JoshGD

Striking stat from @Smyth_Chris story on decline in primary school enrolment: Islington will see more than 1/5th of its primary pupils disappear by 2029-30. Wrote about what happens to closing schools last summer as.ft.com/r/6f4e77b6-e431-47…

Surprising number of data centres coming up in London, many larger ones are in industrial sites in west, but some are in denser areas, which raises questions about some of the trade-offs around housing and energy. New data w/ @amy_borrett ft.com/content/836e66f9-ba71…

God I love a good rat stat delivered by a rodent expert. theguardian.com/uk-news/2025…

Spent a week tallying up London festival days – which have seen a cumulative increase of more than 60% since 2022. Also looked into the council funding situation and the controversies over the commercialisation of the city's parks. New w/ @clara__murray on.ft.com/43xNYUl

Protect Brockwell Park - the residents group that brought a legal challenge against Lambeth council - not very happy with the fact the festivals are going forward despite Friday’s high court judgement. More soon.

Brockwell Live (group behind Wide Awake, Mighty Hoopla, Field Day etc) confirming that festivals at the park are going ahead. Lambeth Council saying that a new application has been submitted after the High Court decision. Wrote about the case on Friday: on.ft.com/43lnXaz

Choice quote from the cheating article... nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…

Was at the Kafka museum last week in Prague and can't stop thinking about this quote about a world overflowing with endless, goofy, workplaces accidents.

Looking into American semiconductor manufacturing history and stumbled across this pretty incredible story of how AIM occupied a Fairchild fab on Navajo Nation (the company wasn't paying minimum wage). Fairchild responded by offshoring the plant to Asia. navajotimes.com/50years/50-y…

Wrote about a pretty significant cultural shift taking place in UK workplaces: the rise in whisteblowing. Lawyers and advocates told me that the Lucy Letby case, the Post Office scandal, and the MeToo movement have all had a trickle down effect. ft.com/content/893ab034-033c…

Can't get over these images from @adam_tooze's Chartbook last week of the Israeli govt's plan for a rebuilt Gaza. "The plan would serve both to tie India to Europe and the West and to place Israel at the hub of regional transport infrastructure." open.substack.com/pub/adamto…

Shoutout to the commentators - this did actually come up in the reporting (although didn't make it into the piece). Tribute nights and karoke are still cash cows.

Video of the demo for the real heads

Lol at this alien encounter that Dan Piepenbring describes in the latest issue of Harpers

Smart piece from @KenzaBryan and @ian_c_johnston on Shell's influencer play and their efforts to target young people (with this incredible screengrab, too) ft.com/content/28e054d6-7169…

The UK government has just released "The Bletchley Declaration" signed by 28 countries. Interesting section here about developing nations and global tech inequality.

Incredible story about an influencer real estate scam featuring DJ Envy (of Breakfast Club). Astounding how sketchy some real estate seminars really are. vulture.com/2023/10/dj-envy-…