Really good piece. I've followed lots of this stuff but hadn't quite realised how bad adolescent sleep disruption is at the moment. As a chronic (but relapsing-remitting) insomniac, I'm surprised how blasé people and institutions are about the destructive effects of sleep deprivation.

Will Davies@will-davies.bsky.social · 5h ago

I've written about Neets for the LRB. It is odd listening to recent debates about this completely ignore the overwhelming fact of this current crisis, that it is one of inactivity, disability, mental ill-health and neurodevelopmental disorders (as I discuss) www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

For the new issue of the @lrb.co.uk I read J.D. Vance's tremendously unpleasant memoir of his conversion, which is at once an evasion of moral responsibility and a pre-2028 argument for a generic Christian nationalism. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

James Butler · Short Cuts: J.D. Vance’s Conversion

The most obvious question is not whether J.D. Vance believes what he claims to believe, but why, if he believes it, he...

lrb.co.uk

Always such a rash of testament to unspecified private kindnesses when someone who spent their life being an unmitigated arsehole in public dies. Oddly so often from other dedicated arseholes. Truly we have lost one of the lamed vavniks.

This is, in general, a pretty good rule for anybody whose work is aimed at a large audience of which a small and enthusiastic subset will bother to get in direct communication with you. Of course they might (and do!) say useful and interesting things, but mistaking the part for the whole is bad.

Rob Ford@robfordmancs.bsky.social · 2d ago

Don’t make policy to appease reply guys because reply guys can never be appeased (and are also a small, extreme, self-selected and unrepresentative group)

‘The 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘪𝘳 novels have history in their very bones, as land, skies, seasons, peewits drop away in the modern city with its modern ways of doing things, from fields to factories, “near-slavery” to wage slavery.’ Jenny Turner on Lewis Grassic Gibbon. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Jenny Turner · Hated and Loved in a Breath: On Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Gibbon’s new and self-created version of the modernist sentence mixes Scots and English to resemble ‘a meandering,...

lrb.co.uk

If you ever wonder why flagrant but complex crimes seem to end up in a torpid state of permanent state of investigation, it's because the police response is often "wow, sounds difficult. sending thoughts and prayers."

John Oxley@joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 6d ago

Amazing how many British policing scandals seem to boil down to "What do you expect us to do? Our jobs?"

On the podcast: what does Andy Burnham’s cabinet reveal about his political intentions, and why might he call a general election next year? @stephenkb.bsky.social and @siennarodgers.bsky.social join @piercepenniless.bsky.social for a look at Burnham’s first week. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Thersites clearly exists in the Iliad to voice the obvious, normal objection that Agamemnon is a greedy nutcase embarked on an incredibly dumb war who cares nothing for his people, & they should all just leave. Obviously it's a disclaimed perspective but it's there.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · last wk.

one tendency that comes out about period films is the insistence that XYZ moral thought would not have occurred to anyone in the ancient world. to be sure there are moral innovations and changes but the existence of thorough dissatisfaction with the present moral order is not a modern phenomenon

This is historically what the @lrb.co.uk letters page is for.

Nute@nutedawn.bsky.social · last wk.

I’m hoping Christopher Nolan writes a scathing review of Wilson’s next translation project, let’s get a real feud going. “Her clumsy and consistent flattening of the gnomic aorist into a bare preterite utterly fails to capture the nuance of the original!”

BSky reaction to the Jason Arday story puzzling to me. Yes, it's absolutely driven by the worst online racists. But the evidence of plagiarism is pretty clear, and the doctoral thesis is really ropey. That matters. What am I missing?

Sceptical that NEET problem is just a misalignment between curriculum and business needs. Much more credibly a mix of struggling local business (= fewer openings) & huge increase in mental distress and disability among young people. Latter (including un- or self-diagnosed) a huge part of the issue.

Mike Yeagley spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying commercially sourced location data. On today's podcast, he tells @josephcox.bsky.social what he discovered, specifically about Grindr and how it became a national security issue. Watch now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN4n...

Yes, @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social filed a review with τῇ καλλίστῃ jotted as a title and nobody thought about the consequences. (Fortunately you can access the living oral tradition on the podcast feed.)

Lydia Polgreen@polgreen.bsky.social · last wk.

Uh, did Emily Wilson's Odyssey takedown crash the @lrb.co.uk website?

Good opportunity for Burnham to deliver on his claim that science and academic research are key means of rebalancing the country and restore funding.

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · last wk.

Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

‘Nolan has read at least the first line of my translation of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘺 into iambic pentameter. In one interview, he cited my version of it: “Tell me about a complicated man.” But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.’ New, by Emily Wilson www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man

As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...

lrb.co.uk

We must remember the Utøya massacre, and remember it for what it was: a far-right attack specifically targeted against democratic socialist activists. Today, the ideologies of its perpetrator are openly espoused by a global network of nationalist oligarchs as they wage war on democratic societies.

Roberta Metsola@president.europarl.europa.eu · 2w ago

Fifteen years ago today, 77 lives were taken - most of them young - on an island that should have been a place of summer, friendship, and first ideas about the world they wanted to build. On that day, Norway grieved, and Europe grieved with it. Utøya. Oslo. We remember.

Well, that's a surprise.

This is why the Mail ran its vaguely homophobic influence / twink lobbyist story on Kyle. All the hallmarks of a not-quite-there story dumped into print for fear of diminishing relevance.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2w ago

Peter Kyle fired too. Another one that was expected.

Because it’s edited by Michael Gove.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2w ago

Why has Britain’s oldest political magazine become such a rabid cheerleader for Islamophobia? | Nesrine Malik

‘The stripping away of the people’s will from Congress marks a change in the 21st century as profound as the rise of the central state was in the 20th century. The founders would be surprised by all of this – but not entirely.’ Gary Gerstle on the podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

The LRB Podcast

Society & Culture Podcast · Updated weekly · The LRB Podcast brings you weekly conversations from Europe’s leading magazine of culture and ideas, hosted by Thomas Jones and Malin Hay, and featuring our fortnightly 'On Politics' podcast hosted by…

podcasts.apple.com

Weird thing is most testing will show you that one of the most vote losing positions Labour could adopt is explicit anti-Net Zero signalling. This is because climate still disproportionately matters to Lab/Green voters while Lab/Reform voters don’t care either way...

Arieh Kovler@ariehkovler.com · 3w ago

It's kind of weird how watering down Net Zero has become a political litmus test in Labour. Net Zero was in the last TORY manifesto!

I think a significant chunk of this is how addicted most MPs are to Twitter. If you wander around Westminster just casually you'll see a lot of compulsive scrolling. It's a crank magnifier!

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3w ago

Or much of a drop in public support. Fascinating example of elite consensus switching despite popular opinion.

Of course, being forced to appoint a less than congenial Chancellor to appease the factional balance of the Labour machine was exactly what happened to Miliband when he was leader, and didn't that work out brilliantly?

Of course, being forced to appoint a less than congenial Chancellor to appease the factional balance of the Labour machine was exactly what happened to Miliband when he was leader, and didn't that work out brilliantly?

I suspect the explanation is simpler: Starmer wanted the Hillsborough law for his legacy, and the whipping operation is all over the place which isn't ideal for complex electoral reform bills with many amendments.

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 3w ago

A theory doing the rounds in Westminster on why the Representation of the People Bill has been delayed: The fear is that Reform will try to 'capitalise' on Ann Widdecombe's murder by arguing there should be no cap on donations (i.e. they need millions for security). Difficult context for the debate

Would the Founding Fathers recognise the modern United States as the republic they declared in 1776? On the podcast, Gary Gerstle and @piercepenniless.bsky.social explore the changes in America’s political evolution, and in its ‘special relationship’ with the UK. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

The LRB Podcast

Society & Culture Podcast · Updated weekly · The LRB Podcast brings you weekly conversations from Europe’s leading magazine of culture and ideas, hosted by Thomas Jones and Malin Hay, and featuring our fortnightly 'On Politics' podcast hosted by…

podcasts.apple.com

I think for democratic politics to survive this century we will have to maintain a strong distinction between justice and revenge, and especially that the pursuit of justice cannot be reduced to the desire of political opponents to screw their enemies.

Athul K. Acharya@athul.acharya.cc · 3w ago

I really don’t think anyone has priced in how much appetite there is on our side for a politics of pure revenge, justice dispensed in wholesale rather than at retail

Can't tell how much my scepticism about the rumoured junking of Miliband as CX is a legitimate result of how little anyone seems to actually *know*, and how much is just hoping for a government that doesn't immediately fuck itself into oblivion. We are in peak briefing noise period, though.

Emily Wilson interview at FT contains this aside in Dante. It's true but too schematic. Dante is also compelled by Ulisse, whom he grants a tragic grandeur, & who functions as a significant mirror & self-admonition for Dante (who shares his wild ambition).

The whole routine is pretty amazing: they both drop into a split *while he's carrying her on his shoulders*. Queer excellence!

Ben Miller@benwritesthings.bsky.social · 4w ago

theeeeeeeeeee drag entrance - and if heaven exists bonnie and tandi are ki ki’ing rn