The inability to whittle down the "most author-esque" books is one of the most frustrating things about the list. Jacob's Room is an OK book, but it's also just the prototype of The Waves, a much better and more complete work. Why bother having them both on the list?

Wolf Hall is very good, obviously. But it's IMV not Mantel's best novel (that's Beyond Black), and 'Beyond Black' is a better entry for '100 best novels' because it is more Mantelesque, as it were.

I will never understand how Keir reconciles his self-conception as a good man doing a good job as prime minister with “my premiership had to be brought to the brink of death for me to say this”.

Couldn't agree more with Dave. I've been told the Circular Economy Growth Plan (nee Strategy) has been "imminent" since late 2024. Under the bonnet, No.10 are incapable of tie breaking across departments to enable a key piece of work to be delivered.

Oof. Quite the quote from Dave Penman at the end of this:

The German chancellor said he would dissuade his children from moving to the US given the 'social climate developing there'. Friedrich Merz added: 'I am a big admirer of the US. But my admiration is currently not growing.' ft.trib.al/c7Cd0aU

Extraordinary intervention by the Intelligence and Security Committee, accusing the government of withholding files from them and making further redactions "far too broadly". And the ISC made a critique of the decision to grant Mandelson clearance against the advice of security officials.

Indeed. Ultimately the only one of the five who you can even faintly say was hard done by is Theresa May, and we live in a parliamentary democracy and she no longer had the confidence of her MPs.

Good morning as a global bond rout is underway. The UK fairing the worst at 5.16% with the US ten-year trading at 4.56%. It's based on fears of a shift higher in inflation and interest rate regimes. Unsustainable fiscal paths in the UK & US are driving the cost of capital higher. #Econ #EconSky

I had a (very much non-exhaustive) look at some of the economic thinking going on in Labour at this, er, interesting time: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I'm a Rishi constituent and I think there's a lot of truth in this. He's an okay constituency MP, but the star power means even simple things (running the local 10k, turning up at my son's scouts) attract amazement/pride that he has taken the time/hasn't forgotten about us.

Case in point. One of my neighbours asked me if Keir Starmer was going to go. I said, yeah, it was just a matter of time. They replied that it would be a shame not to have the prime minister as our MP anymore and then called Starmer the C-word. People contain multitudes.

The headline here really does not do it justice, it's about much more than that - it's state endorse fascism. Worth reading to keep up with what's going on inside Russia. Good work by Beeb. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Wendy Alexander quit as Scottish Labour leader over £950! Not £950k - just £950.

Interesting thread. Underlines the issues thrown up by the decline in local news and court reporting

Six years of 'What if we cut spending but our guiding approach was "what's the most politically easy way to do this?" rather than "what do we want the state to do?" - huh, surprise surprise, nothing works and everything is expensive!

Excellent by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social: the idea that the United Kingdom is “ungovernable” is just excuse-making around the catastrophic failures of the last government and the poor planning of this one in how and when to fix those failures:

The plan involves raising taxes to cover desired day-to-day and borrowing to invest in stuff that will actually make Britain more productive, while also trying to rebuild trade with the EU. Anyone who doesn't say something like that is simply not taking the question seriously IMO

Some news - you can read it all in the alt text www.gailmyerscough.co.uk

💯from @robertshrimsley.bsky.social. Relatedly, if you think the UK changes PMs too often, which of the last 5 departures were mistakes? Cameron shd have stayed after losing the referendum? May after deadlock with her deal? Johnson after Partygate? Truss after meltdown? And Sunak lost an election.

I think what is particularly grating about it, and I’m sure this is the case for Alan and his team too, that the “people who actually engage with the policy journalism” and the “people who complain about the political drama” are completely different circles!

Yeah, they just won't campaign aggressively. Though it does speak of the predicament that Starmer has left Labour in that even in a "terrible" seat they have cleared 10% in almost every ward there in the locals.

There were people getting annoyed last week because we'd reported *the Health Secretary had resigned*. We didn't make 100 MPs come out against the PM; the local election results did. Bored of criticism of political journalists for reporting that politics is happening.

This tweet and the replies are working too hard in my view. The Green vote will go down to the bare bones, not because of Andy’s appeal (tho you can’t argue with the polls on this IMV) but just because it’s really clear they aren’t the Reform challenger.

