Some personal news...

it's always nice to be reminded of how incredible a public speaker Barack Obama is. here's part of his eulogy of Jesse Jackson

In an age of blood-soaked realpolitik, Europe stands out: if it is a sin to think that rules matter, the world could do with a few more sinners

Just discovered it was world book day this week, and I didn’t know anything about it. Feel so good. 🥹

Some truly excellent questions in this article.

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch writes to the Prime Minister to say that tripling and quadrupling settlement times to 15 and 20 years "are a good start but should go further" Settlement taking that long are very niche positions among the public - British Social Attitudes - but popular among elites

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.

Oh now I get it. Dubai is Golgafrinchan Ark B.

Saw RAYE on Sunday night with the eldest - very much delivered on the promise. My daughter commented on the diversity of the audience. It was like the audiences from a pop show, grime-fest, south bank classical concert and jazz club had been combined. Her appeal really is transcendent.

Just discovered this in a thread, and I have to say that's an excellent account of the general experience of engaging with politics. What's mildly entertaining is that most within the system don't seem to understand it. What's horrifying is the people who do, who work to the highest bidder.

Bickering as the bombs fall. My SKETCH of Britain failing to rise to the occasion. thecritic.co.uk/bick...

Please don't share this. It will confuse non-techie people into thinking it's possible to do pretty much everything you need to do around research or management information without having access to the underlying data. And then what will Palantir do? People don't think of the consequences, do they.

Norway looking pleasant today.

Do you know about Migrateful? Simplest and best idea in the world. People coming here with few material goods, but amazing cooking skills and stories from fascinating places. Meeting people who pay a bit for a lesson and a communal feast. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll pig out. www.migrateful.org

Seems we’ve still not got our heads round the fundamental role information plays in today’s security and geopolitics www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...

My new office, sort of, until the one they’re refurbing upstairs is finished. Complete with Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote. It’s a lovely place to be, if a little too fun not to get distracted.

Hate-filled fake videos about London are everywhere. We've obtained a recording of a TikToker confessing to secretly filming Londoners in their homes for clicks. He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger. Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...

so a month ago I was reading @markpackuk.bsky.social’s speech on Twitter in the lords and there were obviously fake stats the government used to justify Twitter’s UK reach and its continued importance to British audiences Rob has now found the source of the data was… Twitter

FT exclusive: “The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions and challenge perceived threats to free speech.” via @annasophiegross.bsky.social and colleagues

I see that the Guardian is now actively trying to kill its remaining readers.

"Nobody calls me Jack. Even my mother called me Russell."

This is worth paying attention to particularly for those who have concerns about Palantir's involvement in NHS data.... www.bmj.com/content/392/...

Today I learned “Norwegian Christian laws forbade citizens from conversing with and interacting with trolls, and in documents dating from 1274 to 1781, doing so would result in severe punishment” (source: Wikipedia), and I kinda think many people nowadays would be better off if this law was revived

Good morning. Hugo and I are starting our day by listening to "Kind of Blue" rather than the latest outpourings of the Mad King, or reports about his latest outpourings.

The Economist styling the Indian Prime Minister as Austin Powers is not what I was expecting this morning.

Really interesting profile of Reform's candidate to be London Mayor.

you know this guy is a FOR REAL photographer because he's telling the story of his brutal, unconditional arrest by federal goons and can't help but slip in a gear review

I'm convinced that one of the core issues with LLMs is that the Turing Test was all about convincing people, making them feel good about a relationship...rather than about truth. I've used ChatGPT and found it useful...but just tried Claude, and it seems very much more ethical / truth-oriented.

Chatting to the gruff bloke, who runs the garage I now use for work on my car, about their reputation. Unprompted, knowing little about me, he tells me the thing he's proudest about is that women feel safe and comfortable in his garage. 🥹

The quintessential example of the perils of writing requirements documentations.

Few days ago I thought I might get a manual coffee grinder would be nice, maybe do some research. Fell down this rabbit hole of videos by people who have >40 grinders discussing the features, suitability for different brewing methods, and flavour profile of different types.