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to viable alternatives. Housing migrants in surplus MOD sites, which are state-owned, standing empty and bring economies of scale, makes perfect sense. The snowflakes of Piddington embody just the sort of entitlement that the Burnham government must resist. Shame on them. I hope it stands firm. 6/6

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isn't Red Wall ethno-nationalism. It's something even worse: hand-wringing, "we're not racist but", selfish middle-class NIMBYISM. Many object, with some good reason, to the urban blight of migrants being housed in HMOs & town-centre hotels. But they cannot keep on manufacturing objections... 5/6

Piddington. Like many small villages it's a dormitory nowadays, having lost its school, pub & railway station. Locals peddle hysteria about rape & pillage, but they must know that any offences committed by migrants housed at MOD Bicester wd see their applications automatically refused. This... 4/6

season' story. In fact, this supposedly kind community has seen residents subjected to online abuse for daring to question the wisdom of an independence referendum. Locals flatter themselves into believing that asylum seekers housed several 100s of metres away wd have any interest in entering... 3/6

border is really outer commuter belt, with good links to London & Oxford via the M40 & Chiltern Railways. Homes in Piddington cost £750k on average. It's the sort of v prosperous place that voted Remain in 2016 & now has a Lib Dem MP. The media has reported it as a Passport to Pimlico, 'silly... 2/6

I know this part of Oxfordshire well, & spent yrs living in a village much like #Piddington, albeit 45 miles away. This is NOT a left-behind provincial community with legitimate economic grievances, vented on migrants. It isn't even Middle England. The Oxon/Bucks 1/6 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans

Piddington residents vote over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby.

Conservatives who are in some cases unhappy abt having a female AoC at all. There shd have been much more due diligence on Ashrafi, & the optics of his award. This gaffe has damaged Mullally's reputation & arguably set inter-faith dialogue by decades. Who on earth is in charge at Lambeth Palace? 2/2

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When I first saw this photo, of Mulllally alongside Ashrafi & 2 veiled women, I thought it must be doctored. Is it appropriate for the AoC to give awards to Muslim clerics? Of course. But the CofE must know that any such decision would be scrutinised minutely by.... 1/2 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Archbishop withdraws award from Muslim cleric who praised Bin Laden

The award was handed out last week, on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

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for years. It's middle of the road, inside the beltway journalism that regards politics as a game. If anything, Politico's been too fawning to Trump. It's owned by the Conservative Axel Springer, which in the UK has just taken over that notoriously left-wing outlet, the Telegraph Media Group. 2/2

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Tne madness continues. Even if it was appropriate for POTUS to ban media outlets he doesn't like from the White House (which it isn't), classifying Politico as a “threat to national security" & "spreading falsehoods” is absurd. I've subscribed to Politico's... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

DoJ defends Trump ban on CNN, Politico and MS Now, citing security concerns

The news organizations, which sued the US president, are claiming the ban violates the first amendment

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Excruciating valedictory message from Helen Ghosh. As the first-ever woman Master of Balliol College, Oxford, she cd have achieved so much. But by all accounts she soon alienated fellows, students, and alumni, who she seemed to regard as cash cows. Good riddance. www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/news/2026/ju...

balliol.ox.ac.uk

Balliol staff bid farewell to Dame Helen Ghosh

Balliol staff gathered in the Hall on 11 June to bid a warm farewell to Dame Helen Ghosh as she prepares to step down from her role as Master at the end of June

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

RIP Bonnie Greer. Most people will recall her as a public intellectual, not a playwright. In the 90s, 2000s & 2010s she appeared regularly on Question Time, Newsnight Review etc, when media appearances by black women (as opposed to men like Darcus Howe) were rare. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

Bonnie Greer, writer and cultural commentator, dies aged 77

The British-American novelist and playwright who regularly appeared on current affairs shows will be remembered for her ‘warmth, humour and generosity’, says her husband

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This is the 1st time in 26 YEARS that RBG has made an external appointment as chief exec. Since Mary Ney's arrival in 2000, both her sucessors were internal promotions. Appointing Hyatt, who's worked for Hackney & GLA but never (shock horror) for Greenwich, is a big step for such an insular council.

royalgreenwich.gov.uk

Royal Borough of Greenwich set to appoint new Chief Executive | Royal Borough of Greenwich

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

...more relaxed abt abbreviation. I like the name Alexander, but being addressed as such to my face makes me think I am about to be chastised or arrested; it just doesn't feel right. So it must be particularly annoying for both Armstrongs, who are I suspect constantly mistaken for one another. 3/3

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It can be tough being an Alex or Alexander, especially if you have a well-known namesake. Oddly, most of us either always call ourselves Alex (and hate being called Alexander), or vice versa. We're much less flexible than men called Peter/Pete, Joseph/Joe, Matthew/Matt etc, who are generally... 2/3

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I pity Alexander Armstrong, the innocuous Classic FM and Pointless presenter, who must often be confused with Alex Armstrong (no relation), the GB News presenter whose show is currently being investigated by Ofcom over homophobic remarks made by a guest. 1/3 www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...

