1. Tori Amos - Boys for Pele/Scarlet’s Walk 2. Aimee Mann - Lost in Space 3. Kate Bush - Aerial 4. Bjork - Vespertine 5. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps

Absolutely spectacular, no notes.

Ten acts you’ve seen, female singer edition Tori Amos Bjork Kate Bush Fiona Apple Bjork Imogen Heap Phoebe Bridgers Fiona Apple Aimee Mann My Brightest Diamond

Introduce yourself with 10 artists you have seen live Sufjan Stevens Tori Amos Kate Bush Fleetwood Mac Midlake Aimee Mann Gregory Alan Isakov Rosalia Father John Misty The Lemon Twigs

FT Exclusive: Nigel Farage’s claim that he paid for a £1.4mn house with his fee from a reality TV show has been challenged by corporate accounts that appear to show that the income remained on his company’s balance sheet after the property purchase. ft.trib.al/dtJOxC3

One amusing byproduct of the Labour leadership candidates advocating the UK returning to Europe is that Farage will be forced back onto what is now, for obvious reasons, his least favourite subject: Brexit. Let’s see him forced to defend it in every interview.

Personal favourites 1. Bulgaria  2. Denmark Finland 3. Croatia 4. Australia  Predicted top 5 1. Bulgaria 2. Finland 3. Australia 4. Israel 5. France #Eurovision2026

5 random songs for no reason...🎶 1. The Stable Song - Gregory Alan Isakov 2. Blue Lotus - Tori Amos 3. Lilac Wine - Jeff Buckley 4. Aging Young Woman - Anna Von Hausswolff, Ethel Cain 5. Look For Your Mind - The Lemon Twigs Now it's your turn...🎶

Sky News projecting a national vote share for Reform of 27%, based on results so far. That’s four points down on what they achieved in local elections last year. Somewhat of a counter to the prevailing narrative. More evidence that Reform appears to have peaked.

Threatening to withhold resources from areas that don’t vote the “right” way is an old if profoundly undemocratic trick of authoritarian regimes down the ages. Reform are going a step further and promising active punishment. How will voters respond to blackmail? I don’t think it will be popular.

Tori Amos performed the tour debut of Riot Poof in Budapest tonight and changed the lyric to “break the terror of the Orban spell”… ❤️

This sort of rhetoric would have ended any previous presidency. But the US establishment has accepted, normalised and encouraged it, so it will be forgotten by tomorrow, and the reputation of the US dragged a little further into the gutter.

Happy Tori Amos day to all who celebrate

Sufjan Stevens - From the Mouth of Gabriel Tori Amos - Reindeer King Aimee Mann - Humpty Dumpty Gregory Alan Isakov - The Stable Song Bjork - Stonemilker Ryan Adams - When the Stars Go Blue Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should Have Come Over Phoebe Bridgers - I Know the End

“The strategic case for the UK to consider EU membership is getting stronger by the day, and should become a serious debate… it could form an obvious rallying point for progressives to unite against the threat of Reform UK.” www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Nick Clegg, delivering the Charles Kennedy memorial lecture: “Our national mission will be for the UK to rejoin the EU alongside Ukraine & others by 2036, the 20 year anniversary of the Brexit vote… we will need clear commitment to EU membership in party manifestos at the next election.” 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Name your top 5 Tori Amos songs Pretty Good Year Reindeer King i i e e e Virginia Caught a Lite Sneeze

Farage and co are promising to “reverse the Boriswave” again today. Apart from the fact that two of the main architects of Tory home affairs policy at the time are now senior figures in Reform, net migration is already down 80% since the Boris peak. Is it too much to ask our media to point this out?

It's the Second Dumbing.

Watching the amazing Tori Amos live in Birmingham and she just brutally chopped a lyric referencing Neil Gaiman (an old friend and collaborator and godfather to her daughter) from her song Horses. There had been lots of speciation about what she would do with her lyrics referencing him.

Quite a moment: Melania becomes the first member of the administration trying to distract the public’s attention back to Epstein in order to get them to stop talking about Iran.

Salt-cured pork belly originated in China and was later used by the Romans before spreading through Europe, including to Britain.

Good to see Ed Miliband has approved the UK’s largest solar farm, despite the usual hysterical NIMBY protests and media coverage absurdly likening it to Chernobyl. The UK urgently needs to ensure independent energy security, and has stood back and watched China race ahead on solar in recent years.

There was a time when a US president mocking the UK armed forces and saying he’s not sure the US will be there for the UK in future would have sent shockwaves through this country and made the front page of every newspaper. Now, we’re just inured to the childish abuse.

