Lewis Baston
@lewisbaston.bsky.social
Author of ‘Borderlines’ (Hodder, 2024). Psephologist, cat ‘owner’, traveller, flâneur. https://www.hodder.co.uk/titles/lewis-baston/borderlines/9781399723763/
Pinned
Lewis Baston
@lewisbaston.bsky.social
· Sep 22
Delighted to announce that Borderlines is one of @waterstones.bsky.social paperbacks of the year!
Randomly looked at my photos and was reminded how excellent my ginger cat Oskar (2006-18) was. He was soft, affectionate, not an intellectual among cats but with a sort of wisdom in the way he lived his life. His fur was splendidly dense and had ripples and brindles and his eyes were beautiful.
November 28, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Randomly looked at my photos and was reminded how excellent my ginger cat Oskar (2006-18) was. He was soft, affectionate, not an intellectual among cats but with a sort of wisdom in the way he lived his life. His fur was splendidly dense and had ripples and brindles and his eyes were beautiful.
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you have seen in the wild
- wildcat (in Scotland. Yes it was a wildcat)
- stingray (in South Australia)
- hare (both times on international borders, they are liminal creatures)
- skunk (near Boston. Man called it a ‘stink badger’)
- muntjac deer (Essex)
🐈 🐇 🦨 🦌
- wildcat (in Scotland. Yes it was a wildcat)
- stingray (in South Australia)
- hare (both times on international borders, they are liminal creatures)
- skunk (near Boston. Man called it a ‘stink badger’)
- muntjac deer (Essex)
🐈 🐇 🦨 🦌
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you have seen in the wild
- beaver (in Scotland)
- platypus (in Queensland)
- skunk (in California)
- raccoon (in Massachusetts)
- boar (in Italy)
- beaver (in Scotland)
- platypus (in Queensland)
- skunk (in California)
- raccoon (in Massachusetts)
- boar (in Italy)
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you have seen in the wild
- badger
- badger
- badger
- badger
- SNAKE!
- mushroom mushroom
- badger
- badger
- badger
- badger
- SNAKE!
- mushroom mushroom
November 28, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you have seen in the wild
- wildcat (in Scotland. Yes it was a wildcat)
- stingray (in South Australia)
- hare (both times on international borders, they are liminal creatures)
- skunk (near Boston. Man called it a ‘stink badger’)
- muntjac deer (Essex)
🐈 🐇 🦨 🦌
- wildcat (in Scotland. Yes it was a wildcat)
- stingray (in South Australia)
- hare (both times on international borders, they are liminal creatures)
- skunk (near Boston. Man called it a ‘stink badger’)
- muntjac deer (Essex)
🐈 🐇 🦨 🦌
Reposted by Lewis Baston
Ask yourself why there wasn’t this level of wall to wall coverage for this shooting wgme.com/news/local/i...
ICE agent who shot woman in Chicago drove Border Patrol vehicle back to Maine
An unnamed ICE agent, who shot and injured a woman in Chicago, is now back in Maine after driving the Border Patrol vehicle he was in 1,100 miles.
wgme.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Ask yourself why there wasn’t this level of wall to wall coverage for this shooting wgme.com/news/local/i...
Reposted by Lewis Baston
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
November 27, 2025 at 5:52 AM
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
Reposted by Lewis Baston
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
Can’t sleep so I’ve been watching an old episode of Foyle’s War. Laurence Fox plays an arrogant, cruel and sneaky little Nazi nepo baby. Good to see an actor stretching himself for a part.
November 27, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Can’t sleep so I’ve been watching an old episode of Foyle’s War. Laurence Fox plays an arrogant, cruel and sneaky little Nazi nepo baby. Good to see an actor stretching himself for a part.
Unzoomed #679 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com
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Unzoomed
Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.
unzoomed.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Unzoomed #679 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️
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Yeah. It’s fine for a Labour government to do things that Labour voters like and other people don’t. Should try it more often.
