Matt Potter
@mattpotteruk
Journalist, author, magpie, scriptwriter, nerd. Washington Post, BBC, etc. Nonfic books incl WE ARE ALL TARGETS & OUTLAWS INC. Science, languages, virology, art, illicit networks, deviance, cyber, psychology, weird, prehistory, subculture. ND. He/Him
Anyone getting ‘urgent’ emails regarding cancelling already-offered university places today (Saturday) - it’s a phishing scam. The scammers are relying on you not being able to phone/verify today. Please check the emails, and other signs that these are not legit. www.reddit.com/r/UniUK/s/T4...
Them: Have you seen Instagram lately, it’s all thirst traps, isn’t it? Me:
Them: You don’t see those heralds of the Approaching End Times with sandwich boards in towns any more do you? Y’know, ‘THE END IS NIGH’ and, ‘IT IS LATER THAN YOU THINK’? Me:
ICYMI: Whenever you hear claims of a supposed "millionaire tax exodus" from the UK, remember: 1) these reports invariably originate in marketing material from wealth firms eager to drum up offshore investment business. 2) the claim is demonstrably false. taxjustice.net/press/millio...
At this point you could just mute Trump’s mic & play, I dunno, the Shipping Forecast, or episodes of Adventure Time backwards, or the sounds of people chewing celery while he speaks, and you’d have as much fucking clue about American foreign policy, the world, or what’s happening now, as he does.
One of my favourite souls, social entrepreneur Nyifamu Manzo, came over from Nigeria for London Climate Week (the session on heatwaves was cancelled due to the heatwave). Nyifamu’s project Farmatrix uses tech for good, to help farmers in the North to access markets in Lagos & prevent crop wastage.
TW: Spider. (In extreme close-up, crawling across the lens of a doorbell camera at night.) Fun fact: This is one of the key renewable sources of sustainable nightmare fuel.
The @royalsociety.org's brilliant Summer Science expo kicks off tomorrow! 🔥 One flagship research piece is The Art of Resilience for Successful Ageing – the most in-depth study yet of cognitive decline & how some brains stay healthy as we age. I interviewed the team. www.natwest.com/premier-bank...
Good morning everyone… but especially you bloody legends using a mechanical digger to one-arm breaststroke your raft through downtown Cairo.
And YES I am filming this morning, in this heat, trying to avoid doing Autopilot Presenter Voice. Also, the tip no-one saw coming: It was way too hot to sleep last night, so I'm using this Clarins concealer for the sleepy circles I feared I had under my eyes, & it looks *great* front-lit/to-camera.
Another thing people don't realise (but once you do you can't unhear it) is British TV Presenter voice. Presenter voice is an odd convention. It splits every sentence you want to say into three parts. An exaggeratedly rising first third, a level middle part, and the thunk of a falling-tone finale.
Episode 2,436 of 'It Says Male Here On The Data Capture So Let's Make Formula 1 Fetishism Our Angle':
Good morning to everyone, but especially to the admins of Alabama’s government website www.pt.alabama.gov and Virginia’s transportation.virginia.gov, currently fighting off hackers who have turned their government portals into “Farting gangbang viral xxx porn” sites.
“In 1998, a police car was borrowed after a night of overindulgence. This car has been kept hidden on a rural NSW property since then in an old barn...” This feels like the beginning of an amazing movie. Australia, you beautiful crazy bastard. www.reddit.com/r/BORUpdates...
This all stems from a 2024 roots-and-branches review of the UK's defence, commissioned by Starmer & headed up by Robertson himself. The subtext seems to be that not all the recommendations have been costed and committed to already. Which is, y'know. Less outrageous. www.gov.uk/government/n...
OK, I'm not the first to point this out, but. For former NATO chief George Robertson to accuse Starmer of complacency on defence in an era of hand-over-fist re-armament is two things. 1) Strategic. Nothing hurries people up like someone saying 'Faster'. 2) Very, very funny, considering:
If you love how AI hallucinates search results, you'll be fucking tickled pink when it identifies and hits its idea of US military targets without human oversight or intervention. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Bought this fantastic book in the awesome Clarke’s Bookshop, amid the hubbub of Long Street, Cape Town, yesterday. #southafrica #africanhistory #pirateradio #capetown #books
The fact that this brand does not have a slogan, “Other snack makers can eat our Salticrax” is a crime of negligence against brainstorming. #salticrax #snacks #southafrica #advertising
Monkeys crashing through the trees outside my balcony at dusk. Having a lovely little time there, you legend. ❤️
It’s here! My book on the origins & weird growth of cyberwar as global participation sport, ‘We Are All Targets' is published in a Portuguese edition this week by the wonderful team at Casa das Letras. 'Estamos Todos na Mira' is at all good bookshops and here: www.almedina.net/estamos-todo...
The Austrian Tiroler Tageszeitung has a lovely, relaxing approach to spoilering its own potential clickbait. I swear to god this approach to journalism would solve a lot of problems in the world. Like, team, for looking after my stress levels, thank you. 😍