Sam Leith

Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…

I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!

This is what is happening. It is cynical. It is strategic. It is organised. It is well funded.

And we need to pay attention.

The far right - and their cheerleaders, mimics, tribute acts, and handmaidens have identified two presentational frameworks that give them cut-through and traction. 1/7

IKR? If only he’d stuck to writing headlines

(Which reminds me: best thing Boris Johnson ever did was headlining a feature on Philip Larkin “Onan the Librarian”.)

You are a disgrace to your profession, Roberts, and I am entirely here for it

lol

Excellent and learned thread from George here

❤️

Ooh! Congratulations!

YouTube video by LionsgateFilmsUK H Is For Hawk - Official Trailer

HERE IT IS!!!!!

Little Atoms 975 - Joanna Pocock's Greyhound | Little Atoms

On the latest Little Atoms podcast, @joannapocock.bsky.social on her wonderful new book Greyhound. Out now from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or here:

shows.acast.com/b5fe8d16-751...

Did you happen to leave your @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk purchases on the Metropolitan line yesterday?

Did one of your friends do this and send an anguished message to the group chat?

If so, Darren has just done you a very good turn. 👇

Red Trump-style graphic with images of Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo. At the top it says, "I'm going to pick [Cuomo]." - Donald Trump, 60 Minutes Interview, 11-2-25 Then beneath it TRUMP ENDORSES CUOMO

Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo!

I know how hard you worked for this.

Welcome to the age of the troll Father Mark Rowles, a Catholic priest in Cardiff, admitted to taking on the persona of 'skinheadlad1488' in neo-Nazi chatrooms

Wrote about how the troll dynamic has come to trump ideology, with a hat tip to @jamesrball.com

Graphic with the Carnegies logo and text reading: 2026 Nominations Announced. #Carnegies2026 carnegies.co.uk

The 2026 Carnegies nominations are live! 🎉 Join us in celebrating the exceptional storytelling and illustration recognised this year. 🏆 Get ready for an inspiring awards season! Congrats to all nominees! 📖❤️

https://carnegies.co.uk/nominations-announced-2026

#Carnegies2026

Paging @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social

Ngl I preferred it when they were made with 100 per cent potatoes

Anyway, my actual serious thought through take is that "these beings are inherently evil" in fantasy is problematic first and foremost depending on how close they get to resembling actual sapient beings. Otherwise that's just a demon and I'm sorry but it was not racism that invented demons.

Very honoured to have you say that. Thank you.

Luke Kemp: The History and Future of Societal Collapse Podcastaflevering · The Book Club · 15-10-2025 · 49 min.

Very good and relevant episode of the Spectator Book Club by the outstanding Sam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social.

Why do civilized societies collapse?

podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/l...

Opinion | Why Even Basic A.I. Use Is So Bad for Students

I love to see stuff like this because it helps explain to people trapped in tech-sponsored information bubbles the actually obvious fact that universities teach people to know & think things, and AI is a way to produce the effect of knowing & thinking things w/o actually knowing & thinking them.

That’s the way of these things I believe

Oh good

I am that late-middle-aged Spectator reader I imagined belonging to a wholly different demographic 😔

Wondered about commissioning a review of Evan Dando’s memoir and thought, our demographic is mostly over fifty, they’re not going to know who he is, then, uh…

JD Vance claims that diversity weakens unions, as people end up distrusting each other and not organizing.

Let me tell you two menswear stories related to this claim. 🧵

The sheer effort of laying out everything wrong w/ this argument *&* the fact that it's meaningless to even do so unless & until the full force of the law is levied at these people who are themselves the literal enforcement arm of the law is further evidence that we are all dead & this is superhell.

Lol I just asked Grok whether Grokipedia is more neutral than Wikipedia and even it can't lie about this

These idiots are even failing at nerd