Also who cares why they did it? What matters is it's done. (In any case reducing poverty is one reason people vote for Labour MPs so mollifying is kind of the point of elected them).
I'm hearing criticisms of the end to the two child limit, because it was done just to mollify Labour backbenchers, at a cost of £billions.
I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?
I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?
November 26, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Yeah. It’s fine for a Labour government to do things that Labour voters like and other people don’t. Should try it more often.
Ethics in political journalism, anyone….
Hey, congratulations to all of Olivia Nuzzi’s horny media critic defenders. Heckuva job!
November 26, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Ethics in political journalism, anyone….
Ach, I’ve written most of the other stuff I need to and I’m about half an hour off being able to send it. So I’ll share…
Shall I share reminiscences about racism in my school in the 1970s and 1980s or shall I do what I’m supposed to and write other stuff?
November 26, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Ach, I’ve written most of the other stuff I need to and I’m about half an hour off being able to send it. So I’ll share…
There’s some… political courage in the interests of rational national policy here isn’t there? In this and with the two child limit.
Approach to replacing fuel duty revenue over the longterm is about right, I think: still have an incentive to switch from ICE to EVs, and will just be the new normal as drivers transition.
November 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
There’s some… political courage in the interests of rational national policy here isn’t there? In this and with the two child limit.
Shall I share reminiscences about racism in my school in the 1970s and 1980s or shall I do what I’m supposed to and write other stuff?
November 26, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Shall I share reminiscences about racism in my school in the 1970s and 1980s or shall I do what I’m supposed to and write other stuff?
Reposted by Lewis Baston
Meanwhile, in Britain we're about to have a vitriolic debate as to whether a £1.50 per night tax on a hotel room will totally destroy tourism or not.
The Interior Department has announced it will charge $100 per head for non-US residents to visit the most popular 11 national parks.
Stupid and self-defeating. Millions have visited those parks and left with with affection for America. No more, except those who can afford $400 per family per park.
Stupid and self-defeating. Millions have visited those parks and left with with affection for America. No more, except those who can afford $400 per family per park.
November 26, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Meanwhile, in Britain we're about to have a vitriolic debate as to whether a £1.50 per night tax on a hotel room will totally destroy tourism or not.
Unzoomed #678 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️
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November 26, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Unzoomed #678 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️
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Four plumbers, four explanations, four promises that the problem had been sorted for a year or more. Woken up for the fifth time by water coming through the ceiling at 04:30. Forgive me if I’m in a worse mood than usual.
November 26, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Four plumbers, four explanations, four promises that the problem had been sorted for a year or more. Woken up for the fifth time by water coming through the ceiling at 04:30. Forgive me if I’m in a worse mood than usual.
Unzoomed #677 5/6 🔴🔴🔴🔴🟢⚪️
unzoomed.com ouch! I got this city (which I’ve been to) in one guess when it was last on. First go I chose somewhere based on apparently recognising the street pattern, and I was over 10,000km off.
unzoomed.com ouch! I got this city (which I’ve been to) in one guess when it was last on. First go I chose somewhere based on apparently recognising the street pattern, and I was over 10,000km off.
Unzoomed
Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.
unzoomed.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Unzoomed #677 5/6 🔴🔴🔴🔴🟢⚪️
unzoomed.com ouch! I got this city (which I’ve been to) in one guess when it was last on. First go I chose somewhere based on apparently recognising the street pattern, and I was over 10,000km off.
unzoomed.com ouch! I got this city (which I’ve been to) in one guess when it was last on. First go I chose somewhere based on apparently recognising the street pattern, and I was over 10,000km off.
I’m pro ‘tourist taxes’ (they’re in effect across a lot of Europe and they’re small and you can often pay them without noticing). But they are the ultimate case of ‘raise taxes on someone else.’