Tori Amos today released a banger referencing Courtney Love by name and 16-year-old me is happy. youtu.be/TZmzU2Sf8Ss

Finally, a senior UK politician in the shape of Sadiq Khan has broken the Brexit omertà and called for the UK to rejoin. Interesting to see EU politicians making public overtures too. Crucially, Khan wants the authority to come from an election manifesto and not another traumatic referendum. Bravo.

Rachel Reeves declares tonight: “Brexit has not been good for our country, for growth, for prices in the shop.” Correct, if almost 10 years late. But she goes on to say we voted leave and “that ship has sailed”. Why, when the disaster is now apparent to all, should we accept “that ship has sailed”?

Tori Amos - Boys for Pele/Scarlet’s Walk Aimee Mann - Lost in Space Kate Bush - Hounds of Love/Aerial Bjork - Vespertine Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps

Just watched It’s Never Over, the Jeff Buckley doc. A magnificent tribute to one of the most incredible voices of all time featuring those who knew and loved him. What music we lost when he died. If you don’t know his work, check out his seminal album Grace and see this film. youtu.be/DGKgfweZKmE

Our media having a collective breakdown over Trump’s remarks over Starmer. I suspect having a fight with Trump, who is profoundly unpopular in the UK, will be a big net positive for Starmer. It puts him in the company of Zelenskyy, who was similarly traduced, and actually is a modern day Churchill.

Large parts of the media have assured us Reform is likely to romp home to victory in 3 recent by-elections: Gorton and Denton: Greens won; Caerphilly: Plaid Cymru; Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse: Labour Perhaps we could have a bit more focus on Reform’s underperformance and what it means?

The SCOTUS tariff ruling will age Trump more than anything else during his presidency. They’re not just his core economic policy; they’re his primary leverage for global bullying and corruption. He sees them as the source of his strength. This will serve as a catalyst for his cognitive unraveling.

Labour will ultimately be judged on economy and NHS. Are both turning? Record £30.4bn budget surplus in Jan Flash PMI at 22-month high of 53.9 Retail sales up 1.8% MoM; 4.5% YoY Inflation down to 3%  Base rate down to 3.75% Job vacancies up after 3 years of falls Waiting lists down

Billing it “the shadow Cabinet” fits a pattern of hubris from Reform that I think voters will find increasingly unappealing. We saw it today in Farage’s insulting treatment of an FT journalist. And when he said Reform is “on track to become the next government”. And in every Zia Yusuf appearance.

Straight out of the Trump playbook. Sadly, the media doesn't respond in the right way. The next reporter should have asked the identical question. And the next. And call him out for crap or hint of misogyny.

People sometimes praise Farage for taking lots of questions from the press. That seems irrelevant when he regularly responds to reasonable questions in insulting and Trump-like terms, often attacking individual journalists and their outlets. Collectively, the lobby shouldn’t stand for it.

Reform lead down to five points with YouGov and the betting markets have shifted so they are no longer the favourites to win the next election. Those pundits who’ve been assuring us of a Reform landslide in 2029 risk looking very silly indeed.

Share albums until you reach the character limit (all 10/10 for me) Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell Aimee Mann - Lost in Space Tori Amos - Boys for Pele Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther Kate Bush - Aerial Jeff Buckley - Grace Ryan Adams - Gold Gregory Alan Isakov - That Sea, the Gambler

Drop an album that was important to you when you were nineteen.

This appears to be a vitally important story being ignored by other media. bylinetimes.com/2026/02/16/b...

“Claims”? Asked which world leader he admires the most, Farage said in 2014: “As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin.” In 2022 he suggested on X the invasion was “a consequence of EU and NATO expansion.” The BBC has got to do better than this.

With my PR hat on, I would suggest there are some non-apology “apologies” that can actually make a situation worse. If you can only bring yourself to apologise “if your choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe”, it’s probably best to say nothing at all.

For a member of the mandarin class to go over the top in this way to knife another is… highly unusual, to say the least.

One of my favourite bands in the world, Midlake, put on a fantastic show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden tonight. I’ve loved them for over 20 years and they keep getting better and better. @midlake.bsky.social

Alistair Darling and the official Treasury were always aware that investment banks had an inside track to Number 10. But the brazen nature of that inside track is rather breath-taking.

They’re arresting journalists now in the US. Straight from the Putin playbook.

The fact that this individual is allowed to remain a member of the Conservative Party while going around saying dangerous and frankly bonkers stuff like this is one indication of how far it has to travel before being ready to resume power.

This is quite odd. Even if you, personally, don't like the ideas of Ruth Davidson and Andy Street it's a simple fact that they both consistently out-performed their party in elections. There is also no polling evidence I know of that the wider electorate is in the "mood" described.

Epic stuff from Anna von Hausswolff at Electric Brixton tonight. Shades of PJ Harvey and Susanne Sundfor but essentially her own thing. Her voice is a weapon. Highly recommend checking out her latest album Iconoclasts.