Jonn Elledge
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jonnelledge.bsky.social
Jonn Elledge
@jonnelledge.bsky.social
52K followers 5K following 16K posts
#1 Sunday Times bestselling author, because apparently that matters. New Statesman, New World, Oh God What Now, The Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything, Paper Cuts (RIP). Londoner. *Not* an American.
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jonnelledge.bsky.social
jonn.substack.com/p/some-notes...
The story in question involves the Donner Party, a group who in 1846-7 made the rookie error of trying to take a shortcut when crossing North America before anyone had built any roads or railways, let alone motels or 7-Elevens. That chapter (which is lots of fun, by the way; you really will enjoy the book!) includes a reference to the point they crossed the Great continental divide – the notional line that marks the United States’ main hydrological divide. Pour a glass of water out almost anywhere on the eastern side of the line, and it will flow, eventually – it will take some time, and possibly a lengthy diversion via a smaller sea – into the Atlantic. Pour it out on the other side of that line, and it will flow, probably rather more speedily, to the Pacific. The reason for the difference in timescales is that the continental divide doesn’t actually run down the middle of the continent, or anything like. It’s some way to the west, following the line of the Rocky Mountains: for the vast majority of the US and much of Canada, water will flow, eventually, eastwards. Why the Rockies should form part of the divide is self explanatory – water is not famous for flowing uphill. But isn’t there another sizeable mountain chain in the eastern United States? Why doesn’t that pose a similar barrier? Actually it does. Here comes the map:
January 19, 2026 at 1:33 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
just told my mum about Rosindell
January 18, 2026 at 9:24 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
Borders expert here! This ia a steaming pile of horseshit.
January 17, 2026 at 11:15 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
January 14, 2026 at 11:52 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
jonn.substack.com/p/the-lies-t...
The British authorities dismissed the denials as “risible”; they were mocked on social media and topical comedy shows, generally on the grounds that even, in Britain you’d struggle to find someone either that knowledgeable or that enthusiastic about Salisbury’s admittedly fine Cathedral. Looking back though, I wonder whether the distinctly implausible nature of the lies was an entirely deliberate feature. We have to deny this, for form’s sake, for the consumption of domestic audiences and to reduce the chance of reprisals, the logic goes. But we do nonetheless want you to understand we did it, and that we would do it again. Skripal, after all, was working with British intelligence services. The purpose of a deterrent is to deter. I’ve been thinking about all this because of the similar lies recently spilling from the government of a country we used to tell ourselves was not like Russia at all. If you haven’t seen footage of Renee Nicole Good’s death at the hands of ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis last week, I wouldn’t seek it out: the world is quite distressing enough already without going hunting for literal snuff footage. But it is difficult, to put it mildly, to reconcile the US government’s claims that Ross acted in self defence in response to the 37 year old mother trying to run him over, with the cheery way she told him “I’m not mad at you” just moments before. More likely something close to the opposite is true, and his impulsive actions weren’t because he was scared but because she wasn’t. At any rate, the line from ICE and the White House and Republicans in congress and
January 14, 2026 at 3:48 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
I used to quite like Dilbert, before I knew literally anything about Scott Adams. This one's great.
January 13, 2026 at 5:24 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
they can't all be bangers
January 12, 2026 at 9:12 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
okay but why does an advert for Seasame Street need to be this threatening
January 11, 2026 at 7:16 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
Hello new followers! Here are aome recent pictures from my camera roll without explanation.
January 11, 2026 at 1:29 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
jonn.substack.com/p/who-was-th...
