Kate Phillips
@andanotherkate.bsky.social
Look what your god has done to me
Reposted by Kate Phillips
To reiterate, this is about making life immeasurably more miserable and stressful for some of the most vulnerable people, in the almost certainly vain hope of winning over the votes of racists.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Asylum in UK to be made temporary under Home Secretary’s plans
Shabana Mahmood will lay out reforms modelled on the Danish system on Monday.
www.independent.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 9:14 AM
To reiterate, this is about making life immeasurably more miserable and stressful for some of the most vulnerable people, in the almost certainly vain hope of winning over the votes of racists.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Thanks to Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall, PETER HUJAR’S DAY is more interesting than you’d think a film comprised solely of one person telling another about what they did the day before in great detail would be…but only slightly more interesting. Even at 76 minutes, it struggled to hold my attention.
November 15, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Thanks to Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall, PETER HUJAR’S DAY is more interesting than you’d think a film comprised solely of one person telling another about what they did the day before in great detail would be…but only slightly more interesting. Even at 76 minutes, it struggled to hold my attention.
To my surprise - after hearing nothing but praise - Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep is my first DNF of the year. After 138 pages I found picking it up again an uninviting and uninvolving prospect; the characters just weren’t speaking to me. A shame, but we go again!
November 14, 2025 at 7:40 PM
To my surprise - after hearing nothing but praise - Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep is my first DNF of the year. After 138 pages I found picking it up again an uninviting and uninvolving prospect; the characters just weren’t speaking to me. A shame, but we go again!
I hate how the awfulness of everything is making me look back on the 90s Tories whom I despised and think - briefly - that they weren’t that bad. They were that bad! It’s just that everything else keeps getting even worse.
November 14, 2025 at 11:19 AM
I hate how the awfulness of everything is making me look back on the 90s Tories whom I despised and think - briefly - that they weren’t that bad. They were that bad! It’s just that everything else keeps getting even worse.
Emerald Fennell’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS looks like the most tin-eared adaptation of a book since Baz Luhrmann concluded The Great Gatsby was all about the fun. And yet there is no way I’m not watching it.
November 14, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Emerald Fennell’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS looks like the most tin-eared adaptation of a book since Baz Luhrmann concluded The Great Gatsby was all about the fun. And yet there is no way I’m not watching it.
Jason was the hottest, the most ethical (a low bar) and most useless member of Take That. All of these things can be true at the same time. And he may have been essentially ornamental, but they were never the same without him.
November 13, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Jason was the hottest, the most ethical (a low bar) and most useless member of Take That. All of these things can be true at the same time. And he may have been essentially ornamental, but they were never the same without him.
After Ayrton Senna, Amy Winehouse and Diego Maradonna, Asif Kapadia has now trained his keen documentarian’s eye on…Kenny Dalglish. I worry that this trend will end with him directing a ruminative overview of the life of Brendan O’Carroll.
November 12, 2025 at 2:56 PM
After Ayrton Senna, Amy Winehouse and Diego Maradonna, Asif Kapadia has now trained his keen documentarian’s eye on…Kenny Dalglish. I worry that this trend will end with him directing a ruminative overview of the life of Brendan O’Carroll.
If ludicrous Trumped up culture wars are allowed to change the fundamental structure and remit of the BBC, we will never ever get it back. No-one denies it has flaws but to throw the baby out with the bathwater would be to destroy one of the few things of which the UK can actually be proud.
Is anyone else also internally screaming about this BBC nonsense? I feel like someone's pumping hallucinogenic gas into my house. Nothing makes sense
November 11, 2025 at 2:14 PM
If ludicrous Trumped up culture wars are allowed to change the fundamental structure and remit of the BBC, we will never ever get it back. No-one denies it has flaws but to throw the baby out with the bathwater would be to destroy one of the few things of which the UK can actually be proud.
Utterly charmed by SABRINA but, for all its wonderful script and direction (and lovely clothes), both Humphrey Bogart and William Holden feel rather miscast. Swap in Cary Grant and, say, Jeffrey Hunter and you’re off to the races.
