Odds and Ends #12: Arnie is the guru who can deprogramme the alt-right

Plus Greta's unwise activism, complaining about podcast apps, and an infuriating Tube memory game.

Hello! It’s time for Odds and Ends, your newsletter-within-a-newsletter containing the most interesting links I’ve seen this week, and a handful of shorter takes from me on a bunch of different things.

Two quick notes before we begin:

Firstly, because I’m a social media content machine, I’ve opened up my Instagram to follows by anyone, as a further hedge against Twitter falling apart. It’s mostly just pictures of my cats and the time I was in the same room as Mayor Pete, but hey, if you enjoy the parasocial aspect of this newsletter you might enjoy following me there. (I’m also on Bluesky, and here’s my Twitter for completeness.)

And secondly, don’t forget to head over to What’s Happening Now and listen to my interview with former top BBC News boss Richard Sambrook. We had a wide-ranging chat about the news and how it is made – and in some super-topical timing, Richard gave his take on how the BBC is handling coverage of the Israel/Hamas war.

Now, some small takes! I think you’ll particularly like my ideas for making podcast apps better…