2026 Reading List - Book 12: Every empire wanted Alexandria. Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, French, British — all left their mark on a city that kept reinventing itself across millennia. Issa writes about it like someone who grew up in its streets. Scholarly, personal, and quietly dazzling. #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book 11: Brexit didn't end with the vote. "Fall Out" picks up in the wreckage — May's Downing Street, a party at war with itself, and a snap election nobody saw coming. Shipman's access remains remarkable. Compulsive, infuriating, utterly compelling in equal measure. #booksky 📚

@alastaircampbell2.bsky.social Just to put into perspective the size of the planned Data Centre near Authertool next to the already-built, longrunning, and occasional flaring, Mossmoran Petrochemical Plant consisting of the Shell Natural Gas Liquids Plant and the ExxonMobil Fife Ethylene Plant.

2026 Reading List - Book 10: Tim Shipman's "All Out War" drops you into the chaos & infighting that tore Britain apart over Brexit. Briefings, betrayals & a deeply divided political class unravelling in real time — told with rare insider access. A jaw-dropping account of how it happened. #booksky📚

2026 Reading List - Book 9: Ray Bradbury's "Farewell Summer" closes the door on childhood with quiet, aching grace. Time, loss & the last golden days before the world turns serious — spun into luminous prose. If wonder, nostalgia & beautiful endings are your thing, this is for you. #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book 8: "The Revenge of Power" by @moisesnaim.bsky.social charts the alarming comeback of autocrats, strongmen & those who rewrite the rules to keep winning. A sharp, unsettling map of how democracy is being dismantled — and why it's harder to stop than you'd think. #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book 7: Moisés Naím's "The End of Power" reframes everything you thought you knew about who really rules. Decay, disruption & the slow unravelling of authority — from boardrooms to battlefields. Essential if politics, power & the world's unruly present fascinate you. #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book 6: Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" distils a single summer into something hauntingly close to magic. Memory, mortality & the ache of being alive — wrapped in the warmth of small-town 1920s America. Essential if wonder, nostalgia & beautiful prose are your thing. #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book 5: Kenneth R. Rosen's "Polar War" puts you inside a hidden world of Arctic espionage & superpower rivalry. Melting ice and murky power struggle are the basis for the new Cold War in a gripping narrative. A must if geopolitics, adventure & climate collide for you #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book #4: 'The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet' by @arthurturrell.bsky.social He uses accessible analogies to unpack plasmas, magnetic confinement, inertial confinement, and the immense engineering challenges in reaching net-energy gain. #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book #3: 'Justinian' by Peter Sarris Smart, readable, and bold. I loved how Sarris rethinks Justinian into a compelling study of power. With its sharp arguments, I'd recommend it to anyone bored by safe history and who wants emperors without the myth. #booksky 📚

2026 Reading List - Book #2: 'Autocracy, Inc.' by Anne Applebaum www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725302/. A clear, compelling look at how modern autocracies work together—and why understanding them matters. #booksky 📚 @anneapplebaum.bsky.social

This year I’ll be sharing all the books I read — numbered as I go — and building a full list of “Top Reads” for anyone who wants to follow along. Top Reads Book #1: 'Proto' by Laura Spinney uk.bookshop.org/p/books/moth... A fascinating read to start the year. #booksky 📚 @laurainparis.bsky.social

Over the past year I’ve read Globalists, Crack-Up Capitalism, and now Hayek’s Bastards: The Nioliberal Roots of the Populist Right by @quinnslobodian.com. I've loved the evolution of his views across these books and I’m excited to see where he goes next. Already pre-ordered Muskism in anticipation:

Just finished a week devouring "The Looting Machine", "Kleptopia" & "Cuckooland". The sheer risk alone that @tomburgis.bsky.social has put himself through to write these is worth any reader's time. The eyeopening and gobsmacking unveiling of global corruption makes all these books hard to put down.

A truly wonderful read by @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social One of my top books of the year so far. Beautifully written and very easy to read with plenty of witty anecdotes. A real eye opener and simply-put explainer for anyone living, working, retiring or considering moving to Britain. #booksky

This piece by @quinnslobodian.com is the best analysis of DOGE out there. Quinn is spot on that what we are seeing with Trump/Musk/DOGE right now is "the convergence of three strains of politics that have never simultaneously been this proximate to power." www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

Crack-Up Capitalism by @quinnslobodian.com is a fascinating exposé on economic libertarianism's global impact. It uncovers how the wealthy dodge taxes via private firms and economic zones, pushing for a libertarian world where countries compete on tax rates to attract businesses and individuals.

Bill Gates calls Elon Musk’s embrace of far-right politicians abroad ‘insane shit’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inspirational. Changed the way soap operas were created and helped bridge the gap between television and cinema. Created beautiful art on screen. A true visionary. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ja... #TwinPeaks #DavidLynch

Another great night in @valhallayork.bsky.social with @lanahorta.bsky.social! Great atmosphere, vibe, and mead for the ages!

