Alex Grant
@alexgrant24.bsky.social
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
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
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...
The Guardian gets a lot of stick - including from me, sometimes - for being London-centric & obsessed with identity politics. This, about an ailing high street in County Durham, is a good antidote: factual, important reporting that does not patronise the north.
www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...
‘You’d be ashamed to bring someone here’: The struggling billionaire-owned high street that shows Reform’s road to No 10
Newton Aycliffe was meant to be a model town for a fairer postwar Britain. But unaffordable rents on a high street amounting to 0.12% of its property tycoon owner’s holdings have made it a symbol of d...
www.theguardian.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:13 PM
The Guardian gets a lot of stick - including from me, sometimes - for being London-centric & obsessed with identity politics. This, about an ailing high street in County Durham, is a good antidote: factual, important reporting that does not patronise the north.
www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...
Martinson is absolutely right. It's 2004 all over again. Like Greg Dyke & Gavyn Davies the resignations of Davie & Turness are totally unjustified. A confident Britain would stand up to this sort of culture war nonsense. Instead we have craven capitulation... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The BBC is facing a coordinated, politically motivated attack. With these resignations, it has given in | Jane Martinson
The corporation should have stood up to the Telegraph, Trump and the Tories. Now, its enemies know how little it takes for it to fold, says Jane Martinson, professor of financial journalism
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Martinson is absolutely right. It's 2004 all over again. Like Greg Dyke & Gavyn Davies the resignations of Davie & Turness are totally unjustified. A confident Britain would stand up to this sort of culture war nonsense. Instead we have craven capitulation... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This is an ugly moment. #Trump supporters will cry "Fake News" whatever the #BBC says. Even if editorial guidelines were breached in an edit of Trump's January 6 speech, #Davie & Turness's resignations are not called for. The BBC, one of the world's... 1/3
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage
Davie says departure is ‘my own decision’, while head of news also quits with BBC preparing to apologise for editing of a Trump speech
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:58 PM
This is an ugly moment. #Trump supporters will cry "Fake News" whatever the #BBC says. Even if editorial guidelines were breached in an edit of Trump's January 6 speech, #Davie & Turness's resignations are not called for. The BBC, one of the world's... 1/3
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
It is wonderful to discover that one of the two women recently appointed as job-share chief executives of Historic England, Claudia Kenyatta, is a granddaughter of Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta.
historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/ne...
historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/ne...
Claudia Kenyatta and Emma Squire Appointed New Joint Chief Executive of Historic England | Historic England
Claudia Kenyatta and Emma Squire to job share as Chief Executive of Historic England following the retirement of Duncan Wilson in October 2025.
historicengland.org.uk
November 9, 2025 at 4:12 PM
It is wonderful to discover that one of the two women recently appointed as job-share chief executives of Historic England, Claudia Kenyatta, is a granddaughter of Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta.
historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/ne...
historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/ne...
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
November 2, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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...
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
October 26, 2025 at 7:48 AM
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.
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
October 24, 2025 at 4:17 PM
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...
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
October 16, 2025 at 6:20 PM
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...
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
October 16, 2025 at 6:08 PM
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...
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...
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
October 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
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...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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
October 5, 2025 at 6:44 AM
For once, Melanie Phillips is 💯 % right about Tommy Robinson. melaniephillips.substack.com/p/a-very-stu...
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.
October 1, 2025 at 1:21 PM
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.
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...
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
October 1, 2025 at 1:15 PM
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...
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/29/t...
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.
September 21, 2025 at 7:45 PM
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.
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.
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
September 19, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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.
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...
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
September 7, 2025 at 8:38 PM
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...
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
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...
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
July 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
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...
www.dezeen.com/2025/07/15/e...
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...
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
July 20, 2025 at 9:30 PM
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...
www.dezeen.com/2025/07/15/e...
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
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...
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
July 18, 2025 at 9:53 PM
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
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...
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
July 16, 2025 at 5:36 PM
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...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
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...
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
July 15, 2025 at 9:13 AM
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...
www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
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
www.theguardian.com
July 15, 2025 at 8:52 AM
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...
I feel sympathy with Metreweli: no-one shd be held culpable for the actions of a grandfather (especially one she'd never met). But had his Nazi past been uncovered by the positive vetting she must have undergone? Or was it unknown until the Daily Mail began digging?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Blaise Metreweli: MI6 distances new chief from Nazi grandfather
Blaise Metreweli
www.bbc.co.uk
July 2, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I feel sympathy with Metreweli: no-one shd be held culpable for the actions of a grandfather (especially one she'd never met). But had his Nazi past been uncovered by the positive vetting she must have undergone? Or was it unknown until the Daily Mail began digging?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Good reporting by the @greenwichwire.bsky.social as usual. The Greens' victory in Shooters Hill ward, #Greenwich, is a big upset. Labour ran a masterclass in how NOT to run a by-election campaign. Its candidate, Jummy Dawodu, boycotted hustings, & in a... 1/5 greenwichwire.co.uk/2025/06/27/l...
Green Party's Tamasin Rhymes wins Shooters Hill by-election - The Greenwich Wire
The Green Party has its first ever councillor in Greenwich after Tamasin Rhymes won the Shooters Hill by-election.
greenwichwire.co.uk
June 27, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Good reporting by the @greenwichwire.bsky.social as usual. The Greens' victory in Shooters Hill ward, #Greenwich, is a big upset. Labour ran a masterclass in how NOT to run a by-election campaign. Its candidate, Jummy Dawodu, boycotted hustings, & in a... 1/5 greenwichwire.co.uk/2025/06/27/l...
What a missed opportunity. Foster's proposed statue of #ElizabethII is essentially the same composition as Le Sueur's statue of Charles I, cast in 1633, put on a pedestal by Wren, & abominably sited at Charing X, where the regicides were executed. Has art not moved on at all in nearly 400 yrs?
June 26, 2025 at 7:23 PM
What a missed opportunity. Foster's proposed statue of #ElizabethII is essentially the same composition as Le Sueur's statue of Charles I, cast in 1633, put on a pedestal by Wren, & abominably sited at Charing X, where the regicides were executed. Has art not moved on at all in nearly 400 yrs?