Alex von Tunzelmann
@alexvont.bsky.social
Historian, writer, broadcaster. She/her. Latest book, FALLEN IDOLS, shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2022. HISTORY’S SECRET HEROES and THE LUCAN OBSESSION on BBC Radio 4. One of the Silk Road Slippers https://www.silkroadslippers.com
Pinned
Alex von Tunzelmann
@alexvont.bsky.social
· Oct 28
Fifty years ago, a possibly mistaken murder and the disappearance of a playboy aristocrat gripped the nation. My documentary The Lucan Obsession starts this lunchtime at 1.45pm on BBC Radio 4. Or you can binge all 10 eps (they’re only 15 mins each) on BBC Sounds now. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
a real SICKOS YES day for all of us in the "all my apes gone" comedy club
February 5, 2026 at 8:14 PM
a real SICKOS YES day for all of us in the "all my apes gone" comedy club
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
Where my bitcoin go?
a close up of a raccoon playing with a piece of paper that says ellentube
ALT: a close up of a raccoon playing with a piece of paper that says ellentube
media.tenor.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Where my bitcoin go?
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
This might be the best painting I’ve ever seen
Had a couple of pints in The Harp on Chandos St last night, next to the James Mason With Cat In Lascaux Caves painting and was wondering if we ever got to the bottom of the story behind this masterpiece?
(I’ve got this home-made bootleg copy on my wall at home)
(I’ve got this home-made bootleg copy on my wall at home)
February 5, 2026 at 12:47 PM
This might be the best painting I’ve ever seen
This is his most special skill
Starmer finding that place in a Venn Diagram where he manages to annoy allies without defeating enemies
Keir Starmer attacks the racism of Reform and Matt Goodwin but then adds that "Britain has also been let down by a mindset on the left of politics that is too slow to defend core British values"
February 5, 2026 at 11:30 AM
This is his most special skill
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
Best McSweeney description I’ve read recently
He wants power in the way a puppy wants socks
February 5, 2026 at 9:19 AM
Best McSweeney description I’ve read recently
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
This quote from a Reform UK councillor sums it up beautifully. Cross-boundary moral outrages, exported online and sold (especially, but not exclusively) to generations that grew up before the internet, are such a central feature of radicalisation today. www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...
February 5, 2026 at 8:42 AM
This quote from a Reform UK councillor sums it up beautifully. Cross-boundary moral outrages, exported online and sold (especially, but not exclusively) to generations that grew up before the internet, are such a central feature of radicalisation today. www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
Peter Mandelbrot. It’s just infinite scandals the more you zoom in.
February 4, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Peter Mandelbrot. It’s just infinite scandals the more you zoom in.
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
haha holy shit
February 4, 2026 at 6:39 PM
haha holy shit
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
People keep saying Bezos wrecked the Post on purpose but he could have just done that if he wanted to, no need to drag it out for years. I think he and his fellow traveler billionaires have thoroughly cooked their worldview and honestly believe there is a vast, silent, ignored right wing audience
February 4, 2026 at 4:30 PM
People keep saying Bezos wrecked the Post on purpose but he could have just done that if he wanted to, no need to drag it out for years. I think he and his fellow traveler billionaires have thoroughly cooked their worldview and honestly believe there is a vast, silent, ignored right wing audience
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
A lot of people cannot just start a paid newsletter or become freelancers to sustain their careers. The sports, metro, and international desks did work that requires *team* resources, like legal checks, documents, access to archives, and long-term beat experience.
February 4, 2026 at 2:42 PM
A lot of people cannot just start a paid newsletter or become freelancers to sustain their careers. The sports, metro, and international desks did work that requires *team* resources, like legal checks, documents, access to archives, and long-term beat experience.
Looking like a marathon right now
Keir Starmer needs another 44 days to overtake Rishi Sunak’s stay as PM
February 4, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Looking like a marathon right now
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
I'd echo this. The mood in the last couple of hours has got *extremely* dark.
I have never seen anger like this on the Labour benches in private and in public. This is the kind of territory where things can move very fast.
February 4, 2026 at 2:11 PM
I'd echo this. The mood in the last couple of hours has got *extremely* dark.
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
Dan Kaszeta FRHistS
My own experience, which is not inconsiderable, allows me to put out Captain Dan's Tear Gas Laundry guidelines.
Specifically, this is for your street clothing that has been exposed to tear gas in smoke/aerosol/dust/particulate form.
A small thread 🧵
My own experience, which is not inconsiderable, allows me to put out Captain Dan's Tear Gas Laundry guidelines.
Specifically, this is for your street clothing that has been exposed to tear gas in smoke/aerosol/dust/particulate form.
A small thread 🧵
February 4, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Dan Kaszeta FRHistS
My own experience, which is not inconsiderable, allows me to put out Captain Dan's Tear Gas Laundry guidelines.
