I wrote about self-censorship: Substack's dirty little secret. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/dont-you-a...
I write the newsletter, Lines To Take, bringing you one big story of the day, every day. Sign up for free: https://www.linestotake.com/ I like human rights and French cuisine.
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I wrote about self-censorship: Substack's dirty little secret. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/dont-you-a...
Pep: "I wish I had an Ederson." Literally everyone else: "You did. His name was Ederson. You sold him."
I *loved* working on this story: what do Spain’s aristocrats think now Rafael Nadal (as the new Marquess of Llevant de Mallorca) has become one of them? on.ft.com/47o4byZ
Last three YouTube searches = your Blind Dates contestants
It's a disturbing first reaction, but mine was that this must be good news for the Lib Dems (and even Tories?) if Greens move off their rural/nimby/conservationist turf.
This has strong 'Ian Rush to Juventus' vibes.
“MPs are struggling to find anywhere on the internet that isn’t hostile territory. The online right monopolises X and are dominant on YouTube. On TikTok, neither the online left nor online right has much need for or interest in members of parliament.”
Been thinking about this for a while but grateful to daily newsletter O.G. @stephenkb.bsky.social for the nudge.
But we all like to have our tummies tickled and our priors reinforced. And it’s not just algorithmic social media platforms such as TikTok where that happens.
Having written a daily newsletter for five years, the biggest lesson is that readers open emails with subject lines about Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, but not the EU or climate change.
As a leader writer for the Evening Standard, I occasionally had to write things I didn’t agree with. Fortunately, we’re talking pro-VAT-free shopping not ‘In praise of ivory dealers’ or ‘How to get more toddlers to take up smoking’. Plus, no byline.
We also accept limits on our speech from our employers. If you work for Coca-Cola, I think it's a reasonable ask that you don't post on social media about your preference for Pepsi.
We all self-censor pretty much all the time. No one actually wants to be friends with people who act like those late '90s reality TV contestants who introduce themselves on camera by declaring, “I’m not rude, I just tell it how it is.”
I wrote about self-censorship: Substack's dirty little secret. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/dont-you-a...
Pretty sure I made the exact same joke whenever UK / EU readouts were released following the many Brexit summits.
Like one of those @theguyliner.bsky.social blind date reviews where there's literally no crossover in the 'What did you talk about?' section.
I'm hoping they positioned the table like that for the photo-op and they don't have it at that mad angle every day.
A life well lived. From refugee to matriarch: Joanna Kessler, 1929–2025.
Have you read Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties? America-focussed but quite fun.
I know the NS piece was a sponsored article and no one really cares about rich foreigners paying (or not) VAT but you have no idea how many times I had to write that leader.
Remain preternaturally sceptical of anyone confidently asserting that cutting taxes will raise more revenue. Sure, it *might*. But guess who'll be stuck picking up the tab if it turns out you're wrong?
Wrote roughly a bajillion leader articles for the Standard in favour of scrapping the 'tourist tax' and it went against every former Treasury official sinew in my body.
Precipitous fall off after FDR court-packing attempts.
Yeah, that's not great a great defensive line. Also, I reviewed the book and wanted to like it but founding it reeaaallllly boring.
I used to roll my eyes at these sorts of 'scandals', especially the German politicians forever plagiarising their theses. But more and more I think the norm that telling small lies is bad and embarrassing is worth upholding.
Also, the Tories picking an issue which divides their voters but not Lab/Lib/Reform is... bold.
Thanks, Adam.
Thanks, James. That means a lot.
Thanksgiving acts as a tremendous firebreak in this regard.
She was so many things at once. A helper, a doer and a voracious reader of biographies. She was resolute and kind, a devoted wife, doting mother, cherished friend, a lover of the arts and of kindness. But to just 11 people, she was simply ‘Grandma’. And I got to be one of them.
A life well lived. From refugee to matriarch: Joanna Kessler, 1929–2025.
“I always thought hair loss treatments were a load of bollocks, but when I saw it on TV, I thought, ‘advertising standards wouldn’t allow something that’s not clinically proven’” This man's faith in institutions is genuinely touching and we need to get him speaking on central bank independence.
"The United States is also raising the Form I-94 fee from $6 to $24, and adding a new $100 fee for asylum seekers... [it] is turning into an ultra low cost carrier."
Had to return an audiobook* because the narrator kept mispronouncing names — Vladimir Pew-tin, Alexis de Tok-ay-ville. Not the worst casualty of war, but you'd think the author or publisher might've exercised some quality control. *this is something you can do!
Good thing he didn't Break His Silence.
I'm furious about espresso martinis which I have just noticed people are drinking.
Bergkamp should be able to make all the away games.
Liz Truss wants to scrap Bank of England independence — but also thinks it began in 1998. If you're going to forget the lessons of history, at least remember the dates.
23 things Liz Truss got wrong this week. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/23-things-... My newsletter, out now.
7) “The surprising truth about (controversial topic) no one’s* talking about” *is being discussed incessantly even though it's neither surprising nor often true
Also, is the only one of the two featured in the cartoon that is still a country.
"It was, without question, the pivotal moment when shadowy, unelected elites seized power from the people — though, regrettably, the specifics escape me."
Liz Truss wants to scrap Bank of England independence — but also thinks it began in 1998. If you're going to forget the lessons of history, at least remember the dates.