This visualisation shows the breakdown of annual plastic waste by recycling method. Only 9% of plastic gets recycled globally. The recycling process is complicated and it's easy to misunderstand how the process works. www.voronoiapp.com/sustainabili... #Reclycing #GreenSky

Coffee drinkers reap health boost – but only if they do it in the morning Pre-lunch brewers enjoy lower risk of death, analysis finds, but benefit vanishes among all-day drinkers www.theguardian.com/food/2025/ja... #coffeesky #coffee

Richard Brody on why DVD owners shouldn’t throw out their collections just yet.

Good news to start 2025 with and a goal to beat this coming year www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/02/uk-electricity-cleanest-ever-in-2024-with-record-58-from-low-carbon-sources #greensky

@jessicaelgot.bsky.social is this a credible argument for #Musk being even more of a danger for world politics over the coming years than #Trump? BBC News - Nigel Farage meets Elon Musk at Trump's retreat www.bbc.com/news/article...

Would just like to congratulate @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social on his incredible levels of self-restraint and self-composure while listening to and replying to this audience member on Question Time. Someone even Farage couldn't fully agree with and someone Brown would probably call a "bigoted woman"

Great article by @iansample.bsky.social. Deepmind has been groundbreaking and revolutionary in the field of AI since day one. This is another leap forward in our application and ability to accurately predict and mitigate potential real-world catastrophes www.theguardian.com/science/2024...

“If they could, 50% of men aged 18 - 35 in UK would vote Trump” & battle will be between those equipped with “stories, myths & cunning” & others convinced all will be well once “relevant numbers align” - brilliant & terrifying from @johnharris1969.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Humayun, the second Mughal emperor who succeeded to Babur's kingdom, had a large carpet with astrological symbols & planetary positions that he used to order his court. The carpet was called the basalt-i nishat, which translates to "carpet of mirth."

With Heidi Alexander replacing Louise Haigh as transport secretary, the cabinet is now 100% state school educated for the first time in history. (Sir Keir Starmer's school was a selective state school when he joined, then became private two years into his time there.)

This says a lot about how "visionary" Musk is seen now, even by those who used to adore him www.theguardian.com/technology/2... @elonaoc.bsky.social #elonmusk #tesla

Respect @deevybee.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/technology/2... by @nicolaksdavis.bsky.social

Great call to arms by the actor Brian Cox urging the Scottish @thesnp.bsky.social government to declare Scotland as the world’s first rewilding nation and transform it's future. www.theguardian.com/environment/... #Scotland #GreenSky @scottishgreens.org

Interesting study. Apparently 3kg of focaccia is for "communal consumption". But let's be honest, we all know we'd be able to devour one each. phys.org/news/2024-11... @profaliceroberts.bsky.social has bread ever been found emtombed with our ancestors as a gift or ritual? #Ancestors #Buried #Crypt

So here’s the update. The billionaire owner of the Guardian preparing to get rid of a core part of the news org + 100 journalists. If you’re a Guardian or Observer reader, please share this. The need for a strong, free & independent press couldn’t be greater. Yet, here it is.

Picked up this little book of writers’ writing rituals, & I think most of em are liars — “up at dawn, 6 hours at my desk, followed by calisthenics, liquor, & reading edifying works.” But David Lynch delivers the goods.

I intend to use this new, less-sullied place to: 1) Make gently humourous observations about everyday life; 2) Post charming pictures; 3) Crush my enemies utterly beneath my heel.

Great read. Eye opening and impossible to put down. Ronen Bergman has incredible access into the structure and workings of such a secretive organisation. www.theguardian.com/books/2018/j... Made all the more relevant given the current polital landscape @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social #Books #BookSky

Another great article by @jonathanliew.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/n... @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social do you think it's about time these organisations reject the notion there are no politics in sport?

Wonderful article. Really makes us think how big tech has changed our ways of life in such a short time compared to how we've viewed the world for hundreds of years. The skills needed to use compasses and physical maps must not be lost. @jerrybrotton.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Something those around and along the Silk Road would never have imagined having to contend with. @willdalrymple.bsky.social Before and after smog around India and Pakistan. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... It's only been getting worse and scarier for those in the area since. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The ICC’s arrest warrants are long overdue. The Prime Minister & Foreign Secretary must immediately endorse this decision. That is the bare minimum. Will the UK government now, finally, honour its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?

Scottish bus drivers say death of colleague part of rising trend in abuse

I heard that Andrew Tate tried to come stretch his awkward wings here and got banned in just one day. Sorry, hate has no home here. Stay in the bad place, thanks.

Last month Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko told me how he thought Vladimir Putin would respond if the West allowed Ukraine to strike Russia with Western long-range missiles. The leader of Belarus says he shared this view with “representatives of Western countries.”