Absolutely right Again, as with Guardian article, Mahmood's reliance on false/deliberately misleading claims about her "earned settlement" proposals suggests that she knows she can't defend them on the merits, in principle or in practice.

America might have stopped being the world's policeman, but it's now the world's drunk – staggering around wildly at closing time, taking a swing at whoever comes near.

Right now govt is making up an obviously false “saving” to justify its imm, while ignoring the obviously true cost of that policy (treasury projections assume a level of net migration Home Sec opposes and which is unlikely to happen). And these ppl wonder why trust in politics is declining.

I worked for years on a campaign to end the handcuffing of children in the care system. This is in breach of the UN convention of the rights of child, and is simply, truly evil, and I don’t use the word lightly.

This is pretty disgraceful.

Not for the first time, see also denial of citizenship for refugees based on manner of entry for example, Labour appears to have forgotten that Article 34 of the Refugee Convention exists. It very explicitly was the intention of the framers that refugee protection would lead to naturalisation.

Months after Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne gave Reform £9m – the biggest single donation to a political party from a living person in UK history – he gave an additional £3m donation in November last year, the Electoral Commission said. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

If I was @zackpolanski.bsky.social, I would be pointing out to the BBC that whatever model they use to justify giving Farage & his boot-lickers season tickets for every BBC show under the sun must surely now treat Green Party politicians in exactly the same way. Might even be one for the lawyers...

Ooooh yes

Torpedoed by the US. It's a war crime as it's outside combat area. But then it was a war crime when they killed people on boats in the Caribbean.

It’s being said a lot that the shadow of Iraq is hanging over Keir Starmer and the Labour Party during this Iran crisis. It absolutely should. What’s remarkable is how little much of the British media and the rest of politics seem to be thinking about it at all, or learning its lessons.

Something which tends to be missing from the media and political debate surrounding asylum are the voices of those most affected. Today I have listened to people talking about how the current system and changes affect them. Please listen to the end. People are dying because of government policies👇

As usual, Ian is far too polite.

this policy is cruel and will make minimal difference to immigration numbers (as refugees are only a small % of overall immigrants, and most of them come from countries that aren't going to be safe any time soon [e.g. eritrea;afghanistan]). It will actively harm integration and finding work.

NEW: The Lib Dems are demanding MPs get a vote on allowing the US to use UK air bases. Leader Ed Davey says: “No matter how the Prime Minister tries to redefine offensive as defensive, this is a slippery slope. He must not let Trump drag Britain into another prolonged war in the Middle East.”

There would be no need to protect British nationals & military abroad, if a self-aggrandising psychopath hadn’t decided to start a war.

So utterly sickened at Starmer jumping to Trump’s tune. Brace for another wave of terrorism, and convoys of coffins arriving back at Wooton Bassett… #lessonsnotlearned

They have learnt nothing from even the most recent history. Every Remembrance Day, they pantomime “never forget”, but it rings hollow when 🇺🇸 clicks its fingers…

FFS, Starmer! 😱🙈

We have no "partners in the Gulf". Israel and the US are both de-facto rogue states which do not represent our values or share our interests.

Kind of incredible. I was just sitting down to write about how Starmer should be given credit for keeping us out of this mess when he does this. Unutterably foolish and obsequious. Why in God's name should we have anything to do with this shortsighted madness.

I thought he was keen on the Commnwealth? I mean look at the fuss he’s made about Chagos. So is it the Irish he wants to ban from voting?

Non British citizens AREN’T allowed to vote for MPs UNLESS they are 📌 qualifying Commonwealth citizen or 📌 a citizen of the Republic of Ireland So which does he want to disqualify ? All of them? And will he stop scavenging for $$$$$ foreign to support his party?

Bad enough that any nation decides to bomb children, but even worse is the mindset that not only tries to justify that, but celebrates and jokes about it. Deeply sick & evil. WTF, America/Israel?

I have also just had my grant cut. We, as a community, are in shock, picking up the pieces and trying to work out what to do next. These callous, devastating and nonsensical cuts cannot and must not be allowed to continue.

Those 100 or so children that were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Iran. They all had names. They had parents, siblings and perhaps pets. They had best friends. They had dreams, frustrations and anxieties. They had moments of utter happiness. And each of them was someone else's everything.

Democrats should say that Trump’s attacks on Iran are unconstitutional. The American people do not want a war in Iran. The Congress did not authorize a war in Iran. It is an entirely illegitimate action that has no legal or constitutional basis. It is the act of a lawless regime.

