This is another way in which the online, commenty right is getting totally divorced from the sorts of people who *should* be voting for them. And having had a foot in both on camps, politics and journalism is a good two or three decades behind even average practice in the corporate world.

Forgive the X screengrab but shit's kicking off (No doubt someone will tell me that both of these accounts are actually AI fakes)

I also would like businesses to do shit for me for free

"You had 60,000 people in hotels. At least 59,000 of them weren't going to Rwanda. You didn't have any plan at all for 99% of them did you?" was not a question he was asked on Today

Ageing societies are simultaneously safer and more scared societies.

People say "autism never used to exist" and then you go to the Natural History Museum and the exhibit has a caption like "Born in 1762, The Revd [name] was famously irascible, steadfast in his routine, and dedicated his life to collecting 25,000 rare beetle specimens".

Starmer on BIG JET TV (463k YouTube subscribers). Is the government… learning to do comms?! youtu.be/3HHYzVyNhtM?...

Its genuinely insane that the BBC and other mainstream news have led with this rather than, you know, *the party leading the polls plan to cancel the immigration status of roughly 500,000 people*

I agree with this – it has shock value, but isn’t that relevant to people in the UK. I understand why it’s the biggest story on Bluesky: this place pretty much selects for neurodivergence (complimentary)

I do wonder of part of this is a failure of political messaging/culture: youre always grasping a nattle or going harder. Its the default. It leads to a sense of crisis - and that things must be getting worse. Why wouldn't you think there is a knife crime crisis? Were always hearing there is

The even more unbelievable crime fact (which I learned relatively recently) is that burglary has fallen by more than 90% since the 1990s. Did anyone notice? Nope. Does anyone believe it? Nope. But is is true? It is!

No 10 trails Starmer speech against populism. It will be at the Global Progress Action Summit in London, which takes place Thursday & Friday www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

It's noticeable how rattled Mason sounds. He's not making an argument that the BBC has covered Reform well, he's complaining that criticism of the BBC from the left is not legitimate. This feels like a topic where a Culture Secretary could apply a lot of pressure. Wouldn't it be nice if we had one?

I don’t think British political commentary/chatter has ever got over the adrenaline rush of 2016-19.

There should be a high bar for politicians attacking the media, but maybe Ed Davey has half a point here? For example, the first three paragraphs of this BBC story repeat Reform's £243bn figure without saying that the thinktank behind the estimate now disowns it. (This is mentioned in paragraph 35)

The magpie hotline appears to have had an error and gone southern. You need to dial: 1 for sorrow, 2 for mirth, 3 for a funeral, 4 for a birth, 5 for heaven, 6 for hell, 7 for the devil, his own self tell

I've seen a few say that this suprises them but... it broadly fits my priors? My generation are more likely to get married later, to do so because of love not societal/family pressure and to be economically secure when they do. Not a suprise to see a lower divorce rate

That’s actually in the data:

Disappointed to note that my union, @communityunion.bsky.social, has nominated Bridget Phillipson in the Labour deputy leadership race. I've written to them to explain why I think this undermines their stated position on trans rights and inclusion.

Reform's ‘plan’ to revoke the legal status of millions of UK residents is morally abhorrent & economic madness The public believe in fairness & mutual respect, not this cruel Trumpian policy that would leave us all poorer. We are not America - we must resist this dangerous turn in British politics.

I hate to admit it but I suspect McSweeney is right that the 2029 election will be a ‘republican front’ vs Farage. Farage veering further right makes that easier to do. Whether McSweeney’s own advice over the past year has made this situation more likely is another question…

It's obviously true unless something unexpected happens, but a) the incumbent government needs to actually have *delivered for its coalition* to lead a republican front b) the leader needs to be a plausible leader of it and c) they do need to actually be able to say 'Vichy was bad'.

