Fun! @IsntWorkingPod booked to join a special Free Speech Nation episode at @acadofideas #BattleFest on Saturday 17 October. Thanks @joshxhowie - can't wait! Tickets ⬇️

#BATTLEFEST 2026 PODCASTS LIVE🤩 Cast off your headphones and join the festival audience for live recordings of some of then best podcasts around! Members of ANY of these fantastic podcasts get 20% off tickets! TICKETS - battleofideas.org.uk/battle-…

"What Ireland imagines as a soaring display of integrity comes across more as an unhealthy fixation with one war, one nation, and one faith." A measured (maybe too mild) conclusion. But superb read @oliverbrown_tel on Irish grievances and hatred against a state and its people

Britain's first reservoir for 30 years has been delayed another five years. Now, Heathrow 3rd runway delayed until 2039 Why? The regulatory purgatory that imprisons UK growth - and will imprison Burnham unless he reforms. My Times column:- times-comment.com/hs2

🎯 IN FULL: Every Way Blair’s Plan to Rejoin the EU Would Fail order-order.com/2026/09/24/i…

What is wrong with Ireland? We are Irish and we are going to Hungary to report on the Ireland-Israel soccer match because journalists won’t do their jobs. We created the October 7 play because journalists were failing to do what they were supposed to do... Ireland once again is proving itself to be the most anti-semitic country in Europe. Irish journalists are refusing to cover the upcoming Ireland-Israel soccer match in Hungary even though their JOBS are to cover the news. This is stolen valor. They’re not journalists at all—they’re activists. That’s why we will be there, in Hungary, to cover the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s journalists’ responsibility to record history, not share their opinions! #Israel #Ireland #Hungary #Journalism

ANDREW NEIL: There were good arguments in 2016 for staying in the EU. The Remain campaign made a mess of articulating them. There are no good reasons in 2026 for rejoining the EU. dailymail.com/debate/article… via @DailyMail

Latest rumour is that Green ex-Economics Minister Robert Habeck is planning to found a new political party with ex-Transport Minister Volker Wissing (formerly of FDP) and someone from CDU. This means the end of the firewall and the ensuing civil war (& potential breakup) of CDU is already being contemplated within elite circles. They're already dreaming about a new party to represent all those favourite positions of political Berlin that in coming years will want increasingly for voters: A new party of realo Greens, of Merkelian Unioners and of left-leaning FDPler.

Cover-up

It’s one battle after another… …but this might just be the best yet! Join me for a live taping of @bookingclubpod at #battlefest 26, with @jjcharlesworth_, Tim Black and Georgina Mumford, as we discuss: 75 years of 📚 The Catcher in the Rye 📚 🎙️ Have the rituals of adolescence changed too much for the novel to still resonate with Gen Z and Gen Alpha? 🎙️ What does Holden Caulfield’s demotic New York patter and limited vocab have in common with Donald Trump’s speech patterns? 🎙️ What made Catcher JD Salinger’s masterpiece in 1951, and what does it retains of its power today? @MaximumCities @Fox_Claire @ella @elladorn_ @Stsantek

Lads, the women are saying “NO”… That’s your cue to sod off. It’s really simple. What kind of socialist protests against women organising collectively within their own political party?

This includes an account of @lnmackenzie1 's evidence on her appalling treatment by the Royal College of Nursing, which deserves to be more widely known.

As a good person, I share Ed Milliband's belief that Britain's national security depends on fixing the weather in Kenya.

I won 2 Premier League titles with Man City. I won 1 Premier League title with Liverpool. Liverpool also finished second to Man City twice while I was a Red. If those titles are stripped from Man City and given to Liverpool, I’ll have 3 Premier League titles with Liverpool and 0 with Man City. So even with Man City's cheating, I am still a 3-time Premier League winner. Result.

Thanks to @RedActuary and @moore4sdp for this wideranging discussion; more at @acadofideas' Battle of Ideas Oct 17/18 Take Me Home – Growing up in the Culture Wars @MaximumCities @Fox_Claire @emma_gilland @JakeRWeston battleofideas.org.uk/session…

📣 Vor einem Jahr habe ich das @AthenaForumEU gegründet. Kommende Woche ist für uns ein bedeutender Meilenstein! Wir bringen die Debatte um Geschlechtsidentität dorthin, wo sie hingehört: ins österreichische Parlament. Wir diskutieren europäische Entwicklungen und ihre Auswirkungen und bringen die Perspektiven von Frauen, Eltern, medizinischen Fachleuten, Wissenschaft und Politik zusammen. Wir freuen uns, diese Veranstaltung gemeinsam mit dem ÖVP-Parlamentsklub und Campus Tivoli im @OeParl auszurichten. 📅 1. Oktober 2026, 18:30 Uhr 📍 Österreichisches Parlament, Wien 🎟️ Der Eintritt ist frei, Anmeldung erforderlich: campus-tivoli.at/alle-termin…

I’ve read this five times to make sure I’m reading it right. Sinn Féin are deranged.

The British Left is in a time warp when it comes to Europe. Do they have no idea what’s happening there? Don’t they read the papers? Meloni is PM of Italy. AfD is outpolling CDU and SPD combined in Germany. Le Pen is favourite to be the next president of France. Socialist Sanchez in Spain is finished. They seem to think the EU we left (for good or ill) in 2016 is the Europe of today. Delusional.

Another clueless - even cowardly - initiative on welfare. Does little to reduce enormous state spending (or tackle underlying growth/cultural/moral problems). But strengthens authoritarian impulse of meddling state and its officials

FIRE Reacts: Trump’s media ban @TheFIREorg staff responds to @POTUS's decision to ban @CNN, @MSNOWNews, and @politico from the White House, with President Trump citing their “constant ‘reporting’” of “FAKE NEWS!” Barring journalists from the White House because of their coverage raises serious First Amendment concerns and strikes at the heart of a free and independent press. FIRE experts break down what happened and answer your questions about the ban. Joining us: @marie_mac99 — SPFI program manager and counsel @jacob_gaba — Staff attorney @aaronterr1 — Director of public advocacy Timestamps 00:00 Intro 02:06 Why does the White House Correspondents Association decide who serves in the White House press pool? 05:32 Can the president ban anyone from the White House? 07:07 Obama and Biden-era restrictions on press access 10:38 Access to the press room vs. being called on to ask a question 11:55 Could TrumpTV have a chilling effect on the press? 13:39 Can the White House reject a reporter but not their news organization? 14:56 What is a temporary restraining order? 17:27 The government’s argument 22:03 National security and the First Amendment 23:57 What if a news organization publishes false information? 27:31 Does the White House have to justify press restrictions? 28:27 Is there something wrong with “a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories”? 32:04 The scope of the White House restrictions 34:03 Public distrust of the press 36:48 Does restricting press access really address any national security concerns? 39:22 Can future administrations exclude partisan or influencer journalists? 41:05 Is barring journalists from the White House a prior restraint? 42:17 The impacts of a collective media boycott 45:04 Outro