It was kind of Robert Jenrick to set me up for an obvious joke at his expense.

If he’s not careful, we’ll all be annoyed with Zack from now if his ego has now become too big to work collaboratively in everyone’s best interests. He can’t win a general election but he could help define a progressive majority in parliament which is worth far more to us than petty point scoring.

I see Simon Heffer, in Michael Gove's Spectator, is once again repeating his lie that Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech wasn't about race.. I debated Heffer recently (at the Oxford Litfest) - here's what I said. archive.ph/bqKZF

William Hawkins (1895-1990) American Artist

Worn down if I'm honest. Constant drumbeat of 'Nigel is right', the view you get now that he's gone too 'soft'. 'No Labour MPs' sign at the pub down the road. Constant pictures of chainmail knights 'turning back the boats' as if they're dragons. Overt deportation talk for the first time in my life.

BREAKING - Parliamentary Standards Commissioner will launch an investigation into Farage's £5m donation.

🔴 Daniel Green's tracker for LabourList provides the current verdict from Labour MPs on their support for the Prime Minister. 👍️ Backing PM: 156 👎️ Calling for PM to resign/set out a timetable: 92 ❓️ Unknown/yet to announce: 155 labourlist.org/2026/05/labo...

Another great episode. Andrew also reflects some of my own feelings in trying to understand both sides more deeply, in that it has become quite polarised. What I also feel is missing are examples of how the legislation will work in real life, the benefits, and risks.

We had an excellent meeting with President Zelenskyy in Cyprus today. Ukraine's brave resistance against Russia is unwavering. So is Europe's support. In light of Ukraine's sustained reform effort, accession talks should start without delay. Our joint statement ↓ link.europa.eu/8VNVwT

Mail is running a poll on whether the UK should rejoin the EU. Takes seconds to vote and it's going hilariously well... www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

i hope the white house sends vance to campaign for Reform in britain

“We call upon all sides to implement the ceasefire, including in Lebanon.” A key and important sentence in a welcome joint statement from our government, European countries, Canada and Japan.

Think that just as with computing, AI will change the economy, will change what is on school curriculums, will change what and how teachers do administrative tasks…but in terms of best practice in classroom teaching, not that much.

Diplomacy is generally not conducted in public. I hope the "Why isn't Starmer doing anything?" contingent can try to understand that. It is easy for those without power or responsibility to make great public pronouncements at times like these. In general they mean nothing and they achieve nothing.

Benefit changes come in today – and it’s bad news for many! The good news is the ending of the two-child benefit cap. The less good news is that a frozen benefit cap means that many will lose half of what they stand to gain. Frozen Local Housing Allowance is also going to negatively impact…

It is a good day for kids: 450,000 will be lifted out of poverty thanks to the two child limit being scrapped as of today. We're celebrating this win along with 18 other organisations including charities, campaigners, unions and faith groups with a full page ad in The Times.

Another fantastic episode. A useful place to step back from the heat and consider the wider, deeper implications of Mandelson's actions, as well as the systems that continue to exist.

I love Stephen. The face of a doomed WW1 officer and the wardrobe of John Travolta. #thetraitors

Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.

No surprise to learn X is still permitting users to post these images generated by Grok despite claiming it had taken action. Enough is enough. @ofcom.bsky.social MUST use its powers to shut this down www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Plaid Cymru and the Greens are surging in Wales, according to this latest poll. Where’s the media narrative around this? Where are the stories saying Farage is failing? When will Labour try to regain ground by appealing to Plaid & Green voters, not just copy Reform? www.itv.com/news/wales/2...

The Conservative Party is simultaneously arguing people shouldn’t be jailed for social media posts directly calling for violence, but also that people’s citizenship should be revoked over social media posts they don’t like. Make it make sense.

