Tom Phillips

@tom-phillips

New book out now! A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE END OF THE F*CKING WORLD – Previous books: Humans; Truth; Conspiracy. Formerly BuzzFeed & Full Fact.

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Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· 8d

big respect for Wenger dusting off the old "I didn't see the incident" about Infantino's plans www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

A week after Infantino's investment plan was first released, the Frenchman issued a statement through Fifa in which he demanded "transparency and integrity" from world football's governing body.

"The recent events at Fifa deserve some clarity from my side," Wenger's statement read.

"I was not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· 10d

had to update the Covid chapter of me and @jonnelledge.bsky.social's conspiracy theory book for its US release, and was quite glad I got to talk about this

You also need to believe that an overwhelming majority of expert virologists, from all around the world and many with no connection to the WIV or its collaborators, have been conspiring to suppress the truth to bolster this vast coverup. Many of these scientists started out in the lab leak camp: from the earliest days of the pandemic, several of them put their reputations on the line to urgently push for investigations into the possibility.
By the time most of America’s opinion columnists started paying attention and declaring that the scientists had been ‘too quick to dismiss the lab leak theory’, there had already been multiple rounds of scientists pushing to investigate it. This wasn’t them dismissing it too quickly – it was simply them taking it seriously much earlier than anybody else. If they’d found evidence of a lab leak they’d have every incentive to say so: they’d have come out of it looking like geniuses, and would be treated as heroes by China’s many geopolitical adversaries. But they didn’t. The evidence all pointed the other way. So they said so, because that’s what scientists do. And for doing this, they’ve been vilified.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· 23d

unsettlingly alluring cruise ship

A large cruise ship backing out of its berth on a sunny evening. It has a large eye painted near the bow, with a wiggly blue line tracing backwards from the eye towards the stern. On the prow of the ship is painted a pair of plump red lips. The whole effect is of a gigantic ship going "I saw you from across the harbour and really liked your vibe".

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jul 7

me, four hours ago, wisely

WhatsApp message from me:
and yet the heuristic "never bother watching a match involving the Swiss" remains powerful

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jul 7

The predator handshake meme, where one arm says "All of human history" and the other says "That football match" and the point where they meet says "Egypt were dominant for so long"

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jul 6

Ah yes, US soccer administration, famously resistant to corruption

Bluesky post: "The people who are up in arms about this are hilarious. I've been following the USMNT for a decade and a half and we have been consistently punished for being more professional and less willing to bribe referees. I don't like the corruption but let's not pretend anyone is desecrating FIFA ffs"

Quoted post by the same author: "Our unwillingness to engage in flagrant corruption and unprofessional play has historically been one of our big world cup weak spots. So great news everyone"

3:56 AM Jul 6, 2026

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jun 22

A Cabo Verde fan reacting to their first goal during a BBC interview

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jun 20

ooooh, it's now made it up to fifth spot on the app

BBC News app homepage, showing the story BBC "Five injured in suspected anti-Muslim attacks as armed man roams Edinburgh streets" in the lower right position of the top five stories on the homepage

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jun 19

In accordance with ancient tradition, our next Prime Minister is announced to the nation while standing between a furry and a man with a bin on his head.

A victorious Andy Burnham MP (24,937 votes), as the result of the Makerfield by-election is announced, flanked by defeated candidates Count Binface (a bloke in a vaguely sci-fi costume with a large bin for a helmet; 95 votes) and Robert Pownall (who is in a full body fox costume, holding a sign reading "Protect British Wildlife"; 18 votes). There are some other candidates there just out of shot but that's not important right now.

Photo: Jon Super/AP

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jun 16

Jacobs by Marc Jacobs for Marc by Marc Jacobs in collaboration with Marc Jacobs got Marc by Marc Jacobs

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jun 8

The "guy sweating while looking at two buttons" meme, one button says "Maybe enforce existing laws??", the other says "Introduce a new law"

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jun 5

for fucks sake I was trying to look up a clip of Tony Head

Me googling the phrase "ignore the shooty dog thing" (a slightly misremembered quote from Doctor Who). Google responds:

Understood! Let's pivot and look at how we can apply behavioral science to train dogs using positive reinforcement rather than reactive scolding.Training Dogs with Positive ReinforcementRenowned behavioral expert Karen Pryor's classic methodology, as outlined in Don't Shoot the Dog, focuses on changing behavior through clear communication. Instead of punishing a pet for acting out, trainers are encouraged to reinforce desired actions and simply ignore or redirect unwanted ones.The Rule of IgnoringThe easiest way to stop an unwanted behavior—such as jumping or begging—is to completely withdraw any reinforcement, including eye contact, speech, or touch.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Jun 1

lol

Peter Mandelson: My chief Al buddy in US is Sam Altman

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 26

genuinely curious about what he thinks happens when you drive at high speed into a brick wall "a few inches thick"

The unconventional leader – in this case President Trump – drives down the road, sees the brick wall and accelerates. Yes, there are bits flying off the bus, there is a fair amount of debris and damage, the passengers feel mildly nauseous, but, with luck, he’s through the wall. It is simultaneously high in potential risk and in potential effectiveness.

