Find someone who looks at you the way Romy Schneider looks at Orson Welles.

Adventures in translation: watching Mr Arkadin with French subtitles. “Just out of stir” is rendered as “hors d’agitation”.

I remember being sent to bed while my parents hosted meetings of the Fabian’s’ Watford Branch in our front room. Now I know why.

Is it morally the wrong thing to do? Yes. Is it bad for the country and the economy? Also yes. Will it harm UK students? Also yes. Is it also a bad move politically that will disproportionately harm Labour's own constituencies? Also yes. There is absolutely no reason to do this. Pure destruction.

Sad to hear Tony Harrison has died. In The early days of the Indy I suggested we print all of V in the paper, so that people could read what they were being told to be outraged about. Didn't reach the end of the sentence before Andreas Whittam-Smith said yes. Never proof read anything so carefully.

Beside the point, but that’s a lousy bit of subbing. My immediate reaction to the headline was “why would he pay for Putin propaganda when you can get it free?”

I’m in the south of France and just passed a man with a teardrop tattoo. Does that mean the same thing here as in the US?

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, who died on this day 1904, was a Greek and Irish writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the Western world. (here's an article from 2021) www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

> @captmarkkelly.bsky.social

RIP Danny Thompson. Here's a playlist featuring just some of the hundreds of songs that were graced by his bass playing. Includes Nick Drake, Pentangle, Donovan, John Martyn, Sandy Denny, Marc Bolan, David Sylvian, Kate Bush, Talk Talk, Lilac Time, Julian Cope etc ▶️ open.spotify.com/playlist/4XS...

I've no interest in cricket, but Dickie Bird's death caused me a pang: he used to live at the top of my grandfather's road, in a house called The Wickets, so I've been thinking about my grandparents.

I'm not sure what I find most interesting about this – that it was written by the author of From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, or that he named it after Britain's most reviled brand of pasty. www.nyrb.com/products/gin...

Why in god’s name is Newsweek paying attention to her?

Actually, the more I read about Maurice Glasman, the more I find myself wanting him not to enjoy sex with his wife.

Fascinating by the man on Any Answers, a phone-in programme aired by the national broadcaster, who says he has no idea where debates now take place and he feels he has no voice.

So excited for this to be in the world

These guys are on Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/norf...

Lovely piece by (presumably) @pamhutch.bsky.social on the late Adam Somner, the UK’s greatest gift to Hollywood. www.bfimessages.org.uk/t/y-e-qdtikn...

When my daughter was an art history undergraduate, she was told off for writing in an insufficiently academic style – instead of "shrink" she should use "diminish". This stuff is deeply embedded.

Interesting on the ways in which Trump's repression of free speech is and isn't like Putin's (and in some ways may be worse). www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Pour one out for the @nytpitchbot.bsky.social. Satire is dead in a world where the real "reporting" looks like this

This is all he said?! This is why ABC (in response to threats from Trump's FCC) is taking Kimmel off the air?!

America is an insane country.

Whether it's Joe Biden condemning the killing of Charlie Kirk in 2025 or Charlie Kirk calling for the killing of Joe Biden in 2024, both men have issued strong words about the other's killing.

I touch on this assault in my @bellingcat.com latest on their ‘fight night’ 2 weeks ago, but SoCal Active Club founder and leader Robert Wheldon is indeed one of the attackers - he kicks the man on the ground twice and strikes him with the flagpole twice before running away bsky.app/profile/acat...

‘While the judiciary does not represent the diversity of the population at large, juries are the opposite.’ Francis FitzGibbon (@ffkc.bsky.social) on the Leveson report’s proposals to reduce the number of trials decided by juries: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Fuck me, Trevor Phillips is all in on the "legitimate concerns" end of things.

reposting with alt text because this feels incredibly significant. the right-wing disinfo machine means a lot of the people grieving Charlie Kirk never heard any of the things he said that would have tarnished his brand as Guy Who Just Wants to Have Dialogue Across the Aisle

Sarah Montague, on The World at One, harps on the idea that two high-profile resignations within a few days shows Starmer's bad judgement. Silly to muddle up Angela Rayner – elected deputy leader by the party –  with Mandelson, whose appointment does demonstrate shockingly bad judgement. #bbcwato

You can’t say the guy didn’t walk the walk.

Includes the line “you’re in our country, bow to this flag how we do.” Because there’s nothing more British than grovelling to flags.

Russians dropped a glide bomb on elderly people who were waiting in line for their pensions. More than 20 dead. Please. Don’t look away and don’t be silent. This is all I could ask for

Literally nauseating.

I liked it when the Onion did satire, not all this dry factual reporting.

JFC

Timeline cleanse

Must have just got fed up waiting for that Peace Prize.

This is vile. Local guy speaks to Sky News about the impact of asylum seekers protests. Watch what happens and share widely

There’s a dormant London Centric Twitter account I set up and barely used, which still has all the default settings including notifications. Anyway this is the second time today it’s pushed a Tommy Robinson tweet at me. Given millions of Brits will have the app, god knows how many are getting this.

Maybe! But, as @tomflood.bsky.social is always pointing out, "normalizing" this isn't about having persuasive culture war fights about how ppl parent. It's about building infrastructure that allows parents to feel safe about easing back and letting kids roam free(r).

Basically (and I think this is what Chris is really saying; I just don't think it's expressed helpfully by bringing the debt path into the story) the UK has absolutely no problems that couldn't be solved, except the government has promised not to solve them in order to get elected

Apart from anything else, this is – like so much discourse about social media – entirely Americocentric, failing to understand that one of the main points about social media is that it's international, it gives you news from elsewhere.

The piece I am editing contains the phrase "embellished with dendric and vinous design", and I'm wondering what's the point, what's the bloody point of anything?

Oxford last weekend, about 40-50 protestors and a larger counterprotest of 60+. No reports/posts yet re last night 168 asylum seekers are housed in Oxford. Around 20 watched the protest + counter-protest last weekend + spoke to local media about it www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2541295...

Do you think there are headlines back on the Predator planet that are like “Dentist Speared By Earthling He Paid to Hunt” and there’s a bunch of Predators in ties around a watercooler going “Lol RIP.”

Tech oligarchs oppose the idea of any supposedly undeserving person getting financial help from the government in 2025. But they want you to believe they’ll give *everyone* free money in the future. It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s the techno-utopian lie they will keep selling.

Have you spotted the problem with this?

That’s all we need - 60,000 UK armed forces people per year trained by a defence firm from a genocidal thug-state with no respect for law or international law. Are the Ministry of Defence going mad? x.com/scotnational...

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