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Alex Grant

@alexgrant24.bsky.social

180 followers 490 following 190 posts

Author of Sex, Spies and Scandal: The John Vassall Affair: http://tinyurl.com/29mtcjdh | Writing new book on British whistleblowers (out in 2026) | Represented by Andrew Lownie Agency | Blogging about politics, architecture & history at alexgrant.me

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Nov 18

My new book - Sex, Spies and Scandal: The John Vassall Affair - is now published, by Biteback, and can be ordered at the link below. www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/sex-sp...

Sex, Spies and Scandal

In September 1962, John Vassall, a clerk at the Admiralty in London, was unmasked as a Soviet spy. After being photographed in compromising positions while working at the British embassy in Moscow, Va...

www.bitebackpublishing.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 2d

This cd all have been so much worse if an LNER driver hadn't quickly stopped his train at #Huntingdon (a stn I often use), only 0.5 mile from Cambs Police HQ & a major hospital. A superb police response: suspects arrested only *8 minutes* after the first 999 call. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...

Cambridgeshire train stabbing: suspects both British and ‘nothing to suggest’ attack was terrorism, say police – latest updates

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder as two people remain in a life-threatening condition

www.theguardian.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 9d

Extraordinary goings on in Blackheath, where innocuous proposals for a few dozen homes on an underused station car park are opposed by a bizarre coalition: Jude Law, Jools Holland, an ex Labour MP saying that property prices will fall, Terry Waite, & Nick Ferrari evoking the Peasants Revolt of 1381.

Blackheath station car park: the perfect site for car-free homes?

Developer Acorn wants to build 45 homes on the brownfield site, but celebrities are leading a fierce opposition campaign, arguing it will harm Blackheath's "traditional low-rise, village character".

www.salamandernews.org

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 11d

This BBC Verify report on Trump's demolition of the East Wing reads like a story on a Banana Republic dictator's redevelopment of his Palace. Relying on satellite images to find out what is really going on says so much about the state of the US. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg...

BBC Verify Live: White House satellite image shows East Wing demolished to make way for ballroom

Latest updates from the BBC's specialists in fact-checking, verifying video and tackling disinformation.

www.bbc.co.uk

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 19d

Campbell grew up in a Glasgow tenement, not in Edinburgh as his lawyerly demeanour suggests, & held the UK 100m record for 7 yrs. Lib Dems need stamina: he fought Greenock twice in 1974, then NE Fife in 79 & 83, before finally becoming an MP at his 5th attempt in 87. www.thetimes.com/article/74ec...

Ming Campbell obituary: Olympic sprinter and Lib Dem leader

Record-breaking runner was part of a prominent generation of Scottish political figures but his career fell foul of brutal political realities, dies aged 84

www.thetimes.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 19d

I'd never heard of Pat Bradley before, but should have done. This extraordinary obit is a reminder that the remarkable lack of electoral corruption (even in Northern Ireland) is largely down to the unsung heroes of British democracy: returning officers. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Pat Bradley obituary

Chief electoral officer for Northen Ireland who never voted, to ensure no one questioned his independence

www.theguardian.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · 19d

Risible stuff from Corbyn: like a prospectus for a new left party written by ChatGPT. The elephant in the room is the fact that he's already had 5 years running "a new kind of political party that belongs to its members" (Labour in 2015-20) - and lost 2 elections.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Voters' voices are being shut out of British politics. Your Party has a radical plan to change that | Jeremy Corbyn

At our conference in November we will use a jury service-type model to allow members to discuss and decide policy, strategy and even the name of our party, says Your Party co-founder Jeremy Corbyn

www.theguardian.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Oct 5

For once, Melanie Phillips is 💯 % right about Tommy Robinson. melaniephillips.substack.com/p/a-very-stu...

A very stupid and dangerous mistake

Unbelievably, Israel -- of all countries -- has made the crisis for Britain’s Jews even worse

melaniephillips.substack.com

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Oct 1

You don't have to be a geography PhD to see that Labour needs a better plan for the Midlands to tackle Reform (especially Notts, Derbyshire, Lincs & Staffs; Reform's victory in Northants in 2025 was a statistical fluke). In 2029 the Midlands will be the most impt battleground. Labour must buckle up.

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Oct 1

Better at designing interiors (such as here, at Park Road flats) than creating public spaces IMHO.

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Oct 1

Farrell said all the right things about urbanism, but as an architect he was hugely over-rated. His TV-AM building, the PoMo block above Charing X station & the Edinburgh International Conference Centre were all big "Fuck Yous" to the surrounding streetscape. 1/2
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/29/t...

"Maverick and non-conformist" architect Terry Farrell dies aged 87

Architect Terry Farrell, best-known for the postmodern MI6 and TV-am buildings, along with his high-tech collaborations with Nicholas Grimshaw, has died.

www.dezeen.com

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Sep 21

Labour's communications woes in a nutshell. Rather than simply what its policy is, it relies jargon & nostalgia for a New Labour policy of the 2000s. I am sure that "Best Start Family Hubs" are wonderful institutions, but this messaging only makes sense to political anoraks. FFS stop doing this.

