Max Davie

Thank you for the lovely book!

The Talon duology by @sennydreadful.bsky.social is completely great and you, yes you, should read it.

But maybe get it from a library? Let me explain...

open.substack.com/pub/playandw...

YouTube video by RosaliaVEVO ROSALÍA - Berghain (Live at The BRIT Awards 2026) ft. Björk

Pop music is just mad at the moment, in the best possible way.

This is from the BRITS for god's sake.

youtu.be/7fyufPkXLbs?...

This one's a little sleepy

Don't know why but that is the most pleasing thing I've read today. Mazeltov

If Reform had won, Labour's statement would be that this result is a stark reminder we need to listen and learn from voters who rightly feel betrayed by modern politics.

But the Greens won by a comfortable margin, so it's: these voters are stupid and also sinister and, ugh, Muslims

Sorry to hear..
'It's not my preferred feeling' is the most British way to describe emotions I've ever heard though

The Green fairytale of the past has similarities to the Reform fairytale, differing mainly on who took this Arcadia away from you.
Still, Goodwin lost

Waaay ahead of you, Keir

This is so stupid and I laughed like a drain

Ooh, fun!

the "just asking questions" to "legitimate questions about fairness in sports" to "the state doesn't have to consider us as real people" pipeline working exactly as designed.

Mumsnet can do one.
This is incredibly irresponsible messaging from an organisation with zero scientific credentials.
They are, ironically, one of the most paternalistic, reactionary organisations in British politics

I Caught POLITICO and the New York Times Laundering Pink Slime "News" How the sexist backlash to AOC and Gretchen Whitmer at the Munich Security Conference led me to a scammy "local news" outlet pushing a coordinated right-wing narrative

nice exploration of how right wing propaganda and "pink slime" newspapers (fake local papers built by right wing propagandists to lie to locals) propped up the whole AOC "um" non news cycle

Slightly tangential to what Stephen is responding to here but also feel referring to this as an isolated cultures misses out on how things like games stretch back through our entire history and have effected our language, our culture and more.

A good read on this is The Game Changers by Tim Clare

Superb guide to the govt's SEND plans. Without Special Needs jungle, the conversation would be sorely lacking. Must-read!

Regulate platforms, not children – Commissioner urges caution over social media bans - Commissioner for Human Rights - www.coe.int Strasbourg 23 February 2026

Several European countries are considering social media bans for children. We must regulate platforms, not children.
I urge caution:
✅ Focus on "safety by design"
✅ Demand algorithmic transparency
✅ Enforce the #DSA & #HumanRights standards

Read my Shout Out👇
www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

Peace incorporated The unassuming and frankly unattractive Concordia is a geeky joy.

But my question is- what do the two (three?) of you think about rethemes? Are they a valid way to present something to a new audience or a cash-grab/ example of excess production?
Interested in your thoughts
(my post: open.substack.com/pub/playandw...)

Very much enjoyed this, especially the bits when you wound Ava up with your ironic alpha-male discursions.
Anyway, I had a question.
I've been writing about Concordia, and how much better it is than it looks. It strikes me as a game ripe for retheming (I would go for a gold rush)...

Peace incorporated The unassuming and frankly unattractive Concordia is a geeky joy.

New Substack post! The geeky, most un-Imperial joy of Concordia.
I love this game. But it 1000% needs a retheme.
open.substack.com/pub/playandw...

Pausing puberty blockers trial seems political, not scien... The trial was launched after 2024 Cass review which found that further research into the effects of the drugs on teens was needed

As someone not shy about saying when Hilary Cass is wrong, it's only fair to point out when she's right.
For all its shortcomings, the pathways trial is the only way forward from the current log-jam around youth gender medicine. share.google/LEVxzR9s6jvj...

It's a tune though. Huge in my house among the toddlers-as-were

Yeah, that does cause a problem at times. The only other example I've come across lately is in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell where the footnote reader is on the one hand very good, but on the other, Neil Gaiman.

I'm with you, although I don't hate it when they have another person for the footnotes. Like for the Discworld books.

Yeah, reckon you might be right. I'm about to review Concordia (because I'm down with the kids) and didn't realise it was 2013 as well!
Maybe it's to do with it being a fairly new medium, like video games? A 13 year old video game could be an old classic, quite easily?

Maybe we're just old then

Is it in part because Caverna looks older than it is? Its design aesthetic harks back to agricola etc... maybe that's why it feels older?

I think in effect you're right- to be fair to Cass she first suggested this research publicly in March 2022, and the blame for the delay can't all be laid at her feet

Strong agree about denial of treatment.
If Cass had taken a different position, say calling for more research but not denying treatment outside of research protocol, then yes the ban wouldn't follow.
But she did, and she has never a spoken in opposition to the ban

Thanks