How does an Obama speechwriter befriend a Joe Rogan fan? Via surfing

David Litt's new book It's Only Drowning centres on an improbable friendship and how shared experience provides a neutral ground for connection

What do men want? Democrats need to know after their election drubbing by Donald Trump and the manosphere" last year. They have responded by commissioning Speaking with American Men", a strategic plan that will study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality" in online spaces.

News of the two-year $20m project reinforced critics' view that Democrats have become the party of an aloof, college-educated liberal elite whose pursuit of working class men resembles a Victorian explorer wielding a butterfly net. Which makes the publication of David Litt's book, It's Only Drowning, a timely contribution to Democrats' ongoing post-mortem.