Mark Braund
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markbraund.substack.com
Mark Braund
@markbraund.substack.com
480 followers 780 following 1K posts
Politics, Economics, Culture, Music & Wine (DipWSET, no less) Writer of fiction: https://bloomsbury.substack.com and non-fiction: https://markbraund.substack.com https://winestories.substack.com/ https://theguardian.com/profile/markbraund
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Reposted by Mark Braund
Another excellent communicator for the Greens. Brava, @rachelmillward.bsky.social
Here's a clip from when I spoke to the Northern Rose at Green Party Conference about how I got involved in politics and how the Greens aim to address inequality.
Paint it Black, bloody autocorrect. And they played the whole set dressed as Fontaines DC. Not sure if I've ever heard so much noise at the end of a gig.
So, after playing essentially the same set all tour, at the last show tonight at Brixton Academy, Black Country, New Road open with Highway to Hell and also drop in a cover of Painted Black.

Both done superbly.

What a supremely talented group of musicians.

#bcnr
So, after playing essentially the same set all tour, at the last show tonight at Brixton Academy, Black Country, New Road open with Highway to Hell and also drop in a cover of Painted Black.

Both done superbly.

What a supremely talented group of musicians.

#bcnr
Obviously I haven't watched Question Time for years, as it's about as useful to political discourse in Britain, as an episode of Strictly.

But Matthew Goodwin, for god's sake. In 1940, decent people were asking why people like him weren't interned in 1933.
So why does the BBC label the academic and economist Faiza Shaheen an "activist" but refuse to do the same for the former academic, turned anti-migrant activist Matt Goodwin?
John Maynard Keynes will be spinning in his grave at what this government, and the previous one, have allowed to happen with the Arts Council.

slippedisc.com/2025/10/arts...
Arts Council England is falling apart - Slippedisc
Today’s apology from a flailing organisation, no longer...
slippedisc.com
As of this evening I've seen Black Country, New Road play live more times than any band other than Peter Hammill/Van der Graff Generator.

Which I guess makes them my second favourite band of all time.

Their set tonight at Brighton Dome was sensational.

Brixton Academy tomorrow night!

#bcnr #vdgg
Reposted by Mark Braund
It was also shocking driving on the Oxford ring road and seeing the flags festooned on lampposts, which the council hasn’t dared remove

The other day my cat wee’d on the sofa a friend was sitting on (he’s got bad habits!)

The flag and my cat, both sending the same message:

My territory! F**k off!
Been back to my childhood village in Essex for a funeral.

High Street is littered with tatty flags attached to every lamp post and telegraph pole, and by God, it looks awful.

Everyone I spoke to hates them. So intimidating. Apparently- "Epping Forest council is scared of offending the nasties."
Reposted by Mark Braund
Mounting a resolute defence against the far right on immigration is necessary but not sufficient. We need aggressively pro-immigration voices - like this - in UK politics. Actively welcoming migrants is morally right and better for everyone. Make that case and put the bigots on the defensive.
The end of free movement of people with the European Union has been a “disaster” for the UK that should be urgently reversed, new Green Party leader Zack Polanski told POLITICO — in his first major intervention on EU policy.
Ending EU free movement a ‘disaster’ for Britain, says Green Party’s Zack Polanski
The party’s new leader calls for the migration pact to be reinstated as he sets out his stall on Brexit.
www.politico.eu
Reposted by Mark Braund
Your daily reminder that the government continues to commercially support an individual who wants to destroy it through fascist violence.
Elon musk: ‘Civil war in Britain is inevitable. Just a question of when.’
If it was a choice between the likes of Trump, Farage and Le Pen or putting the military in charge I'd go for the military.

People who understand how the world works and can see what's likely to happen going forward.

Just the kind of visionary politics we need.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Renewable energy investment should come from defence budgets, say retired military leaders
Former European officers say spending on low-carbon power would make nations more resilient to threats from potential aggressors
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Mark Braund
If Labour cannot denounce mass deportation of permanent residents, Idi Amin style, what is the point of them?
The US is over.
Can you imagine if Keir Starmer got private companies that he had direct power over and rich donors who wanted deregulation to pay £250 million in donations to knock down part of Big Ben to make his own little special tower? Because that's what Trump is doing to the White House literally right now.
Political culture and media culture.
What we need to do now is to ask what it is about our political culture that caused us to get so important a decision so wrong.
This in FT this morning 👇
If it makes you feel any better, I was in the loo at the RFH on that night in 2005, when VDGG started playing In The Black Room. Never forgiven myself.
I won't drink beer at gigs now, for precisely this reason. I find whisky does just as well, especially when listening to PH. Agree re: A Way Out, the highlight both in Manchester and London.