I'm really thrilled to have received a The British Academy fellowship to research Ukraine's multicultural literary heritage! And very grateful to all at UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies, UCL Research and especially to Vitaly Chernetsky for supporting the project.

‘If you pay a landlord £1000 a month in rent, and he, after months of pleading, does a £50 bodge-job on your broken boiler, is he “investing” in the flat in an exciting way that’s great news for Britain?’

James Meek on the trouble with Thames Water:
lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Without this manpower advantage, Russia's artillery and airpower advantage would not be sufficient for Russia to make gains on the battlefield. The relative manpower situation is likely the most important factor that will determine the war's trajectory, particularly if Russia can

Anyone have any ideas for how to get the part of the Inland Revenue that hounds the dead for unpaid tax to talk to the part of the Inland Revenue to release the funds in the deceased person's estate that are needed to pay that tax?

I'm glad that the Iranian attacks against Israel failed. Some of the drones were shot down by USA and UK.

The West would have the power to repel such attacks in Ukraine too, if it wanted. Choosing not to, even while civilians are dying, is a a conscious political decision.

This is the bleakest period for Ukraine since the invasion, with no reason to think things will get better. As things stand, Europe and America have abandoned Ukraine to Putin, and it is indulging ourselves to think otherwise.

A Ukrainian rescue worker crying, just after he found out his father was killed after the Shahed drone attack on Kharkiv.

This chills me to the bone.

972mag.com/lavender-ai-is…

Sometimes the bleakest take is the truest.

Interesting how so many graduates of the University of Life switched to Made Up Shit On The Internet University to get their PhD

'Sending western troops to Ukraine' can mean many things. It can mean 'sending western troops into combat against Russians'. It can also mean 'sending western troops as guarantors of an armistice.' Without the second, it's hard to see a future ceasefire holding.

A beautiful piece from James Meek #LRB >their grief takes place in the isolation of a society which, taking its cue from the top, limits national consciousness of the scale of the deaths it has inflicted on itself to a stiff evocation of general sacrifice lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Ладно. Вы тут не скучайте без меня. А главное - не бездельничайте, жаба сама себя с нефтяной трубы не скинет.

‘There is of course a theoretical chance that Europe and the US will get round to sending Ukraine the ammunition it needs before it’s too late. But they aren’t going to send soldiers.’

James Meek on the future of Ukraine:
lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Media outlets keep quoting Jens Stoltenberg as if he were like the Pope of Nato

These look like three wonderful lectures from brilliant thinkers, all of them well worth attending. It's great that a new venue has been found after the Barbican pulled out, apparently in fear at discussion of the Holocaust and its contemporary lessons. lrb.co.uk/pages/standalo…

Impressed by this comprehensive look at the TV industry and the so-called end of the so-called “Golden Age of TV” by James Meek on the London Review of Books podcast. open.spotify.com/episode/37vC7S…

Shrewd

More than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been reportedly taken by Russia. The New York Times looks at the few who made it back and details how Russia took them under the guise of a “rescue” and tried to turn them against Ukraine and make them loyal to Russia. nytimes.com/interactive/20…