I appreciate the sentiment but taken literally this would make parenting, especially of pre-school kids, an absolute nightmare IMO

they turned “sitting in the basement while your friend’s cool older brother holds court” into an entertainment format right down to finding yourself nodding along to whatever he says because you want to seem cool too

There is probably a tidal analogy available too and your preferred aquatic metaphor may vary. The point being that Labour’s GE success had more to do with the unpopularity of the Tories than big love for Starmer/Lab.

There would be some irony to Burnham becoming PM riding a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment a couple of years after Starmer did the same. Politics increasingly dominated by what we are against rather than what we are for.

Pedersen, assuming he’s brought his form from the Tour of Denmark last week.

You mean *yet is* somehow the correct plural form

Great article, thank you for writing. Perhaps my favourite ever from you. Honourable mention to extravagant and creative swearing, one male-coded activity you are very good at.

The only true metric to judge a work laptop is: "how many tabs can I keep open in my browser before the fans start sounding like an helicopter?" 🙃

I had assumed your first post was about Gill until I read this.

a society where "bad immigrants" are demonised is a society where no immigrant can truly feel welcome, because aren't we all just one wrong turn or accident away from being unemployed? on disability benefits? unable to care for our children without state help? just no such thing as a safe immigrant

I scrolled through this thread hoping to find somebody who had written this and now I feel just a little bit less alone on this Earth. Thank you, Kraken!

Modern Europe is shaped by two things: two world wars and (for nearly half of EU member states) Soviet occupation. That inheritance translates into more than merely wanting a peaceful life.