November 10, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Utterly charmed by SABRINA but, for all its wonderful script and direction (and lovely clothes), both Humphrey Bogart and William Holden feel rather miscast. Swap in Cary Grant and, say, Jeffrey Hunter and you’re off to the races.
I can’t say I’m a fan of Moby’s new direction.
November 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
I can’t say I’m a fan of Moby’s new direction.
Reposted by Kate Phillips
What you’re witnessing is a populist assault on the BBC.
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
November 10, 2025 at 10:52 AM
What you’re witnessing is a populist assault on the BBC.
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
This is an actual dream come true. Would it be excessive to go to all five shows? (No.) And is Chris Lowe devastatingly attractive? (Yes.) If you need me before April, I’ll be busy making fantasy set-lists (which will run to about ten hours each).
November 10, 2025 at 11:03 AM
This is an actual dream come true. Would it be excessive to go to all five shows? (No.) And is Chris Lowe devastatingly attractive? (Yes.) If you need me before April, I’ll be busy making fantasy set-lists (which will run to about ten hours each).
This is possibly the best book I’ve read this year (and it’s been a good year). It reminds me a little of The Dud Avocado, as a sprightly and witty narration fails to disguise a profound sadness. As a portrait of the Jazz Age, it deserves to be mentioned with - if not quite alongside - Gatsby.
November 9, 2025 at 10:16 PM
This is possibly the best book I’ve read this year (and it’s been a good year). It reminds me a little of The Dud Avocado, as a sprightly and witty narration fails to disguise a profound sadness. As a portrait of the Jazz Age, it deserves to be mentioned with - if not quite alongside - Gatsby.
SPLITSVILLE is more com than rom -
its gavotte of remarriage is emotionally negligible - but fortunately it’s absolutely hilarious throughout with some wonderful setpieces, witty performances and the funniest onscreen fight since Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
its gavotte of remarriage is emotionally negligible - but fortunately it’s absolutely hilarious throughout with some wonderful setpieces, witty performances and the funniest onscreen fight since Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
November 9, 2025 at 12:26 PM
SPLITSVILLE is more com than rom -
its gavotte of remarriage is emotionally negligible - but fortunately it’s absolutely hilarious throughout with some wonderful setpieces, witty performances and the funniest onscreen fight since Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
its gavotte of remarriage is emotionally negligible - but fortunately it’s absolutely hilarious throughout with some wonderful setpieces, witty performances and the funniest onscreen fight since Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
Very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this; I really didn’t get on with Detransition, Baby - in truth, I loathed it - but started flicking through this in the library and ended up racing through it in a sitting. Vivid and new and transporting. I’ll actively anticipate her next book.
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this; I really didn’t get on with Detransition, Baby - in truth, I loathed it - but started flicking through this in the library and ended up racing through it in a sitting. Vivid and new and transporting. I’ll actively anticipate her next book.
Two thumbs up for THE MASTERMIND. It has all of Kelly Reichardt’s usual austerity and economy of style, but throws in an ink-blank plot and a trenchant wit. Josh O’Connor is slyly brilliant throughout.
November 8, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Two thumbs up for THE MASTERMIND. It has all of Kelly Reichardt’s usual austerity and economy of style, but throws in an ink-blank plot and a trenchant wit. Josh O’Connor is slyly brilliant throughout.
My crush on Nick Mohammed, which had been growing exponentially in recent weeks, has been abruptly and catastrophically ended. (It has now transferred to Phil Ellis.)
November 7, 2025 at 12:09 AM
My crush on Nick Mohammed, which had been growing exponentially in recent weeks, has been abruptly and catastrophically ended. (It has now transferred to Phil Ellis.)
THE LIFE OF CHUCK is my first Mike Flanagan film, since I don’t do horror, and I suspect not the best showcase for his talent. It’s very well made - elegantly directed and smartly cast - but it ultimately feels rather like a feature length version of Inside No. 9.