When I was a very small child, I had a sense, whereof I know not, that William the Conqueror was the first king of England and that history began in 1066. When I was a slightly less small child, my much-loved maternal Granddad Wally bought me a huge royal family tree, and I was delighted to learn that this wasn’t so. There were more than two and a half centuries of kings before Hastings! England’s history stretched all the way back to some bloke called Egbert in the far off year 802!1 Ask historians – or the internet, come to that – who the first king of England was, though, and you’re unlikely to get either answer. They might name Alfred the Great. They might say his grandson Athelstan, of whom you can buy biographies named things like Æthelstan: The First King of England. They might say something else entirely. It is, in other words, complicated. But because I like this kind of thing, here are some options, in chronological order. Offa of Mercia, 757-796: Generally regarded as the most powerful Anglo-Saxon king before the Vikings start showing up and generally screwing things up for everyone who wasn’t a Viking and probably also some people who were. Gradually consolidated and expanded a kingdom that was already breaking out of its heartlands in the Midlands to effectively unify England south of the Humber.
January 10, 2026 at 2:17 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
having a very productive day actually thank you
January 9, 2026 at 4:30 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
www.thenewworld.co.uk/jonn-elledge...
1. In pre-colonial times, Venezuela – on the northern coast of South America – was home to the Carib, Arawak and Chibcha peoples. The region was first visited by Europeans in 1498, on Christopher Columbus’s third journey to the New World, and first colonised by Spanish settlers from 1521. 2. Its name – literally “Little Venice”, like that posh bit of north-west London – is a reference to the fact some of the locals lived in houses on stilts above water. 3. The region was nearly, unexpectedly, German: in the mid-16th century, a banking house from Augsburg purchased exploration and colonisation rights – the sort of thing rich Europeans were cheerfully selling each other in those days. But it didn’t come off, and from 1546 Spanish explorers began to arrive in the hope of finding El Dorado, the mythical city of gold. 4. In 1810, with Madrid distracted by a slight Napoleonic invasion, the good burghers of Caracas took the opportunity to declare independence from the Spanish empire. It took over a decade of war, a couple of republics and quite a lot of territorial chopping and changing, but in 1821, the north of South
January 7, 2026 at 12:02 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
inews.co.uk/opinion/why-...
Lord Marples of Wallasey, as he became, is far from the worst politician Britain has known. His record contains much that is good, as well as plenty that is bad; both the decline of the railways and the rise of the car were happening anyway. Even so, he was the one who oversaw, embraced and profited from this transition, and has spent the last six decades escaping the reputational damage by hiding behind Dr Beeching. He embedded into national policy the belief that roads provided benefits that made them always worth spending money on, but the railways amounted to little more than a cost. Looking at Britain’s transport networks in 2025, it feels a lot like this did more harm than good. More than that, in the type of Tory he was – not just a self-made man, but a dodgy landlord and tax evader with a penchant for scandal – he was a taste of things to come. The party was always conservative, but once upon a time it had a sense of noblesse oblige. Marples was an early harbinger of the home for self-interested spivs the Conservative party would become. Regarding that sign above the M1, incidentally, it’s worth remembering that Ernest Marples arguably did more for the motoring lobby than any transport minister before or since. And yet they hated him – for attempting to restrict their freedoms even slightly for the greater good. That, too, was a sign of things to come.
January 5, 2026 at 2:46 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
I raise you
January 4, 2026 at 9:18 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
January 3, 2026 at 10:28 AM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
"How did you hear the news?"
January 3, 2026 at 9:39 AM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
Today's route. Please forgive the lack of alt text, I know it's bad of me, but I walked 12 miles in the freezing cold, everything hurts a bit
January 2, 2026 at 9:46 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, and down to Embankment. fin
January 2, 2026 at 9:44 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
along the mall passed st James's park
January 2, 2026 at 9:39 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
around the palace
January 2, 2026 at 9:39 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
who knew Nye and Jennie lived in Belgravia
January 2, 2026 at 9:38 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
slone square and Cliveden Place
January 2, 2026 at 9:36 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
January 2, 2026 at 9:35 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
up the kings road
January 2, 2026 at 9:32 PM
jonnelledge.bsky.social
Parsons Green and so forth
January 2, 2026 at 9:26 PM