This is lovely writing: www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

“Lo, He abhors not the Virgin’s womb” gets me every time.

Ah, Ursula Fanthorpe’s ‘BC:AD’. My uncle, Harry Chambers, discovered and published her. A first-rate poet.

He's living in a Winter Wonderland bsky.app/profile/redn...

It just feels like nothing‘s changed in the last 18 months except that recruitment has got tighter. Probably need to work a couple of extra years to afford to retire and it’s all got a bit Sixteen Tons for the youngsters.

Happy Christmas, all. I wish my (temporarily unpaywalled) final thoughts on the English NHS in 2025 could have been more positive, but reality is what it is. www.healthpolicyinsight.com/cowpers-cut-...

Just revisiting my 2024 end-of-year round-up on English health policy and politics. www.healthpolicyinsight.com/cowpers-cut-...

I met Frank many moons ago at a football supporters association get-together. A wonderful bloke.

I increasingly think that Wes Streeting may be the Frank Sidebottom of Health Secretaries.

“Well if you told me you were drowning I would not lend a hand I've seen your face before, my friend But I don't know if you know who I am Well I was there and I saw what you did, I saw it with my own two eyes. So you can wipe off the grin: I know where you've been. It's all been a pack of lies

Source:

Mr Streeting’s tells the Commons health select committee “pubs are a good thing”, and instantly the livestream goes down.

Mmmmmmmm!

Sorting through Christmas decorations, it’s fascinating to look at newspapers of the early 1990s. The national media was not yet almost utterly shit.

Cherry blossom in mid-December …

Friends fear he may have bought himself an early Christmas present.

What’s the difference between Wes Streeting and Matt Hancock? www.healthpolicyinsight.com/cowpers-cut-...

In the UK and US, platforms reward speed, emotion and identity signalling. Even well-educated people get pulled into distorted information spaces, so the core problem isn’t ignorance, it’s the incentive environment that shapes how information spreads and sticks.

Finland is one comparatively successful model, but not just because schools teach critical thinking. Finland has high social trust, strong public-service media and coherent institutions. The whole system supports verification and open deliberation, you can’t copy the surface without the structure.

Most discussions about “misinformation” treat the problem as if people simply don’t have good enough critical-thinking skills. It sounds intuitive, but it’s not entirely accurate. The problem isn’t just individual ignorance, it’s the structure of the information environment people are placed into.

The splendid @helenlewis.bsky.social substack helpfully reminds me of this outstanding essay by @ianleslie.bsky.social on Paul McCartney www.ian-leslie.com/p/64-reasons...

Nicely abrasive www.ft.com/content/3f0d...

Loved this story about how historic businesses are being listed and preserved as part of protecting the character of Lisbon. Time for other London and other cities to do the same or should we let capitalism just do its thing? monocle.com/affairs/urba...

The essence of Blue Labour thought is that somewhere in Downing Street there is a button marked “reindustrialise” that Tony Blair could have pressed, but instead he opted for the “more Woke Studies” button.

Very well-argued by @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/why-cant-t...

Peter will be joining me on air at 11.45.

🚨NEW BLOGPOST🚨 Are our politicians stupid? Not really, no. But incentives and attitudes mean they often seem it. Rarely do they speak at length, with intellectual clarity. Not because they can't, but because there is little space to. www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/why-cant-t...

This is fascinating www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

this story isn’t going away www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

*Applauds*

I'm a pretty good ventriloquist .... even if I say so myself. #dadjokes

I'm really not sure the Conservatives have thought this through. thecritic.co.uk/gove...

‘The data shows that just one dose cuts the chances of measles by about 95%, and two doses do even better.’ Timely review of the data on measles vaccines from @ourworldindata.org ourworldindata.org/measles-vacc...

Very good doc on the costs of water privatisation: Thatcherite dogma to produce the only privatised water in the world. The Cornwall water scandal saw 20,000 people poisoned as they cut-costs pre-sell-off & then covered it up to aid privatisation. #PoisonWater www.ft.com/content/ac11...

Stunning bit of writing www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/d...

This is well-argued from @stephenkb.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/5698...

As someone who criticised the government back in January for not having a clear growth strategy it is good to see Torsten set out in plain language what the govt’s strategy is and how it hangs together. This is much better and clearer communication.

A quick reminder of who Nigel Farage was most concerned about when Putin's tanks first rolled into Ukraine

✨ A few years back I stood outside Wells Cathedral for a full day and photographed the impact of the light on the front facade. I was amazed at the outcome - at how a single entity could morph and change under the changing light. 🌅 #thread

Just caught up with the excellent episode of BBC Radio4's Start the week, this one featuring @naomialderman.bsky.social on her new book 'Dont burn anyone at the stake today' & Cory Doctorow, on his 'Enshittification' - wonderfully hosted by @tds153.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I’m quite enjoying the 180 turn on a six pence from “you’ve wrecked the economy and created a black hole” to “there was no black hole and this is even worse”.

I'm hoping to unite Left and Right - they'll all hate my piece in today's Sunday Times, saying that successive Budgets have overtaxed the highest-earning 20%, and under-taxed both the median earner and the richest 0.1%.https://buff.ly/BqRFpJr

I’m enjoying the shuddering 180 from “Rachel Reeves should resign because the economy is in the toilet and we are all doomed” to “Rachel Reeves should resign because the economy is not in the toilet and we are not all doomed”. It really is the perfect reverse ferret.

The key point of a good thread.

Unless you're @hpiandycowper.bsky.social.

Try 'ElGato1234' www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Today's peaked and it's not even 9am www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Find me a better intro I'll wait www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Ou sont les Matt Hancocks d’antan?

I know who Nus Ghani MP is - not because we always agree - but because she’s been serving her constituency (as well as lewks) since 2015. Who the hell is Lucy White?! Ah, a quick google search reveals her as a rentagob for GB ‘news.’ I know which one is qualified to chair the budget debate.