Thoroughly enjoyed this @economist.com obit of Philippe Gaulier. My life is enhanced by knowing there existed a perennially angry, anarchist clowning teacher who charged £2300 a term and “growled” at students saying “this is so, so shit!”

A week left to reply for this fantastic role. Closes 15 March

This looks a) incredible and b) like a nervous breakdown waiting to happen

I’m sorry but these things should just not be legal!

Inexcusable and unforgivable. We should not be supporting this in any way

Tomorrow in the Commons: debate on cuts to FCDO – it faces the largest cuts of any department, especially in overseas development; Foreign Affairs Committee chair Dame Emily Thornberry warns staff cuts of 15–25% without a clear strategy are 'alarming' (h/t Hansard Society)

A reminder: Matt Goodwin lost heavily in spite of an almost total lack of tactical voting, not because of it. The combined Green/Labour vote was 66%, versus 28.7% for Reform. If Labour and the Greens split the vote 50/50 – a total coordination fail – he'd have finished third, not second.

We’ve been repeatedly told that climate change will remain a priority for U.K. aid - along with global health and humanitarian. If this is what happens to a priority issue what are we going to see elsewhere?

evergreen post

Useful definition of “sectarianism”, the word of the moment I do find it really weird that Starmer has used the same framing for the result as the Tories and Reform

I will never understand what people think they are going to achieve protesting in *Brighton*. The seat of government is one hour away, if you feel so passionately about your issue then get on a train and go somewhere you might actually be noticed

Just take a second to think how Labour would talk about being beaten by a plumber from a working class background in Bolton if they were a man.

I can’t quite believe this is real. From the leader of the party whose candidate lost their deposit, no less

At the time my job meant I was in and around Parliament almost every day and the atmosphere was so weird. Talking about literally anything else felt like playing pretend when there was this huge thing unfolding in the background and absorbing everyone’s thoughts

A sensitive request: I'm looking to speak *anonymously* to parents or trusted adults who have supported teenage children/relatives through early relationships that showed signs of coercive control or other forms of abuse. [Please do share this post] DM me or email [email protected]

This is an interesting an informative study on who/how African countries responded to aid cuts. Unfortunately, the countries most dependent on aid, were least able to effectively respond. www.cgdev.org/blog/how-afr...

Norman Conquest is one of my favourite history books ever, and I read a lot of them. Not only fascinating in its own right but really eye-opening on how much the U.K. is still shaped by it today

Very 2026 that you can now pay for a premium delivery service, which means that they promise to deliver it to the location it is actually intended for

A state so small, that it will fit neatly in your bedroom closet, from where Danny Kruger will be counting your sexual partners, and Matt Goodwin will check you are using each ovulation wisely and sending you a tax surcharge if not.

as someone with a) small children and b) a period house covered in lead paint, this is terrifying but important. (We are in the process of addressing it but it is neither cheap nor straightforward!)

Sharing a tip I came across on Substack, an extremely satisfying way to spend 5 minutes: Open Gmail in a web browser. Replace /mail/ in the URL with /mail/#sub This will open a list of all the companies you are subscribed to for emails, with an unsubscribe button for each one.

Someone's told him that writing In single lines Like this Is authoritative But if you do it all the time It's incredibly annoying And comes across like a racist haiku

my god I need to wake up Friday morning to the news that Matt Goodwin is not an MP, I can't bring myself to feel strongly about who wins but I really, really need him to lose

Agree with all this except honestly I'm less optimistic that anything will ever be done to prevent more harm. People in power simply don't care. It's only girls, whatever. Big tech is deeply hostile to women and, ofc, #banthepervertglasses - as.ft.com/r/da4838c6-4...

Discomfiting to read about the investigations into maternity care at University Hospitals Sussex, where I had both my children. Both times I had the impression of generally great staff working very hard but chronic understaffing.

Three kids in my daughter’s class of 30 have two-mom families, I don’t think I’ve ever even had to explain it, it is just totally normal for her

Anyone looking for a new professional challenge…?

“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him…”

Can highly recommend heading off to Paris for the weekend with your best mate for no reason whatsoever 🇫🇷

Bluesky GMT schedule: 7am-9am: What did He do while we were asleep? 9am-10am: Complaining about NYT games 10am-2pm: Remember when that kid called Matt Bianco a bunch of wankers? 2pm: The horrors recommence

Nothing like enjoying your slightly cheaper pint while imagining the toddler crying from hunger that paid for it.

So pleased to see he got his hat and backpack back - the detail that he was asking for them absolutely broke me the other day

I realise this may seem like a sci fi dream but I would love it if one day someone invented a printer that worked

"average New Labour minister causes 3 scandals" factoid actualy just statistical error. average minister causes 0 scandals. Scandals Peter, who lives in cave & causes over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

A thought: what's happening in the US shows that the somewheres/anywheres thing is bollocks. Most of the people mobilising, Goodhart would call Anywheres. And they're mobilising specifically to protect their neighbours and their neighbourhoods.

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Despite the focus on small boats, most refugees stay in poor countries. I went to Sudan, where nearly 1/3 of the population has left their homes, to see how the UN is coping with Trump's cuts and the west's retreat. Sudan is a brutal, forgotten war. Please do read: as.ft.com/r/7db76b9a-8...

I know some people are cynical about everything now and just say “eh, what do you expect” at every new low, but really this is just astonishing and outrageous, and I don’t think we should shrug at that www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This intro to David Frost's Telegraph column sums up so much that is wrong with British politics.

Calling any Parisian locals or frequent visitors - I'm looking for recommendations for a fun/ atmospheric - but not crazy expensive - restaurant in Montmartre or Pigalle. TIA!

This is almost unbelievably evil (and the article is even worse than the headline, since it claims that at least some of the “mercenaries” were lured to Russia with the promise of normal jobs in civilian industries).

Currently looking up “milk chocolate coin” in my calorie counting app, which says all you need to know about how the new years diet is going

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www.theguardian.com/politics/202... Such a terrible idea, both on principle it is precisely what good aid and diplomacy should be for, but also short sighted as it will foster greater costs and pressures in the future.

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And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's popular or not. It's going to make a lot of kids' lives better. That's the point of government. Not an opinion poll.

wtf are we doing here, guys www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I’m sorry but it is just not supposed to be this warm in November