iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sure, but I think Oasis are about as close as you can get to a properly universal UK-wide cultural event in 2025, which is sort of the whole point of the piece. Like I say, if you disagree with the premise then fair enough.

Luke Turner @luketurner.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Reposted by Ed Gillett

Oasis' reunion has been the musical event of '25 (never knew I had so many pals into them *Larry David Stare*), thanks to @ehgillett.bsky.social for a thoughtful essay on how they fit into the current British political landscape and what aspects they helped usher in: thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

thequietus.com

Why Oasis' Reunion is the Perfect Soundtrack to Britain in 2025 | The Quietus

It’s high summer in the middle of the decade. An increasingly unpopular and authoritarian government languishes in the polls, England put four past the Netherlands in the group stage of the Euros, and...

3163

Also - as the piece points out - a lot of today’s fans weren’t even alive in the 90s! I was 10 years old when Definitely Maybe came out, and completely missed the debate at the time. For as long as Oasis continue to dictate pop culture, I reckon it’s worth having these conversations!

100

People can enjoy what they like, and the piece is pretty clear that people’s enjoyment of the reunion shows has generally been a good thing. I haven’t seen much (any?) other writing putting the gigs in a wider context though. Fair enough if you disagree!

Why Oasis' Reunion is the Perfect Soundtrack to Britain in 2025 | The Quietus

Oasis reflect both the best and worst aspects of modern Britain, which makes the wholly uncritical response to their reunion quietly unsettling. I’ve tried digging into the knottier realities of their legacy for @thequietus.com. thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

thequietus.com

0256

Reposted by Ed Gillett

Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Dam been writing a book about this and she just TikToked it in 90 seconds.

259196348164

Reposted by Ed Gillett

J. C. Cantwell 🌻 @segfaultvicta.aludel.xyz · 12/09/2025

last night as i was trying to wind down for bed i had a unified theory of what the fuck just happened, and i wrote it down, and filed it under "well, i can't talk about this on main without sounding insane until and unless the perp gets caught and is provably a groyper" anyways, great news! (1/X)

8650591449

Reposted by Ed Gillett

Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

I know jumping to politically-advantageous conclusions is just what we do now, but its still striking how many right wing folks have immediately jumped to "violent leftist," as if there hasn't been a sustained, decadelong hate campaign against Charlie Kirk from those to his right.

954266818

Of course they’re not exactly the same. But in both cases there’s an assumption of an alternative course being available, which in reality isn’t there to be taken. Starmer, McSweeney et al can’t change because the current approach genuinely reflects their values.

000

It’s similar to the old canard that Blair would have loved to be more left-wing but knew the electorate wouldn’t wear it, when he said multiple times he’d have adopted exactly the same stance even if it wasn’t popular. What we’re seeing now is that precise sentiment in action.

Right, because it’s ideology rather than strategy. It’s not that they don’t see the alternatives, it’s that they’re making a deliberate choice to pursue this approach, because it’s what they genuinely believe in.

130

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Those “credible policy commitments” in full: mandatory flag-shagging twice a week, refugees and trans people can go fuck themselves, more austerity, every other big decision ducked. And they wonder why people seek out alternatives!

060

Everyone has their own fantasy land, as you put it, and they’re all basically correct to some degree. There have been particular regressions with austerity, Brexit and Covid, clearly, but each of those were merely building on the declines and compromises of preceding years or decades.

000

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

My general suspicion is that the UK as a whole has been steady, gradually collapsing for at least 40 years, even if each of us has a period of our lives where we’re insulated from / ignorant of that wider trend to some degree.

100

This is both correct, and not radical enough: we should ban 99% of all privately-owned cars from inner cities. Blue badge holders, emergency services, finite number of permits for commercial deliveries, buses, bikes, and that’s it. No able-bodied person in Zone 1 actually needs a Land Rover, sorry.

042

Yep, the superfence was later but I thought 97 had seen some improvements? Maybe I’m misremembering. 95 was definitely the big year for break-ins though. 97 was insanely rainy & muddy, which might have dampened demand.

100

I think 94 and 95 were the really bad ones for crime weren’t they? Fallow year in 96, then they came back with a much bigger fence.

100

Yeah for all of Glastonbury’s qualities it’s not exactly tranquil is it. I love the insane scale of it, but I can see how something like Houghton does that smaller, more manageable side of things much better.

There are a few more spots like that now I think: the woods / tree stage, shady bits in silver hayes, redesigned shangri-la, strummerville, green fields obviously. Definitely more needed though, and only going to become more of an issue with climate change.

Yeah that sounds rough. 2024 was my first time in years, but I felt like outside the big pyramid / other arenas there were enough bars & shaded areas to bounce between. Packed a UV-resistant brolly this year which also helped a lot!

