This is the only end of year list that matters.

The most prestigious in ambient music.

Benoît Pioulard's 'Stanza IV' is the winner of the @DrownedinSound Forum Ambient Thread AOTY

🏆 Congratulations Benoît 🏆

(maybe @blackknoll can let him know he's won!)

Rewatched The Night of the Hunter last night. Such a strange miracle of a movie in so many ways & lots of sincere things to say about it. But my other takeaway is that 'spawn of the devil's own strumpet!' is a really under-used insult.

Sam is hot and needs help.

Extravagant metaphors of war and myth are all fun and games—until they collide with the political reality of hard-right populism and a world on the edge.

My latest World Cup essay on tonight's England vs Argentina semi-final:

Harry Kane just passed Pelé on the World Cup's all-time scoring list. He also saved England's tournament from a DR Congo shock. One of those things is more sustainable than the other.

👇Link below & in bio

LINK: jamesoneverythingish.substack.com/p/harry-kane-p…

1/ England are through to the last 32. They're still playing like Derby County, not Man City. A thread. 🧵

6/ Against Panama it got better — they scored, they won. But ⅔ of their total xG came from one 5-minute spell. Bellingham. Then Kane. That was it.

7/ Full breakdown on the Substack — link in bio & below. DR Congo on Wednesday. The storm might start sooner than anyone thinks

jamesoneverythingish.substack.com/p/england-worl…

New piece up. Reform MP Sarah Pochin suggested England winning football matches is the solution to domestic violence. I had some thoughts.

LINK BELOW

LINK: jamesoneverythingish.substack.com/p/reform-domes…

World Cup 2026 Week One: Messi, England, Iraq, and African football shifts.

New piece — cultural notes from the opening week of the tournament.
James on…Everything(ish)

👇

open.substack.com/pub/jamesoneve…

Half-time. Sun blazing. Only vegan at a Midlands barbecue. England 1-0 up in a World Cup semi-final.

We all know what happened next.

Eight years on — can Tuchel finally solve the problem that's haunted England for decades? 🧵

But here's what Tuchel cannot yet answer:

Could England, 1-0 up in a semi-final, legs gone, sun relentless — hold firm, keep the ball, and take that final step?

No manager has solved it in 60 years.

Are England finally ready?

Tuchel was hired to make them so. The players think they are.

History remains less convinced. 👇

open.substack.com/pub/jamesoneve…