Hogarth was born on this day in 1697 so I look forward to him being raised from the grave for one day to do his new satirical masterworks, The Flailing Corporation, The National Nervous Breakdown, The Never-Satisfied Right and The Scandalous Minor Edit, and a whole new Rake series based on BoJo

Just occurred that the BBC is the most literal example of Conquest's third law in that it is actually run by a cabal of its enemies.

In actual fact it owes more to Mao Zedong because it is about cultural vandalism and smashing things up to see what happens next. This applies to a lot of things in public and political life in the last fifteen years, not least Gove and Truss

The BBC should wait until next May and then appoint David Attenborough as DG on his 100th birthday

Black American soldiers literally dug these WWII graves. Traumatic. To acknowledge that fact at a cemetery they helped construct is something the Heritage Foundation cannot accept. As Veterans Day approaches, never forget that this country both compels and disrespects Black military service. Always.

I actually think what ICE is doing under Trump 2.0 is shaping up to be a world-historic campaign of human rights violations in an advanced industrialized ~democracy I’m not sure I have many modern parallels. Japanese internment? Treatment of French-Algerians in the Algerian war? Those were wartime.

Yeah so several major Ukrainian cities are in a complete blackout right now. 0 generation from thermal plants and 0 idea when the power will be back. Just please don’t forget us

And also X is not sustainable or tenable as any kind of media outlet any more. The UK govt has had enough warning signs

At the Music Room at Liverpool Phil to see the RAH Band (yes they of The Crunch and Clouds Across The Moon). We could have been in for one hell of a fusion gig had they knocked down the wall and done a set with Adam Ant, who was playing next door. Well done to Daniel Hewson and co for this though

At Liverpool Cathedral earlier this afternoon

Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man

"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk

These disgusting bigots now see fit to crawl out from under their rocks and show their true faces. Showing you just how bad things have got.

If you asked me to come up with the names of politicians who are publicly and unapologetically pro-LGBT and pro-trans rights in particular, two of the most obvious would now both be Muslim mayors of major cities. And both are routinely smeared as regards to 'Sharia Law'.

The election results in the US are far from conclusive, not least because I've just seen a poll showing that Susan Hall is actually doing far better than expected

This has been going on since at least Trump's first term, but it still needs reiterating: Trump and the Republicans will accuse the Democrats of doing the very thing they themselves are doing in order to deflect attention away from their own actions

Tomato and basil soup, black peas and parkin for Bonfire Night tea. I stooped to doing a few baked potatoes and some peppery watercress, pepper and mustard salad (gunpowder salad) as well

The UK tax system is a mess — these are priorities for Reeves to reform - on.ft.com/47nYFvX via @FT

Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.

It has also been the key to Sadiq's three Mayoral victories. He has had three really unpleasant Tory candidates throw the whole negative kitchen sink at him and he managed to look relaxed and calm and centred on each occasion

I think Labour really fouled up by not going harder and faster on tax and being more honest on it when they first got elected, but I agree with Joff here: this particular speech by Rachel Reeves is not that contentious in the circumstances

Two obvious points about the US elections: 1) the Democrats are beset by in-fighting and a lot of inefficiencies, but they still had a good set of election results, which leads us to 2) Trump *didn't win by much in 2024 and yet too many have acted as if that result is set in stone forever*

'Our primary focus is on winning and therefore it's a real problem that someone we don't like is winning'

You laugh, but this is how the exododus went extinct

Yep. The UK Government should have acted a very very long time ago

This should be the biggest news story in the world right now

The last 24 hours have shown us what Britain is truly up against: a small phalanx of hatemongers who despise Britain so much they want to drag it down into the same filth they live in.

Let's just take a moment to reflect on the self-sacrifice and hope this person embodies - not the evil, hateful monsters thirsting for violence.

It's not a grassroots working class movement. "Wherever we looked for prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler." manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

'I can't believe leopards are eating our faces', fumes Grand High Face-Eating Leopard

Just thought of something else - Daisy May Cooper back in the spotlight after previously putting Cirencester and the surrounding areas on the cultural map with This Country, an Akenfield for our times. And again Nandy doesn't seem remotely interested

Well said. One of the dismaying things about the rise of the nasty right is that this country at its best is a beautiful idiosyncratic heterogeneous patchwork where *all* the regions and the diverse range of people who live there offer something culturally. Nandy just doesn't seem interested

The fundamental problem: 58% of voters want public spending maintained or increased. 67% want taxes to stay at their current level or be cut. In reality, it’s a binary choice. Taxes go up, or spending is cut. That’s it.

Some random generosity and cantakerousness here for you now: I rather like Halloween and especially the lavish house decorations you get nowadays. There's something fun and healthily subversive about it. But I fucking *hate* Bonfire Night other than making parkin and cooking black peas

Again, Badenoch should not be in the LOTO job. Not because of her actual politics (she is clearly on the modern right of the Conservative party) but because she has no command of detail, a blatant refusal to accept this, and the inability to make friends. We deserve better from our public servants

Cooking couscous aux sept legumes (with seasonal pumpkin) ahead of Halloween. It's more like huit ou neuf legumes with the parsnip and squash thrown in. The meat and actual grain I will cook tomorrow.

Matt

> trying to find news about Sudan > go to BBC News homepage: nothing > click through to "World": still nothing > click through to "Africa": "Fear of mass killing as thousands trapped in besieged Sudan city" is the FIFTH story, just below "Migrant sex offender deported from UK after mistaken release"

Dutch politicians playing the long game *and* getting their priorities right

Made parkin last weekend

The housing crisis in a nutshell

Call them cunts and tell them they get nothing. Spit in their stupid faces. Put extra Asians in the Christmas adverts and explicitly say you're doing it to fuck them off. Tell them *no* for once Jesus actual Christ lads. Not "this is unworkable" or "this is expensive". Just no.

Amidst all the talk of impending civil war, this, by @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social is lovely (and not just because she bigs up Leeds) H/T @timbale.bsky.social : 'This is still a fine, fine country': www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Getting a bit tired of the 'Oh, the UK government has to use X in order to get its message out there' line of thinking. It's the sovereign government of a sovereign state and it has the power (and should have the imagination) to resist that kind of thinking!

Elon Musk is once again inciting violence on British streets because the government has taught him there are literally no consequences for doing so. They even carry on using his far-right social network to promote government policy as he does it. The absence of backbone is *astounding*.

And hello hello hello UK Government. Do you think it's appropriate to be on X anymore? A lot of us have been asking this for some time.

This is why pushback matters. When forced to actually defend racism they get into a muddle. (See also Tory ILR plans).

Can we please just fucking stop debating whether blatantly horrible racist things are racist or not? Everyone knows they’re racist, even the nasty arseholes who say them. If you need to fill your 24/7 channels, stick on some cartoons or something. People are getting hurt by this culture of evil.

And one could say the same for flags

That's why I have "there's too many black people in adverts" as one of the most hands-down racist klaxons there is, short of violence or Nazi iconography. There's no pretence of a policy issue there, no tapdance of "legitimate concerns". It's just pathetic melanin whinging.