How the government successfully spun the Daily Mail (Odds and Ends #73)

Plus the council leader who lives with his mum, and the best post-Trump portrayal of the Presidency in film

Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash

POD! On The Abundance Agenda this week:
🚩 Martin dissects Jeremy Corbyn’s new party, and wonders if it could save “HS3”.
🏙️ I share good and bad news about the fates of two major London transit-oriented housing developments – and explore the role of affordable housing requirements in both.
☢️ And we speak to Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who until very recently was the government’s nuclear minister about Sizewell C’s recent approval, building more nuclear – and building it even faster!
Listen on Apple, Spotify or Substack.

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Hello! It’s time for Odds and Ends, your irregular round-up of the most interesting links I’ve seen, plus some shorter takes.

This time, I’m featuring:

• How the government successfully spun a positive story out of the Daily Mail on the most difficult of topics

• The best post-Trump portrayal of the Presidency I’ve seen on screen (it’s not what you might think)

• Why Starmerism must embrace creative destruction to rebuild Britain

• The London council leader who still lives with his mum

• Vindication – of sorts – that my AI take that upset a bunch of teachers was correct

• The government’s apparent backing down in the row over Apple’s encryption

• …And another little regulatory tweak that could have a big impact on Britain

But first, a couple of notes:

THE GENIUS MYTH: I had the great pleasure of interviewing the excellent Helen Lewis last night for my latest event. We had a great chat about her new book, The Genius Myth, as well as culture wars, British and American politics and… what happened to a certain notorious right-wing professor.

The event was just for people in the room, so I’m afraid there will be no recording, but make sure you pick up The Genius Myth, as it’s a really great read – and I might have my own little spin-off take about one of the ideas in the book coming soon.

SUMMER SALE! The rest of this edition of the newsletter is, as usual, below the paywall. But for the next week or so I’m having a 20% off sale, so now is a brilliant time to take out an annual subscription and support my writing!

Now let’s get on with the links!

How the government successfully spun the Daily Mail on a very difficult story