How good is Slow Horses? I know there are a lot of people throwing nice words at it but - after finishing series 6 this week - I wanted to throw something into the praise pot. There are so many amazing performances in there. Saskia Reeve’s is stand-out as Standish, Kristen Scott Thomas is immense and - I can only fit 6 pictures on this grid but there are so many to choose from. They all play characters who are brilliant at their jobs but terrible at life. Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb is on another planet. He is desperate to look like he couldn’t care less but occasionally there is a believable flash of loyalty that makes an otherwise repulsive human genuinely compelling. His acting is so good you can smell him through the telly. You care about all the failures because you want the Slough House rejects to find a bit of purpose and meaning. It is laugh-out-loud funny but the humour never gets in the way of the danger or the drama. A wince can be seconds away from a cackle. It also has just the right level of complication. There is a lot going on but it doesn’t keep stopping to explain to the audience what is happening and, even though there is international spy stuff going on, there is a grubby earthiness that makes it feel relatable. The insults are top-tier and, at the heart of it, it’s about people who have been written off realising that they still count. 9.9 out of 10. I’m taking off 0.1 for all the swearing 😂 Bring on season 7 🎯

EBOLA PATIENT IN NIGERIA First news: Went to Uganda for a holiday , no she actually went to Congo too Nigerian official says. Swiss news, she didn’t actually go to Congo , BBC news : the Nigerian and Kenya patients may have crossed paths, officials say! RUBBISH KABISA

Do you remember the gentleman I waited for 2 weeks to meet. His name is George Muwonge, the man behind @safivintages. He can turn any space into a marvel. I had earlier visited a friend's smart house and when the owner told me who set it up, I said I must meet that man for I need to be a luxury jajja in future 😜. In this video, I found him at a client's project he was about to hand over....from a 50x100 plot to a fully furnished house.

You just won a 2-week, all-expenses-paid vacation to Africa. But there’s a catch: you have to stay within one region the whole time. What are you picking?

Before the dust on maids settles. Most of us especially the elite have been hoodwinked, divorced from reality, gotten entitled & lost empathy. You pay someone's daughter pm 80k, 100k, at most 150k to run your home 24hr? And you feel so superior because you feed her & house her?

Coffee shops boost innovation. 10% more Starbucks in an area --> 3-4% more inventions. People gather over a cuppa. They share ideas, discuss how to untangle a knotty problem, help see an issue from another perspective. These conversations lead to breakthroughs and inventions. A very fun paper finds that when Starbucks rolled out to a new county, it fueled a coffee-shop culture, urging more and more people to “grab a coffee” together. The authors compare the counties where Starbucks had rolled out to those where it had not yet arrived. And they find that the number of patents in caffeinated counties is meaningfully higher. This paper underscores how essential the face-to-face encounter is. Starbucks isn’t that old. People Could have picked up the phone and chatted at any time. People Could have dropped an email. Probably they did. But those connections didn’t yield the same insights and creativity. Turns out that a Cup of Joe really does help the knowledge flow. We talk about how much in-person connection boosts creativity in In Person. It’s out in just few days, so now is a great time to pre-order. To see the full research use the link in the comments. #Innovation #InPerson #FutureOfWork #CoffeeCulture #NewBook

A pleasure to meet and congratulate @qataharraymond who has been appointed Senior Policy Adviser at the @UgandaMFA! Thanks for coming by Raymond, we look forward to further strengthening the EU-Uganda Partnership together with you! And yes, we did Grab a Coffee!😃

🚨 OFFICIAL: Golden Boy have released their list for the 25 finalists 📋🔝 🇪🇸 Pau Cubarsí / Barcelona
🇲🇦 Ayyoub Bouaddi / Manchester City
🇫🇷 Warren Zaïre-Emery / Paris Saint-Germain
🇨🇮 Yan Diomande / Real Madrid
🇭🇷 Luka Vuškovic / Brighton
🇩🇰 Victor Froholdt / Porto
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Myles Lewis-Skelly / Arsenal
🇧🇷 Rayan / Bournemouth
🇳🇱 Jorrel Hato / Chelsea
🇩🇪 Lennart Karl / FC Bayern
🇧🇷 Estêvão / Chelsea
🇧🇷 Endrick / Real Madrid
🇫🇷 Junior Kroupi / Bournemouth
🇦🇷 Gianluca Prestianni / Benfica
🇬🇷 Kōnstantinos Karetsas / Borussia Dortmund
🇩🇪 Saïd El Mala / Köln
🇪🇸 Jon Martín / Real Sociedad
🇪🇸 Marc Bernal / Barcelona
🇧🇦 Kerim Alajbegović / Juventus
🇩🇪 Finn Jeltsch / Stuttgart 🇬🇷 Charalampos Kostoulas / Brighton 🇫🇷 Joane Gadou / Borussia Dortmund 🇵🇹 Rodrigo Mora / Roma 🇦🇷 Franco Mastantuono / Fiorentina (loan from Real Madrid) 🇪🇸 Xavi Espart / Barcelona

I don’t think anyone expected the number plates to be tracked. It’s a small box they install in the car that’s trackable. Plus there’s importance in tracking the plate itself. In case the vehicle is stolen, the thief may easily remove the digital plate, throw it away making it difficult to recover the car.

Parents. Would you inspire your children to take over your job when you bow from this life?

There’ll be a public announcement, but Raymond tells me he has joined public service. I congratulate him but press him on joining NOW – esp whether he’ll have the space to exercise his brilliancy and learning. Strong point, indeed, even in the midst of absolute chaos, public service remains needed. Conversation premiers on Monday, 5.00Pm @observerug.