iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I moved to the UK solely because of a love of layering. Sorry mortgage, wife, British children and established career. I must now move on in search of more northern climates.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I’ve just finished this by M. John Harrison. I’ve never read him before. Where have I been. Brilliant. And his sentences. This one is seared into my brain for life.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Just reading a review of something and they used "nourishing" in it. It's a perfectly innocent word but every time I see it used it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I bought a mechanical keyboard at the start of the year. It has a totally silly volume dial on it but there’s something oddly satisfying about spinning the volume up and down.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I saw Dolly Parton play the Sunday slot at glasto while in a total state from the night before. I was crying when she said this one goes out to all your mammas. She was amazing.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Just finished reading this chunky beast. One of those novels you really have to live with and not just because of its sheer size.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The new Four Tet album is VERY hard to search for.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

All hail the Ventnor Book Bus. An annual book pop-up on a 1930s Parisian bus. Bagged all of these editions for a total of £20.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Listened to @luketurner.bsky.social and @jahduran.bsky.social discuss the ploughman's lunch on their latest Low Culture podcast. Can't recall the last time I was so captivated by talk of British food. The splash of serendipity is well-worth the subscription price. thequietus.com/subscriber-a...

thequietus.com

Low Culture Podcast: The Ploughman's Lunch | The Quietus

Back in the stressful early days of The Quietus John and Luke would often cheer themselves up by heading to the shops to purchase the constituent parts of a ploughman’s lunch – the traditional trio of...

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Sam Neil was brilliant and this is such key advice.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Just finished watching Widow’s Bay. I was also a huge fan of The Americans. Matthew Rhys is an incredible actor but no matter how many times I’ve watched clips of him speaking in that Richard Burton Welsh accent of his, I’m always surprised that that’s his real voice. youtube.com/shorts/c4eMc...

youtube.com

Matthew Rhys shares how his relationship with Keri Russell was revealed on the set of The Americans

YouTube video by Late Night with Seth Meyers

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

As a Belgian I endorse this message

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The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 30/06/2026

“They’ve silenced her. “This is an attempt to punish someone who spoke the truth.” The "bizarre" moment @maitlis.bsky.social is forced to ask Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams to leave the studio.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Was thinking about this film again this morning. A story of Swiss bankers visiting the military dictatorship in 1980s Argentina. Eerily relevant to today. Beautifully (and terrifyingly) told. Weirdly unknown but hands down one of the best films of the decade. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nka...

youtube.com

Azor | Official Trailer | Berlinale 2021

YouTube video by Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I second Ian. Persepolis is an amazing book.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Just finished reading this beast. There's not a single full stop for 823 pages — the longest sentence I'm ever likely to read, but also a beautiful exploration of God and human existence. Not a casual beach read, and it's all done in a stream-of-consciousness style, but amazing.

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 01/06/2026

This is counter-productive, authoritarian and chilling. The British state should not be in the business of banning commentators and journalists from entering the country, without compelling reason. Finding their views objectionable is nowhere near enough. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...

theguardian.com

Two US political commentators banned from entering UK

Home Office says presence of Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker in UK ‘may not be conducive to the public good’

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 31/05/2026

There are lot of big evangelical claims made about AI. What we don’t do- nearly as much as we should- is treat them as the deeply political actors they are. That’s why Karen Hao’s book, Empire of AI is so vital. This is our @thenewsagents.co.uk conversation. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

How the tech bros of AI are breaking our democracy

Podcast Episode · The News Agents · 29 May · 51min

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

This is going to hit a lot of already weakened news sites very hard. The big ones will survive and the strategy will flip from clicks to mentions/citations in summaries. Individual newsletters aren’t really reliant on it for traffic. But that middle tier of sites will collapse even more

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Luke Turner @luketurner.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

The Quietus is 90% funded by subscribers, and we need another 500 this spring to help us fight the AI-pocalypse – with this in mind, there's a huge sale on our top tier subscriptions. If you like what we do, here's how you can help: thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

thequietus.com

The Quietus Spring Sale is Here! Help us Fight the AI-pocalypse | The Quietus

There’s something appallingly physical about the language that’s used to describe the radical changes that are affecting every aspect of our culture. AI slop. Enshittification. It’s all rather revolti...

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The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 10/05/2026

In 2024, before becoming an MP, Nigel Farage was given a £5m gift by a crypto billionaire, which he says was to pay for private security. With Reform victories across the UK in local elections, will there now be more scrutiny on how the party is funded? www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/whos...

thenewsagents.co.uk

Who's funding Nigel Farage? | The News Agents

In 2024, Nigel Farage was given £5 million by a crypto billionaire as a gift from a donor who went on to give millions more to Reform UK. Will his finances now face more scrutiny?

