Sign in

Matt Rudd

@mattrudd.bsky.social
1.5K followers 393 following 127 posts

Contributing editor and columnist at the Sunday Times. Occasional author, most recently, of Man Down. Patron of the Counselling Centre, a charity in the South East doing brilliant work in the mental health trenches (message me if you want more info)

PostsRepliesMedia
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
“They’re not dogs” Now in podcast format (love The Story podcast and very pleased our terrible treatment of pets gets an airing on it)… podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
How extreme breeding is making our pets sick - The Saturday Story
Podcast Episode · The Story · 1 August · 18min
020
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
‘They’re not dogs’: how extreme breeding is making our pets sick www.thetimes.com/article/1385...
thetimes.com
‘They’re not dogs’: how extreme breeding is making our pets sick
Matt Rudd meets the vets attempting to repair the damage done by our mania for cute — but ever more unhealthy — dog breeds
471
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Life with locked-in syndrome: ‘Despite everything, you are alive’ www.thetimes.com/article/51fc...
thetimes.com
Life with locked-in syndrome: ‘Despite everything, you are alive’
Matt Rudd has remarkable conversations with three Britons who, after life-changing accidents, have fully active minds but cannot move or speak, and can communicate only via the blink of an eye
062
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Update: it’s really hot today
120
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
For one day, I got to imagine what Ant & Dec & a Third Wheel would be like… the conversation was supposed to be about their new podcast but instead, we focused on the joy and horror of turning 50… their joy, my horror
210
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Bravely, I have declared war on lasagne (and to everyone saying I need to be a better cook, I am a great cook but lasagne is impossible) www.thetimes.com/article/c9c7...
thetimes.com
Sorry, Delia, but lasagne is not a ‘simple supper’
Never in the entire history of the English language has such unimaginable misery been concealed so convincingly in just 34 words of a recipe
180
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Must be hard enough to find a partner when you have an arm penis but being called the blob can't help "Also known as the blob octopus, they have eight arms - but in males one of the arms is also a reproductive organ that they attach to females when mating." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Mystery as remains of seven-arm deep-sea octopus wash up on beach
Arms from the rarely-seen species were discovered at an Aberdeenshire national nature reserve.
020
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Late contender for headline (and stand) of the year… so nice to read furniture that isn’t SEOed to death (unless search engines are now tuned to partner and bishop?)
010
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
No running water? No problem. I’ve prepped for this www.thetimes.com/article/c796...
thetimes.com
No running water? No problem. I’ve prepped for this
I have six big water bottles in the garage. And some baked beans, some spare batteries and a wind-up radio. And Bananagrams
010
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Reading for pleasure is essential for health and joy, but Britain is facing a reading crisis. I am supporting the Sunday Times Get Britain Reading campaign. Join me and pledge to spend at least 10 minutes a day reading for the next six weeks… link.thetimes.co.uk/join/74t/sig...
link.thetimes.co.uk
Get Britain reading signup
130
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Ten years after building a 3,000-piece Lego Death Star with my kids (9, 7 and 2), I did it again. The kids were older, I was older… the Death Star was much, much bigger… The galactic task of building a 9,000-piece Lego Death Star www.thetimes.com/article/95eb...
thetimes.com
The galactic task of building a 9,000-piece Lego Death Star
Ten years after building its little brother — a mere 3,000 pieces — Matt Rudd and his sons tackled Lego’s largest and most expensive set. Was the force with them?
040
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Beautiful, upsetting, maddening, heartwarming interview What happened when @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social met her heroine Kathy Burke www.thetimes.com/article/89f8...
thetimes.com
What happened when Caitlin Moran met her heroine Kathy Burke
She grew up in poverty and went on to become a comedy icon and best actress winner at Cannes. Now Kathy Burke has written a shocking memoir about her childhood. Caitlin Moran meets her heroine
2348
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
The ultimate example of nominative determinism... surgeon Neil Hopper jailed after amputation of his own legs www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Surgeon Neil Hopper jailed after amputation of own legs
Neil Hopper claimed that injuries to his legs were the result of sepsis and not self-inflicted.
020
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
When I was nine, I devised a plan to meet Luke Skywalker… it was simple… I would become a journalist and then interview him… didn’t expect it to take 40 years but still…
2111
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
How many of these do you think we have in our small holiday cottage bedroom? One? Two? …
210
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Friendly annual reminder to all A-level/GCSE students collecting exam results - if a photographer asks you to hold a piece of paper and jump in the air with delight, just say no.
000
Reposted by Matt Rudd
The Times and Sunday Times @thetimes.com · 10/08/2025
Bags, blenders, antique clocks — if you name it, this army of volunteers in Tunbridge Wells can probably sort it with a smile and a story
thetimes.com
My uplifting day at the repair café that fixes anything for free
2133
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Favourite story of the year… meeting the 81 - 81! - volunteers and seeing their combined decades of expertise put to work at the Tunbridge Wells repair cafe… My uplifting day at the repair café that fixes anything for free www.thetimes.com/article/d9f4...
thetimes.com
My uplifting day at the repair café that fixes anything for free
Bags, blenders, antique clocks — if you name it, this army of volunteers in Tunbridge Wells can probably sort it with a smile and a story
0132
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Yes
020
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Goodness me, how depressing: The US government is spending $160,000 to burn nearly $10m of contraceptives rather than sell them to the UN to ship to poor nations, according to sources.
041
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
An ode to a dog who had a stroke… I used to think it was a waste of money keeping an old dog alive www.thetimes.com/article/6dab...
thetimes.com
I used to think it was a waste of money keeping an old dog alive
‘Five years ago I watched in disbelief as a friend spent thousands of pounds he didn’t have on improbable surgery for his 12-year-old dog’
251
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Excited about National Caviar Day on the 18th. Only 11 more sleeps
010
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Anyone else getting a lot of "press releases" from "relaytheupdate.com", "signalthenews.com" or similar? Emails from alleged humans eg Jasmine, Sienna, Adriana, Iris, Lucille etc. Replies get bounced back. Repping companies such as Number 1 Plates, Ski Vertigo, Plumb World. Is this death by AI PR?
000
Reposted by Matt Rudd
badly drawn boo! 🎃👻🧛🏼‍♀️ @soapachu.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Forecast in the UK is scorching for the next week. If you can, please put out some water sources. One for bees/butterflies* and one for bigger critters. *Shallow bowl with stones is ideal for insects, so they can drink without drowning. If you can manage a bird-height one as well, brilliant.
A terracotta bowl with a few pebbles in it, partially filled with water. A larger bowl filled with water. Bird water bowl alongside seed
17536
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Very happy to bird bore with you @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social any time… I can play you our top 10 Merlins. Also, we have a tame baby magpie this year. Magpies are ruthless killers but this one is very cute. Ps lovely column
220
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Tried watching Gladiator 2 last night but zzzzzz… is it just Gladiator but with fancier / worse fx? Is it just Game of Thrones with a fancier / worse story? Should I try again?
110
Reposted by Matt Rudd
plowdensmith.bsky.social @plowdensmith.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
The legend that is JMW Turner was born 250 years ago, tomorrow, and a host of exhibitions are celebrating his legacy this year. If you want to spend the summer retracing the artist's footsteps throughout the UK @mattrudd.bsky.social tells you how in The Times: www.thetimes.com/article/e01c...
thetimes.com
My walk through JMW Turner’s Britain, 250 years later
To celebrate the anniversary of his birth, Matt Rudd retraces the great painter’s steps
011
Reposted by Matt Rudd
Air Mail @airmail.news · 09/04/2025
“It’s for the napkins at the truffle brunch on day three. Before the spa treatments at the palazzo and after the blessing from the Dalai Lama on the superyacht.” @mattrudd.bsky.social
airmail.news
When Bezos Met Bridezilla
An exclusive look inside Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Venice wedding—zero-gravity Botox, diamanté candelabras, Dom Pérignon, and all.
001
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Child A is 16,000th in the queue for a driving test after logging into the DVLA at 6.00.02am one year after the transport minister said it was “unacceptable” that robot scalpers were snapping all the tests released each week. Should this be harder than Oasis tickets? Ridiculous
030
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
A great piece by my colleague of 20+ years… Flying rats, gruelling shifts — why do we treat binmen like rubbish? www.thetimes.com/article/75ff...
thetimes.com
Flying rats, gruelling shifts — why do we treat binmen like rubbish?
