bloody hell I'm on a list with Sally Rooney

The media tells us we must listen to voices from the right. Can we metropolitan liberals have some time too? ✏️ @JonnElledge buff.ly/tKDU1Tb

"As fun as the idea of someone doing to Farage what Farage did to the Tories is, however, I can’t help but shake the feeling that this is nonetheless an extremely bad development indeed..." Latest New Statesman column newstatesman.com/politics/uk…

Current polls suggest the right-wing vote in Makerfield will split, and Labour will win a close victory. One might briefly be tempted to consider this a decent outcome. The left block winning by consolidating behind its most popular candidate, while a fractured right is riven by in-fighting, would be a pleasing change from, well, much of British political history. More than that, there'd be an odd sense of poetic justice in watching Farage get a taste of his own medicine – his own candidate kept from victory by a more extreme version of the very populist forces that he himself unleashed. As fun as the idea of someone doing to Farage what Farage did to the Tories is, however, I can't help but shake the feeling that this is nonetheless an extremely bad development indeed. Restore's policies include banning not just the burqa and niqab, but halal and kosher food; defunding the BBC and allowing it to "wither on the vine”; the complete abolition of the asylum system; and a programme of mass deportations. It is not to defend Farage's party to suggest the mask-off version might be worse. @JonnElledge newstatesman.com/politics/uk…

No, We Can’t Just Keep Adding Stuff To What’s Taught In Schools, by @JonnElledge open.substack.com/pub/jonn/p…

His desecration of the White House and plans to build a huge arch in Washington DC are abominations. But for something truly hideous, check out the statue he’s put up at his golf course in Florida – if you dare ✏️ @JonnElledge buff.ly/6NbtEw9

"I was talking to someone at a party the other day – given what I’m about to write, it may surprise you that either one of us were at a party, but it is nonetheless true – when he offered to show me his app..." So: how Absurdly Located Is YOUR City Hall? jonn.substack.com/i/19945902…

"Yes, there were columns and domes, statues and temples. But they weren’t white; they weren’t even pale. Rome was bedecked, bedazzled, and generally decorated in a way we would now consider gaudy." Fantastic guest post by Rhiannon Garth Jones jonn.substack.com/p/book-clu…

"Far more embarrassing, surely, that Reform UK has not replaced its candidate. Multiple newspapers and the campaign group Hope Not Hate have all been able to claim scoops simply be trawling Robert Kenyon’s social media history. This is not a good sign." newstatesman.com/comment/202…

#SundayShowcase is A History of the World in 47 Borders by Jonn Elledge. Those inconsequential lines can mask years of conflict, political identity, hubris & foolishness. This book explains why our world looks the way it does. Ref: 526.09 HRA Map Area @LibraryofBham @jonnelledge

I'm back in Nairobi in late July in the hope of making progress towards a conclusion to my sister's inquest, and finding out whatever I can about her murder there four and a half years ago. It's taken too long. Coverage here from ITV: itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2026-…

Unlike most of the time when people on the internet are just asking questions, though, “Is Greenland secretly British?” is not an entirely stupid thing to ask. It comes from two quite important people – one living, one dead. jonn.substack.com/p/the-lies…

Quiz time: Can you pick the real from fake reasons new Reform councillors have already quit? ✏️ @JonnElledge buff.ly/ez1OVyc

I was talking to someone at a party the other day – given what I’m about to write, it may surprise you that either one of us were at a party, but it is nonetheless true – when he offered to show me his “City Hall Eccentricity” app. jonn.substack.com/i/19945902…

Globalist Quakers, a swastika tattoo, dead for 30 years – are these true or false? ✏️ @JonnElledge buff.ly/PcLPFNN

For this week's New World column I made up some reasons Reform councillors have quit the party. Can YOU find the real ones? Fun for all the family! thenewworld.co.uk/jonn-elled…

"This may come as news to younger readers, but – once upon a time in British politics, we had this thing we called “hope”. You’re shaking your head, I know. It sounds so foolish now." my sort of review of the week in politics for the NS newstatesman.com/politics/uk…