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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 3d

Quite disturbing.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 4d

I sang Jerusalem with Robert Jenrick at school — he’s wrong about race

www.thetimes.com/article/3af4...

I sang Jerusalem with Robert Jenrick at school — he’s wrong about race

The Conservative MP has complained that, visiting Handsworth in Birmingham, he didn’t see ‘another white face’. You can’t judge whether someone is integrated by skin colour, argues fellow Wulfrunian S...

www.thetimes.com

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 8d

Can I be the first to say that Taylor Swift’s new album is underrated? (Probably not. Reviewers are reviewing the thing, their expectations, their perception of the audience reaction, rather than the music). That said, Wood is objectively terrible and should have remained a private valentine.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 9d

I read a book. I recommend it. www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/thom...

www.uncut.co.uk

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 9d

The Guardian’s football writers don’t seem to like football much. As a West Ham fan, there are reasons to be annoyed, but the global vortex isn’t top of the list. A mobile centre forward would cheer everyone up.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

West Ham tumble in modern football’s vortex, with home now a distant memory | Jonathan Liew

A feeling of loss and dislocation surrounds the East End club, which has never been part of tourist or establishment London

www.theguardian.com

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 10d

www.vulture.com/article/jim-...

Protect empathy

‘Protect Empathy at All Costs. And Live Groovy Lives.’

Jim Jarmusch on what’s paying his bills these days and the words he lives by.

www.vulture.com

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 16d

McCartney’s Long and Winding Road. (It goes to Cambelltown and describes the end of the Beatles). www.musicradar.com/artists/i-ju...

“I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song. It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable”: The story of the ballad that sparked the breakup of The ...

Featuring "atrocious" bass-playing by John Lennon

www.musicradar.com

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 18d

A different angle on the Go-Betweens themusic.com.au/features/the...

‘We Were Just Passionate About Making Good Songs’: Lindy Morrison & Amanda Brown Reflect On The Go-Betweens’ ‘16 Lovers Lane’

As they prepare to once again revisit The Go-Betweens’ seminal sixth album ‘16 Lovers Lane,’ original members Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown remember how for them it was always about building a legac...

themusic.com.au

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · 18d

This Paul McCartney song got under my skin. I asked Peter Asher, of Peter and Gordon, to tell me all about it.

open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

From Wimpole Street To Number One: How Peter Asher found the sad, eternal heart of a rejected Paul McCartney song

A lonely ramble down the road to the pure teenage sound of 1964

open.substack.com

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Sep 4

open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Justin Currie's diary of a somebody: a brisk, irascible record of rock 'n' roll life

A diagnosis with Parkinson's colours the del Amitri singer's reflections in his memoir, The Tremolo Diaries

open.substack.com

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jul 12

Watching Live Aid, I now want to ask The Edge about minimalism.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jul 10

Chris Mason of the BBC (and the BBC News) are so embedded in the framing of Farage that they can’t even see it anymore.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jul 2

So, West Ham fans - as you wait for the Irons to sell their best players in order to buy some worse ones, here’s my gallery from the great days of Green Street and Upton Park. (Now, Mr Sullivan, a fit centre forward, please).

LOWER BLOCK @lowerblock.bsky.social · May 15

THE LAST YEARS OF THE BOLEYN | For 112 years, Upton Park was the heartbeat of a community. Before West Ham United’s move to the London Stadium, matchdays in E13 pulsed with tradition. Alastair McKay on capturing West Ham’s East End soul. #coyi #whu

lowerblock.com/articles/wes... #irons

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 30

Chris Mason of the BBC, I put it to you that you are overexcited.

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Reposted by Alastair McKay

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Jun 27

Say it with me. RFK Jr. is killing children.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 25

Thought For The Day. How can we have any hope of sorting out any of the world’s problems when no one is brave enough to sort out the insulting monstrosity that is Thought For The Day on the R4 Today programme? Make it stop! Free my ears!

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 23

In his new book, Arthur Baker suggests that Tony Wilson was “David Frost meets Donald Trump.” This is terrifying, obviously, but I wouldn’t mind watching David Frost interview Trump, Nixon-style.

Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 21

A reprise (with some new bits) of one of my favourite interviews (as Sir Rod prepares for Glastonbury). open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 14

I enjoyed this (very) long profile of the PM, and the revamped New Statesman looks good. However, the correct cover line would be Hellbent On Compromise, which is a) true b) a good thing and c) an Edwyn Collins reference.

Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 10

When the new chair of Reform is called David Bull, you know that Martin Amis is writing the news.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 10

Oh. bylinetimes.com/2025/06/09/b...

BBC Bosses Draw Up Plans to Win Over Reform Voters by Changing News and Drama Output

The Director General Tim Davie and other executives discussed altering BBC “story selection” in order to secure the "trust" of supporters of Nigel Farage’s party

bylinetimes.com

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 9

Good to see the Daily Telegraph admitting to the devastation of Thatcherism.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 8

Because data driven journalists have a weaker sense of what used to be news values, and novelty and fatalism combine with right wing management to produce an effect in which balance means skewing the reporting towards enabling accidental fascism … something like that.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 8

I am familiar with your point it view, but I think there is a more specific failure happening at the moment.

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Alastair McKay @alastairmckay.bsky.social · Jun 8

Why does the BBC news behave like a Nigel Farage fanzine?

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