Harold Wilson, with a majority of four, had the courage to say that the winner of the Smethwick by-election would be greeted “like a leper” in Parliament. Ted Heath, trailing in the polls, fired Enoch Powell. The comparison with the Labour government and Conservative opposition now..oy.

The reason we are a centralised country is that, whenever viable regional or local units are proposed, people kick up about being ‘ruled from [insert name of nearest hated big city]’.

There's a really common view that basically goes 'the reason why we are centralised is a London-driven conspiracy' rather than 'the reason we are centralised is that the suburbs, exurbs and villages don't like being run by the city in essentially *any* democracy'.

Only trouble is the last time people were offered an economically damaging option to satisfy their pet peeves they chose it.

Mention Garry Sobers in the 70s and somebody would say “six sixes in one over”.

This is going to go down like a bucket of cold sick in Radcliffe and some of the other South Notts exurbs. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Biggest change in 40 years while sticking to to the 2024 manifesto. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The grumpy reaction from some Scots to this surprisingly good bit has reminded me of my modest proposal around #indyref time that, given the Empire was a Scottish project and NI Unionists are Scots, independent Scotland should be forced to take responsibility for the overseas territories and NI

1983 I paid the University of London Library to do an electronic search of The Philosopher’s Index for every philosophy paper with ‘Exploitation’ in title or abstract for my MPhil thesis. It was done over phone lines to California, in the middle of the night, when phone charges were cheaper.

« Unorthodox » is the new stupid.

“What he doesn’t realise is that no one takes him seriously any more.”

AI isn’t destroying entry-level jobs. It’s changing them ft.trib.al/ntN9CqT

Foreign Secretary?

Reform has declared Suffolk’s climate emergency over. www.ipswich.co.uk/suffolk-coun...

Great news everyone. Our Reform-led county council has solved the problem.

If we must have the House of Lords, Sadiq Khan is a good addition to it. His appointment will also piss off a lot of horrible people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I’m not watching the nobody-gives-a-toss game on Saturday. UEFA abolished the 3rd place playoff after 1980 because they realised that nobody gave a toss.

"Europe's booming solar fleet has saved €20 billion in gas imports since Iran war, finds new analysis" As oil and gas prices remain high due to the Iran war - solar power is cushioning the impact across Europe, investment needs to continue though. www.euronews.com/2026/07/16/s...

Another small step in the long and tortuous process of bringing Andrew Milne to book.

Or much of a drop in public support. Fascinating example of elite consensus switching despite popular opinion.

A reminder that this is the guy we're all now supposed to be listening to on the subject of the safety of MPs

In places like the village I live in it's basically a race to see if your kids make it through school before it closes...

So much to unpack here. Long on conjecture and short on facts. But anyway here’s that “military-civilian imbalance” and “profligate military”..

This is interesting. It seems to have become much worse since 2016.

£10 billion of your money wasted on useless PPE barely scratches the surface of how appalling the Tories were. Brace for worse in this excerpt from The Decade In Tory. No paywall. open.substack.com/pub/russinch...

“One night she received more than 600 rape threats. In 2019, a man forced his way into her office.” The idea that Nigel Farage is the most persecuted of politicians is highly debatable. Rank misogyny is more often a factor in threats to MPs than anything else. #JessPhillips #r4today

Just a decade too late.

Interesting. "The risk of interference in the UK’s democratic process has been added to the national risk register." Follows new measures announced last week to "safeguard our democracy, including tougher checks on company donations and a cap on overseas donations" (bill moved to September)

Like getting away from a job where your boss and peers are more interested in their own promotion than the job in hand. Utter relief for him and his loved ones and friends.

No other politician has faced as much vitriol as me. And for no reason at all, other than me dedicating the last quarter century to stirring up hatred and division, demonising minorities and delivering the biggest act of self harm in this country's history.

China’s economy grows at 4.3%, one of its lowest rates on record

Reindustrialisation Research Group "proposing a target of creating an additional one million jobs in production-based industries above their current level over the next decade" For reference Nissan in Sunderland employs 6,000 people. news.sky.com/story/labour...

Doesn't look like the OECD believes the UK will achieve the fiscal consolidation it intends. It sees the primary deficit (the budget deficit excluding debt interest) at £45 billion in 2027. OBR March forecasts showed it narrowing to £26 bln in financial year 2026/27 and £1.5 bln in 2027/28.

Two things here. First, this is yet another story seemingly told in a reality vacuum in which ongoing political violence in the UK, including the murders of sitting MPs, just isn't happening. Second, your son being a Reform MP should be scary in and of itself. It's a party built on hate and fear.

I remember when I first heard Napalm Death, in the early to mid 80s, thinking they had transcended the difference between punk and heavy metal. The music was so loud and so fast that it was impossible to tell and it no longer mattered.

Good question. The answer is yes. Effectively, the new 6-month qualifying period kicked in on 1 July.

Keir Starmer did a good job on the world stage. Let’s hope Andy Burnham can build on that. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

US military reimposes naval blockade on Iranian ports, launches new strikes

Do we need a manifesto commitment or referendum in order to implement fair votes for our elections? For me, ensuring all our votes count equally and to prevent, in an era of multiparty politics, a small extreme party taking power are sufficient reasons to only requiring a Commons majority. Thoughts?

Perfectly Clear. Street View, Co Wexford

If you go to Galicia in Spain you can see in Ferrol a monument to the heroic defence against the English and then down the road in Coruña a monument to the heroic liberation by the English, with the two events being less than 10 years apart.

Nice one Spain, the BBC's already cancelled the planned Agincourt recreation intro for Sunday night, the archers are crying, hope you're happy.

Top tip: Kids These Days haven't heard of Tom Lehrer and if you say you're off poisoning pigeons in the park you will then find yourself making hasty explanations before they go running off to HR.

This is an excellent piece of work. LVT would be a massive shift. It could take years to implement. If we’d started when Andy Burnham (and I) suggested it, we’d be nearly there by now. flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/l...

The arrogance is unreal.

In which case I shall speculate that the security furore is there to provide him with a rationale for pulling out. It’s no longer safe for him to campaign etc.

🔴 NEW - Major Reform Donors Featured in Tax Haven Database Farage’s party has accepted more than £16 million since the last election from those listed in offshore leaks. 📝 @mc00.bsky.social

Did we hear Labour MPs whimpering like this after Jo Cox was killed? Or Conservatives after the murder of David Amess?

Attacking journalists for asking questions. This is what Reform really thinks about free speech. www.thenational.scot/news/2627680...

If she withdraws the whip from more than 40 of her MPs, Ed Davey will become LOTO. That would be interesting!