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Lack of shade is a big issue, but at least amongst the people I chat to there’s a broad acknowledgement of this & steps being taken by the fest to provide more shaded areas, particularly given the last few years have been scorching. When did you last go?

100

Also has the benefit - if you can think of it that way - of totally ignoring the moral and social implications of all of this, and looking strictly at costs, outputs and efficiency gains.

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

This from Goldman Sachs last year (both the podcast and the Jim Covello bit of the investor report linked to from the text) is a really solid, coherent argument that AI hasn’t yet shown how it can deliver a return on the investment required. www.goldmansachs.com/insights/gol...

goldmansachs.com

131

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Doubly true of music journalism in my experience. Writers & bloggers were always likely to be replaced as gatekeepers / tastemakers by influencers and video creators, but the implosion of Twitter and the exodus to Instagram has massively accelerated that shift.

Paul Hayward @paulhayward.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Reposted by Ed Gillett

Three stunning and shaming paragraphs, by Rachel Wolf of Public First, in @theobserveruk.bsky.social

691877550

12 step meetings are some of the most beautiful places I’ve been. I wish I vibed more with the approach because the people are incredible. Really hope it’s working well with you mate.

020

Also not sure this is a novel problem tbh. RA’s album list from a decade ago has exactly the same emphasis on experimental over club tools. Constructing dance albums that work for listening outside the club has been a conversation since the 90s.

100

Right, but that’s a different issue to not seeking this stuff out, I think? Taste is hard to pin down, and I’m not sure that differences here automatically = editorial shortcomings, particularly when the majority of the places Shawn cites don’t focus on dance music.

100

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Both Pitchfork and RA reviewed this, though? Apologies if I’ve missed something.

100

Also, from elsewhere in the article - this isn’t the fault of doctors being insufficiently polite to anti-vax parents, and the solution is not to indulge them. It is for parents to stop parroting absurd conspiracy theories.

040

Reposted by Ed Gillett

AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 24/07/2025

Joint statement on Gaza from AFP, AP, BBC News and Reuters

431475918

Reposted by Ed Gillett

madoc cairns @madoc.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Police in Canterbury today informed a protestor that the phrase "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza" could be considered a declaration of support for Palestine Action and therefore a terrorism offence.

34824621127

Reposted by Ed Gillett

The Independent @the-independent.com · 15/07/2025

A data breach by the Ministry of Defence put up to 100,000 lives at risk and sparked the largest covert peacetime evacuation in British history – then was kept secret for almost two years by an unprecedented superinjunction gagging the British press, it can be revealed today.

independent.co.uk

MoD data leak that put up to 100,000 lives at risk revealed as superinjunction lifted

More than 16,000 Afghans were secretly brought to the UK in largest covert peacetime evacuation after MoD put them in danger of being targeted by the Taliban. Social affairs correspondent Holly Bancro...

11112

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

A less polite and more honest way to frame this question would be: how do you stop a growing fascist movement from taking control of the state? If history is any guide, it’s certainly not by appealing to broken notions of rules-based order, gentle tweaks to process, or collapsing centrist parties.

0140

Ed Gillett @ehgillett.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Can you imagine if all this ends up with Raynor Winn so horrifically indebted to her publisher and movie studio that she ends up actually having to sell her house.

Fair! I found it fell a bit flat on those terms too though: not quite raucous or anarchic to work as a chatshow, not quite informative enough to be factual, not creative enough to work as music TV. Each to their own though, and agree it should have been pushed more.

000

Right, this is exactly what I mean. The difference between music TV made for music fans, and content made for a generic TV audience, is really noticeable

They could very easily find the resources to do low-cost music stuff in addition to Glasto, they just don’t have any interest in or feel for it. The artist in question isn’t a heritage act, and isn’t white, which I think helps explain why commissioners didn’t get it.

I think they do a really good job with Glastonbury tbh. The issue is that it’s the only time they engage properly with anything outside the sort of acts you mention.

100

I mean there are still great music docs being made, they’re just generally not being commissioned by broadcast TV. I really hope that changes.

000

The BBC constantly does this thing where they try and cover “niche” culture, but refuse to engage with it on its own terms: everything’s always repackaged for the same conservative middle-aged, middle-class, supposedly “mainstream” gaze. I think TWT is a really clear victim of that process, sadly.

100

TWT was bad though, sorry. Absolutely not the fault of the people who made it - you could see how good it could have been - but the pandemic & the inevitable commissioning meat grinder squeezed all the life out of it. Compare it to something like Gasworks, or even just 1Xtra, and it’s miles off.

200

I know of one specific case where rights have reverted to the programme makers, so that might well be part of it.

000