“Labour must stop channelling Reform and unite with progressives. That’s the lesson from Gorton and Denton” Sadiq Khan www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sadiq Khan sends searing 'betrayal' warning to Keir Starmer after by-election loss Sir Sadiq Khan said trying to 'compete with Reform on the right' is a 'betrayal' of Labour values and demanded Keir Starmer 'fundamentally rethink' the party’s approach www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

‘Progressive voters opted decisively for the more explicitly and coherently left-wing party. For Keir Starmer’s Labour, which has staked its existence on appeasing the right, that is a stark message unlikely to be heeded.’ James Butler on the Greens’ by-election win. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Throwback to my most Welsh #StDavidsDay ever - 1 March 2017 at Maida Vale Studios, recording my play #TheThingsWeNeverSaid for BBC Radio 4 with Dame #SiânPhillips and #LiaWilliams… 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🌼🎭 #audiodrama

Have we still not reached the time when our government can admit the US is not an ally, but a rogue state led by a fascist paedophile rapist fraudster, in whose name people are murdered on the streets & in other countries across the globe, to bolster his “power”?

As discussed in here the problem with Labour attacking Reform and Greens as two sides of extremism is that Labour and Green voters are very similar in their views. And the big majority of Labour voters would be willing to join a coalition with Greens, when almost none would with Reform.

Sectarian. The sheer contempt and entitlement in that word. Thousands of Muslim voters just voted for a white, (I think) working class non-Muslim woman because they feel abandoned by Labour and agree with her views on a huge foreign policy issue and on immigration policy

Imagine devoting your entire career to selling the idea that the British public hates wokery and is clamouring for radical right wing populism, only to then be defeated in an actual election by the most left wing possible coalition of politicians and activists in the country. It's got to hurt

Despite being continually accused of not integrating, Muslims have voted in numbers, and against a party with a Muslim Home Sec whose immigration policies and actions regarding Gaza they strongly opposed.Instead they found common value with a white British woman who spoke to them locally and beyond.

Labour partisans will try to say it’s a meaningless by-election midway through the government’s term. They’d be wrong. The Greens have now told the voting public that a vote for them is not wasted and they can win in a safe Labour seat.

A stunning win for the Greens in yesterday’s Gorton and Denton by-election which shows how a strong leader can transform a party. New MP Hannah Spencer got 41% of the vote on a very good 47% turnout. Reform second with 29% and Labour third with 26%.

Our federal government killed a disabled genocide survivor and is covering up for a child rapist. And that is just today’s news. It is just unconscionable to be treating this as normal or acceptable in any way. www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...

Jenrick, Sunak, Gove: just a standard morning on BBC Radio 4… Tell us again about that “left wing bias”?

I have never bawled my head off from watching dance before, but this had me sobbing uncontrollably. This tribute to Renee Good & Alex Pretti dipicting #ICELawlessness is something EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN NEEDS TO SEE! Bravo to the dancers of Hungryman Productions & choreographer Mathew Steffens!

Here's a word I don't use often: shameful. But this policy is shameful. I'm ashamed that my government has proposed it. It's arrogant, it's cruel, it won't work in any meaningful way, but it will make our country a worse place. Please respond (before midnight). It's so, so bad gov.uk/government/c...

I've just responded to the Earned Settlement consultation. It closes tonight. The whole idea is dreadful but what stuck with me most is the gross arrogance of the whole exercise. A (cross) thread 🧵

Ratcliffe made an "incorrect claim" according to the BBC which is, as always, absolutely feeble when it comes speaking truth to power. No, he made it up you bunch of craven weasels.

Disgusted at BBC News for headlining Ratcliffe’s non-apology, & thereby giving repeated airtime to his mendacious bigotry, the substance of which he has not apologised for at all.

Farage's claims here are straightforward lies (and it's about time the media/press said so) The correct figures are 160K (0.3%) and 900K (1.5%) www.gbnews.com/news/video-n...

I guess we can thank Bangor’s Debating & Political Society for prompting Reform to reveal that they intend to govern in the same Trumpian, thin-skinned way that would cause them to tank the economy of a small city because some students were mean to them.

There’s a brilliant film on @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social tonight at 9.10pm - “Turn The Key Softly” (1953) starring Yvonne Mitchell, Kathleen Harrison & Joan Collins. We covered it in episode 32 and were honoured to have @minghowriter.bsky.social as our guest sohobitespodcast.com/episode/32

When whatever happens at the top of the Labour Party finally happens and given the sorry mess that British politics has been for years, is it maybe time to fix a broken system? Get rid of the “two party politics” delusion? Embrace PR? It’s apparently good enough for Scotland, Wales and N Ireland.

Mamdani: "I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her were, 'I'm not mad at you.' I speak of Alex Pretti who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. ICE shot him bc he did something they could never fathom ... let us offer a new path: one of defiance through compassion."