The government using X as its primary communications tool after all this is insane to me.

Again, surely it's time for the government to shut down all their X accounts.

Always thought this was a really surprising career progression. I think a lot of people who never saw an actual copy of it had a weird idea of Sullivan's Sunday Sport, that it was just "the funny one with the hilarious headlines!!" 1/2 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New content designer ideation session rather undermined by a whole session focused on New Idea’s.

You've heard the stories. You've admired the piles of paper in the Eye office (video viewers only). And now it's time to learn which brilliant story has won this year's Paul Foot Award! 🎧 In the Page 94 podcast feed now: pod.fo/e/424bdf

Henry Nowak's father: "This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder." Farage: "Nah, it's about racism. Have at it, boys!"

When the father of a murdered son makes a public statement saying "we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension", then I believe it's incumbent on any news outlet reporting on Farage's comments to ensure people know he has chosen to disregard the family's wishes.

And the winners of the Paul Foot Award for investigative and campaigning journalism 2026 are... Peter Geoghegan and Khadija Sharife of Democracy for Sale.

the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people that posting, raising awareness and staying informed were effective political actions

The media’s messiest bitches, the Murdochs.

I utterly cannot comprehend how let alone why any business would install and give full database rights to something so completely unknown and impossible-to-understand as this. AI is so incredibly brand new with uses and abilities most people (me) can't imagine. Why would you let it near your data?

You can order ‘Thin Places in Hard Concrete‘ now, with 10 brand new stories of everyday worlds weirdly out of whack: cults, ghosts, impossible infrastructure, haunted Mellotrons... eBook (pre-order, available from 30 April) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DC5PL7T4 Paperback www.amazon.co.uk/Thin-Places-...

<<We’re all trying to find the guy who did this meme>>

Unimprovable headline From the latest Private Eye, out now.

Hall of fame FT correction

Excellent episode of When it Hits The Fan focusing on crisis comms and importance of horizon scanning. “Identifying risk is the easy part but communicating it to the right people in the right way at the right time. THAT is where PR earns a seat at the top table.” www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

sorry i never responded to your email, i didn't want to and then i forgot

as a culture we have really given "ideas" way too much credit. ideas are a dime a dozen. they happen all the time. the magic is way more in the doing, and the doing's diminished stature is linked to lack of respect for labor and, more recently, skill and expertise.

As if my contempt of the monetised “awareness weeks” wasn’t high enough already , #NationalCareersWeek has really reached a peak (nadir) of bigotry here.

This is a fascinating piece by Evan Ratliff for Wired (behind the paywall) about the muddle LinkedIn has got itself into over AI: www.wired.com/story/linked...

Ooh, you don’t like fashion and don’t care what dresses people wear? How fascinating of you.

Maureen Cleave's advice to journalists is still good advice. Most interviewees are perfectly relaxed when you write down what they say, and tell you all kinds of things. AI transcription apps make them nervous and guarded.

Yes, hello, is that God? Yeah, hi. I have a complaint. You gave me this brain that’s designed for finding berries and avoiding lions and now people are ‘just circling back’ to see if we can ‘move the needle’ on ‘key initiatives’? NONE of those things are berries.

Your regular reminder that the UK is in fact a high trust society and anyone who implies it isn’t is either selling you a pup or has bought one.

What if AI just makes us work harder? ft.trib.al/ZlSWAMm | opinion

This IPSO adjudication against the Telegraph is quite something Confirms their story titled: ‘We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays’ was completely fabricated, with the family involved non-existent and stock pictures used www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/0210...

Evergreen.

Another little thread on alt text, which I think is the bit of the iceberg we can see on accessibility. 🧵 1. Despite all the 'scolding' about alt text (talking about it quite reasonably) that goes on here, lots of people still don't add it to images. Is it because they are arseholes? Probably not.

Agree that note taking is a useful memory technique, but no one is going to ban pens even when we have AI...

London’s “worst mass eviction in recent history” is underway; hundreds of households across London told to get out of their homes this week by the same landlord, ahead of the renters rights act. The landlord? Billionaire Asif Aziz’s Criterion Capital. www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

At long last, we’re launching in Leeds! Ever since I started The Mill, people have asked us to create a publication across the Pennines. If 500 people pledge to become members, we’re going to hire two journalists and do it. Please share with Leeds friends. leeds.ghost.io

It is absolute and utter neglect to let this come this close to the wire just as the US has let most of its overseas broadcasting shutter.

oh for fuck's sake stop writing these pieces. AI is not a knowledge engine. Using it as such is idiotic, and writing a gotcha piece about how it didn't know something very specific to you makes you look stupid.

the FT had by Saturday night broken two stories showing that the Mandelsons had taken over $100,000 from the world’s most famous paedophile by Monday we were all writing various stories about him leaking sensitive state secrets to Epstein they could have easily pulled this puff piece in time

Exactly this. This is a very very good, natural-seeming communicator. It takes a lot of practice and skill to get this good/this natural/this normal.

Poor old Peter Mandelson. How many times will he have to resign in disgrace over how many decades before posters spell his name correctly?

This is incredibly petty by @manchestermill.bsky.social - it was obviously done without my knowledge manchestermill.co.uk/why-the-mill...

🍿

Early days yet, I know but Drum has only sold 25 copies which is a bit of a reality check. I clearly need to up my promotional game so if anyone wants to invite me onto their podcast or do an interview or anything comedy related, you know where I am. Don't be shy.

It's not just Teams and Zoom which LaSuite is offering an alternative for: but also GMail, Google Docs, WhatsApp, etc. Feeling quite patriotic today I must confess. lasuite.numerique.gouv.fr

France announced today it’s phasing out Teams, Zoom, etc. to be replaced with a French/European solution called Visio. The data is hosted on Outscale. Transcripts and subtitles are also handled by French providers. The target is set on 2027 for government agencies.

It’s me! #commspride

Oh god.

Friendly tip for PRs working in beer - when you win a new beer account, don't assume that professional beer writers have never heard of the brewery, just because you didn't know they existed until three weeks before you pitched for the business.

Very grim. www.ft.com/content/c894...

New contract starting tomorrow. Weird day to start but quite good to get in the seat and start with a bang on Monday. Been a while since o started a #comms contract not one-off pieces of freelance work so oddly nervous.