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Sep 19

The ugliest building in the world is, incredibly, Iberia's most-visited tourist attraction. A useful fact in this New Yorker piece: once Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is topped out the second highest church in the world will not be a big city cathedral, but Ulm minister in Germany.

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · Sep 18

D. T. Max writes about the slow becoming of one of the world’s most unusual—and soon to be tallest—churches: the Sagrada Família.

Is the Sagrada Família a Masterpiece or Kitsch?

In the century since Antoni Gaudí died, his wild design has been obsessively realized, creating the world’s tallest church—and an endlessly debated icon.

www.newyorker.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Sep 7

herself, but to Starmer's govt. Even a Labour cllr or backbench MP would check, & double check, that they're paying the right stamp duty - and if in doubt overpay to be on the safe side. What were Rayner's SPADs doing? One of the most avoidable political resignations of the C21 so far. 2/2

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Sep 7

Defending Rayner as a working-class hero while she was buying an £800k flat in Hove was always lunacy (she says she's proud to be MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Droylsden & Dukinfield, all of them 260 miles from Sussex). The real damage is not to Rayner... 1/2
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Angela Rayner was no working-class hero but a caricature of one

We are told her private life is ‘complex’, but if anything it seems painfully simple

www.thetimes.com

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 21

mainstay of cheap interior design since the 90s. The cheap seating and white walls will v quickly look filthy and tatty. How can something that tries so self-consciously to be modern end up looking so dated, claustrophobic, and cheap? 3/3

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 21

'Minimalist interior design with curved ceilings... chosen in a nod to the station's barrel vaults... connects past and future', & 'breathes new life into the experience of the station'. But to me it just shrieks of value engineering. There are no vaults, only 'floating' backlit ceilings - a... 2/3

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 21

This looks awful. The new #Eurostar 'terminal of the future' at #Amsterdam 'defines a new era for cross-border rail traffic, and brings together various time periods, technologies, aesthetics, and efficiency', its architects promise. 1/3
www.dezeen.com/2025/07/15/e...

Eurostar "terminal of the future" unveiled in Amsterdam

Superimpose Architecture and ZJA Architects & Engineers have opened a Eurostar UK terminal at Amsterdam's central train station.

www.dezeen.com

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 20

value engineering to me. The ceilings aren't vaults, but suspended bafflers - a mainstay of interior design since the 90s. The white walls and cheap seating will soon look filthy and tatty. How can something that tries so self-consciously to look modern end up looking so dated, and uninspiring? 2/2

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 20

This looks awful. #Amsterdam's new #Eurostar terminal boasts "minimalist interior design with curved ceilings... a nod to the station's barrel vaults". which "connects past and future," & "breathes new life into the experience of the station". It all screams... 1/2
www.dezeen.com/2025/07/15/e...

Eurostar "terminal of the future" unveiled in Amsterdam

Superimpose Architecture and ZJA Architects & Engineers have opened a Eurostar UK terminal at Amsterdam's central train station.

www.dezeen.com

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 18

Starmer is needlessly picking fights and making another martyr on the left. Abbott is best ignored. A Labour govt shd have more important things to do than pick a futile fight with Abbott's allies. I am reminded of the civil wars about Europe in the Tory Party of the 90s, which paralysed it. 3/3

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 18

Elsewhere, & deserves solidarity from other Labour MPs, and 3 that her recent comments about PoC experiencing racism in a different way to those whose race is not always visible is unobjectionable, & not a repeat of her crass draft letter about redheads sent to the Obsever in 2023. Once again... 2/3

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 18

A rare voice of nuance in the Diane Abbott debate. Three things can be true at once: 1 that Diane Abbott is a mediocre MP with few real achievements, other than her important historical role as Britain's first black woman MP. 2 that she is also the victim of vicious racism on social media &... 1/3

Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · Jul 17

Are we really surprised that Diane Abbott does not regret what she said about racism in that letter to the Observer?

Some thoughts from me, after reviewing her memoir

www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

Diane Abbott v the Labour Party

The veteran MP reopened a racism row in a new interview – and now her suspension is widely expected.

www.newstatesman.com

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Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 16

Chaotic media management yet again. Removing the whip from these MPs (who are, apart from Maskell, unknown) does not make #Starmer look strong. It merely creates martyrs & distracts from today's real story: the Afghan data leak that the Tories tried to cover up.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Keir Starmer removes Labour whip from four ‘persistent rebel’ MPs

Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff pushed out and three trade envoys lose roles

www.theguardian.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 15

What short memories the media have. In their thumbnail sketches of the Marten family newspapers haven't found room to mention the role of Constance's great-grandfather & grandmother in the Crichel Down affair of 1954, which forced the SoS of agriculture to resign...
www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Who is the real Constance Marten? A life that led to tragedy

As she and her partner Mark Gordon are convicted, her aristocratic background and history of abandonment, cults and living off-grid are revealed

www.thetimes.com

Alex Grant @alexgrant24.bsky.social · Jul 15

An ungenerous obit of Ian Blair. The Guardian views his career purely through the prism of the De Menezes case. In fact Blair deserves praise for rolling out neighbourhood policing, implementing the Macpherson recommendations, & resolving the Gurpal Virdi affair. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Lord Blair of Boughton obituary

Former commissioner of the Metropolitan police who was at the helm during the 7/7 terror attacks in London and the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes