My piece in @ftweekend on how the Tories need to modernise - again on.ft.com/3yWZrOT

T Blair is smart. This is drivel. Macron is a lame-duck president. Merz is the most unpopular Chancellor in the history of the federal German republic. Meloni is PM of Italy. So exactly who is going to spearhead this radical reform? It’s fantasy. And who comes next? The AfD is outpolling the CDU/SPD combined. Le Pen wins every generic poll to be next President of France. Another four European countries will go Right in the next 12 months. Mr T Blair and the British Left in general are in la-la land when it comes to Europe. They don’t read the foreign pages of our own press, never mind the foreign press. That will also become apparent if you watch the Lib Dem on @bbcquestiontime tonight. Total failure to address the points I made to him.

Great to be on @TimesRadio this morning with @edvaizey chatting about Empire at the Edge of the World. And I might have acquired a new reader while on air - !! @KateEMcCann

.@EdVaizey is utterly enamoured with Tony Blair’s arms. “I want to know what supplements he’s taking. Does he take creatine? The guy is built like a tank! I’m obsessed!” @KateMcCann | @StigAbell | @AvaSantina

“The worst thing about going to the football is that, when you get to the stadium, you have to neck a pint.” Ava-Santina Evans and Ed Vaizey debate whether Burnham should scrap the ban on alcohol in football stands. @AvaSantina | @EdVaizey

The rest of the G20 should boycott anything attended by this war criminal. Responsible for over 1m deaths in Ukraine.

Took longer to build than the Titanic, cost over twice as much as the UK national supercomputer, and adds one new platform to Oxford station. (Oh, and the railings on either side of the road don't match.) A case study for our moment.

Would hate to be Ed Vaizey coming online and finding out he's the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

It's time for @edvaizey to stand down as Lib Dem leader. He is making no impact at all. Many people don't even know who he is.

Do you, like @edvaizey, have great taste in ties? Then buy your Adam Smith Institute tie at the link below 👇

It seems Ed Vaizey and Ed Davey are one and the same... The Sunday Times's Lara Spirit makes an error that has plagued Ed Vaizey his whole political career. @edvaizey | @lara_spirit

NEW event: The Free Speech Debate🗣️ Britain has been a bastion for freedom of expression for centuries – but can the country still claim that title today? Join us for another instalment in our popular debate series. Motion: This house believes Britain no longer has free speech FOR: @ThePosieParker and @kelvmackenzie AGAINST: Jonathan Sumption and @edvaizey 📅Monday 12 October 📍Emmanuel Centre, Westminster ⏰Debate starts 7pm 🎟️Book now: spectator.com/debate

they have nothing to lose.

Worth sharing…

A 128 page application from Hackney council to Hackney council for a space in a residential block to be returned to its original use as a 1 bed council flat. Councillors sent application back for more work. A clue to both inadequate housing stock and feeble productivity.

Note to elements of the British Right: Relentlessly broadcasting how awful your country is to the rest of the world is not patriotic. It’s the opposite, and it has real-world results. Twitter-brained right wing politicians from America to Israel to Argentina lap it up, with all its declinist hyperbole, and eventually use it to move against us. They may say that they love the old country and want to help you “save” it but ultimately they will act in the interests of their country, not ours. If you hadn’t realised this yet, look at what has happened with Javier Milei: using “decline” rhetoric that could have been lifted from this website as a pretext to retake the Falkland Islands. All with the apparent blessing of American Republicans. These people are not your friends!

There he goes, following the data again. More communism from @ChrisGiles_

Appropriate question, but we already know the answer. It doesn’t bother them at all. In fact, like Trump, they find it much easier to deal with gangster dictators who speak their language of personal gain than democratic leaders who represent citizens and national interests.

It's easy to say "I regret it happened but tempers were high." He doesn't say that because he doesn't regret it. Jenrick wants to be Chancellor. There is no other party with figures at this level who would express open delight at their political opponents being beaten up.

I know this is not the point of The Gentleman TV series but season 2 is probably the most comically abysmal portrayal of politics in any TV programme ever.

They’re sitting opposite a man who’s committed the most heinous war crimes, the darkest chapters of European history, torturing, executing POW’s in Nazi style filtration camps, stole children, held Ukrainians to ransom over basic human rights while continually bombing cities with cluster munitions, white phosphorus, killing mothers, children and the elderly. This is how Steve Witkoff greets the biggest killer of Christian’s since Hitler.