James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 25/11/2025Two nights, two sold out gigs in the round. The O2 slightly bigger than the Cockpit, but still each five brilliant musicians playing together, collaborating, creating sounds you haven’t heard before and ones that sound deeply familiar, to tell stories and inspire feeling. Both, unabashed art rock 040
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 24/11/2025Last night. Tonight. Tomorrow night. Saturday night. London is an amazing place to live. 010
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 22/11/2025Wikipedia rabbit hole gold: Scarlet Rivera’s husband played keyboards for Wham #onemorecupofcoffee #clubtropicana 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 28/10/2025Saw The Producers last night. One deeply funny idea brought to life through lots of superbly executed but quite basic ideas. 110
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 13/10/2025Fair play to the picture editor for finding an image to summarise their reaction after mentally reconciling the second part of this sentence with the opening. 110
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 24/09/2025John Zorn at the Vanguard. He’s an absolute genius. Klezmer, Blues, Eric Dolphy whoknowswhatness. Incredible band. And a tight, hugely enjoyable 60min set. Nothing better. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 28/07/2025Andrea Berta bringing a new approach to making Arsenal players available 010
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 16/07/2025Saw my third Eugene O’Neill play at the weekend - A Moon for the Misbegotten at the Almeida. Powerful about how people become trapped economically, socially and psychologically. Michael Shannon’s performance was stunning: fragile and forceful, decrepit but dashing. There a handful of tickets left. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 28/06/2025Had tickets to see Beth Gibbons last night at the Roundhouse but gave them up to take my youngest to her first gig*; so watching her Glasto set now on TV. Sad to miss this tour - looks brilliant. *Olivia Rodrigo, Hyde Park, genuinely good, great band and top tunes. Will go down a storm tomorrow. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 25/06/2025Big big day in American politics as Dems learn it is good to come across like a human, appear in the media people actually watch and say you’ll do something about issues they care about. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 20/06/2025Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the spectacular Royal Albert Hall - even made use of the organ. Totally different to their full on 2022 gig in Brixton - pared back, intimate, less synth, more acoustic guitar. But still 100% them, continuing to try different things and push themselves even in their 25th year. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 15/06/2025Lots of insightful stuff out there now. This is really informative esp re timeline. “Fordow could convert Iran’s entire stock of high enriched uranium — assessed to be 408kg by IAEA inspectors in May — to produce in just three weeks enough weapons grade uranium to make nine nuclear weapons.” 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 15/06/2025Leaving the gig during their last Brixton residency, I wished I could go back. Three years later @lcdsoundsystem.bsky.social booked another stand & I got my chance. Exhilarating enveloping live sound - the drop in Tribulations, the sonic variation in Losing my Edge, the euphoria of All My Friends 000
Reposted by James MorrisGavin Kelly @gavin-kelly.bsky.social · 08/06/2025The dangerous decline of child vaccination in England. Such a worrying trend at several levels. 311237
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 29/05/2025Iggy at Ally Pally last night. He’s got great songs, including on the new album, and the only hint at his age came in the box he left the stage in. The Stooges tracks sound huge now, must have been extraordinary back then. 030
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 23/05/20252% of US electricity goes on Bitcoin ‘mining’ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukThe Bitcoin hum that is unsettling Trump’s MAGA heartlandsTrump has said he wants to turn the US into the crypto-mining capital of the world - but that has real-world implications for many of his core voters 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 17/05/2025This was a great listen. Somehow both warm and forensic. Thanks @kirkhamilton.com podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...podcasts.apple.com"Heart of Glass" by Blondie–Strong Songs – Apple PodcastsPodcast Episode · Strong Songs · 03/05/2024 · 56m 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 04/05/2025Very 90s night out at the Donmar Warehouse, watching Patrick Marber’s debut play be treated like a period drama. Somewhat amusing, highly engaging, ensemble piece where everyone is flawed in totally expected but nevertheless meaningful ways. Brilliantly staged in such a tiny theatre. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Sad to see many brilliant brilliant musicians self-righteously try to use their cultural power to silence decent activists who oppose support for violence against civilians - whether MPs or attendees of the Nova festival. It’s easy to oppose Israel/Tories without chanting for Hamas/murder. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 29/04/2025Reporting focuses on the apology bit of this statement but chiefly it’s a conspiracy theory about the ‘establishment’ plus lawyered words (‘have never’). There’s an easy way to avoid being seen to support murderers & terrorists - don’t chant in support. Plenty of pro Palestine activists manage that. 000
Reposted by James MorrisHenry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 16/04/2025"the Israeli government instead chose to break the ceasefire... Israel’s soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love" A brave letter: www.ft.com/content/6a50...ft.comLetter: As British Jews we can no longer stay silent on the war in GazaFrom Harriett Goldenberg, Baron Frankal, Sophie Hasenson, Robert Stone and others 721780
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 31/03/2025Last time I went to Wembley Arena, Radiohead were touring OK Computer. Next time, it will be My Bloody Valentine. Bit surprised it’s in an arena but very exciting all the same. 010
