"Zugzwang is a chess term describing a situation where a player is forced to make a move, but every available option will worsen their position. Translated from German as "compulsion to move," a player in zugzwang would rather skip their turn, but the rules require them to act." Via the Wikipedias

Start of our train trip to #Venice and #Volgalonga. An evening in #Glasgow watching the Clangers with our grandson.

Three and a quarter million people on UC are in employment, and the tax-payer is required to top-up their poverty wages from low-pay employers. Ending that moral disgrace would be the obvious place to start.

Ike Willis But the music lives on. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts1X...

it's real support from actual racists

This is a really important argument in favour of a wealth tax. It’s not just about raising revenue, but about setting a principle of fairness that is visible. Neil Kinnock has been arguing in favour of this for a while, on grounds that wages have increased very little while investments have risen.

Drawn by Dr Seuss over 50 years ago.

A very good afternoon to the absolute hero who organised and parked this beauty in the middle of little Tommy’s far-right hate march. ❤️

I will treat my driving licence renewal form as being my first birthday card.

. @mrjamesob.bsky.social If you haven't already, follow @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social and see this profile- www.ft.com/content/9dd4...

Britain’s post-Brexit ungovernability. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog discussing last week’s elections, the Labour leadership crisis which has followed, and what both tell us about post-Brexit politics: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/05/brit...

Journalists abroad use obvious words that UK journalists don't dare to or which, thanks to exceptionalism, don't occur to them.

"If Starmer goes, his successor will be our 5th PM in 7 years. They will face the near-impossible task of leading a majority government that's never had anything close to majority public support. 1/3 of the vote on a historically low turnout is not a foundation on which to deliver for the country"

Sir Norman of Nowhere. 🏴‍☠️ JP Morgan gets to choose our next Prime Minister, yet the electorate doesn't. That's democracy folks. JP Morgan boss threatens to axe £3bn UK investment if Labour lurches to the left with Starmer replacement lbc.co.uk/article/jp-m...

This leadership shit, even now, is still not as important as the fact that FIVE MILLION QUID HAS BEEN PAID TO THE LEADER OF ONE OF OUR BIGGEST POLITICAL PARTIES

I cannot stress this strongly enough: Support your local theatre, café, bookstore, bakery, and library. We breathe life into these places when we support them. They need us, and more importantly, we need them.

I remember when leading politicians were older than me.

Personally think #Labour should halt having a bloodbath until after #Reform have totally imploded.

Exactly ⬇️ "People want genuine representation... They want a system that reflects the complexity of their views, rather than forcing them into binary choices. First Past the Post remains fundamentally incapable of accommodating that shift." @makevotesmatter.bsky.social

Presumably, all Farage has to do is provide the receipts for his security bill and apologise to us all for not declaring the £5 million. Shouldn't be a problem and as leader of a major party I'm sure he'll be absolutely delighted to clear up any misunderstanding.

True, but just TRY to get something like this past the GOP.

The More Than 30 Scandal-Hit Reform Candidates Elected Last Week

Withnail Jones I’m hearing that Andy Burnham has purchased a meal deal at WH Smith in Euston station. Beth, Sam and Sophy are en route to ask the checkout assistant what flavour crisps he chose. Meanwhile Nigel Farage trousered a £5m bung and didn’t declare it. Back to the crisps story.

Reform UK Resigned, lost seat, sacked. Since the local elections 2026 Lost Seat Mike Morris Clarence Mitchell Resigned Daniel Devaney Stuart Prior Jay Cooper Suspended Ashley Monk Jo Monk Ben Rowe #ReformShitshow

Turned on the Today programme for perhaps the first time this year. Instantly presented with three minutes of Chris Mason: glib, inane, uninformative, utterly banal. Turned it off again.

😂 Sam Coates makes an ABSOLUTE TIT of himself. Calls PM photos "fake news" then finds out they're from the Press Association. If you make a spurious, inflammatory point you never made about any official photograph before, to pitch yourself as the only reliable source, at a minimum check your facts.

I'm just relieved nobody is talking about how I said I bought a house in Clacton, then admitted it was in the name of my girlfriend, Laure Ferrari, even though she couldn't afford £885,000, which conveniently meant I avoided £44,000 in tax. Please don't share.

There absolutely should be sackings at the Electoral Commission over this. A fake party that does no campaigning, will have spent £0, and whose own holocaust denying leader acknowledged is only there to confuse voters, came 7th, only explainable if it did indeed confuse voters.

Such a metaphor for UK Plc at the moment www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Too often, outsourcing comes at the expense of our services and the workers who keep them going. If you want public services to work for people, not just profit, sign the Record of Support for Labour’s insourcing pledge. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/of...

🚨 SIGN THE LETTER - PASS IT ON It's never been more clear: First Past the Post isn't working. The local election results are a mess. The 2029 general election could be much, much worse. It's time to end this chaos. Add your name 👇👇👇

These Labour folk are great at criticising but I don’t hear any saying what policies should change or go. Love to hear what they would do with Labour’s Brexit red lines, with joining the SM and a CU. What about asylum seekers, austerity etc? It’s as if they are all too scared to have an opinion.

Please help. #Mixedmedia may 2026

Cordon Sanitaire

I suspect #ScottishIndependence has just had a boost.

When Keir Starmer says "incremental change won't cut it," he's right. The country is crying out for real, systemic change. For democratic renewal. It's never been more clear that First Past the Post is broken. There's no "strength through fairness" without a fair voting system.

Thought I'd wait until the end of Keir Starmer's speech before reposting yhis. As you were folks

Mr Quigley wants immigrants to be "shot on site" before being "transferred to a holding island where they will be given 1 day to present their documents or confirm their true nationality." Apart from the disgusting, violent sentiment I can spot a bit of a flaw with this idea.

He's back!! 😎 Hungarian Health Minister, Zsolt Hegedűs, dances in front of Budapest’s Parliament building after the inauguration of Péter Magyar as the new prime minister. 🤍

Current state of UK politics is not reflecting well on parties or the commentariat around them. Me included even if at some distance.

Why do parties keep posting this guff? ("Only Labour can stop Reform!" "The only challengers to a far-right govt are the Greens"). In an age of multi-party, multi-region politics, it is manifestly untrue. And this "my way or the highway" sloganeering actually makes it harder to stop the far-right.

NEW ANALYSIS: What's going on in Spain? Spain's wholesale electricity price in early 2026: €44/MWh. Italy: €127. Germany: €96. UK: €103. Wind+solar now deliver 44% of generation. Gas sets the price in just 9% of hours, down from 55% in 2022. Full analysis: janrosenow.substack.com/p/spain-just...

A National Commission on electoral reform should consider this including citizen assemblies. It would give the chosen system legitimacy rather than leaving it to politicians.

Very interesting