BREAKING | Labour announces ‘tourist tax’ to boost England’s cities
Labour announces ‘tourist tax’ to boost England’s cities
www.independent.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
I’m pro ‘tourist taxes’ (they’re in effect across a lot of Europe and they’re small and you can often pay them without noticing). But they are the ultimate case of ‘raise taxes on someone else.’
Reposted by Lewis Baston
ianvisits.co.uk is such a superb website - been to so many events in London that I wouldn’t have heard of without it. Also, while I’m re-tweeting him, Borderlines by @lewisbaston.bsky.social is a brilliant exploration of Europe, seen through its frontier zones - politics, history, folklore and war.
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
ianvisits.co.uk is such a superb website - been to so many events in London that I wouldn’t have heard of without it. Also, while I’m re-tweeting him, Borderlines by @lewisbaston.bsky.social is a brilliant exploration of Europe, seen through its frontier zones - politics, history, folklore and war.
This is interesting and it reflects extremely well on the civil engineering profession.
The hidden chemical attack that forced the Northern line’s extraordinary repair
www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the...
www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the...
The hidden chemical attack that forced the Northern line’s extraordinary repair
Thirty years ago, an entire section of the Northern line had to be replaced because it was under attack from acid, and hardly anyone noticed that it was happening.
www.ianvisits.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
This is interesting and it reflects extremely well on the civil engineering profession.
‘Waiting/ to put on the black shirt/ to smash in their windows and kick in their doors’
Reform's Twitter account is showcasing the new range of black shirts they plan to start selling soon.
The metaphors write themselves, and they know it.
The metaphors write themselves, and they know it.
November 24, 2025 at 11:32 PM
‘Waiting/ to put on the black shirt/ to smash in their windows and kick in their doors’
I do. I was working for a television production company (on a history of the John Major government) and there was some grim humour about the prospects for a TV company where everyone had blinded themselves thanks to not reading the cautions about looking at the eclipse.
Do you remember where you were for the solar eclipse in the UK on August 11th 1999?
November 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
I do. I was working for a television production company (on a history of the John Major government) and there was some grim humour about the prospects for a TV company where everyone had blinded themselves thanks to not reading the cautions about looking at the eclipse.
I'm distracted (I'm supposed to be writing about Labour leadership election rules and history), sort of loose and listening to Tangled Up in Blue and reflecting on my life. Ask me questions, you might get an answer en clair or DM, but I reserve the right to give an ironic response, swerve or ignore.
November 24, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I'm distracted (I'm supposed to be writing about Labour leadership election rules and history), sort of loose and listening to Tangled Up in Blue and reflecting on my life. Ask me questions, you might get an answer en clair or DM, but I reserve the right to give an ironic response, swerve or ignore.
Reposted by Lewis Baston
This reminds me of a Radio 4 doc I once made in which we asked Clegg, Cameron, Osborne & D. Miliband if they'd taken cocaine in their youth. The answers from the first three were elegantly constructed: references to the important of politicians being allowed a private past etc.
Miliband said: 'No'.
Miliband said: 'No'.
“I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way”
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
This reminds me of a Radio 4 doc I once made in which we asked Clegg, Cameron, Osborne & D. Miliband if they'd taken cocaine in their youth. The answers from the first three were elegantly constructed: references to the important of politicians being allowed a private past etc.
Miliband said: 'No'.
Miliband said: 'No'.
Reminder that there's a week left before Unzoomed goes over to subscription-only. It's a snip at £3 a month (10p a go, more or less, for something that's fun) to an independent creator rather than a corporation. I've paid up.
November 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reminder that there's a week left before Unzoomed goes over to subscription-only. It's a snip at £3 a month (10p a go, more or less, for something that's fun) to an independent creator rather than a corporation. I've paid up.
Unzoomed #676 3/6 🔴🔴🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com ha!
unzoomed.com ha!
Unzoomed
Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.
unzoomed.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Unzoomed #676 3/6 🔴🔴🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com ha!
unzoomed.com ha!