November 6, 2025 at 7:52 PM
THE LIFE OF CHUCK is my first Mike Flanagan film, since I don’t do horror, and I suspect not the best showcase for his talent. It’s very well made - elegantly directed and smartly cast - but it ultimately feels rather like a feature length version of Inside No. 9.
No-one likes 90s revisionism more than me, and Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are both extremely attractive, but THE MUMMY is simply not a good film, and it never was. And all of its sequels and spin-offs are even worse. (While I’m being a grinch, HOOK is also awful. You were just young!)
November 4, 2025 at 9:44 PM
No-one likes 90s revisionism more than me, and Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are both extremely attractive, but THE MUMMY is simply not a good film, and it never was. And all of its sequels and spin-offs are even worse. (While I’m being a grinch, HOOK is also awful. You were just young!)
These targeted ads are cutting a little close to the bone.
![A targeted ad from the Hollywood Reporter website showing a coffin and asking ‘Vad kostar en begravning i Sverige 2025?’ [What does a funeral cost in Sweden in 2025?]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7oc3y2oc567ogc276x4ccck7/bafkreicgv3b2ynmckyxz4rjknaeyxs44yzahg3zpo5sdwyfw5owzt74yvq@jpeg)
November 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
These targeted ads are cutting a little close to the bone.
SAIPAN is fine, even if it never quite settles into a stylistic or tonal groove. It did make me think about how - for such a brilliantly talented performer, and his sparkling television career - Steve Coogan’s film career always feels a bit disappointing.
November 4, 2025 at 6:00 PM
SAIPAN is fine, even if it never quite settles into a stylistic or tonal groove. It did make me think about how - for such a brilliantly talented performer, and his sparkling television career - Steve Coogan’s film career always feels a bit disappointing.
Reposted by Kate Phillips
Cannot be said often enough that the political figure who inaugurated our age of lawlessness, arbitrary power and authoritarianism was not Donald Trump but Dick Cheney
November 4, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Cannot be said often enough that the political figure who inaugurated our age of lawlessness, arbitrary power and authoritarianism was not Donald Trump but Dick Cheney
A new Norwegian film hitting Swedish cinemas this week. It looks blazingly original!
November 4, 2025 at 9:55 AM
A new Norwegian film hitting Swedish cinemas this week. It looks blazingly original!
Reposted by Kate Phillips
This is why I think people shouldn't campaign for "PR", but for specific PR systems. STV, my own favoured PR system, lets voters rank candidates so takes power away from party leadership and gives it to voters. Closed-list PR systems do the opposite.
Not sure many people have clocked just how big a deal Wales' new voting system is.
It's a 'pure' PR, closed party list - which means no one will be able to pick candidates. Except party HQs. It's a grim fudge few wanted
Caerphilly will have been the last ever Senedd by-election too, if it sticks.
It's a 'pure' PR, closed party list - which means no one will be able to pick candidates. Except party HQs. It's a grim fudge few wanted
Caerphilly will have been the last ever Senedd by-election too, if it sticks.
Closed Lists were a misstep, cross-party STV bill would put the Senedd back on track
Wales stands at an important crossroads in its democratic journey. ERS Cymru has developed a proposal to change the way we elect members of the Senedd, replacing the planned closed-list
electoral-reform.org.uk
November 1, 2025 at 5:54 PM
This is why I think people shouldn't campaign for "PR", but for specific PR systems. STV, my own favoured PR system, lets voters rank candidates so takes power away from party leadership and gives it to voters. Closed-list PR systems do the opposite.
I thought that A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE was badly hampered by its structural choices, although I liked its focus on the inevitably human reactions all the way along the chain. My strongest reaction to it, though, is despair at the thought of the malignant, narcissistic monsters currently in it for real.
November 1, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I thought that A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE was badly hampered by its structural choices, although I liked its focus on the inevitably human reactions all the way along the chain. My strongest reaction to it, though, is despair at the thought of the malignant, narcissistic monsters currently in it for real.