Nothing from the Covid inquiry is surprising. Shocking, maybe. But everybody knew it was a joke shitshow government at the time, because it was the Boris Johnson government, and only joke shitshow politicians would serve in it. I wrote this in April 2020, when Covid first hit. I don't think any government could have done Covid well. But so much of the dysfunction of the last few years comes down to the basic lie of Brexit: this fiction that there were competent, cautious, responsible, credible people on both sides. There simply weren't. Virtually...

There's such an enormous disparity of feeling about what this chant means. You'd think that this, at least, would be resolvable. But I'm struck by the number of quote tweets here that seem to think Simon's interpretation is melodramatic or paranoid...

https://twitter.com/simon_schama/status/1718305247007736197

To be clear, many - possibly most -Jews understand this as calling for the eradication of Israel. You might not. They do. Further, they think that the eradication of Israel would lead to widespread slaughter, as per October 7th. Again, you might not. Again, they do. Finally...

I'm not an economist, and I tend not to write on economics for fear of missing the obvious and sounding a moron. (No, doesn't stop me in other fields, etc.) But help me out, because this has been bothering me for a few months.  (1/?) Central banks put up interest rates to drive down inflation. That's the orthodoxy. Inflation = too much money chasing too few goods. Understood.

The blue tick fuss is almost too perfect. It's not trivial. It's an exact illustration of populist political trends over the past decade or so. Basically, it's a resentful revolt against a real elite. That's not a value judgement. Old blue ticks were elitist. Of course they were. That was literally the point.

All the Braverman photos show her visiting the building site of Kigali's Bwiza Riverside Estate, as if it were being built specifically to our house asylum seekers.... It isn't. It was being built anyway. It's just a Kigali housing project. And they wouldn't get to live there anyway until after they'd opted to stay and become resident. So the whole thing is just her going "THIS IS WHAT A HOUSE LOOKS LIKE." Super.

With you on imminently @TimesRadio from 10am-1pm. First up, I’ll be discussing whether Jeremy Hunt should have dropped an E and the ethics of killing giraffes with @rialina_ and @salihughes, as we look back on the news of the week. And then... @TimesRadio @rialina_ @salihughes From 11...
@cazjwheeler on politics
@DinaNayeri on her book Who Gets Believed, about asylum seekers
@CarolMidgley on telly (Wild Isles, Endeavour, Paula, Ted Lasso)...

With you on @timesradio from 10am tomorrow, kicking off with Emily Hill and @eshaanakbar on a week of news about vomit, fights, windfall taxes, bad teeth and goldfish. AND THEREAFTER... @cazjwheeler on politics
@AnthonyHorowitz, author of the Alex Rider novels, on his new James Bond
John Waters, writer and director of Hairspray, on his new novel, Liarmouth
AND...

Morning all. With you @timesradio tomorrow from 10am -1pm. First up, I’ll be attempting to safely land the dangerously unpiloted light aircraft of news with @marcusbrig and @lib_thinks. @TimesRadio @marcusbrig @lib_thinks Thereafter, I’ve got...
11.05 - @cazjwheeler on politics
11.15 - @MillyAbraham on her anthology about the future of LGBTQ+ Rights
11.35 - Hattie Crissel on telly, inc Mother Theresa Documentary, The Essex Serpent, Fergal Keane’s investigation into PTSD and The Games
THEN

Morning all. I’ll be on @timesradio from 10am - 1pm, kicking off with @lauralexx and @MatthewParris3, rampaging around topics from local elections, who Lorraine is, interest rates, Nazis, abortion, and Prince William doing big fish little fish cardboard box.... From 11, I’ve got @cazjwheeler on politics, Peter Mcverry on Northern Ireland and
@IanCLucas on Digital Gangsters and social media breaking democracy...

Morning all. I’ll be on @timesradio from 10-1 as per, kicking off with @RMCunliffe and @susie_mccabe to talk porn, legs, maths, war, etc... @TimesRadio @RMCunliffe @susie_mccabe After 11, @cazjwheeler will blitz the politics. Then I’ll be speaking to the great John Simm (!) about the new series of Grace. More telly after 11.30 with @BenDowell, looking at Ten Percent, Navalny, Peacock and Noughts + Crosses...

Morning gang. Back in the saddle today on @timesradio from 10-1, kicking off with @andrewismaxwell and @johnboothman1 to look back on the week. Apparently there’s some story about Downing Street parties, so we’ll probably have to talk about that for a change. AND THEREAFTER... @TimesRadio @andrewismaxwell @JohnBoothman1 After 11, I’ll talk politics with @cazjwheeler, before @BillBrowder tells me about dirty Russian money and being Putin's most wanted, off the back of his new book Freezing Order...

On my @timesradio show tomorrow I’ll be speaking to Andrey Kurkov (@AKurkov), author of many novels including the brilliant Death and the Penguin, who is an outspoken critic of Putin and in Ukraine... ... and I’ll be catching up with our diplomatic correspondent Catherine Philp (@scribblercat) in Kiev. Added to that, I’ve got...

Morning all. With you from 10am on @timesradio, kicking off with @dalisochaponda and @MatthewParris3 to look back at QUITE A LONG WEEK. From 11, I’ve got @cazjwheeler on politics and Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman of @parenthesis_in on Metaphysical Animals, the fascinating story of a women-led philosophy boom during WW2...

It’s Holocaust Memorial Day. This year, I’m thinking of a woman called Sulamita Szapiro. Here she is as a student. We weren’t related and I don’t even know much about her, but I’m pretty sure that remembering her still falls to me. This is a thread about why. Sulamita was born in Warsaw. Her father was a teacher, and she went on to be one, too. I think she was also a writer, maybe a journalist or a poet. I think this because somebody with her name wrote for Nasz Przegląd, aPolish-Jewish newspaper. I think it was her, but who knows?

Morning gang. I’ll be back on @TimesRadio from 10am, kicking off with @whippletom and @GeoffNorcott on matters including meltdown in Downing Street, the end of Plan B, Bono hating U2 and the acceptable RRP of a shed. From 11, I’ll do the weekly politics catchup with @cazjwheeler and speak to Ian Hart about The Responder, next week’s hit (I predict) BBC drama.