Two thoughts on water while hanging around waiting for delayed flight in airport. Pushing £4 for a bottle of water. Really? And playing Allegri’s Miserere as piped music in the toilets. Bit weird?
Sean Coughlan
@seanjcoughlan.bsky.social
BBC royal correspondent. My writing was included in the New York Times list of 'Best Sentences of 2025' and a story was in the global top 20 of 'Most engaging stories of 2025'. After all these years, can I write some books now?
Andrew gives up lease on another Crown Estate property. That’s it now? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Andrew gives up lease on another Crown Estate property
The former Prince Andrew hands back a property in Ascot, with lease documents showing an annual rent of £13,000.
bbc.co.uk
Great piece by Michael Buchanan on the political disaffection in a former mining community. So many places slipping under a blanket of cannabis and a horizon of boarded up shops. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Inside Horden, the County Durham town failed by politics
In Horden, County Durham, Westminster slogans have long been left unmet as the population has plummeted.
bbc.co.uk
F Scott Fitzgerald could have been writing about Epstein files: "They were careless people... they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
Ah. This would have made my late Great Uncle very sad. A single man with no children back home, it was Veeraswamy that he looked forward to returning to after the war BBC News - An iconic Indian restaurant might have to shut after 99 years. Can the King save it? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Veeraswamy: UK's oldest Indian restaurant calls on King to save it
Supporters of Veeraswamy, which has operated for almost 100 years, are petitioning the King to intervene.
bbc.co.uk
Veeraswamy, the oldest surviving Indian restaurant in the UK, approaching its 100th birthday in March, is trying to save itself from closure. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Veeraswamy: UK's oldest Indian restaurant calls on King to save it
Supporters of Veeraswamy, which has operated for almost 100 years, are petitioning the King to intervene.
bbc.co.uk
Really enjoyed the RSC's @the-rsc.bsky.social Twelfth Night at the Barbican. A proper celebration of the melancholy inside Christmas jollity. Saddest of the comedies. And in simplistic times, shows how two things can be true at once.
As 2025 closes, nice surprise to see my work at the BBC included in the New York Times list of the year’s “fine passages of prose” in journalism in its “Best Sentences of 2025” round-up. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/o...
Opinion | The Best Sentences of 2025
nytimes.com
You buy a couple of tickets for an exhibition and you wince at it costing over £50 and then they ask you for a "donation"! Hmm.
The King held his first Harmony Summit. What happened there? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Harmony Summit: Inside King Charles's fiery gathering that shone a light on his beliefs
The King's philosophy of harmony with nature was on display at the Highgrove summit.
bbc.co.uk
Rugby league’s first knighthood to be awarded today. It follows protests of unfairness against the sport in the honours system. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Billy Boston to become first ever rugby league knight
The former Wigan player will be the first rugby league player to receive a knighthood in 130 years of the sport's history.
bbc.co.uk
Ancient India exhibition at the British Museum is worth a spin. Art and soul. Apart from anything else, it’s soothingly calm compared to the rest of the overcrowded museum.
Central line seems to be getting as bad for graffiti inside the tube carriages as the Bakerloo. Feels like it’s got worse in past few months, not sure why that might be.
With pressure on public finances, there’s increasing scrutiny of the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on the Royal Family. My thoughts and those of others in this piece for the BBC by @seanjcoughlan.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Public funding for royals triples since 2012 because of Palace works
Royal aides say the rise is because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the funding will come down again.
bbc.co.uk
There's a call for the honours system to recognise the community efforts and volunteering of people with disabilities. It's part of a wider question about the fairness of the honours system and whether it's rewarding the right people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Honours system 'should not ignore disabled'
Disabled people should be more fairly recognised in the honours system, says an advocate for the rights of autistic women and girls.
bbc.co.uk
NEW Results of my informal research into 147 murder & manslaughter cases that concluded at court in London in 2023 and 2024. Why were people killed? The findings surprised me... ... and raise questions for policing & government. Published in the Spectator: www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-...
Why people kill
Why did he do it? Over the last few weeks, many of us have asked that question following a series of horrifying acts of violence that have been difficult to comprehend. Why was 15-year-old Harvey Will...
spectator.co.uk
Sad to hear about Rick Buckler. He was such a part of what made the Jam such a fiercely intense live band. A lot of middle aged people will be playing those old records and remembering how much the Jam captured that time.
‘It won't help to build confidence in the honours system if there's a perception that the proximity to the seat of power & personal wealth significantly increases your chance of getting a gong’ @transparencyuk.bsky.social for @seanjcoughlan.bsky.social’s investigation. www.bbc.com/news/article...
New Year Honours: Are top recipients too posh and too southern?
An analysis of those awarded the "higher" honours reveals a significant social and regional divide.
bbc.com
On a train with the windows covered in graffiti. So at least can’t see all the graffiti along the tracks.
First Humanitarian Medals awarded. Anna Daniell, one of the first recipients, says it's a positive sign to honour humanitarian workers who respond to international disasters. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
First new medal winner recalls 'extreme devastation'
The first recipients of the new Humanitarian Medal have been announced, honouring rescue workers.
bbc.co.uk
King Charles to attend events marking 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
King Charles to attend Auschwitz commemoration
The King will be at an event for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp.
bbc.co.uk
In spotting journalistic cliches - a new contender must 'breaks silence'. It almost always just means that someone has said something. But with a load of fake clickable drama.