Ofcom investigates GB News over guest’s pride and paedophilia remarks

Regulator acts after 12,000 complaints over comments by Caroline Farrow linking parades with bestiality and paedophilia

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

This is the hard part for Labour. How to control a ballooning SEND budget, distinguish between pushy parents and the genuinely deserving, ensure equity and improve educational outcomes. The answer cannot, and must not, be throwing more money at the problem. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Pupils with Send plans in England likely to double to one in 10 in rush for support

Schools and councils express financial concerns as EHCP applications surge before potential change in provision

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The right to protest is not absolute. I believe that protestors should remove face coverings when asked by police, and face arrest if they do not comply. Why did this not happen at this protest, which caused chaos at Britain's busiest ferry port? www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8znyz…

Disruption at Port of Dover due to 'stop the boats' protest

The government says it condemns "the behaviour in Dover" and the hours-long disruption it caused.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

A lot of wishful thinking & confirmation bias in the mainstream commentariat today. Yes, a unity non-Binface Martin Bell-style candidate MIGHT have won. But we shall never know. An increased vote share & increase in votes give Farage a spring in his step, whatever outcome of standards investigation.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

When wildfires hit the Suffolk coast & New Forest, there's wall to wall coverage. But when homes are destroyed in the West Mids, there is much less. The Midlands barely register on the national media's radar, even tho they include the UK's 2nd-largest conurbation. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Four taken to hospital and homes damaged in West Midlands fires

Grassfire covering about 16 hectares near golf course in Stourbridge was one of several large blazes in region

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

One of the great mysteries of British education is why A level results in the East Midlands (a region that is far from being the most deprived) are consistently the worst in the UK, or among the worst. Any suggestions as to why? schoolsweek.co.uk/a-level-resu...

schoolsweek.co.uk

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Many obits are saccharine affairs, glossing over the nasty bits. What is striking about the eulogies to Rod Liddle is that even those from his soulmates at the Spectator make him seem like an even nastier piece of work than we already thought he was. spectator.com/article/debt...

spectator.com

My debt to Rod Liddle

My father and I would often read his columns aloud to each other and laugh ourselves into fits. That was Rod’s sublime talent

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

However monstrous and selfish this crime was, 20 years seems excessive. Robert Bush is, AFAIK, not a physical danger to the public. If the UK is serious about sorting out its chaotic prison system it has to move on from head-line grabbing, exemplary sentences like this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6...

Ex-funeral director sentenced to 20 years after failing to bury and cremate dozens of people

Mr Justice Hilliard said Robert Bush had behaved "dishonestly" for many years, and his actions affected "so many people and so deeply".

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There's nothing new about exploiting a captive audience on public transport. I was once subjected to an evangelical, hellfire diatribe on a bus in Woolwich about 15 years ago.

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Cleese's descent from 60s iconoclast, to 70s Sitcom royalty, to 80s Centrism (he endorsed the SDP!) to end up as a grumpy old reactionary is one of the saddest developments in modern British culture. I am so glad that my Dad (same age) has embarked on a political journey in the opposite direction.

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senior shadow minister from a close ally, in the Channel that separates the two countries, is patently ludicrous. Philp's insistence that it does deserve airtime and scrutiny, and his synthetic outrage, says much about the Trumpification of the Tories under Badenoch. Desprate stuff. 2/2

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This is fast becoming one of those silly season stories that seems to belong in a Thick of It script, and which would never be given much airtime outside the late July/August holiday season. The idea that the French coastguard would fire warning shots at a... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Tories’ Philp rejects French claim that shots fired from naval boat near him were training exercise – UK politics live

Shadow minister says there was no warning and ‘it looked and sounded like deliberate intimidation’

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The World is full of "whistleblowers" touting bombshell leaked reports, often not as explosive as billed. This one merely makes a technical point that energy from renewables cam be tricky to measure or predict. Sorry to see the Times use it to cast doubt on net zero. www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

thetimes.com

Secret report that exposed the fragility of our electricity system

After Britain’s grid started behaving strangely during the heatwave in June, whistleblowers reveal risks of the green transformation

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

A very London-centric #Stirlingprize shortlist this year: 2 of the 6 entrants are in London, 2 in Cambridge, 1 in Essex & 1 in Hertfordshire. Not a good look for a UK-wide architecture prize. No shortlisted buildings in Wales, Northern Ireland, the north or Midlands. www.dezeen.com/2026/07/16/r...

