1/ I'm at a stage of life where I feel an urgency I can't shake. It's a longing for something I want deeply, and I want it to arrive fast. It's anticipation bordering on desperation. It's love across a massive distance, and all I want is that distance closed.

I must have cooked more than a thousand risottos, yet every time the emergence of something that looks edible from what had previously resembled a pond is a blessed relief.

1/ A life of scholarship is one of the finest lives a person can aspire to. To read books, pursue knowledge and remain endlessly curious is a deeply worthwhile way to live. If more parents passed that on to their children, I suspect many would discover that a curious mind is purpose enough.

I've made a commitment to reach B2 in French and A2 in German by the end of this year. Living in Europe, learning both languages is important to me. ***I'll report back at Christmas and let you know how I've got on.*** A public commitment now made. 👏🏻

Nothing wrong with Andy Burnham being on holiday after serving two weeks as Prime Minister. Our politicians are human beings too. They deserve their summer holiday like the rest of us.

#Poetry #Painting #Morning It is morning, and again I am the lucky person to be in it - Mary Oliver 🎨 Kaoru Yamada

This is how Restore Britain, sorry I mean Restoration, talks to working class northern Labour members in Red Wall seats who say they care about Ukraine. Do not under any circumstances vote for these charlatans for the Labour NEC.

1/ I'm so incredibly sad to learn that Rod Liddle passed away yesterday. It still doesn't feel real. I saw Kemi Badenoch's post on X and my first thought was, "Oh my God, this cannot be true." I've read Rod's writing for so many years. It's hard to believe there won't be another column.

Indeed! 6 years ago, I lived a deeply miserable life with deeply miserable people. They were always jealous and resentful of other people's happiness and believed a happier life was impossible. I made therapy and self-development one of my life's main missions, so I wouldn't end up like them.

I've had Alphaville's Afternoons in Utopia 🎵 on repeat every morning, start to finish. I turn 30 in October. This album captures exactly how this chapter of my life feels. 6 years after moving to the West, I can say I've never been happier, professionally or personally. Just grateful for it all.

My husband's homemade steak tartare is the best meal I've ever eaten in my entire life. His version is an authentic French recipe made hot 🌶️. Whenever he pops into the butcher's he buys 700g because I eat more than half of it! Reader, trust me, I do.

The sorting hat has spoken! I'm a Gryffindor. 8690 fellow Gryffindors have been sorted into this house today! www.harrypotter.com/house/gryffi... (I signed up to their online gift shop first! It's a fan's paradise 😊)

Harry Potter | Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

You probably know that some of Gryffindor’s most renowned members include Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. But did you know the sword of Gryffindor was made a thousand years ago by goblins, or that ...

harrypotter.com

I'm delighted to learn that AI is driving a boom in #wealth creation for small business owners, freelancers and solopreneurs in the United States. Great tools are available to everyone. What makes the difference is your mindset. The way you use what's in front of you will shape your life.

1/ Jameela Jamil is a pulchritudinous and extraordinarily intellectually gifted woman, and I admire her from the earth to the sun. However, I do think the "Evil British Empire" argument has become obsolete in the former colonies.

Many a lap of the park was run to this album during the final good days in Canada, ere life decided to become rather more eventful than was strictly necessary.

Maxence is here. 🦁

1/ I love Asma Khan. I am listening to her podcast. And I'm not far away from London, so I can't wait to eat at her restaurant Darjeeling Express ASAP.

Burnham's comments today were a kind of anti-populism: a rejection of easy answers, an acknowledgment of trade-offs and a commitment to solve seemingly-intractable problems. Early days, but incredibly refreshing.

I remember the insane hijinks and shit-faced banter when Labour had Ed Miliband's joke shadow cabinet. Then came the millifandom "Ed's so cute wow lol" by a young lady called Miss. Philipson, Ed's secret late-night interview at Russell Brand's house, and Owen Jones' infamous Guardian piece.

What I love about this story is that, at its core, it rests on the idea that French naval officers can identify members of the Shadow Cabinet from a distance, something most politicos can't do from up close.

Henry Mance@henrymance.ft.com · last wk.

update: Chris Philp has invaded France.

1/ Rupert Lowe's podcast on Joe Rogan is worth listening to. He understands something most British politicians won't say out loud: the West is facing a civilisational crisis, not merely an economic one. And frankly, he grasps it better than Farage does.

motherfucker I am French and I mostly read 20th century European fiction; my sentences are going to keep running on and on and on and there's nothing any of you or indeed any of us can do about it

Kevin@reginageorgebush.bsky.social · last wk.

one impact of LLMs is that everyone's sentences are organically shorter now. even mine! while in my case that's unreservedly a good thing as I tend towards run-ons, for most people it...isn't

the Nabokov I'm reading at the moment (Mary; his first) really proving my point here, what lovely prose

Andy Burnham's #Labour is overtaking #Reform in the latest GE polls because he's coming across as a positive, competent leader. Labour's bounce suggests the public is looking for a simple trifecta of sanity, competence and decent leadership. It isn't a tall ask.

I’ve always been something of a Francophile, and I have to say that I do love this. Quite right to note that philosophy is not the most pressing/practical response to the challenge, but there’s something uplifting and ennobling of the spirit to a response that is not wholly utilitarian. Perhaps?

Great for building civic / democracy muscles too. Common spaces to be in the same place as real people are essential.

I’m old enough to remember Clinton being mocked for the “midnight basketball” part of some bill but the people who dealt with kids & adults who benefitted said it worked as a place for people to be & keep them occupied, in community, & out of trouble.

This is a politician who understands that this is not an indulgence, it's an investment. Every public space where you can have fun and not spend any money is probably more of a crimebuster than 100 cops.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 3w ago

This summer, we kept the lights on all night, every night, at five soccer fields across New York City.

This was the scene at Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend, Brooklyn Tuesday night.

Bowled over by how much I properly *loved* One of Our Thursdays Is Missing on a re-read - I remember finding it very disappointing the first time around. A surprisingly common experience I have rereading books I first read aged 21 is just how violently I disagree with myself, one way or the other.

Me returning to books I loved in my teenage years: the characters I sympathise with will often have changed, my reactions to it have changed, but on a basic 'is this book any good or not?' - no difference. Books I read c21-23: what was Past Me smoking?!