Ben Mitchell

True. Except when we play the Aussies and I want to stuff them at all costs. Rarely happens of course.

When Test cricket is this good, the result doesn’t bother me Spice, drama and joy of fans in England v India series shows how Tests provide so much aside from glory of victory that the result is of secondary importance

I love this piece:

www.thetimes.com/sport/cricke...

Good thread. Martin's excellent post on crime well worth a read, despite the snooty objections from the smug liberal brigade on here.

Your post on crime was excellent. And the sanctimonious idiots who dismissed it were talking out of their arse(s).

2-2 a fair result. One of the all time great Test series.

As I always say, (with very few exceptions) we rarely look back upon a great ODI match. Certainly not a great T20 match. Only Tests serve up this level of intrigue, intensity, excitement and anxiety. There's nothing like it.

I think this has been the best series Eng have been involved in since the 2005 Ashes. Never known one so closely fought, with so many ebbs and flows. And, tbh, I wouldn't begrudge India winning today. 3-1 Eng wouldn't reflect the quality of the sides. Still want an Eng win!

Incredible that this is all the same article. How utterly pathetic

The Times' unhinged, self-interested and desperate round the clock coverage of this issue was a big factor in me unsubscribing almost a year ago. There still remains some excellent writers and columnists but I loathe what Gallagher has done to it.

Think of how much time we waste WhatsApping friends. I'd much rather just spend an afternoon in the pub with them. And I don't have kids so have lots more free time. But then again, people with kids (sorry!) are obviously less available. Or less willing to pay for a babysitter, in my experience.

Pubs of course also need to play their part. So many are very generic and serve same type of fare. Streaming also playing a big part. I bet fewer people go to the pub to watch football. The cost of everything clearly a key factor but I think being around others not a priority anymore for lots.

Smartphones. I blame them for pretty much everything. Made people lazy and in a lot cases quite dull. The crazy thing is that socialising is great and you realise that the more you do it. Country pubs are lovely. The ones I've been to recently are often packed on a Sun. And yes, it's got expensive.

Mama, There’s a Plagiarist Behind You On being plagiarised and the disconcerting pollution and decay of the online world

thenoosphere.substack.com/p/mama-there...

Starts off about plagiarism but it's mostly about the bombardment of online shit and what it's doing to us. And it's only going to get worse with AI. I'm already sick to death of hearing about bloody AI.

What cars did to your city, AI will do to your brain Once again, I rage against the dying of the light. Also this week: some maps to show that England is not concreting the countryside; and the longest conveyor belt in the world.

This is a great piece by @jonnelledge.bsky.social: jonn.substack.com/p/what-cars-...

I'm one of those who subscribes to Britain being 'fairly' rather than completely broken. Certainly feels like the social contract is fracturing rapidly. This is however a very very good piece.

He transformed London's buses. Made them reliable, frequent and affordable. Then again, he had the luxury of being mayor during the boom years. Khan is a wishy-washy mayor who specialises in virtue signalling over substance. Very much a "progressive" politician of our times.

He's a shit mayor. But the criticism levelled at him rarely focuses on policy failures. Johnson was probably a better mayor. And Livingstone easily the best (pre-Hitler phase).

How about "The Leftovers?"

Did anyone - apart from the entirety of the right-wing media, that is - ever believe that these millionaire migration reports would stand up to the slightest scrutiny? Perhaps that is why they weren't scrutinised...

Good piece that. The trend for partisan pundits and "personalities" makes for shit TV. And bland, safe, too scared to criticise analysis. I reckon I'm in a minority though.

archive.ph/2025.07.26-2...

Sandie Peggie tribunal shows how easily injustice takes root When the case over the nurse’s confrontation with the trans doctor Beth Upton ends the focus should be on NHS bosses who acquiesced to the distortion of truth

'When the tribunal ends next week, the focus should be on NHS Fife and those who conducted this witch-hunt, a medical organisation where basic biology is deliberately misunderstood and the only things being doctored are the evidence and the truth.'
www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

Allowing a man to undress in a women's changing room is equality is it?

YouTube video by Laufey Laufey - Lover Girl (Official Lyric Video with Chords)

youtu.be/O3HyqQamn-o?...

That singer, Laufey, what an absolutely beautiful voice. Only just discovered her thanks to her latest single "Lover Girl" which is fabulous. Thought it was an old song.

Look out for the mafia with rainbow lanyards Diversity officers have terrorised workplaces, but their reign may be ending

Excellent piece from Hadley Freeman.

And that quote from Martin Luther King perfectly sums up the idiocy and idiots of Wokeism.

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...