Aldous Huxley talking about the power of technology decades before Social Media & AI. https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/c77rn8zylglo

It’s clear now that Boris Johnson did indeed destroy the Conservatives. Question now is whether Blair will do the same to Labour.

Reads like a Conservative speech to me. https://institute.global/insights/politics-and-governance/the-labour-party-is-playing-with-fire-over-its-future-and-the-future-of-the-country

Two Weeks in August cleverly found its entire cast on Queens Park’s Lonsdale Road.

BBC News listing all the stuff Murrell bought. It’s like the conveyor belt on the Generation Game!

Regents Park looking fab this afternoon. Full of cricket games, picnics, and early summer romance.

One of the most satisfying aspects to the celebrations of Arsenal’s PL win was the positive and ecstatic representation of successful British multiculturalism. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/22/keir-starmer-arsenal-politics-premier-league

This is worth a watch. In some ways Berlusconi was the blueprint for Trump, though I still believe Trump’s downfall will be more like Mussolini’s, fast and dramatic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002vzg8/berlusconi-condemned-to-win

While we are concerned with GB news… https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260518-french-cinema-faces-reckoning-as-media-mogul-bollor%C3%A9-blacklists-stars-for-daring-to-challenge-him

New blog post: simonfspeak.substack.com/p/data

Interesting point made on R4 Front Row last night. While the show Rivals is happy to skewer 80s retrogressive attitudes towards women and gay people, it steers well clear of Race. A decision by the programme’s creator or a directive from Disney?

People saying the UK as politically chaotic as Italy used to be. Well it looks like we might be getting our own Berlusconi. What a shitshow.

Reform have a quandary. Challenge Burnham when he runs thus destabilizing Labour further, at the same time potentially gaining another MP. Or give him a free run hoping the unpopular Starmer is more useful to them than a strengthened Labour under a new leader.

Without stating as such, Starmer couldn’t have been clearer, we’re going back in. Thank god. #EU

Weird watching the BAFTAs and realising I’ve watched nothing on British TV since Adolescence.

Kinda wish there was dedicated channel where all the MPs and political commentators could argue amongst themselves over leadership bids etc Leave the news sites for stuff that actually matters.

Farage is beginning to remind me of the fraudster Allen Stanford - the guy who helicoptered into Lords cricket ground with a big perspex box purportedly containing £20m. It was later revealed beneath the top layer of notes were bundles of blank paper. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_S...

Right wing commentators livid this morning that despite all their efforts they haven’t managed to oust a Labour Prime Minister.

If Farage is taken down because of his dodgy bungs it’ll be interesting to see if Reform survives without its cult leader.

Brexit, which turbocharged a rise in English Nationalism, could well result, as people warned, in a breaking up of the Union. England could end up a minor European outpost. Very weird.

Okay, this is now officially insane. abcnews.com/Sports/wireS...

Worth keeping an eye on the Far Right across Europe because that it seems is where we in the UK are headed. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/04/18/europes-patriots-rally-in-milan-against-immigration-while-salvini-backs-russian-oil

Yesterday I heard Andrew Neil banging on about Britain being 'a maritime nation'. Mate, we don't even have a fishing industry.

So depressing how Reform supporters seem unable to look across the Atlantic to see how badly their MAGA colleagues are being shafted.

I’d love these new Stones songs to be better but hey, you can’t always get…

Bowie just scored against Juve. Never thought I’d write that.

Seems to me the only way to convince people a populist leader is disastrous for the country is by handing them the keys to Number 10 then watch them prove their lack of capability, leave in disgrace, taking their party with them. Exhausting for the rest of us but there you go.

A splendid addition to the London landscape.

New blog piece: open.substack.com/pub/simonfsp...

Vile anti semitic attacks will only increase if Trump goes ahead and targets Iran’s domestic infrastructure.

People talks about Tracy Emin’s bed. They rarely mention the chained up suitcases behind the bed.

FYI This Friday May 1st I'll be reading some stuff out loud at this event in Richmond. So will Simon G. First time we'll be on the same stage (albeit at different times) in a hell of a lot of years. Come along. shorturl.at/6WhCq

When in Rome. johnfante.org/en/

Enjoyed Grayson Perry’s C4 zip through the state of AI. But references to Zuckerberg and Altman notably absent. ‘Bad actors’ were spoken about but without fingers being pointed. Also slightly sneery about the UK’s involvement without mentioning Demis Hassabis at Deepmind.

50 years ago today.

An actually satisfying series for once. Recommended : https://www.hbo.com/content/dtf-st-louis

This Starmer, Mandelson, McSweeney, Robbins situation reeks.

When right wing commentators try to tell you Milei’s Argentina is a success story : https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-12/argentinas-milei-is-struggling-with-the-economy-and-losing-popularity.html

New blog post. open.substack.com/pub/simonfsp...

Great. Authors’ work is now being flagged up as A.I. Generated even when it’s not. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/books/shy-girl-ai-publishing.html

Catch this if you can. A proper return to form for Sorrentino. https://youtu.be/zvQn44a_IHo?si=FwKlHaNuup-SqAyJ

Simply don’t understand how we can spend so much time discussing a space flight to the other side of the moon and back when a madman in the White House is threatening to blow up the world economy 24 hours from now. #r4today

Any propaganda win after rescuing the US pilot has been totally blown apart by Trump’s Truth Social post.

Problem is Trump’s White House has lied and exaggerated so many times it’s impossible to know in this fog of war what’s really going on in Iran, especially regarding this ‘rescued’ airman. Frustratingly most Western Media outlets will parrot the WH line without a thought.

Love watching The Big Match Revisited and noting how many goals would have been chalked off through VAR.

Compare the amount of coverage being given to the US Pilot shot down and the 175 Iranian schoolgirls killed by an American missile attack. #r4today

Wish we could find an island or a desert when all the leaders of the shit regimes could just go and kick the living hell out of each other and leave the rest of us in peace.

Not sure this Artemis mission is really working as a distraction. A rocket goes up, it doesn't blow up, and is quickly reduced to a white dot in the sky before quickly disappearing. There won't be anything more to see until it splashes down.

Why Brexiteers are still defending their misbegotten project baffles me. They now have the perfect out . “It would have worked had it not been for Trump.” Take the opportunity you dumbkopfs.

America can now see how Trump managed to bankrupt all his casinos. The fact that it is now their livelihoods at stake must be extremely worrying. Only the MAGA cult are still sticking by him, that 30% of brainwashed devotees who always will.