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 27/03/2025What a treat the Bertha Dochouse is. A screen devoted to docs at the beautiful Brunswick centre cinema. Saw Dig! for the first time there on Tues. Great film about art, friendship, delusion and economics. Seeing the struggle, jealousy & conflict made Feb’s Brixton gig even more joyful in retrospect. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 15/03/2025Max Cooper at the Roundhouse was all about huge visuals and huge sound but for most of it I felt like Id wandered into a screensaver convention where the conference manager had figured out how to train an LLM on Insides by Orbital. I liked the Squarepushery and Swervey bits but all too retro for me 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 03/03/2025Tbh I didn’t know there was a big need for workwear for children any more 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 02/03/2025Jack White at the Troxy. A rolling sprint, rooted in blues and bringing the peak of Jonny Guitar rock; stitched together as perfectly as an uber produced stadium boring mega tour, but played with no set list. Firecracking energy without a pause. 1111
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 22/02/2025Three guys being released today were kidnapped in the early hours of the morning from a music festival and kept hostage for over a year. Others were also dragged off, assaulted, murdered. I’d have thought more people in the music industry might have said a bit about that. 020
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 31/01/2025The BBC can today exclusively reveal the faith of the pontiff 010
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 19/01/2025In London yesterday the anger was aimed at Bibi. And he deserves it. But the war wouldn’t have happened without 10/7 - described by Hamas this week as ‘a source of pride’. @markurban.bsky.social interesting on views in Gaza, a world away from Corbynite zeitgeist. www.thetimes.com/article/de40... 020
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 17/01/2025Does anyone understand remastering? I recently listened to the remastered Blue Lines and it sounds way better. I thought maybe they couldn’t afford studio time in the 90s. But now listening to the remastered Time Out of Mind and it sounds amazing and that is not a budget thing. So what’s going on? 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 16/01/2025“If classic surrealists celebrated irrationality and sought to liberate the fantastic in the everyday, Mr. Lynch employed the ordinary as a shield to ward off the irrational.” 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 16/01/2025The second time I watched Twin Peaks was at uni. We lived on the top floor of, basically, a castle (weird university) and watching the final episode in the Black Lodge, a storm was so fierce it flipped a window open and a huge torrent slammed onto the table. It was 3am and perfect. RIP David Lynch 000
Reposted by James MorrisPaula Surridge @psurridge.bsky.social · 07/01/2025Worth drawing attention to the table in this piece - it is absolutely the case Labour faces a 2nd placed Reform in 89 seats but in most of those they are a long way behind Labour, and still behind Labour if you give them all the Conservative vote in those seats as well. 16624
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 29/12/2024Listening to Kurt Vile, whose name is not a stage name but his actual name; having watched Home Alone directed by Christopher Columbus whose name is not a stage name but his actual name 000
Reposted by James MorrisAdam Drummond @adamdrummond.bsky.social · 23/12/2024Amazing thread about the Quiet Batpeople that rendered building impossible in so many places 153
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 04/12/2024One thing I really like about this Arsenal team is that they all work really hard, and the best players work hardest of all. No preening. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 01/12/2024Hearing Brand is changing his first name to Russelll in solidarity 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 26/11/2024Post election, people wanted a bit of that hopey changey stuff. Instead they got loads of pessimism and stuff about free clothes. The copy-Osborne strategy clearly failed. 011
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 24/11/2024@jonnelledge.bsky.social thought you’d appreciate the design of the seats on the Lisbon metro 100
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 20/11/2024You might not expect an article about an NFL team to provide useful insight into foreign policy, but it contains a great quote from the likely next US Ambassador to the UK: “you know, thinking is overrated.” www.nytimes.com/athletic/593...nytimes.comWhy Joe Douglas never stood a chance as Jets GMAs owner Woody Johnson took on a bigger role running the Jets, the writing was on the wall. 010
Reposted by James MorrisAlan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 19/11/2024I wrote a screed about ag subsidies once and got a cross email from a farmer going "you don't know what it's like, it's so difficult, next time I'm in London I'll tell you how hard farming is". Met in his private club just off Whitehall, so posh I had to borrow a tie from reception. True story. 415642
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 15/11/2024Bizarre pushback from a ‘senior figure’ in this. Apparently, it’s fine to assess kids on multiple dimensions and boil each down to a grade. But doing the same for schools is ‘punitive’. Maybe Ofsted should write poems? Ofsted proposes assessing schools on 10 areas of performance on.ft.com/40LrMWXon.ft.comOfsted proposes assessing schools on 10 areas of performanceSystem would replace old single-word assessments of overall standards 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 12/11/2024There is something a bit malevolent about the media obsession with Sue Gray’s career turns. Like she threw the bums a dime in her prime. 000
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 06/11/2024Anyone surprised that polling error was systematic rather than just random is reading too many stats books and not enough political history. When it comes ti the horse race all polls should be trusted to do is tell us which neighbourhood we’re in; not which house. 140
Reposted by James MorrisJames Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 05/11/2024There is no such thing as ‘the will of the people’. An American electorate that picks Kamala over Trump by even a few points isn’t that different from one that does the opposite. Butterfly effect scale consequences from small differences. 001
James Morris @jamesdmorris.bsky.social · 06/11/2024There will be lots of read across from US results to UK politics, so worth remembering how very different the age profile looks. Here, Tories got almost double the Labour share among over 65s; there it was a tie (if the exit poll data is okay) 000
Reposted by James MorrisGavin Kelly @gavin-kelly.bsky.social · 05/11/2024Well worth reading @timleunig.bsky.social on why the old IHT rules were so bad for family farms & why the government is right to reform them. timleunig.substack.com/p/how-to-pre... 35036