Amid the ongoing refuse collectors’ strike in Birmingham, Stephen Bleach joins a crew in Coventry for an exhausting day
000
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Shiny apples. Get your shiny apples ‘ere.
210
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
My long read for the day (which you can read for free, you lucky people)… Five years of the WFH experiment: is it working? www.thetimes.com/article/4c3f...
thetimes.com
Five years of the WFH experiment: is it working?
After half a decade of ‘you’re on mute’, are we all about to be hauled back to our office desks full-time? Matt Rudd reports
010
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Scotland is being amazing. #pundit
010
Reposted by Matt Rudd
Caitlin Moran @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I cannot WAIT to read this.
2593
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
This week’s column, inspired by all the miserable Desert Island Discs origin stories… My parenting plan for raising successful kids? Neglect them www.thetimes.com/article/dc57...
thetimes.com
My parenting plan for raising successful kids? Neglect them
‘My thoughts arrived at a critical question: have Harriet and I been too good at parenting?’
010
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Books and shows that feel different now the US is in on Russia’s side? I’ll start: the Agency, most Harrison Ford films, anything with “has fallen” in the title, everything Le Carre wrote, quite a lot of what Nevil Shute wrote and all the Mission Impossibles. Oh and the Top Guns… blimey
011
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
And with the addition of one letter, a genius sub editor earns his salary…
091
Reposted by Matt Rudd
Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Leaving Canada now… but a long black espresso coffee will forever be a Canadiano!
3289536
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Thank goodness humanity is at a point where it can unite to overcome an existential threat… I mean, imagine if this had happened in the 1930s
010
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Hilarious, damn it... has ruined Georgian romantic fiction for me forever so not a huge loss
110
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Journalism 101: never pull the face the photographer suggests right at the end of the shoot (“just for fun, they’ll never use it”)
140
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
I’m Gen X, my son’s Gen Z. Is our relationship with alcohol worlds apart? www.thetimes.com/article/e9e9...
thetimes.com
I’m Gen X, my son’s Gen Z. Is our relationship with alcohol worlds apart?
Almost half of young adults no longer drink, but there’s more to the generation gap than avoiding hangovers — it’s a cultural sea change. Matt Rudd, 49, and son Freddie, 18, debate the issue
021
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
How to have the confidence of JD Vance? Is it training or nature or some kind of traumatic but ultimately beneficial in very specific circumstances brain injury?
130
Reposted by Matt Rudd
Stick Nation @sticknation.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
🤯
1673
Reposted by Matt Rudd
The Times and Sunday Times @thetimes.com · 09/02/2025
Millions follow an Instagram account about sticks — er, why? It started with two friends reviewing bits of wood they found on hikes, but now ‘stick nation’ is a global sensation. Time to investigate… ✍️ @mattrudd.bsky.social
thetimes.com
Millions follow an Instagram account about sticks — er, why?
2215
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
What a wholesome and stress free time I had last week… chatting with the creators of Stick Nation. Recommend! www.thetimes.com/article/3590...
thetimes.com
Millions follow an Instagram account about sticks — er, why?
It started with two friends reviewing bits of wood they found on hikes, but now ‘stick nation’ is a global sensation. Time to investigate…
241
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Southport families: We’re looking for light in the darkness www.thetimes.com/article/8f5e...
thetimes.com
Southport families: We’re looking for light in the darkness
The parents of Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe want the world to know what they were like — their joy, jokes and dreams — as they relive that awful July day
010
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
The badger looking at badger graffiti has won the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year award but this is my favourite by Michel d'Oultremont. A stoat maintaining a low profile in Belgium. Amazing.
The Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year award went to the badger looking at badger graffiti which is amazing but this is my favourite by Michel d'Oultremont. A stoat keeping a low profile in Belgium...
021
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Nope
140
Matt Rudd @mattrudd.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
So... a question about JMW Turner: it has been suggested that the reason he used such extraordinary colours in his paintings (therefore ushering in modernity) is because he was colour-blind (they found some glasses which suggested as much)... but...
100