Subscribers to the Clubland Substack will be getting the first episode of "ClubCast: The Clubland Podcast" tomorrow morning. It's still very much an experiment, but let's see how it goes... You can get such updates sent to you by subscribing at Clubland.Substack.com

I spoke to the 'True Spies' podcast, about the overlap between private members' clubs and the world of espionage. podcasts.apple.com/mz/podcast/tru…

The second episode of ClubCast - the Clubland Podcast - is out now, and is a deep dive into Blades, the fictional club in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. clubland.substack.com/p/clubcast-2-b…

In 2022, Nadhim Zahawi’s solicitor sent me a libel threat - and said I wasn’t even allowed to say he’d written to me. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that was improper. Now he’s appealing. A 🧵 on why it matters.

Mr Hurst is now appealing to the Administrative Court. If he wins this appeal, then solicitors will have a green light to claim their libel threats cannot be published, or even referred to. The "secret SLAPP" will have become blessed by the courts.

I spoke for half an hour to David Marr on Australia’s 'Late Night Live' cultural discussion show on ABC radio - you can listen to the episode below. abc.net.au/listen/program…

Nearly half the British public seems to think that illegal migrants outnumber those here legally. In fact legal migration outnumbers illegal migration by at least 10 to 1.

A genuinely good part of the old Republican aesthetic is how it sought to play down wealth, an impulse born from Protestant values. You can see this in how President George HW Bush both dressed and decorated his living spaces, including his time at the Oval Office.

Agency author historian Seth Thevoz was interviewed by ABC Australia about his latest book 'London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious', published by Robinson (Hachette) and out now. abc.net.au/listen/program… Robinson Books Dr Seth Thévoz🇺🇦(@seththevoz.bsky.social)

Seth Thevoz on the Liberal party in the 1970s: “A colourful collection of anarchists, anti-capitalists, aristocratic Whigs, intellectuals, religious nonconformists, sexual adventurers, perverts, trainspotters and urine drinkers, united by a love of civil liberties”

I wish Farage well in writing to Starmer demanding Reform be allowed to appoint members of Lords. He's challenging corrupt system where all other parties (except SNP) carve up peerages between them, corrupt system carried out in King's name.

80 years ago: a colour photograph of Labour’s new intake of women MPs in 1945.

While I try to make sure a good 90% of the Clubland Substack is free, a major bonus that paying subscribers get is my twice-monthly news round-up, which presents news of private members' clubs around the world, and tries to put it into expert context. clubland.substack.com