David Marriott

I enjoyed your substack about this and had my fingers crossed. As you say, such utter cowardice. Ugh.

Glad to hear that. You tweet wonderfully. Such aperçus. I enjoyed your Mann podcast. Reckon you’ll make a cracking novelist. Hope to see you published soon.

You've disappeared from X - or at least I get the message '@zhuphilia no longer exists.' I hope you're ok?

Right; and there was something in the spoken version that heightened the humour - I felt Conrad was drawing attention to how preposterous British 'stiff upper lip' culture is - the emotional repression (even dishonesty) - the social codes etc. Ah, now I have a mood to read Under Western Eyes again.

I just read Klara and the Sun a week ago. It's really stayed with me. Just wonderful, wonderful. And what an emotional punch! Oof.

Conrad is one of my favourites. I re-read him every few years. But for a change last year I listened to Lord Jim (audiobook). It occurred to me the novel is not (as I had always felt when reading it) a romance/tragedy/drama but in fact a comedy/satire.

I can see I have a lot more reading to do. And I shall do it.

I shall think on it some more. Sodha writes, “none of this takes away from trans people’s existing rights, and are scaremongering and infantilising trans people as victims” and at present I feel she supports that contention fairly well. But as stated I remain wholly open to changing my mind.

Yeah, see, this is my problem. My baseline is, “listen to what women say,” and I know you to be a careful thinker. So now I am stuck again. Hum.

Trans is a complex issue and I remain open to persuasion. But this column feels about right to me.

Trans is a complex issue and I struggle to reach settled conclusions about it. But I’ve felt that women’s spaces should be for women, and opening those spaces to trans men is continuing the tradition of society/men telling women what to do, how to be. Your perspective feels right to me. Thank you.

This was district judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, per The Guardian

Gives me the same frisson of fear as the end of A.G.P/Nantucket - 'But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow.'

You are not alone. I think of you most days and hope you are pulling through.

Well you say it's not Trek but I see a great big MORN down the side so I say it's DS9. (...and wasn't The Expanse fab?)

Thank you, Niall. I enjoyed that. Content aside, the gag about ‘military mettle’ made me smile. And I was delighted to see the adjective ‘adamantine’ correctly deployed – so many writers use the noun, adamant, and it riles up my inner pedant a treat.

Cab franc. A bit of dithering over maybe petit verdot. But cab franc, I think. I mean, beyond the obvious answer, Bdx.

I just ordered it, tks for the recco 👍

I lost my job. USDA Forest Service. My probation was up next week. I did everything right. I took a GS-7 role with a master’s degree just to get my foot in the door. I spent years doing seasonal fieldwork for low pay, working in remote places, gaining experience, and building skills, just for a chance at a permanent position. I was about to be a GS-9. I wrote NEPA reports. I conducted field surveys. I worked fire support. I dedicated myself to this work because I believed in it. Public lands don’t manage themselves. The wildlife, watersheds, and forests we protect don’t just stay protected without people on the ground making it happen. My coworkers and I took on that responsibility, often in places most people never think about but that matter more than they know. And now? Just like that, I’m out. Edit: I’ve consistently supported progressive policies and have voted Democrat in every national and local election since I was 18. I do appreciate folks asking, I have some coworker having a serious 'leopards ate my face' moment right now.

This comment on r/fednews really stood out to me. Trump and Musk want people to think they're firing do-nothing "bureaucrats," but they're really getting rid of people dedicated to serving this country and keeping it operational. I hope these stories get told.

The precise moment my support for Keir Starmer began to crumble Labour is going to prevent refugees from ever becoming citizens of Britain

Writing this with a heavy heart: the refugee citizenship ban is the single most unconscionable policy Labour has proposed since it entered power. It’s the moment that I felt my support for this administration begin to crumble inews.co.uk/opinion/colu...

Ah, some good news - how lovely - 😀

Returning soon to Trump's America.

Photo of a scene from The Rig, with subtitles showing reading "Myself and the company worked hard to obscure that fact"

NO NO NO NO NO STOP NORMALISING THIS!
Scriptwriters and editors; I expect better.

Ooooh myself. Yes. Absolutely. Grrr.

That's splendid. I too would like to share it with my students - hope that's ok with you.

we won't ever say it loud enough: billionaires are an existential threat

Ooh that's interesting, thank you. Then I shall continue to explore Mencía.

Six cardboard boxes of wine stacked on top of each other, with a single bottle on top. This is a picture of wine I had delivered to my home to make the point that I like wine.

From your posts I guess you’re in Spain - so much great wine, right? I’ve looked out for bottles of the Mencía grape ever since tasting that Lalama, but my standard go-to is a rather lovely PV from Finca Antigua (La Mancha) at just €7, which as you can see from pic…. I like a lot

A wine I too have enjoyed! Isn't it lovely? Gosh, so many bottles of wine in the world and quite often you mention ones I've enjoyed. This could be mere coincidence... or just that every wine in the world will eventually be tried by Kate.

From the British satirical comic, Viz....