Associate editor and columnist @financialtimes.com. Post too often about culture, public policy, management, politics, nerd stuff, Arsenal the champions, wosoc. Wow! (center) Try my UK politics newsletter for free here: www.ft.com/tryinsidepoliticshttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mu4xh5cxgs2mOn the one hand, presales for this are breaking records. I myself am planning to see it. On the other, I cannot imagine a more obnoxious marketing campaign than the one Marvel and the Russos are pursuing: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/avengers-endgame-encore-doomsday-russo-1236683088/28 Aug 2026 08:36 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu4xh5cxgs2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mu4wj3i7jc2cTo be fair to John Healey, when Treasury officials said 'our concern, Chancellor, is that the Ministry of Defence has no serious plan to reform procurement or to ensure this money is well spent', he would have been very well-equipped to say 'that's right, I didn't'. https://www.ft.com/content/fc925436-4bcb-444c-b929-83014f6da44d?syn-25a6b1a6=128 Aug 2026 08:19 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu4wj3i7jc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mu3ugfy6sc2w"But mainly the problem with reboots is, well, you can see it with Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. Every ten years, they start again, telling the origin story, usually in an even darker and more child-unfriendly way than before." - absolutely right [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Aug 2026 22:09 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3ugfy6sc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mu2u6oge522jOne of the things that really sticks out about the new Spider-Man film is through innovative tactics like “having a script written before filming starts”, what happens on screen is visually distinctive and not obviously CGI’d against a green screen. [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Aug 2026 12:32 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2u6oge522jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mu2mhtxtjs2uThe thing that continues to shock me is the people who, think themselves right-on, who believe that the industry who gave us “Michelle Remembers” (as Treblig says, a book that ruined people’s lives!) or “Misha and the Wolves” visibly can’t have published a memoir by a black fabulist without “DEI”. [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Aug 2026 10:14 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2mhtxtjs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mu2fnulz7k2p'Essentially everyone in the book trade knows loads of memoirs are fake and there are near-zero checks' is one of those stories I keep expecting to tank that part of the industry, yet it never does. [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Aug 2026 08:13 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2fnulz7k2phttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mtz4fnoucc2jThe real world connection here is deeply odd, and feels somewhat exploitative. Only relevant really at the end, it felt oddly jarring given the film is wholly upbeat and we know, as @jayrayner1.bsky.social put it in this brilliant piece, “how it ended”: [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 Aug 2026 19:54 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtz4fnoucc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mtyitfgwgk2qIt’s never comms. Literally most of the “comms operation” are the same people! [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 Aug 2026 14:04 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtyitfgwgk2q