It's today when we're meant to show off about getting A-level results decades ago, and patronise young people with humblebrags, right?
Iain King
@iainbking.com
Author, former Director of NATO Mission Iraq, diplomat and academic. Fascinated by philosophy and thrillers. CBE, likes tea.
Never, in the history of opinion polling, has a question lent itself more to empirical testing.
Sophie Hall@sophlouisehall.bsky.social · 3w agoFinally, someone asking the important questions
The Guardian excels at one-star reviews… www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone review – the self-serving narcissist ruins this documentary
Just by his being there, the ex-prime minister undermines the honour of every brave fighter he meets in this tour of the war’s frontline. It should never have made it to TV
theguardian.com
I watched the England vs Argentina match, but only now - the next day - feel radicalised by the scandalously poor refereeing, after seeing social media posts. It’s a funny feeling.
Great article on the ethics within AI, and how philosophers have shaped the evolution of non-human decision making: www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
‘There’s this deep mystery of what, actually, is this thing?’: the philosopher inside Google DeepMind
The long read: Since 2017, Iason Gabriel has worked at the tech giant, trying to anticipate – and think through – the impact of AI. But as commercial and geopolitical pressures escalate, can ethicists...
theguardian.com
If Andy Burnham (born 1970) becomes British Prime Minister, it means Liz Truss will no longer be the only PM from Generation X.
Macdonalds has David Beckham on their World Cup merchandise, implying he’s still a player.
Good to see some accountability, but yet again its a woman who may be punished for Epstein-related actions : www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ma...
‘Seriously the best boss ever’: inside the world of Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant
The long read: She was quick, polite, relentlessly positive, military-grade efficient. A trawl through the Epstein files raises the troubling question: what did Lesley Groff know?
theguardian.com
Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.
slate.com
Excellent new public art from Banksy in central London. Clever, contemporary, controversial, well executed, and a great prompt for discussion.
A long read, but worth it: www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ap...
The impossible promise: are we witnessing the return of fascism?
Some of today’s far right is openly violent and undemocratic – and even in its less extreme forms, far-right populism is a profound threat. But that doesn’t mean it is just a re-run of history
theguardian.com
On the front lines, Russian soldiers pay officers to stay alive - The Economist. apple.news/AB_qTtdUPT7a...
On the front lines, Russian soldiers pay officers to stay alive — The Economist
The war against Ukraine has created a corrupt economy of blood money
apple.news
“Each communications revolution rewrotes the political order it inherits” - very insightful piece, well worth a read: engelsbergideas.com/notebook/aft...
After the Eighth Great Power
Each communications revolution rewrites the political order. Democracies will not survive by clinging to broadcast certainties or chasing every viral falsehood.
engelsbergideas.com
To mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of his world-changing pamphlet ‘Common Sense’, here’s a biography of its author, the quixotic Thomas Paine: www.military-history.org/feature/thin...
THINKERS AT WAR - Thomas Paine | Military History Matters
Iain King evaluates the life and work of journalist, politician, and firebrand Tom Paine.
military-history.org
Vaccines do not cause autism - in fact, there’s a greater correlation between autism and people who haven’t been vaccinated : www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccination and Autism: A Nationwide Cohort Study: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 170, No 8
Background: The hypothesized link between the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism continues to cause concern and challenge vaccine uptake. Objective: To evaluate whether the MMR vaccine i...
acpjournals.org
Excellent article : Singapore (perhaps the UK’s greatest defeat in WWII) offers important lessons for today: engelsbergideas.com/notebook/nat...
NATO’s 1937 moment
In 1937, British officers tried – and failed – to challenge orthodox assumptions about the defence of Singapore. Their experience offers a warning for how NATO should think about Russia today.
engelsbergideas.com
Brilliant analysis by Peter Kellner, which explains the long term decline in productivity (in the UK and elsewhere ) and says where to point the finger (not where you think - read to the end): kellnerp.substack.com/p/rachel-ree...
Rachel Reeves’s biggest crisis isn’t over
Productivity remains a headache. Blame big tech, not just the Tories
kellnerp.substack.com
Sobering talk on how the human rights movement can be corrupted, but also on how it can be saved. By the ever-excellent Gerald Knaus youtu.be/nSxXjp6_54g
Why The Human Rights Movement Needs To Be Reinvented | Gerald Knaus | TEDxGraz
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
youtu.be
Great article: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Do you feel lucky? Why acknowledging our own good fortune would make the world a better place | Julian Richer
I have been fortunate, and I know it. Now I’d like more successful people to admit that meritocracy is a myth, says Julian Richer, founder of Richer Sounds
theguardian.com
So the line is that he wasn't getting paid for any of this
A doomed attempt to establish peace in Europe, initiated by a once-defeated superpower keen to restore its credentials, and sponsored by the aloof world hyperpower, focussed on its own economy. 100 years since the Locarno Treaty. Prescient. engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-l...
The Locarno Pact's enduring legacy
The Locarno Pact of 1925 provided the foundations for a more just, durable and peaceful European order. Although its early promise was snuffed out by the global crisis of the 1930s, the pact's guiding...
engelsbergideas.com
