Matthew Lee
matthewinlondon.bsky.social
Matthew Lee
@matthewinlondon.bsky.social
Slow Journalist at Delayed Gratification
Much needed – a campaign for better paternity leave in the UK dadshift.org.uk
The Dad Shift
It's time the UK had a paternity leave policy fit for the 21st century. Join the campaign now.
dadshift.org.uk
June 11, 2025 at 12:21 PM
As a person – and possibly the only person – who supports both Leeds United and Barnet FC, yesterday was the greatest day in the history of sport. Promotion to the Premier League and near-as-dammit promotion to the Football League all in one marvellous afternoon. #LUFC #BarnetFC
April 22, 2025 at 8:05 AM
The personnel may have changed, but it's the same clown show that booked Four Seasons Total Landscaping. The only surprise is that the Signal group messages weren't full of macho posturing and racism
March 25, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Matthew Lee
The contrast between a society that realises democracy is at stake and one that doesn’t.
Scenes from #Ankara on day 4 of the #Turkey protests. Thousands have gone on the streets again today despite the ban on demonstrations and harsh crackdowns.
March 22, 2025 at 9:09 PM
There's an excellent report on the latest goings-on and fallings-out at Tower Hamlets council by @samgelder.bsky.social for London Spy. The collapse of local media has left us pretty much in the dark during the government’s inspection so thankful for Sam doing this work
March 20, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Matthew Lee
“These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable case I know of democratic backsliding," says Steven Levitsky. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/w...
Trump’s Judicial Defiance Is New to the Autocrat Playbook, Experts Say (Gift Article)
The president’s escalating conflict with federal courts goes beyond what has happened in countries like Hungary and Turkey, where leaders spent years remaking the judiciary.
www.nytimes.com
March 20, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Enjoying this Teen Vogue interview with Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter
March 20, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"We need to take back control of the word “journalism” and leave 'content creation' to others."
How the press was demonised – and why it matters.

📟 Alison Phillips on the fall of the mainstream media
The fall of the mainstream media
How the press was demonised – and why it matters.
www.newstatesman.com
March 20, 2025 at 9:35 AM
So here for the dosa coverage at @vittles.bsky.social – a proper treat to get a newsletter about London's best Indian crepes today. I've been busy exploring the east London chaat scene – without doubt the best way to spend £3 or less in the city
March 14, 2025 at 10:54 AM
This was a good listen, and particularly resonant because it happened at my secondary school, a couple of years before I joined. Was taught by some of the teachers mentioned; not at all surprised that a 14-year-old victim of sexual abuse would have been considered 'lucky' back then
It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on Tortoise Media's Lucky Boy, which tells the disturbing story of a schoolboy's relationship with a 27-year-old female teacher. It took him until adulthood to understand that what happened was abuse. www.ft.com/content/dfd4...
Lucky Boy podcast review — a life derailed by a teacher-schoolboy relationship
New series investigates alleged sexual misconduct by a female teacher in the 1980s
www.ft.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Worth taking the time to reread this NYT story on Rodrigo Duterte's brutal 'war on drugs' from 2016 – and feel glad he's now in the Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, even if his arrest is more about the Marcos-Duterte family feud than the rule of law www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
‘They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals’ (Published 2016)
Inside President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal antidrug campaign in the Philippines, our photojournalist documented 57 homicide victims over 35 days.
www.nytimes.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Jim Ghedi and his band were so good at Moth Club last night. His new album, Wasteland, is perhaps my favourite of 2025 to date – big, bold, dark and ambitious folk-rock, with lyrics worth paying attention to jimghedi.bandcamp.com/album/wastel...
Wasteland, by Jim Ghedi
10 track album
jimghedi.bandcamp.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Seen many James Graham plays but The Punch at Young Vic might be the best of the punch. Fantastic acting and incredibly moving www.youngvic.org/whats-on/punch
Punch
www.youngvic.org
March 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I've managed to not mention politics on social media for three years because it's not good for my health. But right now I can't hold it in.

Fuck Trump. Fuck Vance. They are the worst of humanity and bring shame to America.

Solidarity with Ukraine.
February 28, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Brilliant news. Probably my favourite podcast, though Jonathan Goldstein's CBC show WireTap comes close www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/b...
‘Heavyweight,’ an Acclaimed Narrative Podcast, Returns
Pushkin Industries, the podcast company that will release the show, is betting that documentary-style audio programs can still win an audience.
www.nytimes.com
February 26, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Sad news about Bill Fay. There's a moment in Mia Hansen-Love's One Fine Morning when Fay's Love Will Remain comes on and it's just perfect pitchfork.com/news/bill-fa...
Bill Fay, Cult British Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 81
Having released two albums in the early 1970s, Fay experienced a late-in-life career revival after being rediscovered by musicians including Jim O’Rourke and Jeff Tweedy
pitchfork.com
February 24, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Matthew Lee
The Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem was raided today, and its owners, Mahmoud and Ahmed Mona, were arrested.
The bookstore is one of the premier Palestinian cultural institutions of East Jerusalem; Mahmoud Mona is among the most inspiring figures in the city.
via @nirhasson.bsky.social
February 9, 2025 at 9:39 PM
I went to Southport three months after the awful events of July to write about the community response and the possibility of healing www.slow-journalism.com/long-reads/p...
Picking up the pieces
In the last photo taken of Alice da Silva Aguiar, shared by her family on the day of her funeral, she is standing next to a life-sized cardboard cut-o
www.slow-journalism.com
January 30, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Seeing Mainliner, with Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple, in a tiny Osaka basement club owned by a guitarist from the Boredoms, was a very worthwhile Japanoise pilgrimage (though my ears are still ringing, despite the earplugs)
January 13, 2025 at 2:18 PM
A tough read but remarkable reporting.
As a henchman in the Philippines, Edgar Matobato says he killed again and again for former President Rodrigo Duterte. Now he’s trying to stay alive to testify, with the hope that recounting his crimes will lead Duterte to prison. nyti.ms/3W9E5JM
January 5, 2025 at 8:23 PM
The only end-of-year list that really matters is finally here. It's my unsolicited, massively self-indulgent, tremendous waste-of-time top 60 albums of the year list
January 5, 2025 at 8:14 PM
It's my X anniversary! I joined 15 years ago today. I celebrated the big day by deactivating my account.
January 4, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Matthew Lee
Use discount code BLUESKY5 to get £5 off a gift subscription to Delayed Gratification. If you have friends or family who find the relentless news cycle exhausting and disheartening, our reflective quarterly review will make the ideal gift www.slow-journalism.com/subscribe
December 12, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Matthew Lee
I hope everyone will watch this video from Syria. Extraordinary, terrifying and hopeful moments.

It's a reminder of why we fight.

www.cnn.com/2024/12/11/w...
‘My God there is light’: CNN witnesses moment Syrian prisoner is freed from Assad’s forced detention | CNN
While searching a secretive prison in the belly of the Assad regime’s legacy of torture for American journalist Austin Tice, CNN’s Clarissa Ward made a startling discovery when a rebel fighter uncover...
www.cnn.com
December 12, 2024 at 1:24 AM