As it’s Whitsun weekend, here’s Larkin himself reading ‘The Whitsun Weddings’. youtube.com/watch?v=YIH5...

Roses are red, I swear on my mum's life...

I’ll be at the Hay Festival on Sunday with Michail Antonio and Afua Hirsch talking about modern masculinity, the manosphere, loneliness and why so many young men are going off the rails. 2.30pm, Meadow Stage. Come along if you’re in Hay. www.hayfestival.com/p-25175-mich...

Miles Davis’s centenary is to be marked with an extensive week of programming across BBC Radio 3 from Saturday 23 May to Friday 29 May: www.jazzwise.com/content/news... #jazzsky #musicsky @milestones-archive.bsky.social #milesdavis

The Whitsun Weddings by Phillip Larkin

Good thread

Professional sport for high stakes is possibly the only area in life where there is genuine equality of opportunity in Rawls’s sense, where people with motivation and talent are spotted early, nurtured and developed. And look at the resulting profile of the teams.

Won a nail-biter. #SixWordBlast

Lovely evening for Glamorgan vs Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the first T20 game of this season.

Very excited that The Women in Whites: A History of Women’s Cricket is out on 1 June! 🏏📖 To celebrate, I’m doing two launch events: 💻 Online launch Wed 3 June, 7–8pm BST Email [email protected] for the link

Longstanding liberal councillor, good egg, no unpleasant surprises with him. Other parties- it is possible to have a candidate without having to delete their social media posts.

✍️ Tiaan Brits: Unstoppable chadwickdrive.substack.com/p/tiaan-brit...

Reform Vetting: latest.

Think it's commendable that Denyer has been open that she's suffering from burnout here – I've seen it absolutely ravage friends, and it can take a good while to recover. Hope she gets that time (and a good break).

Reform are wrong - not just slightly wrong but fundamentally wrong - on *the* most important issue of the 21st century. Could not be wronger.

The sole reason for me to take any notice of this football World Cup. Otherwise it’s the cricket season, and that’ll be my distraction.

Our first Fino En Rama of this year, from Bodegas Fernando de Castilla #sherry www.sherrynotes.com/2026/reviews...

It is *incredibly* shabby that the Green Party cited "family and personal reasons" for their Makerfield candidate dropping out, given it was actually in relation to sharing antisemitic posts. Had a right-wing party done the same, they'd be getting called out loudly here for it. And rightly so.

WAYLON! Forgive me for being tardy here: this is a really great podcast about the best novel ever written, hosted by just the right people. Do take a listen, in case it turns out to be your thing. Mystery and recalcitrance.

@kadeamoo.bsky.social happy birthday, on the correct day this time.

This is a really informative interview with a key player in the Brexit horror-show. Explains how wrong we were to leave, and some of the issues attached to a simplistic ‘rejoin’ narrative. Hammond was a dry as dust politician, and I liked him for it. (As well as his goth backstory.)

Presumably, the issue is just like inflation. You can reduce inflation, but that doesn't mean that anything is more affordable. Likewise, you can reduce net immigration to zero but that doesn't give many people what they actually want: a country with fewer immigrants living in it.

Brilliant piece - as ever - from Rob. I actually lived in Winstanley during the GE campaign. The fictional image that most of the lobby has created of a single, deprived, cliched northern town called 'Makerfield' would be comical were it not such a depressing indictment of our media ecosystem.

“The only woman in the entire collection whose looks are disparaged is George Eliot, notable chiefly for ‘her resemblance to Savonarola.’ “

#DebbieHarry looks back on ‘what the hell I’ve been doing all these years’. The pop icon, 80, on her new film role, a forthcoming Blondie album, and why she will never stop thinking about what’s next. Interview by Megan Nolan https://bit.ly/49JioH4

They could just as easily avoid losing that advantage by making their search engine work properly as a search engine again, instead of a manipulative maze of SponCon and SEO-hacked slop. People have fled to chatbots in part because the basic functionality of Google became so corrupted and degraded.

Thank you to the good folks at @tonicgrain.bsky.social for this wonderful review of my new single. Read the full review in the link below* *UK site visitors may be restricted. #MusicianSky #MusicSky #Americana

Always happy to be reminded of this piece of genius

Deep in Sarah Hosking's memoir. I expected art and books but not passion. "I met and fell madly in love with three young men. One of them gave me a scarlet enamel ladle and a pair of red knickers and while the knickers have long gone to the land of discarded clothing, I still have the ladle."

'Jesse Bernard pens a compelling Black British music history with a personal angle' Great to see a review of #EscapingBabylon in Buzz Magazine! Read the full piece here: tinyurl.com/2xkz848m

The thing that links all radicalised individuals is their total lack of a sense of humour.

Chaos theory- the consequences of Howard Brown singing an ‘anti woke’ song written by the flesh-creeping Dominic Frisby.

I am not in general a pedant nor - except spasmodically - a prescriptivist. But, on electoral verbs: in England candidates _stand_ for office. Americans run. I would like to see this distinction maintained.

'Blankety Blank was a good programme until it was spoilt by the silly antics of the presenter who had presented every edition so far'

So grateful for this wonderful write-up and video premiere of the live version of 'Dance of the Keeper' from @americanauk.bsky.social Check it out on their website. americana-uk.com/video-premie... #MusicianSky #MusicSky #Americana

I think this is good practice. Following is akin to I think an element of social etiquette. People often forget and follow posts, not people so blaming for who you follow, when most don't put the thought in, is needlessly harsh. That said, don't follow NG. He was always a terrible writer anyway.

Everyone likes a bit of sherry...including mice

I think the Liberal Democrats could be using Parliament better and Ed has, after being a bulwark against the silliness that has tended to grip the party, started to succumb to it himself a bit, and has not yet really got to grips with 'managing a parliamentary party of 72'.

Full story online and in the latest issue: www.private-eye.co.uk/in-the-back For the rest, including cartoons, Pseuds, Dumb Britain and all the other regulars, you’ll have to buy the magazine. 🧵5/5

I'm not sure what kind of economic model you get to where a wealth tax is existential for the future of economic growth but zero net immigration is just vibes and social cohesion. When I did economics they taught us that you needed inputs if you wanted outputs but I guess the literature has moved on

Timid librarian in plea to save my workplace from making a huge mistake. A whole floor of Cardiff University's main library is under threat of being repurposed to teaching facilities with the removal of 7km of shelving holding valuable books. Pls share x you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...

Fallen a long way from when he was campaigning for Sam Gyimah to be elected as the LibDem MP for Kensington in 2019.

I've written about the battle of economic ideas within Labour for today's Observer 👇

Technocratic centralist eh.

Top photo fun on the hoof around the Market Towns of North Northamptonshire. 📷 Balda Baldessa 1a 🎞️ Fujicolor 200 #FilmPhotography #VintageCameras #BelieveInFilm

Can confirm Arts Collective in Northampton is excellent. Some lovely details and really liked the Northampton Rooms. A good thing!