David James

The reality is that Bluesky is boring and X has more to offer in terms of a range of ideas.

England’s schools are not becoming more racist The new Government document prosaically named “Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England” hardly sounds like a riveting read. And yet it is the most up-to-date document telling us what is really...

New, by me, in UnHerd: unherd.com/newsroom/eng...

Labour's end-of-year school report is dire Labour has learnt nothing from the lessons it should have been taught

New by me in The Spectator www.spectator.co.uk/article/labo...

Opinion | Britain’s Prime Minister Is Fading Away

Britain’s Prime Minister Is Fading Away www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...

The conditions that have led to what’s happening in the US today exist in democracies around the world.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.

Surprise extra £4.5bn for schools as Reeves goes to wire ... More money for SEND reforms and teachers’ pay while health and defence are big winners in spending review

observer.co.uk/news/politic...

A fine bromance | David James | The Critic Magazine Perhaps because of their astonishing level of success, we have long since lost any real perspective on The Beatles.

I reviewed Ian Leslie's new book on Lennon & McCartney for The Critic magazine and you can read it here: thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2...

Against literary Anglophobia | David James | The Critic Magazine Changing My Mind reveals Barnes to be anything but a moderate. He proves that being a woke extremist is not confined to Gen Z…

New, by me, in The Critic, on the political extremism of a reasonable man: thecritic.co.uk/Against-lite...

Cutting down GCSEs will coddle children Yesterday’s publication of the interim report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review gives the strongest sense yet of what schools will be told to teach under this Labour government. Perhaps the most...

New by me in @unherd.com on the likely reforms in the Curriculum Review: unherd.com/newsroom/cut...

The slow death of Wales | David James | The Critic Magazine If the United Kingdom is in terminal decline, then it seems to be dying from the edges inwards. Northern Ireland, with its sclerotic government and inexorable demographic shift from Protestant to…

New by me in The Critic thecritic.co.uk/the-slow-dea...

Have you actually read beyond the headline?

Educashun, Educashun, Educashun | David James | The Critic Magazine As we begin 2025 it is hard to be anything other than pessimistic about what lies in store for schools under this Labour government. The Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson…

New, by me, in The Critic, on the forthcoming curriculum review: thecritic.co.uk/educashun-ed...

Labour accused of misleading public over private school tax Billions raised from VAT raid will not be ringfenced for state school funding, despite Rachel Reeves’s claims

If they lied about this surely all remaining credibility will have gone: www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/la...

I do like the Courtauld but these are rather silly categories

Venus very visible above Westminster tonight.

You could ask the same question about Yesterday, or The Ballad of John and Yoko...the list is quite long.

Perhaps it's the other way round.

Kingston-Upon-Thames has some of the ugliest and stupidest street 'art'

Today's article in @thetimes.com on the research we're doing into perfectionism in girls

High-achieving girls learn that sometimes good is better than perfect Expert says pupils need to step back and be proud of their real-world achievements, flaws and imperfections and learn that social media gloss is an illusion

An article on the research we're doing at LEH on perfectionism in girls, led by @chloecombi.bsky.social and written by @nicolawoolcock.bsky.social High-achieving girls learn that sometimes good is better than perfect

www.thetimes.com/article/8967...

There are some things I don't understand. Putting woolly hats on things is one of them.

@sonia-sodha.bsky.social a stupid question perhaps: but why is there no coverage in the Observer of the proposed sale to Tortoise and also the forthcoming strike?

Bargain.

This is nonsensical. David Cameron means it shortens dying. Words matter, or they should do.

How are humanists involved in interfaith week?

I hope the weather doesn't put the farmers off.

The left hate those who were once in their tribe but who have now moved right. I thought journalists were supposed to be pro-freedom of speech.

Social media exodus may make us all calmer Since Twitter became X, a trend has grown for sharing online space with people we might admire rather than loathe

@j-amesmarriott.bsky.social has written a very good piece on the fragmentation of social media. I suppose in the short term people with two accounts will post in both, but will soon tire of this additional effort, and go down to one, or none: www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Bluesky is t that much different Twitter: just a few years behind.