Good interview in the paper, this. I think Sadiq is right: London 'needs' to be less successful than it is for a bunch of political arguments here in the UK to work, hence the fictions being invented about it:

It's important to talk about #humanrights as they affect all of us. But most important in any debate on reform or #ECHR withdrawal is to have the evidence first. Out today: a report examining the evidence for 10 reasons to stay in the ECHR from Oxford University's Bonavero Institute.

“Put bluntly, net migration fell because 400,000 fewer foreigners arrived, and 200,000 more foreigners left the UK. This is precisely what Reform, the Mail, and the new, nastier Tory Party have claimed – again and again – they wanted to happen. And now that it has, they have ignored it entirely.”

Let communities own rivers, woods & moors! Excellent to see @simonforstroud.bsky.social has tabled amendments 107 & 108 to the Devolution Bill to strengthen Community Right to Buy laws in this way. We need more Labour MPs to support this - email yours: www.reclaimourmoors.uk/write-to-you... 1/

The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.

Since Labour won power, an insidious little phrase has been popping up constantly in the media: "tax raid". So I looked into this for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social And it turns out it once meant something completely different. www.thenewworld.co.uk/phil-tinline...

Well done, Caerphilly! In the end, @lsrplaid.bsky.social was closer to the mark on high turnout than @willhaycardiff.bsky.social. It foiled RefUK bc the tactical consolidation behind Plaid was so decisive. This is a blueprint of what progressive must do everywhere. Read the form. Back one horse.

Ever since I finished Question Time, Reform have massively been on the attack. Including a rant from Richard Tice entirely designed to distract from Reform and Russia. Everyone should know about Nathan Gill, the bribes from Russia and the link to Reform.

Lords Heseltine & Kinnock seem more alive to these self-evident truths than most members of the Commons. Similarly, I find thinkers with direct lived experience of far right dictatorship, Greeks of a certain age for example, crystal clear about what’s happening now.

The Bishop of Birmingham has written to the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about his comments about Handsworth

You’re a racist, a criminal and a sexist thug. You pretend to “protect women” while spewing misogyny. We won’t let you or any fascist divide our communities. An attack on one is an attack on all. We won’t allow your politics of hate to win.

In addition, I think also: politics is about argument! When I say 'the free movement of services, goods, capital and people is good for growth', I am not saying it because it is popular, but because it is true. It is in fact racist to say that mixed-race people should be deported!

The idea that "the median voter will feel attacked" by challenging Reform over racism is certainly not shown by the data in this piece. It shows they may be indifferent. (It may mean a different important swing voter, who isn't the median voter)

I think that was Keir Starmer’s best speech as Labour leader, in part because he clearly believed most of it and the argument actually cohered and had some policy substance to it.

Spot-on.

Richard Tice, "We've already got 80 sharia courts in the UK" Billy Bragg, "There are also Jewish courts as well, thats part of their religion. We as a tolerant nation accept that" "To demonise, particularly the Muslims, is the sort of thing we worry about Reform UK"

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... bravo!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... good article, and I think we all have a role in preventing the progress of the far right.

Sky News says police are "overwhelmed by the numbers". Met coped perfectly well with 2x as many at the pro-Gaza rally, 5x as many at the anti-Brexit march, and 15x as many at London Pride. They're not overwhelmed by the numbers. They're overwhelmed by the ratio of violent thugs in those numbers.

I need you to understand what this country feels like right now for those of us who look different. I'm sitting here, trying to plan for Saturday, make sure I don't even need to go to the corner shop for milk, like it's Christmas Day or lockdown. Why? Because I live near where Yaxley-Lennon will 1/

We don’t yet know who killed Kirk or why. Not that you’d know it from the endless numbers of accounts on X with huge follower numbers, including British politicians, making as yet unknowable claims about the motivations behind the murder. Exhibit A. Extraordinary stuff.

Your occasional dose of good environmental news www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Led By Donkeys have got Fartrage's number.

We don't know how to govern, says Reform leader Farage to BBC, seeing Nadine Dorries as an answer www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...