Very sorry to hear about the death of Andy Kershaw, a brilliant broadcaster and fearless journalist with great taste in music. He was always bold, challenging, friendly, generous with advice or help - and a participant in the initial meeting that led to Africa Express. RIP Andy

Says a man who has repeatedly and recently inserted himself in European politics.

Everything this administration does encourages countries to get a nuke. Ukraine gives them up in return for US guarantees (Budapest memorandum). 30 years later and the US is boasting about abandoning them. N Korea untouched (fully nuked up) while Iran gets bombed without mercy. What's the lesson?

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray on the street corners, that they may be seen by others." Matthew 6:5

Great question. The problem, of course, is that every other journalist in the room didn't keep asking it until they got an answer.

8 am update for you. The UK grid is currently close to fossil fuel free. Wind and solar 70%, nuclear 13%, gas… 4%. grid.iamkate.com

Currently the Israelis are systematically killing off anyone the Trump administration could reach out to for a deal that ends this quickly

This story suggests that Witkoff and Kushner bungled the negotiations with Iran because they don't understand nuclear technology www.ms.now/news/trump-i...

Great intro to Daniel Finkelstein's column www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

How does he sleep at night?

What you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articl.... Who’s going to tell them they’re going the wrong way?

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

This duet cover of Radiohead's "Creep", between a son and his Shastriya Sangeet classically trained mother, is the mash-up I didn't know how much I needed in my life. Totally spontaneous sobbing may have taken place. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZoH...

Instead of conferring titles, gongs and baubles and then demanding those titles, gongs and baubles be removed… …perhaps as a modern, mature polity we should have far fewer titles, gongs and baubles in the first place.

ICE is now responsible for 66% of the homicides in Minneapolis this year.

"You'd all be speaking German". In Switzerland.

The letter from Bill and Hillary Clinton to James Comer explaining their refusal to testify in his Epstein investigation is really remarkable, not like any letter of this genre I've seen. It's signed by them, not a lawyer, and the arguments are not legal ones. Reprinted from their X account:

I’d be prepared to bet quite a lot of money that this man has never been to Greenland

this is a really lovely piece, beautifully presented, about the amazing Voyager probes that left Earth nearly 50 years ago and are still sending data back as they get close to leaving the sun's sphere www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

It’s old-fashioned to defend mainstream journalism these days but some of the most reliable reporting from people actually on the ground will be the AP and Reuters the next 24 hours. Your Substack journalist writing takes will be using frontline reporting from them.

Guess we shouldn’t be surprised when the Department of War starts one.

Shocked by the awful death of Rob Reiner. I spoke with him for over an hour last night. We talked about his work and his plans for the future. I always enjoyed his company. We met at his Dad's in 1975. Last thing he said to me was "See you next year.." Such a terrible end. Such a sweet man.

can't believe the BBC edited Donald Trump's posts to make it seem like he threatened violence against members of Congress

Welp!

In response to some of the comments: If you agree with *all* the reporting of a news organisation that is both independent *and* non-partisan, then it's very unlikely to be independent and non-partisan. This is true regardless of your politics. Agreeing with all its reporting is the wrong test

BBC really burying the lede there

Isn’t this the woman who once told Emily Maitliss to “F*** off”? Quite the conversion.

Not that anyone seems to care, but just a quick reminder that Hungary is still a member state of the ICC and Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin still under indictment by the Court and Hungary still under an obligation to arrest him.

So much has gone wrong in US press reporting on Trump because the White House reporters are people who have exclusively covered US politics. They need people who have worked in Hungary, Turkey, etc. The relevant knowledge isn't Reagan factoids; it's the dynamics of competitive authoritarianism.

As beautifully written as it is devastating.

This is vile. Local guy speaks to Sky News about the impact of asylum seekers protests. Watch what happens and share widely

In Germany, scientists have made a breakthrough in treating Parkinson’s by implanting a chip in the brain that sends precise signals to restore movement. A stunning leap in neuroscience—witness the power of innovation and the beauty of science in action. Powerfull content

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Try Ozempstein to make you forget.😂

Not always easy to be optimistic about global developments, but this lifts some of the gloom, both for the climate and for global politics.

I imagine all these jobs will go with AI

You can't understand the behaviour of US elites - Democrats being too timid, Republicans debasing themselves, bureaucrats who behave like pushovers - without reference to the constant threat of political violence that has come with MAGA. Every day is January 6. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

A thing I wish people realized about print media is that outright calling something a scam, a grift, or a bribe in an article carries a really high bar of proof. One's lawyers are unlikely to agree to it unless there is an actual court ruling supporting it.

Early exit polls suggest the new pope did particularly well with male voters aged 45-79.

As Liverpool win the Premier League for the second time, they complete the opening of a quite remarkable sequence, 33 years in the making. #Fibonacci

“One should call this phenomenon by name: This is incitement to genocide.” ~Gideon Levy Haaretz ☕️

This is relevant again today on the light of Hungary’s constitutional moves against LGBT and pride. m.youtube.com/watch?v=0TQP...

‘No order in the disorder’: Is Europe gearing up to respond to Trump’s tariffs? ITV News Europe Editor James Mates explains www.itv.com/news/2025-04...

Marine Le Pen banned from public office for 5 years, effectively immediately.

Marine Le Pen banned immediately from public office, to take effect even before an appeal is heard. Will almost certainly rule her out of the 2027 Presidential race. Big news