Stephen Bush
@stephenkb.bsky.social
Associate editor and columnist @financialtimes.com. Post too often about culture, public policy, management, politics, nerd stuff, Arsenal, wosoc. Try my UK politics newsletter for free here: www.ft.com/tryinsidepolitics
Pinned
Stephen Bush
@stephenkb.bsky.social
· Feb 22
I sat through that so when my column gets factchecked I can say “yes, that line is accurate”. Such is the FT’s commitment to bringing you our best understanding of the truth. Subscribe here: subs.ft.com/products
Just when I had repressed this 2024 quote it comes back, like Mike Myers, who would apparently be just as scary if I watched him in bright lights on a tiny screen.
December 6, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Just when I had repressed this 2024 quote it comes back, like Mike Myers, who would apparently be just as scary if I watched him in bright lights on a tiny screen.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
That's the beauty of live music right there. Nothing compares.
December 6, 2025 at 11:29 PM
That's the beauty of live music right there. Nothing compares.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Normally after a concert I put in some earplugs to cut down tube noise but if I can listen to music then it wasn’t a good concert.
December 6, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Normally after a concert I put in some earplugs to cut down tube noise but if I can listen to music then it wasn’t a good concert.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
December 6, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Staying up for days Writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you. ...i find this line is utter desperate..
December 6, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Staying up for days Writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you. ...i find this line is utter desperate..
Reposted by Stephen Bush
"An Irish Airman" is PR advisor's poem. "Those that I fight I do not hate / Those that I guard I do not love". Also "
No likely end could bring them loss / Or leave them happier than before." Finally "The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind" - this is my career.
No likely end could bring them loss / Or leave them happier than before." Finally "The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind" - this is my career.
Til then I see what’s really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 6, 2025 at 9:29 PM
"An Irish Airman" is PR advisor's poem. "Those that I fight I do not hate / Those that I guard I do not love". Also "
No likely end could bring them loss / Or leave them happier than before." Finally "The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind" - this is my career.
No likely end could bring them loss / Or leave them happier than before." Finally "The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind" - this is my career.
Just had an absolutely delightful evening at Ronnie Scott’s. The one downside of a great gig is that you have to go home in silence because no record quite compares to live.
December 6, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Just had an absolutely delightful evening at Ronnie Scott’s. The one downside of a great gig is that you have to go home in silence because no record quite compares to live.
Til then I see what’s really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 6, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Til then I see what’s really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now
Reposted by Stephen Bush
the great gatsby is one of the most widely assigned books in america and yet apparently literally nobody understands it www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
December 6, 2025 at 8:24 PM
the great gatsby is one of the most widely assigned books in america and yet apparently literally nobody understands it www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
If I were Netflix I would be trying to create my own facts on the ground too, to be fair.
This is jumping the gun for a deal that requires approval from regulators and shareholders, and may yet face a counterbid from any number of rivals.
Netflix, which rarely carries a single movie from before 1980, wants you to know how thrilled they are to acquire that classic piece of franchise IP, Casablanca
December 6, 2025 at 8:34 PM
If I were Netflix I would be trying to create my own facts on the ground too, to be fair.
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He has children! Doesn't he go to school fetes, soft plays, funfairs and so on? Doesn't he talk to other parents there? I don't know how you could be a big-city parent and not have pleasant social contact with people from nearly every background imaginable
December 6, 2025 at 8:32 PM
He has children! Doesn't he go to school fetes, soft plays, funfairs and so on? Doesn't he talk to other parents there? I don't know how you could be a big-city parent and not have pleasant social contact with people from nearly every background imaginable
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But also if it’s your city you will be used to it as you will have gone to school and not landed like some out of towner
December 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
But also if it’s your city you will be used to it as you will have gone to school and not landed like some out of towner
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2Casa2Blanca
Netflix, which rarely carries a single movie from before 1980, wants you to know how thrilled they are to acquire that classic piece of franchise IP, Casablanca
December 6, 2025 at 7:54 PM
2Casa2Blanca
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Or if you are absolutely unable to get over the fear, move to Plymouth or something! That will sort out your house price problem too. Just don't embarrass us all by claiming your birthright is to live in a cosmopolitan world city with nobody there who isn't white.
December 6, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Or if you are absolutely unable to get over the fear, move to Plymouth or something! That will sort out your house price problem too. Just don't embarrass us all by claiming your birthright is to live in a cosmopolitan world city with nobody there who isn't white.