Specifically, this is for your street clothing that has been exposed to tear gas in smoke/aerosol/dust/particulate form.
A small thread 🧵
My own experience, which is not inconsiderable, allows me to put out Captain Dan's Tear Gas Laundry guidelines.
Specifically, this is for your street clothing that has been exposed to tear gas in smoke/aerosol/dust/particulate form.
A small thread 🧵
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
The layoffs at the Washington Post have begun, with newsroom leaders telling employees its sports and books sections will be 'eliminated in current forms' and its international coverage will be downsized
February 4, 2026 at 1:56 PM
The layoffs at the Washington Post have begun, with newsroom leaders telling employees its sports and books sections will be 'eliminated in current forms' and its international coverage will be downsized
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
just think about how incredibly out of bounds your sexual ethics must be to get the government of france sounding this prot-pilled
February 4, 2026 at 1:55 PM
just think about how incredibly out of bounds your sexual ethics must be to get the government of france sounding this prot-pilled
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
UK PM - We cannot disclose documents that will prejudice the affairs of another country
US DoJ - Wheeeeeeeeee!
US DoJ - Wheeeeeeeeee!
February 4, 2026 at 1:21 PM
UK PM - We cannot disclose documents that will prejudice the affairs of another country
US DoJ - Wheeeeeeeeee!
US DoJ - Wheeeeeeeeee!
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
So the Biblical case for border security is that the Bible says the opposite, but you have to understand that the Bible is written for individuals, like those on the radical left who want to welcome strangers and love our neighbors.
It's different if you're a government.
It's different if you're a government.
Speaking on behalf of a religion that actively sought to spread itself to every country in the world whether invited or not, Speaker Johnson would like to share with you the Biblical case for strong borders.
February 4, 2026 at 12:17 PM
So the Biblical case for border security is that the Bible says the opposite, but you have to understand that the Bible is written for individuals, like those on the radical left who want to welcome strangers and love our neighbors.
It's different if you're a government.
It's different if you're a government.
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
PMQs or, as it is now known, Peter Mandelson Questions.
February 4, 2026 at 12:13 PM
PMQs or, as it is now known, Peter Mandelson Questions.
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
Yes, it’s *exactly* the same failings of character that got him fired from government the first two times.
Comprehensively, too: his desire to schmooze the ultra-rich, his willingness to use his office to do that, and his indignant belief that it’s okay for him to do that.
Comprehensively, too: his desire to schmooze the ultra-rich, his willingness to use his office to do that, and his indignant belief that it’s okay for him to do that.
Wes Streeting saying on Today that Mandelson is ‘not the man we thought he was’ but the trouble is, he is exactly the man we thought, just on a much worse scale than almost anyone thought. And there is an alternative world where none of this is this govt’s problem, because they never gave him a job
February 4, 2026 at 9:45 AM
Yes, it’s *exactly* the same failings of character that got him fired from government the first two times.
Comprehensively, too: his desire to schmooze the ultra-rich, his willingness to use his office to do that, and his indignant belief that it’s okay for him to do that.
Comprehensively, too: his desire to schmooze the ultra-rich, his willingness to use his office to do that, and his indignant belief that it’s okay for him to do that.
Just saw this fascinating thread, which is both Gothic and profoundly heartwarming 🖤
A few days ago, I stood in the graveyard of an 1100 year old church, getting damper and damper in the drizzling rain.
A woman walked into the graveyard, waved, said hello, and, as we had previously arranged, handed me a paper bag full of human bones.
The life of a churchwarden is a strange one...
A woman walked into the graveyard, waved, said hello, and, as we had previously arranged, handed me a paper bag full of human bones.
The life of a churchwarden is a strange one...
February 4, 2026 at 11:11 AM
Just saw this fascinating thread, which is both Gothic and profoundly heartwarming 🖤
Reposted by Alex von Tunzelmann
It's a finely balanced decision. On the one hand, you have the architect of a strategy that is not working, who could not do this job in opposition *the first time*, and buy the PM breathing space. On the other, moving it would involve admitting that some of the PM's old legal buddies were right.
Is the extraordinary Mandelson scandal the final nail in the coffin that is McSweeney’s time in No10? Labour MPs tells our Tom the PLP “direction of travel” is towards Starmer’s CoS having to go. Even some PM loyalists think Starmer may have to remove his close ally to shore up his own position.
The growing Mandelson scandal has resulted in renewed pressure on the position of Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who was instrumental in the decision to bring him into government, reports PolHome's Tom Scotson
February 4, 2026 at 11:03 AM
It's a finely balanced decision. On the one hand, you have the architect of a strategy that is not working, who could not do this job in opposition *the first time*, and buy the PM breathing space. On the other, moving it would involve admitting that some of the PM's old legal buddies were right.