The risk, of course, is if any wall on the journey turns out to be not a few inches but a few feet thick.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 24

Huge fan of this Ryan Higgins dismissal today. Elegant. Textbook.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 21

I don't think it's a good idea to legally privilege someone else's discomfort over another person's rights.

13.147 A legitimate aim for excluding a trans person from a separate or single-sex service for their own sex might be to prevent discomfort or distress for other service users.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 14

not to hand it to the Post but they were cooking with this paragraph

Critics charged toThe Post that EA is a calculating, smug nerd clique that prioritizes numbers over lives while protecting the power of those with the fattest wallets.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 14

if someone fires the starting gun, he isn’t afraid of gunfire

David Miliband being scared by surprise confetti

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 13

finally our scientists have managed to crossbreed Gordon Brown with Chris Hayes

just a small graphic of a man that looks like someone crossbred Gordon Brown with Chris Hayes

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 9

Catherine West MP (Lab, Hornsey and Friern Barnet)

Wikipedia page reading:
Wolf (horse)
Chilean Thoroughbred racehorse

For other uses, see Wolf (disambiguation).

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 7

I was thinking about it when I saw this post the other month, and how everybody got fooled by the trendline into thinking it shows something other than a sudden shift from 2020 on.

Bluesky post from Hank Green: My hottest “I have no data to back this up” take is that phones aren’t making young people less happy. What’s making them less happy is living in a world where everyone is having their reality defined by recommendation algorithms that can only care about whether something keeps you watching.

This is followed by a graph (from the Institute for Family Studies, which uh is a very particular kind of organisation) titled "Young adult happiness is falling". It shows a scatterplot of the % of adults aged 22 to 35 who say they're very happy or pretty happy. It bumps around the high 80s to low 90s mark for four decades, then drops sharply and erratically post-2020.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· May 4

I like how BBC Sport implicitly agrees here that the theatrical cuts are the definitive versions

Indeed, it would be possible to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy between Chelsea's previous league goal - at Aston Villa in early March - and their latest strike in this defeat, which were more than 550 playing minutes apart.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Apr 10

(but seriously it's great foreshadowing)

New York Post article -
Headline: Euro-vision: Mayor Eric Adams’ son chasing racy rap dreams … in Albania

By Bernadette Hogan and Emily Crane
Published Nov. 24, 2022

[Image of the guy performing on a TV stage]

Mayor Eric Adams’ son is chasing his rap dreams — all the way to Albania.

The Big Apple’s first son, Jordan Coleman — aka rapper “Jayoo” – took to the stage in the capital city of Tirana Wednesday night to compete in the Albanian equivalent of “American Idol.”

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Apr 9

The people WILL NOT STAND for giving Cheltenham Borough Council the right to allow markets in Cheltenham town centre, but of course our corrupt political elite are entirely captured by Big Hypothetical Cheltenham Market.

A screenshot from the quoted website showing that - according to their sample, which is transparent bollocks - 85% of people oppose the Cheltenham Borough Council (Markets) Bill, but that it has passed the House of Commons on a voice vote.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Mar 27

It's the Apollo/Gift of Prophecy dodgeball meme but with the wording changed. A girl, labelled "Apollo" is posed to hurl a ball labelled "Whatever the hell this is" at a group of three girls cowering in fear. They are labelled "The gift of prophecy". Honestly this one doesn't really work in alt text. Or possibly in picture form either.

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Mar 24

both chronologically and spiritually

Website screenshot reading:
One day closer to the end.
The launch of YouTube is now closer to the Chernobyl disaster than to today.

Followed by a timeline illustrating this:
Apr 26, 1986 → Feb 14, 2005 → Today
18 yrs, 10 mo to past event
21 yrs, 1 mo to today

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Mar 7

everybody always (rightly) dunks on the Sun for this but I think it's important to remember they were copying a story from the Times and we should also mock them

Times headline and standfirst:
Frankenstein’s monster? He was stitched up, say millennials
Concern for animal rights causes students to sympathise with the murderous creature

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Feb 19

A toothy xenomorph from (I think?) the TV show Alien: Earth

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Feb 6

honestly top tier work to send this notice round the day before the magazine cover hits the news stands

CONFIDENTIAL – STRICTLY NOT FOR PUBLICATION: Ipso has asked us to circulate the following advisory:

Ipso has today been contacted by a representative acting on behalf of Peter Mandelson.

Mr Mandelson’s representatives state that he does not wish to speak to the media at this time. He requests that the press do not take photos or film, approach, or contact him via phone, email, or in-person. His representatives ask that any requests for his comment are directed to [REDACTED]

The Times Magazine cover, featuring a picture from a photoshoot of Peter Mandelson in his home, apparently cooking something in his fancy kitchen.

Magazine cover text:
'I'VE HAD A LOT OF BAD LUCK, NO DOUBT SOME OF IT OF MY OWN MAKING'

Peter Mandelson: From ambassador's residence to Wiltshire domesticity, By Katy Balls

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips· Feb 6