Tim Bale

How did they get copyright clearance from all the studios? If they did, that’s almost more worrying than if they didn’t and went ahead anyway.

They didn't. Ben Stiller has told them to remove the bit featuring him.

“people familiar with the latter”

I couldn't resist buying the Spectator for these two columns. Pure comedy gold. View it as a public service.

How did they get copyright clearance from all the studios? If they did, that’s almost more worrying than if they didn’t and went ahead anyway.

May well be enough but depends on how closely their sample resembles the whole.

Chart showing 84% of Conservative members think Badenoch should lead the party into the next election.

This (from ConHome's reader-member survey) is really remarkable when you think about it: a triumph of vibes over rationality? The Tory Party' has at best stood still and at worst gone backwards compared to where it was when she took over - and it still languishes at under 20% in most polls. And yet:

Why Publishers Slap "& How To Fix It" On Every Non-Fiction Title... & How To Fix It (RRP £49.99)

This is definitely worth a read. The electoral implications of two deprivations: "In the parts of the country where you can get a good job, you can’t get a good house; in the parts of the country where you can get a good house, you can’t get a good job."

What the polls say about Trump's war against Iran And why a Talarico-Paxton matchup in Texas might just be a tossup

This was good on how the war is actually very unpopular and there's been some very bad polling questions hiding that www.gelliottmorris.com/p/what-the-p...

The Two Deprivations Are poorer constituencies going green of turquoise?

The Two Deprivations
open.substack.com/pub/parables...

I've yet to meet a single supporter of grammar schools who imagines their own kids going to a secondary modern - and it's the first question I ask. What if they fail the 11-plus? "Oh, if that happened, we'd go down the fee-paying route."

Labour resists shift on student migration despite Green pressure Calls to loosen restrictions on international students in wake of shock defeat to left-wing party in by-election may go unheard without leadership change, say experts

By @helenpacker.bsky.social in the @timeshighered.bsky.social

Cool. The policy that made my dad feel second-rate for the rest of his life, regardless of his achievements. In the name of the ordinary people.

Quite often I feel compelled to explain why law matters even if it isn't functioning in a present scenario: this does a handy job of articulating why it's still always important to keep it as an aspirational moral framework.

These headlines should always read “New secondary moderns set to return”, since that’s where most kids will go under that system.

'The Good Old Days' strike again.

open.substack.com/pub/rolandmc...

Graph showing decline in healthy life expectancy in the UK.

Crikey. Read this (www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...) for more detail

My kid is at one, there is no meritocracy to get in; it’s either ambitious second/third generation immigrants kids, or middle class parents prepared to spend £3/4k on tutors, as it’s a ton cheaper then going privates

The US and Israel are waging war on an Iran they think they know. The reality is very different | Ali Vaez Is the Islamic Republic a messianic theocracy or a brittle dictatorship? It’s neither – as those attacking it are finding out, says Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group

"Even many Iranians who oppose the regime and wanted foreign military intervention to topple it are reluctant to see the state collapse entirely, fearing the chaos that might follow. There is a difference between wanting the system to change and wanting the country to break."

This feels timely, especially after listening to the latest 'Not Another One', where @steverichards.bsky.social was gamely defending the idea of international law against people who should know better

ICO writes to Meta over 'concerning' AI smart glasses report Videos, including of glasses-wearers using the toilet or having sex, are sometimes reviewed by a Kenya-based subcontractor.

Last year when I was checking into a hotel, the desk person was wearing Meta glasses. I kindly asked them to take them off. They were annoyed. I said, “I do not consent to you looking at my credit card and ID with Meta glasses on.” My instincts were correct: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Graph showing how support for the war varies with partisanship.

"Before he was elected, he promised that the US would not get involved in any more wars in the middle east. It appears that most Republicans and nearly all the Maga supporters are quite willing to go along with the U-turn and agree with anything he does." Source: theconversation.com/what-america...

This just keeps on coming back around forever doesn't it (and then we have to point out all the issues with grammars yet again) - selecting by "ability" often means selecting by wealth, and outcomes are worse for the kids outside of grammars - we should care about them too.

In defence of hand-wringers and pearl-clutchers To surrender the fight for international law is to accept worse outcomes and more civilian deaths

Three cheers for @robertshrimsley.bsky.social. Am reading and listening to too many self-styled fans of liberal democracy saying, in effect, 'let's park international law for the moment and talk about....'

And so the zombie policy re-emerges for yet another sequel…

Alt headline: Secondary Moderns set to return if Farage elected

New grammar schools set to return if Farage becomes PM The creation of new selective schools was outlawed by New Labour in 1998

Crushingly predictable. Utterly unjustified by decades of research. A shibboleth in place of a policy.

No matter the issue, Trump has lost support since he took over.

Trump's (dis)approval ratings - prior to Iran (c/o @economist.com: www.economist.com/interactive/...)

What I will never understand is....Twitter was *never* a good gauge of public opinion! I genuinely cannot understand the people who have clearly been using it as a measure of something other than 'internal leadership contests' (where it was genuinely useful' or 'ways to discover cool links'.