This is Donald Trump receiving the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President, Gianni Infantino. It feels increasingly morally icky to imagine watching next summer's World Cup. Football fans are, once again, being forced into an ethical trap by the blight of sportswashing.

This World Cup draw is the most overt sportswashing I've ever seen. Makes the Qataris look like masters of subtlety. They're just pumping out a VT about how Donald Trump has brokered peace in the Middle East (earning the famous 'FIFA Peace Prize') while Gianni Infantino grins like Pennywise.

Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger are currently singing one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Really worth seeking out.

Graham Norton should be commentating this World Cup draw.

I'll be on Front Row tonight discussing Paddington, Panahi and piscine pandemonium (aka, non-alliteratively, The War Between the Land and the Sea). From 19:15 on Radio 4.

On the Media Show on Radio 4 shortly, talking Netflix, podcasts and everything in-between (or beyond).

"Biography adds a new terror to death? Well here she is!" Another great piece on Tom Stoppard in the, consistently good, new Observer. observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Quick essay on the drift of entertainment formats towards a great, soupy omniproduct.

Does any film have a wilder disparity between the quality of the main cast and the ‘additionally’ cast than Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over?

See also: symposiums. ("top writers on their coffee preference", "20 actors on their nativity play role"; "retired rockstars list their favourite Juno poses"). I'll just gobble that up.

People shit on them because they're seen as lowest common denominator, SEO-bait journalism, but I LOVE year-end best-of lists. Can be the most random subject on the most obscure publication, and you can bet I'm going to read every last word.

Somewhere, up in heaven, Tom Stoppard and Billy Bonds are sharing a beer and trying to decide which is a greater achievement: West Ham’s 1980 cup final victory over Arsenal, or Arcadia 🕊️

Stranger Things has exceeded its strangeness quotient – it's losing the charm that made it a global hit. My review ⬇️

I’ve never previously felt compelled to photograph a urinal, let alone post it on the internet. But the urinals at the Geological Society are particularly excellent and fitting to their location, so I’ll make an exception.

I made all the Spectator's podcasts for a couple of years (2016-2018) and in those two years we didn't once cover 'the trans debate'. Not once. I find that mind-blowing now.

Somewhere, Nathan Fielder is smiling to himself and linking to this article on a bodybuilding forum.

Hard pass.

PITCH: An episode of Black Mirror where a married, conservative political figure has to choose whether to be interviewed by Isaac Chotiner or Olivia Nuzzi.

New host, same MasterChef.

It's got to the point where I am forced to judge people for watching boxing. This is like the football World Cup being played with Baller League rules.

AI Slop is (relatively) easy to deal with. It's the tsunamAI that worries me.

The BBC is live-blogging the TikTok UK awards - including this scintillating category - and I hate to say it but maybe Dunold Tromp was right.

It's such a shame that golf is so full of greasy grifters – who give Trump's 18-year-old granddaughter an 'exemption' to play on the pro LPGA tour despite only being the 461st ranked junior in the country – because it's actually a very fun game. But, all things being considered, it must be banned.

Imagine living in a city, and this is the entirety of the History section on its Wikipedia page.

Small mercies: for the first time since December 2024, Nigel Farage is not currently the bookies' favourite to be our next Prime Minister.

For @theipaper.com, I looked into 'microdramas', the short-form, social media series that are being eyed as a replacement for struggling soap operas. It says something quite terrifying about our attention spans that this is the way things are headed...

There has been loads of excellent punditry and analysis on the BBC's current crisis. All those people should band to together and form some sort of British Broadcasting... Company? Conglomerate? Co-operative?

"The free market can't stop Hollywood using AI actors" "The free market can't stop the free market not using AI actors" "The free market can't stop the free market stopping the free market from using AI actors" "The free market can't stop the free market stopping the free market stopping the fre-

Extremely important for the IOC to crack down on the *checks notes* zero transgender women who competed at the last Olympics.

Trespasses = good.

The BBC: quite a big deal.

This column may be complete bollocks, but I'm not sure I could've come up with a better cover image.

The BBC is not really institutionally biased. But reality no longer matters. The BBC has to change. A few thoughts ⬇️

Must be wild for the Trump administration to bear witness to a culture of accountability.

In an effort to cure my low self-esteem with one of those gold ticks on Substack, I am providing my first perk for premium subscribers: The Frigest, a Friday digest of cultural delights, industrial gossip, and stray observations about moustache growth.

I really wasn't sure what sort of response critics would give Pluribus. It's interesting but slippery; engaging but not gripping. Rhea Seehorn is excellent, but is its dystopian built out in sufficient technicolour? I remain unconvinced.

Someone has to to stand up to the celebification of every half-decent reality TV format.

Huge respect for the 2% of Celeb Traitors viewers who think that David Olusoga played the best game.

I think that Steven Bartlett's attempt to build "the Disney of the creator economy" misunderstands the psychology of why the creator economy has thrived. My thoughts ⬇️

Everything about Kemi Badenoch – except her beverage preference – is absolutely chilling.

What was the last major election anywhere which wasn’t won by the more “authentic” seeming candidate? Like, Keir Starmer might present like a hand-carved ventriloquist’s dummy, but, mercifully, he was up against Rishi Sunak, the human equivalent of an AI chatbot. Authenticity seems a vote winner.

One of the ‘celebrities’ appearing on the BBC’s special Christmas series - The Celebrity Apprentice - will be Thomas Skinner. Aside from the BBC giving him yet more airtime, remind me how Skinner got famous originally?

Was always hard to take Dick Cheney seriously when his name sounds like a chastity device.

Britain's sole remaining export is beautiful people. Now to somehow leverage our soft (no jokes) power into trade deals.

London has fallen.

We are not a serious nation.

👑 I'll always call him Prince Andrew 👑 (because the titles were always a totally arbitrary relic, and there should be frequent reminders of the way that powerful establishment figures, like royals, collude in abuse).