I want the IMF to restructure my soul

every wiki article about classic UK comedy like "Father and Sons was a comedy duo comprised of Reg Father and Tommy Sons, who appeared on a record breaking 18,450 episodes of The Light Applause Hour. Reg Father died in 1988 of Cigarette Fever. Tommy Sons remains alive in prison since 1997"

this is an incredible and very touching story but unsure what the BBC felt those weird AI images added to it?

gout season

I've written about the ways Your Party's launch debacle is like, and unlike, Change UK's launch debacle, for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social:

“An origin party shapes priorities and blind spots; both Change UK and Your Party suffer from the fact that many of the individuals involved seem unable to psychologically leave the Labour Party” Really interesting piece on what Corbyn and Sultana can learn from the fate of new centrist parties

Setting up new parties is difficult! In this piece I compare Your Party's travails with those of Change UK and the bevy of new centrist parties that sprung up in the 2017 parliament and so some shameless plugging of my forthcoming book. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

"Just need to get net immigration down and these people will suddenly become well-adjusted and happy with their lot" - the home secretary, apparently.

I don't think the world of X posters – where people seem to think Mr Blobby has been killed for his meat by asylum seekers who are currently roasting chunks of his pink flesh over a flaming barrel in the car park of a job centre – bears much relation to the reality of life in the UK, if I'm honest.

can’t even listen to orange juice anymore because it makes me think morbid thoughts about keir starmer

Truly the band Kneecap could have been

We need someone alienatingly political. We need a neek. We need a prime minister who subscribes to Renewal.

Manchester City Council announces new paving slab that shoots even more water up your trouser leg when stepped on - "We've listened"

Prompted by @morganj0nes.bsky.social I have carried out a quick review of Your Party's membership portal. Lets start with this option on the application form. Totally crazy to ask ppl to have to confirm their own payment interval (monthly or yearly) but also claiming you will collect back payments!

Two ways to read this. One is “she lost on every substantive claim, completely failed in her attempts to ban trans staff from the workplace, and won mild procedural victories against her employers handling of her case”. The other way is, I guess, “point one is longer so it must be more important”

On a purely factual point, Trevor Phillips’s column in the Times misrepresents our reporting in casting doubts on claims that there were more boys called Patel than Smith at Dulwich in 1980 (we did not report 1976 as the year it occurred). 1980 roll shows 13 Patels and 12 Smiths.

But who is Femi? How did he first become mononymous? What were his first forays into activism and how did they shape his trajectory? Have I got the book for you! www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/no-sec...

Thanks! While I think Labour would need to deploy it differently, you could’ve predicted Green’s recent success from the dynamics laid out here. They are very much capitalising on the attention economy.

The British Library (BL) administration: always working overtime to keep the “L” in BL

you were the literal prime minister!!!!! are you not embarrassed!!!!!

Claire Fox, chairing a 'debate' on populism at the Battle of Ideas, apologises: "This wasn't intended as a Reform rally." Oops

I was just saying to my mate that Britain needed a mission of national renewal, renewing our country, understanding our country for what it is, which is a society of reasonable, pragmatic, compassionate people who would actually help each other out if they had half the chance to do so

I need the most “Labour’s strategy and its obvious consequences” poll finding you have, and make it snappy!

I love the fact that the Telegraph tried to cover the Rachel Reeves chess 'truth' story, and had to include the fact that even their own chess correspondent thinks it is utter bollocks.

My 12th most listened to song of the year was the Idi Amin version of "Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" from film "The Last King of Scotland". Self knowledge is difficult.

i've seen the things people post. the computer is not virgin

Let’s look at that cover again so everyone can say “oooo remembers bollocks to brexit stickers”

Excellent dispatch by @morganj0nes.bsky.social from the Battle of Ideas, where the ex-RCP network increasing resembles the dog that has caught the car

What did I spend the day of my engagement party doing? Getting ready at a leisurely pace maybe, nails done, seeing family? No! I went to the Battle of Ideas, obviously. You can read about it here.

Went to the Battle of Ideas, where speech has been successfully freed but all anyone wants to talk about is Tommy Robinson. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

Excitingly, my book now has a cover. You can see it here, where you can also now pre-order! www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/no-sec...

Wrote my take on the retreat on day one rights against unfair dismissal, for Renewal. Basically Labour made a promise it turned out it couldn't deliver, a small group of serious trade unions then decided to try to salvage this, but this isn't without severe trade offs renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...

I found this interview fascinating because the author clearly wants to be sympathetic, and that makes the unavoidable conclusions far more damning than an outright attempt to damn him would be.

Everyone using this should be shunned and probably jailed and those who created it should go to The Hague.

dark side Martin Lewis lives

The two child cap news is big for MPs and more importantly for the country. But will the budget as a whole boost Starmer over the longer term amongst his discontented ranks? Personally I doubt it. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Telling people to touch grass, constantly going off on how much he hates AI, getting swept up in poly drama... Truly he is the Poster's Pope

bloodshot eyes, hoarse voice: by why did initial efforts to stop Britain leaving fail? you can find out more in my book which is available to pre order www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/no-sec...

tired but forcedly cheery voice: and you know where you can read more about how the pro-europeans self sabotaged ?

But how did the political case against going through with Brexit fail? Remember a little thing called the "2nd referendum"? My book on all of this is out at the start of next year: www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/no-sec...

The Labour right is composed of two tendencies that are really quite distinct – and the liberal tendency increasingly feels marginalised within this government (as @morganj0nes.bsky.social and @stephenkb.bsky.social have reported)

The UK isn’t a “soft touch” on asylum. UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands) UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany) Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.

The use of AI for things like theoretical "public art" is so interesting, because it shows that there are a lot of people that don't understand what art is for, or indeed the concept of the beautiful. AI cannot produce art because it has no consciouness, no soul, so it can't produce the beautiful.

Labour peer Lord Dubs: "To use children as a weapon, as the home secretary is doing, is I think a shabby thing. I’m lost for words, frankly." www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour...

I wrote about the lessons the Danish social democrats want to offer Labour last month, and noted a distinct uptick in Denmark Chat at conference. As I discuss in the piece, I am more convinced by the arguments for Spain-as-model. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...

There is no evidence that stripping refugees' rights one by one will have any impact on people crossing the channel. Taking jewellery from refugees is akin to painting over murals for refugee children. These repugnant ‘deterrents’ did not work for the Tories, and they won't work for us.

Poykee gets it 💬 #TaxTheSuperRich 🐕 Thanks for having us yesterday West Mids, we're off to Newport and Stroud today for day 6 of the tour!

The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road. These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning. The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...