Archie Bland

Thank you very much!

Friday briefing: Six lessons from three years of bringing you this newsletter In today’s newsletter: After more than 450​ early alarms, countless headlines and one rogue squirrel​, it’s time ​for me to say goodbye. ​It’s been a privilege to share the biggest stories – and some ...

Starting a new job as head of national news on Monday so this is my last newsletter. Scroll to the bottom to see my dog getting baked

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Tuesday briefing: The online origins of ‘Boriswave’, the right’s favourite new phrase In today’s newsletter: How a term created by the extremely online right made it into the mainstream press – and a major speech by Nigel Farage

First Edition is about how the extremely online right seeded the ‘Boriswave’ conversation, and why they’re basically the Miranda Priestlys of contemporary politics. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

The Gaza discourse has been Vylanised – but that diversionary strategy just doesn’t work any more | Archie Bland Those appalled by Israel’s actions in Gaza, and the kind of media frenzy prompted by Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury appearance, are finding their voice, says Archie Bland, editor of the Guardian’s First Edit...

I wrote about the Vylanising of the Gaza discourse, and what happens if you keep telling people things they can see aren’t true. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Thank you very much Cas! Only asthmatic squint responses banned

thank you liam!

My son Max, the boy who came back to life - podcast Guardian journalist Archie Bland describes the day his seven-week-old son stopped breathing, and the life he has led in the two years since

On today’s podcast, @archiebland.bsky.social talks about the day his son, Max, stopped breathing, and learning to advocate for a disabled child. This episode brims with love as well as rage at an ableist world and it was an honour to be trusted with Max’s story www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

My son Max, the boy who came back to life - podcast Guardian journalist Archie Bland describes the day his seven-week-old son stopped breathing, and the life he has led in the two years since

The great Today In Focus team of @helenpidd.bsky.social @alexatack.bsky.social and @samikent.bsky.social made an episode about Max and did him proud. You can listen to it here:

www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

god this really means an awful lot. thank you very much.

Thank you so so much Ian - and for your other lovely post. It’s so nice I can’t really take it

Ach Frances. Thank you.

Ah thank you v much Tim!

The boy who came back: the near-death, and changed life, of my son Max It was, we were told, a case of sudden infant death syndrome interrupted. What followed would transform my understanding of parenting, disability and the breadth of what makes a meaningful life

I wrote for the Guardian’s Saturday magazine about my son Max, who changed how I see the world. Took ages. More jokes after the first bit.

Thanks Merope Mills for being the most patient and generous editor.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

max tempers on X: "The health secretary gets grilled on Motability BMWs. https://t.co/6ugbFZ1UBB" / X The health secretary gets grilled on Motability BMWs. https://t.co/6ugbFZ1UBB

After it got to the Mail, by the way, Wes Streeting got asked about it on GB News. He said the story showed why the welfare system needs reform. Max Tempers calls this the “posting to papers pipeline”, and he’s absolutely right.
x.com/maxtempers/s...

Politics UK on X: "🚨 NEW: The tax-payer subsidised Motability scheme saw a record 15% growth in the last year, with a fleet of over 815,000 cars, and a 23% rise in insurance costs Motability allows disability claimants to receive a new car, with insurance and servicing also covered for free H/t" / X 🚨 NEW: The tax-payer subsidised Motability scheme saw a record 15% growth in the last year, with a fleet of over 815,000 cars, and a 23% rise in insurance costs Motability allows disability claimants to receive a new car, with insurance and servicing also covered for free H/t

From him it went to feeds like Politics UK and various predictable extremely online shock jocks. You can see why it’s an appealing story for those people. But you might hope some of those laundering it into the mainstream would be curious enough to check.
x.com/PolitlcsUK/s...

max tempers on X: "The British Dream. https://t.co/d7izRAMqWf" / X The British Dream. https://t.co/d7izRAMqWf

Myth 4: ‘Sickfluencers’ boasting about gaming the system are inspiring others. But these videos are often unreliable. Eg this one, a prominent source of outrage: the truth is that the applicant was rejected. Nobody seems to have checked this stuff.
x.com/maxtempers/s...

Those figures are for Pip at *any* rate, not the higher mobility rate to qualify for Motability. And that 35% was 41 people; the 54% was 6 people. There will be some with mental health conditions on Motability, but the truth is that the higher mobility award is a very high bar.

Myth 3: The scheme is overrun with unjustified claims. This is based on noting that, eg, 35% with bedwetting/enuresis or 54% with Munchausen syndrome got Pip in October and therefore saying they’re among the BMW recipients. This is a ludicrous leap.

Myth 2: You get a swish car. In fact, 94% of the fleet are economy brands. The few premium cars cost taxpayer exactly the same and need an upfront payment from customer. Clear implication is that disabled people should just be grateful and piss off in their wonky three-wheeler.

Myth 1: you get a free car. In fact, if Motability didn’t exist, customers would get the same Pip money to spend as they like. By this logic, people using pensions for groceries are getting ‘free vegetables’. Scrapping Motability would save zero pounds from the benefits bill.

I don’t agree that it proves overdiagnosis is out of control, but that’s also a cogent objection. But the claims now circulating haven’t just made that case: they’ve suggested the scheme has been fatally corrupted and is now infested with chancers faking their way to a free car.

Motability is a way for people with serious disabilities facing a deeply inaccessible public transport system to use benefits, usually Pip, to pay for the lease of a car. It’s grown a lot recently, and there are fair questions about the size of its reserves and executive pay.

You may have seen the recent fury over
@Motability
: how ‘sickfluencers’ are helping ‘bedwetting boy racers’ get ‘50-grand Mercs’ for free. This is basically a myth, and its laundering into the mainstream is an object lesson in How Things Work Now. Thread follows.

max tempers on X: "The only car available on Motability should be a 2006 Fiat Multipla. It should be in a sickly green and have MOTABILITY written on it, preferably in neon. https://t.co/sHgNnePFmn" / X The only car available on Motability should be a 2006 Fiat Multipla. It should be in a sickly green and have MOTABILITY written on it, preferably in neon. https://t.co/sHgNnePFmn

Motability is a hardy perennial for scrounger outrage. But it’s worth noting the provenance of the latest round. Long before it hit the Mail, Max Tempers, the same anonymous guy who helped inspire Elon Musk’s grooming gangs obsession, was banging the drum.
x.com/maxtempers/s...

Motability: is it true that the disability scheme is taking UK taxpayers for a ride? Understanding the rightwing backlash over the government scheme helping people with serious disabilities get a car

Here’s a piece I wrote about the whole thing, and here are the key points.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...