So, here we have it. Not a spontaneous decision by local people to display pride in the national flag, but something imposed on locals by an organisation with access to a cherry picker, traffic cones, and a hotline to the Police to assist them in obstructing the highway.

Here’s the other thing. I work for a big nhs trust (30k employees). Met some wonderful souls who have been here for several years at band 4 - working ridiculous hours and generally being amazing. Being deported in 2 weeks. 700 of them at risk. 7 fucking hundred Fuck off

The near consensus view was that Keir Starmer's conference speech was his best yet. I heard something different. I think it was born of a profound weakness- and in its own way set up his own future failure. My latest goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/keir-starm... open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

Reform say it is "disgusting and libellous" to suggest that Nigel Farage flirted with Hitler Youth when he was young. Here's how a former teacher at his school remembers it

Tough on Farage, tough on the causes of Farage by Roz Savage MP www.libdemvoice.org/roz-savage-m...

This tweet has been doing the rounds on Twitter now that Nathan Gill has pleaded guilty. If only someone had tried to investigate UKIP & Russian interference 🧐 There’s another timeline where the Guardian supported me, doubled down on the investigation & I look 5 years younger ..

Latest @chrisgrey.bsky.social is about fascism in Weimar Britain. This is a good description of the issues with the George's cross flag protests. It is "enforced unity". Exactly like classical fascism: the unity of the people, biz, civil society and the military for the "nation" A 🧵

Wonder who else was on the Russian payroll? 🐸

A senior Reform figure is found guilty of taking bribes to act on behalf of a hostile foreign power. In old money, this is treason. Any chance of Chris Mason treating this as a serious story? (Can’t @ him because despite being a professional journalist he can’t be arsed to have an account here.)

Ok. They’ve pissed me off. I’m back to tell you 3 things about ID cards: 1. Migrants ALREADY HAVE biometric ID cards & govts have been trying to digitise them for years w repeated fuckups & failures causing complete chaos - they don’t work, you do not want that system for you.

Is it "move to Dubai"?

This

It’s gone so quickly from ‘boat people’ to all immigrants. So quickly from ‘I don’t mind if they come here legally and pay taxes’ to ‘actually it’s anyone foreign’. We are living in the ‘first they came for’ poem. All to give the population a scapegoat so the super rich can hoard yet more wealth.

Absolutely fascinating stuff here (also in the earlier linked thread) for anyone who can read French or doesn't mind using the Translate function.

Up from The Sticks to That London today, specifically Lambeth - so, South London, sort-of Inner City? Dozen or so people ahead of me at the exit, ethnically diverse, different ages, mostly young. Three gates - one out, one in, one for wheelchairs etc left permanently wide open. No staff in sight.

This post should appear verbatim on the Lib Dem leaflets in the Long Campaign for next year's Hull council elections; I hope someone up there is watching.

Morecambe and Wise have really dated

Of all the horrors unleashed by Russia’s war, none cuts deeper than the abduction of children. We will not rest until Ukraine’s children are home. The EU will host a high-level international summit to bring the world's eyes to the fate of these children. link.europa.eu/CJ9PwR

Maybe - just a crazy idea, but bear with me for a moment! - the reason why the Lib Dems should not “get serious“ is that the UK’s most important media organisation covers politics in babytalk so much of the time?

Nigel Farage is now threatening to sue people who talk about his Stamp Duty avoidance via his girlfriend suddenly finding £885,000 down the sofa to buy a house that definately isn't for him. So don't talk about it, you wouldn't want to make Nigel Farage mad, would you?

Damn right, well said.

What the fuck? The UK government is barring the official media of a close and important Commonwealth ally, from a press conference in Britain, because the wankers who lecture us on free speech might have a tantrum?

The Victoria & Albert museum holds many treasures, one of which is this late antique pair of shoes from Roman Egypt (400-600 CE). 10/10 would wear today (photo is my own).

34% of ethnic minority Britons have suffered racist abuse since August. This is shockingly high.

I genuinely wonder what these people think racism is. Because 'I would like to deport all my non-white neighbours' is really quite racist

Going to riff on this a tad. Suppose Starmer now left X and took the rest of the government with him, explicitly citing Musk's video address as a reason and pointing out the known promotion of far right and racist accounts by X's algorithms.

Ammunition for @maxwilkinson.bsky.social

Probably the most important but neglected scandal about Mandelson. Epstein was close to Peter Thiel. Thiel had secret meetings with Cummings and Johnson before Palantir’s 100m contract Mandelson’s Global Counsel was pitching Thiel’s Palantir to Starmer. What a carousel of cronyism

THIS YOU? MASTER THREAD 1. Jeremy Clarkson

Trial of X in Belgium for refusing to remove unlawful content. In the UK, X appears to be treated as above the law, as it actively defends so much extreme & unlawful content of many kinds, with so little challenge since those responsible for the rule of law seem to be indifferent or asleep

Anyone got any more questions about whether Donald Trump would do anything if the worst happens and Russia turns against NATO allies in Europe? Ukraine is Europe’s greatest ally now, and we need each other as dearly as never before.

Violent crime plunges 13% in London. In 2024, London had 1.2 homicides per 100,000 residents - lower than New York at 4.0 and Toronto at 1.7. Homicides in London are also lower compared to most north European cities such as Berlin (3.4), Brussels (3.2), Paris (1.4), and Copenhagen (1.5)

my ethnicy-wethnicy cleansing

This is far more important than the UK's miniscule arms sales to Israel and I wish people would focus more on it. It's also a misuse of an overstretched UK defence budget.

Kind of remarkable how many journalists and analysts in the UK still struggle to acknowledge how Brexit campaigning was so crucial to accelerating dangerous radicalisation on the right they now lament

😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹 Class!

I'm very much not a Polanski fan, but this is excellent and I'd like to see more of it from other parties including my own.

I’ve been frustrated to see so much of the ongoing story about asylum seekers and the protests against them covered without hearing from those seeking asylum and now being met with hostility and hatred I set out to speak to those directly affected to find out about the impact this is having 👇

So: ID cards. Apparently, this is A Thing here, now. So here’s my two pennorth. Maybe there are good reasons for having a gilt-edged way of proving your identity, for purposes of preventing fraud. I see that point. But there’s a humungous great reason why this has always been a red line.

Outstanding news that should be shared.

Nigel Farage: 100% faithful to Trump

Was only a matter of time I guess before we became so dead inside that we would start punishing refugees themselves. These are people who *we have accepted* fled violence, torture and discrimination. And our response is what? To bar them from living with their loved ones.

"Meanwhile the Liberal Democrat’s Hina Bokari said: 'We congratulate Zack and wish him well. The last former Lib Dem to become leader of another party was Liz Truss but I’m sure his time will be longer than her 49 days.'" Oof!

Robert is clearly right, here, but this would require a degree of tactical nous and ruthlessness that Labour seems to completely lack. Robert's line is one the Lib Dems should follow as loudly as possible (it's consistent with recent positions) albeit they don't have the media muscle of Labour.

Where has this ludicrous ECHR "debate" even come from. I've never once met an ordinary member of the public who's said to me, "Do you know what? We REALLY need to leave the ECHR." It's just a new right wing talking point because every other shit idea they've foisted on us has run out of steam.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say that Taylor Swift has apparently never given a toss about my marriage choices and I’m pleased to be able to reciprocate.

The British people are not perfect, but they are, and always have been, more decent than the contemptible scum who currently lead Reform UK and Conservative parties, and who control most of the print media in this country.

Been reposting quite a lot of Lib Dem material recently, but no apologies for this one.