Joel Budd

Sunday music puzzler: what is the best pop song title? I do not mean what is the cleverest song title. Rather, if you add together unrelated songs with the same title, what gives you the best music? "Sway" for example is a Rolling Stones song, a Spiritualized song and a Michael Bublé song.

Their excuses are feeble and dishonest, but also cheering, because they show that people who know they are going to be named in an article will try to distance themselves from the “far right” (by which they mean racist, or extreme right).

Widening participation in higher education, Academic year 2023/24 Annual statistics on young people's participation in higher education, including their background characteristics.

Broken London latest. As has been true for several years, the share of London teenagers eligible for free school meals (because of family poverty) who go to university is higher than the share of all English teenagers who go to university.
explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statist...

Energy in Britain has gotten scarce—and thus expensive.

Prices are high in absolute terms, and further above the European average than any point in at least 40 years (barring the 22/23 shock).

What's behind this, and is it crimping growth? I took a look for @economist.com. (🧵)

They’re good at opera too

The mystery of London’s Himalayan parakeets: myths v truth The birds’ striking plumage is a common sight across the capital. We may have solved the question of how they got here — and it has nothing to do with Jimi Hendrix

Excellent use of a newspaper archive here. And particularly enjoyable because of all the crotchety comments from Times readers, who do not like graphics in their news stories.

www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

A lot of historical resentment about how Conservative politicians talked about Labour's pre-financial-crisis economic policies echoes in that phrase.

Great post. Another possible reason why people (especially journalists) often forecast an awful upheaval is that doing so and being proved wrong is much less embarrassing than predicting peace and being wrong. I predicted civil unrest in Britain in 2023, i.e. I was one year out. Nobody teased me.

‘No shops, no schools’: homes in England built without basic amenities Thousands of properties going up without access to playgrounds, community infrastructure and even doctors

One possible reason Milton Keynes has managed to expand is that it does things the other way round. Schools and clinics first, then houses.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The fact that a discussion about Hertfordshire has somehow turned into a discussion of Herefordshire is a superb indicator of Hertfordshire’s problem.

Prediction: one of you is from Hartlepool. Or at least you feel so superior to the rest of Teesside that you have cut it in half. Interesting that Hertfordshire is a problem in your map, as it also is in the actual ONS regions. Hertfordshire is just a problem, in my experience.

MoD hid Afghan leak intelligence from MPs MPs and peers ‘had a legal right’ to see the reports behind the superinjunction that prevented scrutiny of the data breach and the government’s response

A nice little project for a politics undergraduate is to quantify in what circumstances “taxpayers’ money” is being spent on something. I don’t think Britain often spends taxpayers’ money on the NHS or defence. We do seem to be spending it on Afghan refugees.

www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

The pic is a revelation. He's more serious, more commanding, sexier.

Grand Canyon Lodge and Multiple Other Structures Are Destroyed by Wildfires

It’s not the Glasgow School of Art (which we are renovating, right?) but this is a shame. As well as having one of America’s best views, the dining room was one of America’s nuttiest architectural spectacles. Sort of a western Gothic.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/u...

“Sinner winner” has specific connotations for middle-aged and old Londoners

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england...

elsewhere in Europe, moving in that direction is the best hope for making Britain less appealing. Almost certainly better than all the “tough” laws and measures that home secretaries love to boast about.

Not sure about the “oh that won’t work” response to the UK / France plan on asylum-seeker returns. Many details to be worked out, many legal and other obstacles to be overcome, etc. But it moves Britain closer to a Dublin-type arrangement. Since many UK asylum seekers seem to have already applied…

I would happily pay double the licence fee if the BBC promised to stop reporting on itself

I briefly wondered whether some super complex political strategy was afoot here.

British bats are a conservation success story They have few friends, but powerful lawyers

On the success of bats in Britain
www.economist.com/britain/2025...

My absolute favourite US sports metaphor is appropriate here. "You think you're invincible, but in reality you were just three for three. Now you're three for four."

Also this would make us feel appealingly Scandinavian

Britain is already a hot country. It should act like it A land of long holidays, cool homes and tree-lined streets awaits

Britain is hot. Accept it. Buy the aircon. Build the hotels. Take August off. Plant some trees. Put up the awning. www.economist.com/britain/2025...

He is a legend for some folk

Against extremely strong competition, this is the most annoying kind of social-media post.

This is good. It is often said that politicians and civil servants do not understand or know how to deal with migrants who are seen as undesirable, e.g. asylum-seekers. That is true. But they also don't understand or know how to deal with potential migrants who are seen as highly desirable.

Gen Z acquires taste for drinking as cost of living pressures ease Survey shows drop in abstinence among young adults as drinks industry battles perception of structural decline

Not the FT's fault (it is IWSR's fault) but it would be more helpful to know how alcohol consumption has changed among, say, 18-24 year olds than among "Gen Z".
www.ft.com/content/1ae5...

Is there really a religious revival in England? Why I’m sceptical of a new report In Anglican and Catholic churches, average weekly attendance is down about 20% from pre-pandemic levels.

Enjoyed More or Less this a.m. scrutinising church attendance trends in the light of the recent Bible Society report

@stephenkb.bsky.social was sceptical at the time!

Especially David Voas' expert input. I had early sight of his recent Conversation piece: theconversation.com/is-there-rea...

My clean, elegant, not at all crazy solution to the problem presented by portable air conditioners and British hinged PVC windows. Off to the patent office now.

Really interesting blog post that looks at individual-level responses to changes in the local population. Also helps to explain why parts of suburban east London are so odd.