It really is sweet how excited the English are about having discovered turmeric......

“Hate brings views”. 🤦🏽‍♂️

Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.”

Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.

This is a lie.

There are many criticisms you might sensibly and truthfully make of the Sentencing Council and the Sentencing Guidelines. I’ve been making them for years.

But this is an outright lie. Pure fabrication. A fraud on the public.

The ever-more radcalised Elon Musk regularly shares content from Steve Laws.

Laws leads breakaway faction quitting Homeland for its leader only supporting the voluntary, not forced repatriation of British-born minorities

"I don't care if they were born here, every single one must go" i

'Whatever malicious thing can be found anywhere in the world can be found [in London]… actors, jesters, smooth-skinned lads, Moors, flatterers, pretty boys... quacks, belly dancers [and] sorcerers'.

A visitor to London, 1180.

My office is on Brick Lane. Every day we push through hordes of tourists who are there to marvel at the exciting success story that is that neighbourhood, London and the Uk more generally.

Building successful multi cultural & confessional democracies is one of the greatest achievements in history

Total natural with the mic.

White British people will be a minority in 40 years, report claims Shifting ethnic dynamic of the UK driven by immigration predicted to cause dramatic changes

'the white British share of the population – defined as people who do not have an immigrant parent' 😂😂 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06...

Migrants already in UK face longer wait for permanent settlement People will typically have to live in the UK for 10 years before applying for the right to stay indefinitely.

People who have built lives here, and paid tens of thousands of pounds to do so, with the idea that after five years they could apply for indefinite leave to remain now being told they have to pay tens of thousands more and wait another five, at least. It's disgusting.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Reciprocal agreements

All foreign temporary workers are already exempt from 1 year of NI contributions, there are already 16 agreements preventing double taxation of work covering over 50 countries (www.gov.uk/government/p...), and UK citizens working in 🇮🇳 will also benefit reciprocally.

Citruses thrive on Isle of Wight and could grow across warming UK Apples and rhubarb may become harder to cultivate in British fields as temperatures rise, warn the creators of the country’s first citrus grove

Code Orange for global warming bit.ly/3RBbn1L Isle of Wight weighs possible citrus harvest which may be followed by olives, avocados, bananas. But where will we grow apples and rhubarb?

I need to tell myself not to introduce you as Haynesova next time I’m in the Con studio.

The rule of law is democracy’s last defence — that’s why populists attack it It’s no accident that from France to Wisconsin, the radical right seek to undermine faith in the judiciary

From the US to Israel, Hungary to Turkey, a unifying theme of leaders sliding away from democratic norms is a concerted attack on the courts. It is the playbook of every populist strongman (or woman) seeking to march their country away from liberal democracy. 

www.ft.com/content/85c8...

If your definition of "Woke" is broad enough to cover both Greta Thunberg and Vladimir Putin, it has perhaps exhausted whatever rather dubious descriptive usefulness it once had.

Gigil, alamak among new words in Oxford English Dictionary The Oxford English Dictionary has added new untranslatable words from South East Asia.

‘Gigil’ has long been a favourite untranslatable: finding something or someone so impossibly cute you just want to squeeze them (not always great for the squeezee).

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Steve's Reading Russia - Russian Press Review (24 March 2025) YouTube video by Steve Rosenberg

Steve Witkoff’s interview to Tucker Carlson is making headlines in Russia. One paper today: “US & Russian officials are now speaking the same language…for the first time in years the White House & the Kremlin are openly demonstrating their mutual attraction…” #ReadingRussia

Former KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky dies at Surrey home - BBC News Counter-terrorism police are assisting the coroner, but his death is not being treated as suspicious.

Oleg Gordievsky has died. What makes him so interesting is that he illustrates the stabilising role intelligence can play: he helped Reagan & Thatcher understand the USSR was genuinely worried about nuclear war, allowing them to take that into account in their policy www.bbc.com/news/article...

‘It is indeed easy to pull the sword from the scabbard, but not so easy to put it back when you want, since the outcome of war is uncertain.’

Alexei, Tsar of all Russia, 1652
(before invading Ukraine)

Chinese investors privately take stakes in Elon Musk’s companies Asset managers have been promoting tech mogul’s ties to Donald Trump to lure capital to xAI, Neuralink and SpaceX

“Wealthy Chinese investors are quietly funnelling tens of millions of dollars into private companies controlled by Elon Musk using an arrangement that shields their identities from public view” www.ft.com/content/6685...

Israel to cut off electricity supply to Gaza, minister says Eli Cohen's announcement on Sunday came one week after Israel cut off all aid supplies to the territory.

“Israel ordered all of Gaza's electricity supply to be cut off on Sunday…The decision to cut electricity is expected to primarily affect the operation of desalination plants which are crucial for providing clean drinking water.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

No exodus to state sector after VAT added to private school fees, say English councils Most say they have seen no impact on applications for year 7 places, despite warnings from those against policy

Well I never.

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

OBR publishes supplementarly analysis of fiscal impact of migration.

Confirms earlier analysis :

- the "average migrant" [in their data] earns slightly *more* than the UK average

- the "average migrant" makes a more +ve fiscal contribution than average resident

obr.uk/docs/dlm_upl...

Etymology of the day: ‘book’ comes from an ancient root shared by ‘beech’, a wood that people used for engraving inscriptions. ‘Paper’ comes from ‘papyrus’, and ‘volume’ is from the Latin for a ‘roll’ of parchment.

Happy World Book Day.

Ending the night with this.
*Get your hankies*
A D-Day veteran called a gracious and humbled Zelenskyy a hero.

Five Failures in the Oval Office (video) America hurt itself badly today.

Here I react to the shameful encounter between American leaders and media and the Ukrainian president. No doubt there were more, but I saw five failures on our side: of hospitality, decency, democracy, strategy, and independence. Please watch and share.
snyder.substack.com/p/five-failu...

On 15 March 1939 Hitler and his deputy summoned the Czech President to Hitler’s residence in Berlin and then bullied him to submitting to a German invasion of his country.
They drove him to the point of physical collapse, threatening him until he eventually signed his country’s death warrant.

Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.

It doesn’t have an easy answer because identity is made up. We draw lines on bits of paper & put up signs. We get to choose. We are in charge here. Identity isn’t floating about like helium to be isolated & put in balloons.

So let’s make up an identity which is generous and capacious.