The Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything

Articles

Some noteworthy nicknames for Rus’ and Russian monarchs

5 days ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

Familiar headline? That’s because this one went to paying subs back in February. This time, though, there’s no paywall. Huzzah!I’ve been watching The Great, whichis great (DYSWIDT), andhas had me googling random bits of Russian history, even though its maker Hulu describes it as “anti-historical” and the opening credits describe the show as “An Occasionally True Story” or, on one occasion, “An Almost Entirely Untrue Story”.
Crossing the Rubicon

1 week ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

Any society requires a bunch of unspoken rules to function: codes of behaviour which aren’t laws and which aren’t enforced through anything more than other people’s judgement, but which are nonetheless understood to be Not The Done Thing. You don’t push in front of queues. You do let people out at junctions.
How to measure an apocalypse

1 week ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

This went to paying subscribers back in but, given the week’s British political news, felt oddly relevant right now. Want to make sure you’re not missing anything?
Elections, Elections Everywhere

2 weeks ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

So, with the spring election season in full swing, let’s check in on the state of play. In Canada (don’t worry, I’m not going to dwell) the result of Monday’s contest was somehow both the thrilling blow out we’d all been waiting for, and also oddly underwhelming. Yes, the Liberals won a fourth term that seemed inconceivable when the year began, and did it so convincingly that the networks called the result not long after 10pm Ottawa time. Yes, Conservative leader Pierre Pollievre lost his own seat.
Book Club: On The Inevitability of the Rope Swing, and How Space Becomes Place

2 weeks ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

This month’s book extract comes not from an individual, but from a collective. The Right To Roam is a group of naturalists, campaigners and artists, who since 2021 have been organising peaceful trespasses into areas of the countryside from which the public are currently excluded. One of its members, barrister Paul Powlesland, was kind enough to take me on a tour of the River Roding, near Barking, East London, last summer, and very illuminating it was too.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa

3 weeks ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

Bank holidays are always a bit weird as a freelancer. I worked on Good Friday – I had a meeting with the geography professor translating my book into Korean, which was lovely; I had a lot of looming deadlines, which were not; and I had no personal commitments that day, so hey, might as well keep things moving. I debated working again on Easter Monday, but decided that, no, deadlines or not, I needed a break, and began plotting a long lie in followed by a longer aimless walk.
Undocumented Side Effects

4 weeks ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

I’m sticking my head on the block here – comments like this have got me in trouble before – but until this year, the only time I’d been to Sheffield, it felt miserable as hell. In most fair sized British cities these days in my experience, the centre gleams and bustles, even if there’s a ring of decay just outside it. Sheffield, c2016, though, seemed to lack even that veneer of prosperity; visible decay and boarded up shops seemed to abound.
When London built a bypass for cows

1 month ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

This went to paying subscribers back in January. If you feel embarrassed that you’ve gone three months without being able to regale your friends and loved ones with this story – and quite frankly you should – you can join them here. What the hell, the sun’s out so here’s a special offer:Between 1853 and 1870 the prefect of the Seine, the man known to history as Baron Haussmann, set out to remake Paris.
Liberalism and its discontents

1 month ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

If you, like me, are a perfectly well adjusted person who gets their kicks out of following election campaigns in countries you’ve never lived in, then the next couple of weeks will likely get a little confusing. On Monday 28 April1, Canada will go to the polls for a federal election in which a governing party, broadly on the left of the country’s politics, is hoping to win a fourth term.
A Bonus Email, Concerning St Albans, and Other Similar Places

1 month ago | jonn.substack.com | Jonn Elledge

Actual content below. First: tonight, as part of my intensive schedule of basking in A History of the World in 47 Borders having been selected as a book of the month by both Waterstonesand Foyles, I will be at Waterstones in St Albans reading from, talking about and signing the book.