New two party system just arrived in Cliftonville. Wonder how many wards will become Green vs Reform battlegrounds in local elections next month. Suspect quite a few (plus plenty of other new two party contests springing up)

Polanski's comms on Iran treat people as if they are stupid. You can disagree with the govt position (Greens believe Britain should ban the US from using its bases here + that we should not defend Gulf states—fine!), but the government has been up front about its position for weeks now

Back when I did some work with greenpeace you were still allowed to expense meals including meat (when it was work related ofc) but *all* fish was strictly banned. (It's vegetarian only now AFAIK).

Consumers urged to ‘completely avoid’ UK-caught cod as population plunges Marine Conservation Society warns that fish numbers have reached dangerous point of decline

stopped cooking meat for ethical reasons a few years ago so eat a *lot* of fish now but seemingly every other week there's a story about how you shouldn't be buying this fish or that fish and CHRIST can't it be easier to be decent without having to try this hard www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A bit depressing that the best pitch I can make for voting for one of the establishment parties (for me, Labour) is that the Greens and Reform are worse. But there we are. My column in today’s Times.

www.thetimes.com/article/ffc8...

What I learnt from a young life of romantic failure Embrace the dawg in you, and kill the dreamy romantic.

I’ve written a blog about being unlucky in love as a young man and what the reason for that was. In my opinion I spent too long dreaming of the perfect hand on the poker table when I should’ve been hammering the slot machines.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

On my walk out to a country pub today I realised how nonsensical the whole food security argument against solar farms is because there are just these fields which are far too crappy to grow crops in that are just rented out to people to keep their horses in or a bunch of sheep to graze in.

British Jews fear the types of people who firebomb Hatzola ambulances. The people who firebomb Hatzola ambulances are not radicalised by severely mentally ill rappers. British Jews know this but morons across this site do not, and they refuse to listen to Jews when they try to explain it to them.

What I learnt from a young life of romantic failure Embrace the dawg in you, and kill the dreamy romantic.

I’ve written a blog about being unlucky in love as a young man and what the reason for that was. In my opinion I spent too long dreaming of the perfect hand on the poker table when I should’ve been hammering the slot machines.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

Awesome! And a decent selection of bands there too

About to get on a 14 hour flight with no WiFi. It's at times like this I think of the woman who tweeted something bad and was sacked, all unknowing, while on an intercontinental flight.

To that end: no-one likes dark chocolate. You're not just lying to the sane world, you're lying to yourselves.

A mate as already texted me saying ‘The Russians should employ you to manage their troll farms’

Looks like I did! I ended up offending an entire supporter base of a small football club and the entire listenership of a niche football podcast in one go. And I like both that podcast and that football club!

Why do they hate you? Because of your blogs. I think our class shapes our tastes, and our tastes shape how we engage in culture.

People seemed to get the wrong end of stick with some it. So I’ve tried to write a new blog trying to explain what I was getting at.

If you’re interesting in class and footie, you might find this interesting.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

Well this blog caused a massive hoo-ha! Loads of West Didsbury & Chorlton fans seem to be livid with me. The entire Football Cliches subreddit is alive with people giving me a good kicking!

All because of an obscure blog that was meant to be self-mocking.

Why do they hate us? The third blog in my series about class, football, and culture.

I’ve written a blog about middle class hipsterdom and particularly the football hipster. Some shots were fired.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

I have a plan to save London’s pubs, social clubs and grassroots football: Let middle-class people behave like tw*ts The second blog in my series about class, football, and culture.

I did do another blog celebrating middle class culture open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

'The referee's a Tory' - this club sounds like the seventh circle of hell.

Why do they hate us? The third blog in my series about class, football, and culture.

I’ve written a blog about middle class hipsterdom and particularly the football hipster. Some shots were fired.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

I may have died of cringe.

Just lost my first Substack subscriber

Tbh, I could probably train an AI to do a lot of it! I’m sure Claude could have a better bash at it than me

Really?! That’s cool! On what channel? I had a show on my uni radio

Did I ever tell you that I once had a podcast? What did the failure of my podcast teach me? Not a great deal.

Did you know I once had a podcast?

Here’s what a learnt about myself from the experience. TL;DR: Not a lot.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

Did I ever tell you that I once had a podcast? What did the failure of my podcast teach me? Not a great deal.

Did you know I once had a podcast?

Here’s what a learnt about myself from the experience. TL;DR: Not a lot.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

I enjoy the process and it’s why I’ve stuck it out for so long. It’s difficult not to get disheartened whenever I actually try to use the languages though and fall flat on my face.

Learning languages as a Sisyphean endeavour On picking difficult hobbies

I’ve written a blog on why I’ve taken up a hobby that I’m uniquely unsuited for.

open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...

London I love you, but you’re bringing me down. Why I think London’s sprawl, and its limited and expensive transport system, sucks the spontaneity out of life.

I woke up this morning and wrote a blog entitled, London I love you, but you’re bringing me down.

substack.com/@thehottakem...

This bit from Hannah Spencer's maiden speech struck me. On one level, it's just the sort of flimflam people say in maiden speeches or on the campaign trail.

But it implies there are bits of the country where these things are not true. Where in the UK do we not see each other as human?

I thought the British public are crying out for authenticity. Authentic hooligan thug MPs!