it is an innocent movement needs to see this.

I am up against a deadline on a writing assignment and my stress is not being helped by my wife sending me videos on how to solve quadratic equations so I can help my daughter with her maths homework.

Will the last person to leave the Conservative Party please turn out the lights.

I went to a special screening of the new Paul Thomas Anderson film One Battle After Another that was followed by a question and answer session featuring PTA, Leonardo Di Caprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor. It is one HELL of a great film by the way.

Stop the boats but keep the bhajis coming.

this made me unexpectedly emotional www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Ey...

I wrote this back in 2008 for The Observer about Rock against Racism. It seems a good time to revisit. www.theguardian.com/music/2008/a...

Three of my all time favourite films- Field of Dreams, Dead Poets Society and When Harry Met Sally- were all released within three months of each in the spring and summer of 1989. Would any of them get made today?

I would be so interested to know how many of the 100,000 people marching to 'Unite the Kingdom' are not white. That's not snark by the way- I am genuinely curious how someone who was brown or black and waving a huge Union flag would be treated. I would do it myself but not sure I have the nerve.

Did anyone manage to get Radiohead tickets ?

This is from today’s Guardian but could so easily be from the 1970s.

Given the times and the news wanted to share a musical palette cleanser. I love this song: Joan Armatrading 'In These Times.' www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGL...

these engravings could have been written with the same autopen that faked Trump's signature on the birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein.

This is somewhat niche but I hope that this means Mandelson can now return to the How To Win An Election podcast.

Charlie Kirk died so Peter Mandelson’s political career could live on.

Charlie Kirk has died at 31 after being shot today, according to conservative online channel Real America's Voice, where Kirk's show aired.

I wonder if Mandelson will be forced to resign for a third time in his political career.

Not a bad idea to listen to what someone who can remember being scared by the NF as a young kid in the 70s makes of all the antics under the “bunting” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I remember when Tracy Chapman's Crossroads album came out back in 1989. I loved it then and 36 years I love it now. This is from the last song on the record.

now that's a lede theatln.tc/0RjlWtBV

I crocheted Patti Smith’s Horses cover

I think Substack is taking the piss.

with me it is because the kids need to get fed and taken to school.

To paraphrase Blackadder: 'a few seconds of Andrea Jenkyns singing and somehow death loses its sting.'

To paraphrase Blackadder: 'a few seconds of Andrea Jenkyns singing and somehow death loses its sting.'

I know I know: most people who follow me are not interested in Taylor Swift and would much rather I just go on about Springsteen but this is a really thoughtful piece from The Atlantic on Swift. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

That is one hell of a life compressed into two sentences.

Ben Elton in conversation with Richard Curtis at the Cheltenham Book Festival. Oh my God.

Amid all the stuff about ‘dangerous London’ and ‘broken Britain’, new figures show the homicide rate in London is at a 10-year low. Killings dropped by 26% over the last year, from 78 to 58. No one under 25 was murdered during the school summer holidays.

I wonder if this will make it into the next Green Party election manifesto- somewhat of a change from promising to devolve bus services.

This review of 'Hamnet' is such a spectacular piece of writing. It also makes me really, REALLY want to see the film. www.indiewire.com/criticism/mo...

Just bought a chess set modelled on famous psychiatrists. Anyone fancy a game? After all, the knight is Jung.

Is the FT okay?

I personally am not a fan of making deals with extremists who hate women and want to turn the clock back hundreds of years - but who am I to tell the Taliban what to do.