Explained to my niece the existence of chickenpox parties and she looked at me like I used to carry my own leeches to the doctor, just in case.
Smart how Denmark is making money on the Lurpak and the GLP-1s.
Surely butter?
Think you've already given it more thought than she has.
I suppose it's up to Keir Starmer and other non-populist leaders to prove her wrong...
But Truss’s central contention is that elected politicians are not really in charge and that shadowy, unaccountable bureaucrats are pulling the strings. This sort of conspiratorial nonsense fuels populism and delegitimises the democratic process by implying that elections don’t matter.
There is a concerted effort on the right of politics to unravel central bank independence (amongst other things) and in doing so make your mortgage more expensive.
A few more because I listened to the whole interview and it was hard.
Not sure she's entered the self-reflection phase of her post-premiership life.
23 things Liz Truss got wrong this week. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/23-things-... My newsletter, out now.
I feel bad for younger fans with little or no memory of Ferguson's United and can't therefore comprehend just delightful it is.
This sort of nonsense is why politicians can't look down or god forbid scratch their noses.
Guns kill Americans. Heat kills Europeans. We've normalised mass death — just in different ways. My newsletter, out now.
This post contains unacceptable Abi Tierney erasure.
The classic government solution of the last 20 years: give it to big Lou til the end of the parliament
Matters to no one but me but the sharper phraseology would have been "In the market for a long read on sellers who..."
This is brilliant reporting from the FT, lifting the lid on just how fucking horrendous these flights are.
Not quite the same (and still probably mad) but I could distinguish by taste between all of the taps in my childhood home.
Having said that...
What's the rule or law which basically says that a statement carries little evidentiary weight if the speaker couldn’t plausibly say the opposite?
Yes, there are different data sets and methodologies, and I do my best to compare like with like.
Seeking a long read on sellers who switch estate agent every three months but refuse to reduce their wildly optimistic asking price.
Let's have a look at yesterday's speech from Nick Thomas-Symonds on EU relations, since the text is now up 1/ www.gov.uk/government/s...
Much as successive recent PMs (save Sunak) have been sceptical about HMT insiders as PPS, it's a hard job to do without that experience.
Addendum: it's a national security imperative to make fun of people who conflate energy decarbonisation (which is hard) with electricity (which isn't).
Appreciate the air con discourse spiked in July, but I find our mutual incomprehension endlessly fascinating.
Particularly as Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet (and its people are quite old).
Not sure a policy of forcing grandma and grandpa to die of heatstroke is a winner.
Almost 47,000 people died of gun-related injuries across the US in 2023 — because there is too little gun control. Almost 48,000 people died of heat-related illnesses across Europe in 2023 — because there is not enough air conditioning.
Guns kill Americans. Heat kills Europeans. We've normalised mass death — just in different ways. My newsletter, out now.
Thursday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...
The rule of law isn't a prerequisite for economic growth (see China), nor is it a guarantee of boom times (see the UK or EU). But without it, America is giving up its defining advantage. And for what? My newsletter, out now.
Reluctantly did the maths and the rough equivalent I think would be some mad uncle forcing me and my sisters to watch Steamboat Willie.
Pretty sure you collectivise agriculture because you’re a communist who wants to direct grain to the cities and for export, not because you think it’ll boost production.
A flourishing private sector – where independent sources of wealth and power are created – will always be viewed with suspicion and subject to seizure.
Economic systems organised around the question of “Does it please the dictator?” have hard limits, because the ultimate priority isn’t growth but maintaining monopoly power.
If I really want to disturb them, I’ll try to explain how millions of people used to have something called a newspaper delivered to their homes every day.
So we switched to something called KPop Demon Hunters.
Introduced nephew (seven) and niece (11) to this classic of my childhood and their reactions suggested I might as well have shown them cave paintings from the late Paleolithic.
People were still not voting Labour in 1997 because of the Winter of Discontent (same for the Tories in 2010 and negative equity).
But really, takes some doing to make the issuer of the global reserve currency look like an emerging market.
Sorry sorry but I keep thinking about this scene. Kirk: I sleep in a racing car, do you? Homer: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
America under Trump is voluntarily(!) giving up:
A flourishing private sector, underpinned by regulatory stability, is where independent sources of wealth and power are created. Which is why despots hate it.
"Does it please the dictator?" has been tried before and as a theory of growth has its limitations.
The rule of law isn't a prerequisite for economic growth (see China), nor is it a guarantee of boom times (see the UK or EU). But without it, America is giving up its defining advantage. And for what? My newsletter, out now.
Amazing photo of Jasmine Paolini at the US Open by Ray Giubilo
Henry cutting in from the left. Robben from the right. Man City winning all the trophies. We're supposed to watch sport for its unpredictability. But in reality, we get our kicks from knowing what's going to happen next. My newsletter, out now.
You tried to take the Venezuelan money too, then?
Live sport holds the promise of chaos, but more often serves up the reassuringly banal. I mean, have you looked at the culture recently? Getting our priors confirmed is what we truly crave.
And yet fans have an insatiable appetite for these sorts of compilations.
'Live-ness’ has been critical to the Premier League’s (and Sky Sports') success.
Henry cutting in from the left. Robben from the right. Man City winning all the trophies. We're supposed to watch sport for its unpredictability. But in reality, we get our kicks from knowing what's going to happen next. My newsletter, out now.
Paging @katebevan.com.