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 08/05/2026

Several things true at once 1) Labour losing to everyone in every direction. Reform (with Green assistance eating into Lab vote) wiping Labour out in places Lab has always dominated 2) They’re often doing so on small %es of vote, rewarded by highly fragmented electorate. FPTPdoing the rest…

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The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 07/05/2026

“You think you’ll be able to catch me out? I’ve run rings around protestors and judges, mate. “You’d never be able to catch me out” Lewis gets barred from cafe after an interview with controversial Birmingham campaigner, Akhmed Yakoob, descends into chaos.

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The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 07/05/2026

"Mainstream politicians – from Starmer down – have little to say, and in that vacuum, we see Akhmed Yaqoob." Lewis Goodall clashes with a controversial Birmingham campaigner. Is the city a 'microcosm' for the state of UK politics? www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/bann...

thenewsagents.co.uk

Banned in Birmingham: What happened when Lewis clashed with ‘Gaza independent’ | The News Agents

Lewis Goodall returns to his hometown of Birmingham, seen as a microcosm of politics, to explore how local elections reflect what’s happening at a national level in the UK.

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 03/05/2026

Very excited to say I’ll be hosting @lbc.co.uk election night coverage from 10pm on Thursday. Streamed live on @globalplayer.com, YouTube and of course on the 📻 Join us for what could be a very important night in British politics!

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The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 21/04/2026

Just hours after chairing Olly Robbins’ testimony, Emily Thornberry says she believes the former Foreign Office boss was "bullied". “The pressure was coming from Morgan McSweeney. He was a protege of Mandelson, he was trying to deliver him the job”.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

My daughter made me a phone you can use to call animals. The back includes a box to store chocolates. I wish all phones were like this.

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 02/04/2026

March another record breaking month for @thenewsagents.co.uk. More downloads and YouTube views than ever before. Over *fifty million* views on social platforms. Testament to a truly incredible production team. Thanks so much to so many of you for watching/listening! Happy Easter

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Went into KFC UK to try the pickle mania menu. Reader, it was at best a pickle melancholy.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I would really like to discuss latest Industry. Where is the TV sky?

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

@luketurner.bsky.social reminded me this week that Liar's Drums Not Dead is 20 years old this week. Outside of the terror of my own mortality that triggered, it reminded me of their amazing four album run between 2004 and 2010. Truly one of the best bands of this century.

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 27/02/2026

A truly historic and (potentially) momentous win for the Greens. They’ve never won 10% in a by election before. Now they’ve won in a part of Manchester Labour has held since 1931.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

My wife hit the mark with this valentine’s gift.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

my ability to make a coffee, drink half and then completely forget I have a coffee is apparently infinite.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

I think it was @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com who said on here she was ready to read at least 10 think pieces on Wuthering Heights. I would like to submit this hilariously brilliant review of the movie to the committee. www.vulture.com/article/revi...

vulture.com

Finally, a Smooth-Brained Wuthering Heights

Emerald Fennell’s Emily Brontë adaptation is brave enough to just be about two messy bitches.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Was listening to the latest playlist from Sam Valenti's excellent Herb Sundays substack. PJ Harvey's The Devil from White Chalk came up on it and, this might be a hot take for Harvey fans, it's probably her best song. Here's Sam's substack if your'e not familiar. herbsundays.substack.com

youtube.com

The Devil

YouTube video by PJ Harvey - Topic

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

My Marvel ennui is profound but Wonder Man is actually a pretty great show. And somehow the small stakes drama of a well rounded character just trying to land an acting role is far more thrilling than any ludicrously expensive action scene from recent years.

media.tenor.com

a poster for wonder man shows a man sitting at a table with a drink

ALT: a poster for wonder man shows a man sitting at a table with a drink

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

I have the Google App on my iPhone. It sends me push notifications to news stories. Lately, when I click on the push, it increasingly takes me straight to AI mode where it gives me a summary of the push story. I did not input the query you see here. This is a big shift.

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Charles Ubaghs @charlesubaghs.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

This promo/song for her new Spinal Tap-esque movie is a bit of a belter. youtu.be/bIk4DpJA104?...

youtu.be

A. G. Cook - Residue (Official Video)

YouTube video by A24

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 18/01/2026

Sunday with Lewis Goodall @LBC.co.uk coming to you live from Minneapolis this morning as the political crisis in the city deepens AND internationally, Greenland crisis deepens. So much to get through. Join us from 10 (4 local ☠️)

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