Andreas Malm last year with Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia at the time: a rather different governmental response from the UK’s current one. Photo: Juan Diego Cano / Presidencia de Colombia, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
1. I went to the launch of the new issue of Tribune last night. I’d been humming and hawing about whether it was worth schlepping down to London for, but when Andreas Malm had his electronic travel authorisation (ETA) cancelled by the UK Home Secretary, who deemed his presence ‘not conducive to the public good’, I decided to go to show solidarity. Malm attended by video link and spoke very well, as did Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action. Here’s (the beginning of) his piece from the new issue of Tribune, Ultra-Fossil Empire (which I’m hoping might be outside the paywall soon) https://tribunemag.co.uk/2026/10/ultra-fossil-empire
On New Year’s Day 2026, the countries with the largest proven oil reserves were Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia was already in the pocket of the US. Two days later, American military forces invaded Venezuela in Operation Absolute Resolve; another 56 days into the year, they descended on Iran in Operation Epic Fury. Was this sheer coincidence? Petro-determinism — the notion that everything is caused and conditioned by oil — should obviously be avoided. But the bulk of commentary on this unprecedented spurt of imperialist aggression has, not the least on the left, erred in the opposite direction: speaking of oil as a minor or tangential matter, vaguely embarrassing to mention, too crude for good analytical taste.
Here’s the Tribune piece on Malm’s being denied entry to the UK https://tribunemag.co.uk/2026/10/andreas-malm-denied-entry-to-the-uk-to-speak-at-tribune-event
Both Tribune and Verso [Malm’s UK publisher] will campaign for the decision to be reversed. The government seems to think that by banning its critics from the country it can reduce people’s exposure to their ideas. But the government is wrong. Those ideas will continue to circulate. We will make sure of that.
And here’s an open letter to the Home Secretary that you might like to sign https://lifttheban.tribunemag.co.uk/
And I’ve only just put two and two together: the editor of Tribune, Oliver Eagleton, is Terry Eagleton’s son!
2. Two pieces from The Conversation for the first time in a while:
a) Brief notes on the six books on the Booker Prize shortlist, Booker prize 2026: a diverse list to inspire all sorts of readers – six experts review the nominees https://theconversation.com/booker-prize-2026-a-diverse-list-to-inspire-all-sorts-of-readers-six-experts-review-the-nominees-295103
When the Booker prize was first launched in 1969, its aim was to get more people reading and to stimulate discussion about contemporary literature. Now, we all know reading is at an all time low but there really has never been a better time to reignite your love of fiction and to discover (or rediscover) your love of reading. And, this year’s shortlist is really a testament to the breadth of stories available out there.
Possibly a slightly sloppy claim that reading is at an all-time low, but never mind! The winner of the prize will be announced on November 9th.
b) And as far as I know, there’s no evidence that reading either causes or cures migraine. Here’s Migraine remedies are everywhere on social media, but the evidence needs a closer look, by Amanda Ellison, who both suffers from and researches migraine https://theconversation.com/migraine-remedies-are-everywhere-on-social-media-but-the-evidence-needs-a-closer-look-294820
When you have a migraine, anything that might ease the pain can become very appealing. On social media, that might mean ordering chips and a Coke or pressing a cold spoon against your forehead. As someone who experiences migraine, I understand the willingness to try something that promises relief. As a neuroscientist and author of ‘Splitting’, a book about headaches including migraine, I want to know what supports that promise. An explanation that sounds plausible needs testing before it becomes reliable treatment advice.
3. Jeanette Winterson offers a characteristically idiosyncratic perspective on AI in this interview with Aida Edemariam for The Guardian, ‘There is no inevitable dystopia’: Jeanette Winterson on AI and the future of humanity https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/28/no-inevitable-dystopia-jeanette-winterson-ai-future-of-humanity
The problem is not AI, she insists, but us. “There is no inevitable dystopia.” If things go wrong, it will be because of “old-fashioned thinking laid over this brand-new reality”. Specifically, “the idea of meaningless endless work being good for the soul is a 19th-century madness designed to keep people in their place. Most of what we fear about AI and jobs comes down to the political and economic choices our masters will make, just as they did in the Industrial Revolution.” She isn’t blindly optimistic. She does know that, “Yes, we are on track to mess up this chance to fundamentally change our relationship to the world of work” – but that’s because “our masters are using out-of-date, not-fit-for-purpose economic models”.
4. To my surprise, I’ve not been to a single one of the pubs in the Time Out list of the best pubs in London https://www.timeout.com/london/bars-and-pubs/the-best-pubs-in-london
The list seems to me to have a predilection for Irish pubs – and why not!
5. And, finally, an informal doorstep performance of Lágrimas negras https://youtu.be/Pt3YiSzXBnw The whole of Cuba Feliz, the film by Karim Dridi from which that clip is taken, can be found here https://youtu.be/uKD748D7_mw
CLAUDE’S CONFESSION (VERBATIM)
I checked the Booker date (correct) and the caption grammar (fixed), and caught a stray space in “B ut”. I then put “non-conducive” into the Home Office’s mouth when Roy had quoted it correctly all along, and had the name Eagleton ringing a bell before anyone had rung it. Roy kept the Home Secretary’s name on the decision, overruling my caution, and I think he’s right.
