It is genuinely surreal to watch both the U.S. and Britain decide to destroy their own world-renowned and extremely profitable university systems at the same time.

To be fair, I read a great deal of criticism of Eddie Howe and much of it has a point. But he has been a good manager of the club and achieved what no one else has in my lifetime.

EH did not have full control. The Isak situation was a total mess. Perhaps Howe was complacent, but surely Mitchell and Eales were responsible for contracts. A Saudi delegation were still trying to talk AI around with about a week to go. Plus the players EH wanted took the higher wages elsewhere.

Eddie has always been dignified about last summer but he was left in an impossible situation. The fact that he's still manager and working constructively and with focus says a lot about him as a human being. He deserves a good summer and a decent centre forward.

It is easy to forget how terrible the beginning of last summer's transfer window was. One senior figure was seriously ill and needed to leave his post. The main man who was supposed to be central to scoping and negotiating new signings walked exactly when his work was supposed to start.

The attached testimony is a moving reminder that the Iranian people deserve to live peacefully, wake up to wonder what they might do with their days, and take a happy, terror-free interest in the comings and goings of their family, friends, and neighbours.

Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:

The world's academic systems are in some bizarre competition regarding which ones can, structurally speaking, feed the most young scholars' lives into the woodchipper.

The War Prayer by Mark Twain

warprayer.org

#TheWarPrayer
#MarkTwain

An infographic saying that there were around 13.4 million people were in poverty in 2024/25, a rise of 500,000 in overall poverty between 2023/24 and 2024/25. This was made up of: 4.0 million children (no change) 7.7 million working-age adults [up 300k] 1.7 million pensioners [up 200k]

The story in yesterday’s poverty data? A small rise in poverty in Labour’s first year, up by 500k to 13.4 million in 2024/25.
⬆️working-age adults in poverty went up by 300k
⬆️number of pensioner in poverty went up by 200k
↔️child poverty stayed flat.
More action needed! 1/7

Brexit cost this country £180 billion a year in lost economic output, enough to build 140 new hospitals every single year. The people who did it are now asking for your vote again.

#Brexit #NigelFarage #ReformUK

Author Steven Vickers wrote on Threads, "To confirm, this '100% AI generated' passage is the opening of Chapter 5 from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I think authors are going to get screwed in these AI witch hunts."

I agree 100% with Steven Vickers that authors will be falsely accused of using AI in the coming years. In particular, authors like myself whose works were stolen to train AI systems are at risk. When we write in our own unique styles, AI trained on us will quite likely flag us as using AI.

Only listened to the first one in this medley so far but I agree: a gorgeous song when Bob does it. He finds such sadness in it. I especially like 'broke her heart and lost my own' and 'I've always kind of missed her'. The 'kind of' is so unconvincing in its offhand defensiveness.

Whatever happens, we've played some glorious football against one of the best teams on the planet. Without our best player. #NUFC

Yesss #nufc

Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.

Thanks for writing it. It's splendid.

Brazilian Football Terminology (Or: ‘How does your Brazilian gan on aboot the footy, like?’)

open.substack.com/pub/tf1892/p... Poetry

I love everything about this entire thread!

Thank the Lord for the courageous existence of Harriet Tubman.

He's already gone in many ways, but he hasn't gone enough

That's a quote for the ages

Howay the Lads! #nufc

You crazy fool ... but me too 🤍🖤✊🏽😂

Westminster Meeting House raided by Metropolitan Police again. Statement: “For Quakers, faith and action are inseparable. Peaceful protest, prayer and nonviolent action are integral parts of many Quakers' religious life. Whilst we take the planning of criminal acts very seriously, we believe that this incident is a deliberate targeting of committed young people who want to make our country a more equitable place. This raid is part of a systematic stifling of dissent. That this is the second time in a year that the police have raided our meeting house dramatically illuminates the broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government. The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy. It's a key part of how people make their voices heard between elections.” – Oliver Robertson, Head of Witness and Worship Quakers in Britain, 5 March 2026

Yesterday evening, for the second time in a year, the Met Police raided Westminster Quaker Meeting House and arrested a number of young nonviolent activists.

STATEMENT: www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

London: Quaker Meeting House raided by Metropolitan Police again | ICN This evening, for the second time in a year, the Metropolitan Police raided a Quaker Meeting House and arrested a number of young non...

Police raid Westminster Quaker Meeting House again. #PeacefulProtest
#Nonviolence
www.indcatholicnews.com/news/54502

The Quakers; quietly defiant, generally correct

“That this is the second time in a year that the police raided our meeting house dramatically illuminates the broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government. The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy…”

Great story. Thanks for sharing it. (Re: the match - I'd also failed to take in until I watched the highlights that Gordon ran the length of the opposition half before he won the penalty.)

There's something very poetic about your "he set off down the wing etc. etc." I used to tell my students to avoid "etc." but it is a thing of beauty here. What a wonderful goal!