Lewisham born and bred| Essayist| Bylines in @Telegraph @NewStatesman @unherd @spikedonline @spectator |Member of St Peter's Church, Brockley
Joined May 2011
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23 May 2025
First proper piece of my "Black Belonging" series. My legacy to the next generation.
See following tweet for full piece.
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Yep. X and Instagram remain largely pseudonymous because they're relatively low stakes. Platforms like LinkedIn increasingly verify identity because professional reputations have real-world consequences. As more of life moves online, verified identity will become the norm.
Everything in the modern world is going to be access/ID credential based lol we’re seeing it
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This is one reason I struggle to take X too seriously. It offers useful insights into the cultural mood, but low-stakes environments produce different behaviour from high-stakes ones. Online sentiment doesn't automatically translate into institutional behaviour.
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For those of us who grew up in the 90s and 2000s, they were used interchangeably in football broadcasts and video games. So when I hear "Holland," I'm not thinking of a geographical statement but football. 😂
No one calls Netherlands “holland” anymore.
Growing up that used to be a thing.
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Modern Britain is deeply uncomfortable with the language of morality, virtue and responsibility. Our default response is often restriction rather than formation. Telling parents to take responsibility requires moral judgment; regulating everyone feels "safer".
The UK is heading down a very dystopian path… and the majority of this island is gleefully cheering it on under the guise of “child safety” 🙂
Mind you, none of this would even be a topic of discussion if parents would actually parent their kids…
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NEW: The Assisted Dying Bill is returning to Parliament this week.
Labour MP Lauren Edwards will reintroduce it on Wednesday after coming 2nd in the private members’ ballot.
“The process has been frustrated by a small minority”, she argues.
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When a society no longer shares a common understanding of human flourishing, it increasingly relies on rules, procedures and coercion to mediate conflict. Authoritarian tools become attractive when there is no longer a shared moral vision capable of sustaining the common good.
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Rupert Lowe reminds me a lot of the male teachers I had at independent school: institutionally liberal, but culturally traditional. That would make sense given his background. I know that type very well.
Loves Kemi, isn’t right wing, and is “not anti-Islam?”
No wonder Alistair rarely lets Rupert off the leash! Yesterday’s Times interview was a car crash.
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So I'm not really surprised by his comments (considering his school and working life formation). There is clearly a mismatch between his personal interviews and X account (which is heavily populist in deliver).
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Jun 14
I cannot stress the power of simply being likeable. Not sucking up, pretence or empty pleasantries, but genuinely being present and respecting the dignity of others. It is one of life's great cheat codes. People are far more willing to trust, help and open doors for you.
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Zelex retweeted
Jun 13
If this was AFCON …
England have been victims of a theft of their training equipment, after vehicles transferring kit to their Kansas City training base were broken into.
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Jun 13
I'm still can't believe this is not a comedy skit. It reminds me of those street mockumentaries which popped off during mid 2010s.
Jun 12
harrow council why are you employing people who are threatening members of the public this needs sorting out asap!!!! @MPSHarrow @harrow_council @metpoliceuk @TeliYogesh #london #harrow #metpolice #viralvídeo
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Jun 13
This is what happens when life itself becomes content. The Entertainment Society, as I call it. I hope some older voices are offering guidance to these young influencers. The online world is unforgiving, and "credibility" can be lost far faster than it is earned.
Jun 12
I’ll put my hands up and say that I was wrong in the way I covered Southampton, and I definitely needed to be more cautious in how I reported on events.
Knowing what I know now, I would have approached the situation completely differently. Going forward, I will either blur faces of patriots or attend protests without filming at all.
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Jun 13
It is important to remember that social media is filled with accounts pursuing all sorts of agendas. Real life is different. People are usually more relational and humane, not constantly curating takes, performing for an audience or treating every interaction as content.
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Jun 12
This film randomly came to my mind a couple of weeks ago. I think it was a trilogy. I quite liked it. A cheesy underdog story.
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Jun 12
Harry Dunn. That shifted how I viewed this country permanently.
Jun 12
When was the 1st time something happened that made you think this might not be the country you'd been raised to think & hope it was? Not just something you disagreed with, but that was of a nature, or created a reaction in others, that made you doubt?
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