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Also white Londoners born in 2000 generally don’t think that at all.
December 6, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Also white Londoners born in 2000 generally don’t think that at all.
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I assume what he really wants is to go to White’s
And what’s stopping him is a combination of his life not having ended up where he’d hoped by this age, intersecting with “wealth & social standing of almost all journalists being a fraction of what it was 30 years ago”
So let’s blame immigrants!
And what’s stopping him is a combination of his life not having ended up where he’d hoped by this age, intersecting with “wealth & social standing of almost all journalists being a fraction of what it was 30 years ago”
So let’s blame immigrants!
December 6, 2025 at 6:28 PM
I assume what he really wants is to go to White’s
And what’s stopping him is a combination of his life not having ended up where he’d hoped by this age, intersecting with “wealth & social standing of almost all journalists being a fraction of what it was 30 years ago”
So let’s blame immigrants!
And what’s stopping him is a combination of his life not having ended up where he’d hoped by this age, intersecting with “wealth & social standing of almost all journalists being a fraction of what it was 30 years ago”
So let’s blame immigrants!
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Most Stephen Bush way to say “touch grass”
December 6, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Most Stephen Bush way to say “touch grass”
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Read a novel written in the last 50 fucking years.
December 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Read a novel written in the last 50 fucking years.
Genuinely what are people like Ed West doing with their lives? Go to Wigmore Hall, go to the movies, go to Koko, go to the Vortex Jazz Club, go see an orchestra, go see the Last Dinner Party...it ought to cure you out of having this weird, unnatural reaction to your fellow citizens.
No surprise that Ed West thinks you have to be white for London to be "your city", but still shocking that the *London* Standard prints this stuff.
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
December 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Genuinely what are people like Ed West doing with their lives? Go to Wigmore Hall, go to the movies, go to Koko, go to the Vortex Jazz Club, go see an orchestra, go see the Last Dinner Party...it ought to cure you out of having this weird, unnatural reaction to your fellow citizens.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
(the exchange which made me realise that it was not just an issue of resources and capacity, the British civil service really does have some serious problems of competence)
December 6, 2025 at 5:28 PM
(the exchange which made me realise that it was not just an issue of resources and capacity, the British civil service really does have some serious problems of competence)
Reposted by Stephen Bush
No surprise that Ed West thinks you have to be white for London to be "your city", but still shocking that the *London* Standard prints this stuff.
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
December 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
No surprise that Ed West thinks you have to be white for London to be "your city", but still shocking that the *London* Standard prints this stuff.
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
Reposted by Stephen Bush
One thing I’ve learned as someone who makes complex things: never watch the adverts for your own product.
December 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
One thing I’ve learned as someone who makes complex things: never watch the adverts for your own product.
Stranger Things rewatch: the Russia stuff is so much more watchable the second time around, because the big problem with it is we sort of *know* that this is a cosy horror that isn’t going to off any of those characters and so it feels like making time/a thing holding you back from the other plots.
December 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Stranger Things rewatch: the Russia stuff is so much more watchable the second time around, because the big problem with it is we sort of *know* that this is a cosy horror that isn’t going to off any of those characters and so it feels like making time/a thing holding you back from the other plots.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
This stuff is absolutely appalling (and totally predictable) and the seemingly imminent widespread launch of Pervert Glasses will make it much worse
The rise of deepfake pornography in schools: ‘One girl was so horrified she vomited’ www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...
The rise of deepfake pornography in schools: ‘One girl was so horrified she vomited’
The use of ‘nudify’ apps is becoming more and more prevalent, with hundreds of teachers having seen images created by pupils, often of their peers. The fallout is huge – and growing fast
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 1:45 PM
This stuff is absolutely appalling (and totally predictable) and the seemingly imminent widespread launch of Pervert Glasses will make it much worse
Reposted by Stephen Bush
And yeah there's no freaking way I'd let it do something like work out pricing and margins. Christ, I'm not even directly in sales and our average deal size, win rate and quarterly targets may as well be tattooed on my eyeballs.
December 6, 2025 at 2:35 PM
And yeah there's no freaking way I'd let it do something like work out pricing and margins. Christ, I'm not even directly in sales and our average deal size, win rate and quarterly targets may as well be tattooed on my eyeballs.