As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one team in Glasgow, and that’s Partick Thistle.

Yes, I know these things are meaningless and personal,and it's brilliant to see 5 Woolf novels on the list, but how could anyone at all think Coetzee's Disgrace (58) better than his Life & Times of Michael K (not listed)? The story behind our 100 best novels list www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter the dire threat of a Reform UK government elected on a minority of the vote

'Common sense': habitual refuge of a scoundrel.

If only a head of government could be removed after bad mid-term elections in some other countries.

Never grows stale. Comic timing always perfect.

💯 "The @appgfairelections.bsky.social is calling for a national commission on electoral reform, with a ready-made terms of reference... This time, we need a voting system that serves citizens, first and foremost. This is now within our grasp, and we need it more than anything else in politics."

Support minority languages. What happens when we lose a language? www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Lib Dems control more English councils than the Conservative Party, the Green Party and Reform UK. Not that you'd know this from yesterday's coverage. The media's lack of curiosity and imagination and its inability to explore beyond the populist noise is as depressing as it is boringly predictable.

The marvellous Alan Bennett.

Come on, Oriel, show us that you support the east Oxford community and the arts. Historic Oxford cinema under threat as Oriel College refuses to extend lease www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

Must be really weird times politically when I frequently find myself agreeing with both Owen Jones and Fraser Nelson. Zack Polanski’s Jewish identity is being erased because he is leftwing | Owen Jones www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sorry, what? A reason to vote Labour tomorrow: we are the only party taking the climate crisis seriously | Katie White www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Wales and the encouraging model of Ireland If I could vote in next week’s Senedd election, I’d choose Plaid Cymru. Here’s why | Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Interviewed on Sky News tonight, Kemi Badenoch somehow told us that the Conservative Party had been around for 200 years, but that it is also a 'new' Conservative Party. 🤔

A favourite tree at its spring best today.

'The beaming Iranian was warmly congratulated by Trump' (chortle). Vafaei launches epic comeback to stun Trump and reach last eight for first time www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/a...

This is a national disgrace.

Gorse looking very fine in Maynooth (Carton) yesterday. The top of Conolly's Folly (1740) looms in the distance.

Good to see that he distinguishes America as separate from the free world.

The performative cruelty is boundless.

Introducing the Tommy Robinson fans, conspiracy theorists, and far-right activists standing for Reform in Norfolk. hopenothate.org.uk/2026/04/23/i...

“To say that President Trump is corrupt is to somehow understate the size, scope and magnitude of his corruption. It is as if you were to describe a modern thermonuclear device as a ‘bomb.’ That is true enough, but it is not quite the truth. It does not capture the nature of the thing in full.”

Beggars belief that Met Police is in talks with #Palantir about giving them access to highly sensitive data, when there’s already such concern over its links with ICE & Israeli military. Palantir already has UK contracts worth over £500m, incl. with NHS. We should be scrapping them not signing more

So much for the Theban hegemony.

'Oh no, we don't want our kids to discover there are other ways of looking at the world.'

Hedgehog semiotics

Harassment, personal abuse, & threats have become an endemic part of Irish political life. & it’s by & large driven by social media, which has played a major part in all of these incidents. All of these incidents have been shocking but pale into insignificance compared to what happened this week.

Whatever happened to 'Education, education, education'?

On this day, 16 April, I think particularly of my parents, Elizabeth (d. 16.04.2003, aged 73) and Jim (d. 16.04.2024, aged 99). Same day, 21 years apart. Never forgotten. Byth anghofio.

When you aggregate the comments of various Reform UK candidates, you find they: Hate the NHS Hate immigrants Hate Black people Hate Brown people Hate Muslims Hate Jews Hate women Hate students Hate LGTBQ people Hate the unemployed Hate disabled people Hate everyone ... But claim to love the country.

There are only 44 female TD’s in the Dáil. Each female Minister who stood up to speak during the confidence motion was heckled and shouted over during their speaking time by Independent Ireland. It is not acceptable.

On why reparations are (a) right, (b) expedient. Good article. Reform’s temper tantrum about slavery reparations shows it doesn’t understand Britain’s place in the modern world | Kojo Koram www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

So: Reform, 331 seats and an overall majority on 25% of the total vote; Labour and Conservative 48 seats between them on a combined 33% of the total vote. You'd think Lab and Con would want PR out of self-preservation.

Very important. The Welsh history I was taught in Welsh primary and secondary schools in the 1960s/1970s extended as far as the Red Lady of Paviland and 'Edward I gave us a prince'.

Back in the Cold War era, we were less concerned about the US and the Soviet Union having nuclear weapons than about the prospect of a madman (say, Idi Amin) getting hold of them. And look where we are now.

Excellent article. Private equity eating up e.g. the care sector has turned it into a machine for making profits. The state must do better. Want to know capitalism’s endgame? Just look at private equity – it has captured our everyday lives | Hettie O'Brien www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Has everyone in the Trump orbit simply traded in their minds for a status that's going to be beyond worthless when all this is over?

The death penalty is an abomination. The discriminatory application of the death penalty denies common humanity. Israel passes law to give death penalty to Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Hurry before stocks run out

I have looked long at this land, Trying to understand My place in it R. S. Thomas, b. 29 March 1913

This is excellent.

Labour have been smearing the Greens on our evidenced-based approach to drugs. If the PM won’t listen to us, and he won’t listen to the experts, will he listen to the families at @anyoneschild.bsky.social, who have lost loved ones under the UK’s current negligent drug policies?

'Many problems which seem insoluble will be solved when the world realizes that we are all bound together as the population of the only inhabited star.' Thornton Wilder.

Ireland among the top six countries in V-Dem's global democracy index for 2025. Happy St Patrick's Day! ☘️ 'Trump is aiming for dictatorship'. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog | Martin Gelin www.theguardian.com/world/commen...

As if we didn't need her right now. Planned Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot cancelled, says Sarah Michelle Gellar www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

A few pints of Brains on the agenda down Cardiff tonight! Wales 31-17 Italy: Six Nations 2026 rugby union – live reaction www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2...

Marina socks it to Trump How does Trump keep henchmen like Rubio in check? He literally makes them wear shoes that are far too big | Marina Hyde www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...