Are you tired of the non-stop utopian/dystopian AI predictions from CEOs? Do you want to hear what's ACTUALLY happening, from the people it's actually happening TO? If so, I have good news: I felt the same, so I have worn out my shoe-leather & written this book! www.penguin.co.uk/books/462159...

As the great Toblerone says: when you board a plane, you don’t want to see a depressed pilot.

"I need the most on the nose statement of populism you have"

Makerfield voted 65% Leave in 2016 (the 75th most Leave seat). Over the next few weeks, there’ll be plenty of news coverage about Brexit (reset negotiations, 10th anniversary). Andy Burnham is a rejoiner. If Reform can’t make Brexit work for them here, it’ll tell us a lot.

Yeah if you're only counting scandals where there's personal enrichment (Ecclestone and Cash for Peerages for instance both involved payments to the parties and were significantly bigger in size)

As it happens I've been talking to friends who live in Budapest and an alarming amount of concerns they voice about my safety in London are the carbon copies of this

To take an apposite South African example, you could fit several Jacob Zuma Nkandla ‘security upgrades’ scandals into £5mn (going by the sums he was ordered to repay).

📈 The NEET crisis is one of the bleakest challenges that the government is grappling with right now, affecting nearly 1 million young people. 📰 Read my piece in FE Week, calling for government to stop slashing disadvantage funding at age 16, as part of the solution👇 #StudentPremium #SocialMobility

And this is assuming that the £5m we know about is the only sum Farage received. Which is not a safe assumption.

If you totted up the sums for every financial scandal in British politics (£2k per parliamentary question for cash-for-questions, £200k for Johnson’s No 10 renovation, the cost of that very nice campervan) even with second tier stuff like Rayner and Polanski, would you get close to £5mn *in total*?

crucial context: Peter Mandelson was sacked from the first New Labour government for having a £373,000 *loan* (not a gift) from a Labour colleague (Geoffrey Robinson) to buy a house

It begins

Incidentally, while confident Burnham wins Makerfield, I think this from @stephenkb.bsky.social is right about the impact of a defeat. Would make the last few weeks for Labour seem like happy times. www.ft.com/content/9e91...

I think when you see the clouds as an atomic blast it becomes clearer

In April, Crispin Odey dropped his £79mn #libel claim against us. This is the inside story of how Odey’s battle to reclaim his reputation backfired. It's about the brave women who spoke out against him — and the new allegations the two-year legal saga unearthed. www.ft.com/content/edbe...

NYT PUZZLE EDITOR: remember guys we have people playing our games from around the world, so make sure your questions aren't too Americancentric ok? WORDLE: sure STRANDS: of course SPELLING BEE: ok CONNECTIONS: [wearing a stars and stripes tuxedo & Uncle Sam hat, firing gun into the air] YEEEHAWW

Watching the new Naked Gun again and it really does an admirable job of matching the rapid fire pace of jokes the originals had. They’re not all great but enough are and when they hit they really hit.

Rewatching Who Shot Mr Burns and I have come to the conclusion that Marge always knew who did it. She'll have had to return to the car and she must've noticed the smell of cordite off Maggie

👇 I think what some of the commentary on “Starmer will be hoping or is the beneficiary of a plot where Andy Burnham loses Makerfield” is Andy Burnham is crazy popular in the North West, and if he can’t win there (scarily possible IMV) then it is a 🚨🚨🚨🚨 sign for Labour.

Using this guy’s replies for good. Some opinions I hold that I haven’t changed my mind on: Tina Carr is a fantastic jazz vocalist and performer. Check out her records. I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is a brilliant videogame. Arsenal are the best team the world has ever seen. Farage bad.

…yes. That I am an opinion columnist is literally a) in my bio b) my job! Why do you follow me if you literally have no idea who I am and what I do? Please take more responsibility over what appears in your feed!

A nightmare for Keir Starmer - but one which could also turn into a nightmare for Andy Burnham and the Labour party as a whole, too:

We should start calling a parachuted candidate in a seat that has a high risk of blowing up in their face a Market Garden

It’s the year 2026. Stephen Bush is the only source of news in the UK. He decides what people hear and what they don’t.

Josh Simons stepping down as MP for Makerfield for Andy Burnham. Quite a tricky parachute, that seat:

I have to be honest, HBO upping the pace of their commissioning and turnaround processes have made me a little nervous about my “this show is never going to finish” view.