Feel like he’s breaking the 4th wall bc he realized this is kinda f’d up

Afford*ed*

When you are the incumbent government, your re-election strategy is downstream of your governing record, which is what you should be preoccupied with now.

This is the best evidence we have that the #localgov finance system remains broken. Reform desperately wants to find savings so they can reduce council tax increases. They have not been able to, because the savings are not there to be had.

This & the HdZ one last week v good as everyone says. but also v depressing? Both essentially say you must ignore the system to get stuff done in govt - bring it all into No10 (Bew), or don't bother working cross-govt (HdZ). That's probably right in the moment, but v bad for long run state capacity

Sometimes the most transformative solutions come from looking at old ideas with fresh eyes. Bricks, sand & stone could play a key role as thermal energy storage — cheap, scalable, and perfect for storing excess wind & solar as heat for industry and district heating. www.euractiv.com/news/bricks-...

A propos Heard Michael Maslinksi on R4 this morning talking about his and his wife's experience with a care home. He pointed to how poorly the 'system' behaved, because people within it felt they had little discretion about how to interpret rules and regs. /1

I’m all for massive state overreach as long as it’s targeted at the people I don’t like

Hard agree with a lot of what Matthew sets out here, by way of analysis. That lack of the a ‘theory of the state’ is a fundamental barrier to sorting the nation’s problems. We need the tools to get through this - and some of us are building them.

The awful levers analogy notwithstanding, the analysis here has a lot to it. What’s missing is more nuance on the question of gov’t role. A big problem with government is a binary view that says either hands off or intervention. Other options are available. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is the craziest season of ‘Borgen’ so far.

This place is magnificent. Reminiscent of the aesthetic of this picture, which was on the wall of a place we stayed in Montenegro, and which is doing nothing to tackle stereotypes

When was the last time middle age professional service bros were the height of fashion? www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025...

They always want to “save classics!” until they find that it’s only by heavily redacting Greco-Roman literature (e.g. cut out the gayness!) that they get what they call “western civ.” It’s all a ridiculous game of omission.

I’d forgotten about this work of art

I once walked into a warship. Didn’t come away with a scar which is both a blessing and a disappointment

Love the Madaba Map The depiction of Jerusalem somehow manages to give you that sense of a dense, bustling place with just a few buildings

Like him or loathe him, Blair's clarity of sight can be pretty good at times From *2009* Blair assessing that religion would be a critical dimension to this century... www.theguardian.com/politics/200...

An extreme playing out of St Augustine’s prayer - ‘Lord, make me chaste. Just not yet.’

I've had two outstanding public service experiences this hols: a new passport within 2 days of application & a prescription ready to pick up within 2 hours of request. Time saved is a key (unmeasured) productivity metric: digital tech makes a huge difference when implemented well.

He’s so good at this stuff

This pollarded willow stands on our local Common and is thought to date to the 1600s. It’s been set fire to in the past and then a year or so ago disintegrated. Here it is, throwing up new branches. I’m sure there’s a message in that somewhere. Happy New Year!

Well done London Fuck the racists

Reading about the collapse of Italian liberalism in the face of fascism So much of it is depressingly familiar

The honours system is generally silly, but if you're going to have it, it seems reasonable to give one to the woman heading up the largest membership organisation in the UK (bar a couple of unions)

The Policy Exchange History Reclaimed project (which tends to sceptical about this approach) asked this poll question, and found 76% support and 13% opposition to doing more to educate visitors about direct and indirect links to slavery and colonalism. PX did not promote this finding.

How do you arrange witch hunts against dead people?!

Super interesting

I spoke to a bunch of people about a thing they don’t want to happen, and they said it shouldn’t happen. Shocker.

Happy second anniversary of the Tory government’s announcement that pints of wine could be stocked on Britain’s shelves for the first time ever thanks to Brexit.

Scotland used to be so woke

Fascinating thread and once again striking how weird American Christianity can be.

It was great being a Roman. If only we could be Romans life will be awesome.

Reminded of the incredibly unsettling sign from the butchers in Staincross from 2021. The Covid sign next to it just elevates it to art. Proper League of Gentlemen vibes.

Cameron was one of the worst prime ministers Evidence item #83044

62% of people *wouldn’t* be disappointed if their child was trans That number should be bigger, but for all the vitriol poured onto a very small number of people who are trans, we should remember that two-thirds of Brits are cool with people being trans. That’s a good thing.

“I'm empty and aching and I don't know why” feels like it could describe Britain today as much as 60s America

I’m reminded of watching two old ladies ask a teenage goth for directions and she politely told them and when she was out of earshot one lady said “You know where you are with a goth”

Didn’t have a resurgence of Arian heresy on my 2025 bingo card, but here we are

Thought for a minute this was Cummings

And let’s not forget that the 1970s had 1950s nostalgia (Grease; Happy Days)

New substack: why so many people are content with economic stagnation: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/wallowing-...

Why the hell are there TV adverts for AWS?!

This is why our Max Richter tickets aren’t £1000 in the secondary market @stephenkb.bsky.social

WHAT’s up guys its Plato welcome back to the cave. Guys we’ve got some CRAZY shadows for you today you are not gonna want to miss this! But first I have to thank our sponsor OnX Backcountry

Jaw dropping like Zeeshan says But I think the important bit is in here. If it collapses, it will be because America irony-ed itself to death.

As a former editor of Popbitch – and the proud owner of a legal letter sent by HarperCollins, accusing me of being "highly likely to cause serious harm to [their former star client]’s reputation both as an individual and author” – may I just say: GET IT RIGHT UP YE

What’s good about Walliams is we don’t have to separate the art from the man

Ironic coming from Utah