Banned from the radio after Princess Diana died: how Levellers made What a Beautiful Day ‘Its release seemed timely as the Tories had just left office. But then Diana died and all cheerful songs were taken straight off the radio. Boom! It disappeared’

Somehow hadn't realised, till now, that this song refers to Lewes bonfire 🧨

www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...

Thank you! 🙏

This was the best thing that has ever been on TV, and its demise confirms the imminent death of civilisation

Wonderful! I'm working on a piece about them, so rather obsessed at the moment

Why I Wanted to Keep My Marriage a Secret, by David Sedaris It’s not that I was embarrassed by Hugh or that I thought someone better might come along. I just shudder when I hear a man say the words “my husband.”

'I just shudder when I hear a man say the words “my husband.” Something about it sets off alarm bells in me. It’s like “my unicycle” or “my rescue ferret”—just creepy.'

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Anyone heard a cuckoo yet?

Planning to swoop in on Saturday!

Used my white cane for the first time in daylight yesterday (navigating crowded station). Last night, dreamt I was applying white eye shadow very badly and felt monstrously ugly. Exemplary work, unconscious

🧵 Democracy feels like it's in a rough state at the moment across the globe, and we hear various explanations, like polarisation, extremism, disinformation, and loss of trust. But what if those explanations are mainly symptoms and we've been trying to treat them rather than the underlying causes?

Looking to speak to a cyclist (amateur is absolutely fine!) who has had lyme disease. If that’s you or anyone you know, get in touch. It’s for an upcoming Cycling Weekly magazine article.

Britain has stopped believing in freedom of protest Recent police raids show the authorities are clamping down not just on protest, but the very idea of it

Cops have twice raided Quaker meeting houses to arrest people- and seize their phones/laptops - without so far charging anyone. Are we seeing pre-emptive policing to make the very idea of protest impossible? www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...

www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/m...

Not radical, just silly. Supposing a clean break from Christianity is as delusional as preaching a revival

The great American de-enlightenment

Among my favourite CW features of the year so far - quirky, wholesome fun!

... in which he quotes Emerson:

“In every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this.”

Ways of Seeing: On John Berger’s “Cataract” - Cleveland Review of Books It is both within the custom of writerly sight, then, and a cruel irony, that Berger, whose popularity is most connected to Ways of Seeing, would later come to develop cataracts in both eyes.

En route to cataract surgery & have had the good fortune of stumbling upon this terrific review of John Berger's Cataract by @harrysunsee.bsky.social

share.google/3n0tDYz4qYhE...

I enjoyed it too, but have wondered since about whether it's defensible from a disability perspective

Earlier this year, I flew to Austria for a one-to-one interview with Tadej Pogačar, the best cyclist in the world.

The feature is out now and yours to read for (a ludicrously cheap) £3.35.

Back to bed, Valencia, your work is done

Workmen digging up the street outside have cut through our phone line. What now? Might as well go to bed, I guess

'My club-mates keep me going': The 91-year-old former Tour de France podium finisher on staying motivated to ride National champion and racing pioneer of the 1950s Shirley Hockridge tells us about her extraordinary life in cycling

Loved editing this gem of an interview by @stephanieboland.bsky.social with 91-year-old Shirley Hockridge – a podium finisher in proto-Tour de France Femmes in 1957... And still riding her bike!

www.cyclingweekly.com/news/shirley...

He seems to find it difficult to stop admiring himself

Downstream: We Are Witnessing the Return of Empires & the End of Nations w/ Rana Dasgupta

Very interesting chat, this

open.spotify.com/episode/0vC2...

Christopher Bollas, The Granta Podcast Podcast Episode · Granta · 6 March · 43m

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

"Religion is the opium of the people? Fine, we need the opium – because life is hard. Religion remains important because it's our way of negotiating the conscience through the other"

open.spotify.com/episode/2Lvl...

Cannot overstate my glee that @michaelstipe.bsky.social is on here 😁

Labour could bring back our water into public hands but they care more about investors than they do about you

Prof. Robert Pape:

"I have studied every air campaign since WWI... I've modelled the bombing of Fordow and regime change in Iran for 20 years... We are now in the grip of the escalation trap... This has never worked in over 100 years... Trump is up against the weight of history".

Glenwood Springs Co. July 1984. photo by Mark Williams. I was apparently working on a song that became Maps & Legends. Thanks Mark!!