The Tories were utterly toxic for virtually the entire last parliament and the media was effectively disinterested in what a Labour Govt would look like in practice right up to the election itself, and regularly refused to admit it was plausible let alone overwhelmingly likely. *This* isn’t normal

Big question for @eddavey.libdems.org.uk leaders speech tomorrow.... Will be butressing it by announcing a high profile Tory defection? And, more importantly, will that Tory be @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk?

Yes - Reform's success relies on both "Immigration should be lower than 2023 levels" and "Return to 1950s demographics" voters thinking they are going to deliver for them.

I quite like immigration.

"cheap foreign labour" is just the ugliest, nastiest phrase.

I wish it was more complicated but: Elon won. Pundits, journalists and political elites uses Twitter to gauge popular discourse and identify stories, which was workable so long as it was moderated. He seized control, completely altered its normal mode, but none of them adapted.

As the “Devo Bill” makes its way through Parliament, it’s very welcome that @labourtogether.bsky.social @jpspencer.bsky.social are calling for it to go further on fiscal devolution, powers over public services & reform to the Lords. static1.squarespace.com/static/64f70...

"They've said they'd do that" is crucial. The most important lesson of the last ten years is: when these people tell you who they are, believe them. Anyone saying "surely even Reform wouldn't go that far" just hasn't been paying attention.

Three statements of local ambition stand in Halifax, West Yorkshire: the Town Hall, the Borough Market and the Piece Hall. Such monuments of civic pride still bear the names of farsighted local leaders from past generations. 🧵 1/13

Just imagine being this brand loyal to a racist nazi site

The true question right now is whether you believe in the moral character of the British public. If you do, you'll want to have the fight with Reform. You'll believe that the public will hate the idea of breaking up families, spying on & deporting people who've worked here for years.

💯. Progressives have to stop franchising out their consciences to the courts. Politics is about moral choices. The problem with Reform's proposal isn't that "the courts won't allow it". It's that it's grotesque and inhuman. If we're democrats, we must believe that this argument can be won.

On this one, Farage might actually be going too far for some of Reform's less diehard supporters. Even leaving aside the absurdly inflated claims of savings and the logistical nightmare it would create, the retrospective nature of the proposal goes against popular notions what is and isn't 'fair'.

If mainstream politicians stopped to *think* for a moment they’d notice that. It might help if newspapers noticed it, too. Farage has shifted further right in the last few months than he has in a decade. And instead of calling it out, media is cheering it on and mainstream politics is silent.

Aside from, you know, the PM doing a article in The Sun today on it, multiple interventions by cabinet ministers hitting Reform and the far right this week and various other statements by the PM over the weekend. No, Labour have had nothing to say.

My guess would be this is a response to the recent Russian incursions - pointing to how the US (and NATO) have a very big stick

My broad view is the left X/Bluesky divide is a pretty good rule of thumb on who cares about opposing nazis, and who just waves placards for clout.

I actually don't think it's just the British hard left on X. There's a lot of American hard leftists that basically view this place as essentially the Taiwan for Bidenists

This is very good. Very well pitched and sensibly placed.

They should probably stop calling people who agree to this journalists. Stenographers would be a better title

It does interest me that the British hard left has chosen to stick with X. US politics BlueSky is very left wing, but for Brits it seems to be more the centre and centre-left sorts who’ve migrated here while those further to the left favour the old place.

Among the various issues with this - his Island of Strangers sentence was... erm, 16 words.

Full text of prime minister's statement on the recognition of a Palestinian state www.gov.uk/government/s...

Think this section of Night Watch - the scouring of the house of pain - may be Pratchett's finest writing. The use of small detail to pain a clear picture, how it handles the characters and moral clarity - plus how it doesnt brush away the desire for vengence or excuse characters culpability

UK recognises Palestine as an independent state www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

This by @jamesomalley.co.uk is good.

Vibes are *so* important to politics. Jeremy Hunt radiates "sensible son-in-law" so intensely that it's impossible for people to conceptualise his actual time as Chancellor.

Decent Sun article from Keir tbf