dezeen.com

RIBA unveils Stirling Prize 2026 shortlist

RIBA has announced the shortlist for this year's Stirling Prize, which includes Renzo Piano Building Workshop's Paddington Square.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Isn't that the point? The law says that you need a license to watch ANYTHING on iPlayer, but evasion is growing and enforcement is lax. A simple broadcasting levy, added to council tax bills (so hard to evade, & progressive as it wd rise with banding) wd generate admin savings & be fairer all round.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

It's finally over. AfAiK Brittin is the first DG to admit that the BBC's license fee is finished. Time for Burnham to come up with the obvious solution: a broadcasting levy collected via council tax. It's one of those UK policy conundrums that has an easy solution. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Licence fee is 'yesterday's model', says new BBC director general Matt Brittin

Matt Brittin gives his views on the corporation's future, six weeks after taking over the BBC.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

A road upgrade in Derby & a widened bypass around Newark may seem like easy things to shelve for the defence plan. But the East Mids are crucial both economically and politically. An early test for Burnham will be whether he reverses these cuts, or repents at leisure. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Halted road schemes: Is the East Midlands being neglected again?

The government plans to halt major schemes in Derby and Nottinghamshire to send more cash to defence.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

This "modern interpretation of a traditional City banqueting house", proposed in place of a Edwardian bldg on Fenchurch St, is awful. I hope the City Corp refuses it, though given its recent decisions on Fleet St & Liverpool St Stn I'm not optimistic. www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/rshp-un...

architectsjournal.co.uk

RSHP's demolition plans for Edwardian City block under fire

RSHP’s plans to flatten a 116-year-old City of London block to refurbish its Lloyd’s Register of Shipping building and create an events space at its entrance have been slammed by The Victorian Society

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Douglas Carswell's victory in the same seat in 2014. But back then Carswell (who faced no controversy over his donors) was defecting to UKIP, so the need for a by-election was easier to explain. This time Farage may find it a lot harder to present himself as an "anti-establishment" candidate. 2/2

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

An iron law of UK politics is that voters don't like unnecessary by-elections. This is a high-stakes gamble by #Farage. In 2024 he got 46% of the vote in Clacton, and his majority was 8,400 - large but not impregnable. He will try to pull off a repeat of... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Farage says he is resigning but will stand in ‘people v establishment’ byelection – UK politics live

Reform UK leader to stand again, saying people of Clacton ‘should be the judges of my actions’ and party will cover byelection cost

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A charitable obit of a brewery boss notorious for closing pubs & firing landlords on the most trivial grounds. #HumphreySmith refused to offer his land for a temp bridge in Tadcaster, cutting the town in 2. A "controversial & divisive figure with many quirks"? Not half. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Sam Smith's brewery boss Humphrey Smith dies aged 81

Humphrey Smith had been at the helm of the Tadcaster brewer since the 1980s.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I am not sure any PM since the early 2000s has really had good emotional intelligence - Boris's bonhomie was of course utterly bogus. Gordon Brown, as the son of the manse, had compassion and empathy, but was hopeless at communicating, and entirely robotic when meeting people.

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Blair had good emotional intelligence, to begin with. As did Callaghan (who was always charming to everyone, I am reliably told), and even Thatcher (who was v kind to junior staff). And I think Major had it (witness the impact his pilgrimage back to his childhood home in Brixton had). 1/2

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I agree, but Starmer's problem is that his govt was never very competent (just look at the fiasco of not vetting Mandelson properly). Compassion? It never seemed actively malign (despite cuts to international aid), but its warm words about Ukraine were never matched by a clear domestic agenda.

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

The reason why #Starmer has gone now, rather than straight after local elections in May, is because Labour's results in London were a bit better than feared. Burnham's emphatic victory in Makerfield made the scale of Labour's problems beyond the M25 impossible to ignore. alexgrant.me/2026/06/22/w...

alexgrant.me

Why has Starmer gone? Four reasons why Starmer has accepted the inevitable – and why he didn’t do so sooner

1 It’s the geography, stupid: the nation simply no longer wants a London lawyer at the helm. Labour has never had a Leader from the north of England since Harold Wilson stepped down as prime minist…

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Much like Theresa May, the very 1st time #Starmer showed any genuine emotion in his premiership was at the very end of his resignation speech. There are many reasons for Starmer's demise, but is it trite to say that his lack of emotional intelligence was a large one? www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

thetimes.com

Keir Starmer resigns as prime minister and Labour Party leader — follow live

Keir Starmer announces resignation. Live updates as the PM announces resignation timetable and Andy Burnham is sworn in as Labour MP for Makerfield