“Blame Afghans!”

Trying to work out if there's a metaphor here. Or two. #cop30

“Shabana is a very special person to me because she is religious;” Maurice Glasman on Shabana Mahmood

1/2 Mahmood is engaged in the same politics - & making the same error (to the extent she cares about anything other than personal advancement) - as Badenoch - that by offering up a division between good & bad immigrants, good & bad minorities, good & bad peoples on a group basis, she can…

Mindblowing but very revealing that Starmtroopers have converged on far conspiracy theory

Comment | To truly read a painting, forget the present Art historian Bendor Grosvenor argues that understanding a work’s meaning depends on seeing it in the context of its time—not through the lens of today. buff.ly/qYaigQ0

The Reeves profile in the FT’s disturbing. There is no sense of public service on her part. Her entire career & the acquisition of power seems to be an end unto itself, morally justified as an act of social mobility because of the barriers she has supposedly overcome. www.ft.com/content/346e...

Latest piece for the @thehousemag.bsky.social, on the island of strangers speech and similar. Also ft Bob Hawke. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Darfur is an absolute horror show. We have a moment of opportunity if the world is ready to seize it. Civilians must be protected. Access must be expanded. Flow of arms must be limited.

Labour don’t seem to understand how much ill will there is towards them from corporate executives They blew through a year of being given a sort of open mind by the corporate sector & did nothing with if The biggest topic for corporates - Brexit - was declared omerta www.ft.com/content/1682...

59. Celtic Fairy Tales, Joseph Jacobs Gorgeously illustrated and fun little collection of collected fairy tales - some I knew of before, but many very new to me.

The Home Secretary says "we have become the destination of choice in Europe, clearly visible to every people smuggler and would-be illegal migrant across the world" That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims

If what Labour means they plan to seize is “assets” not “personal jewellery” upon asylum being granted are they not effectively saying that asylum is a status that’s for sale rather than a right for the persecuted?

www.thenewworld.co.uk/arthur-snell... Using the CIA’s analytical tools to explain Nathan Gill’s treachery.

This is pretty much exactly how Peretz, Yachimovich & Herzog destroyed the Israeli Labor Party - adopting security hawk positions, supporting settlements & even opposing inter-ethnic marriage. They essentially pushed Israeli liberals into becoming apolitical & right wingers just voted right anyway

Labour's MP for Folkestone says the government has taken "the wrong turning" on its plans for asylum seekers. "The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."

If Anne Frank made it to Britain, it’s important to take her Bat Mitzvah jewellery from her and melt it down

A rare serious debate about the UK economy. Also showing why so few politicians want this. Because our economic strengths are inconveniently linked to migration, and an ageing population is simply going to be more costly in taxes. What you won't hear in the budget...

Vote Labour

We're stuck with it, but determining someone's legal rights based on a nebulous combination of birthplace and parentage is actually pretty fucking weird, and it'd be better if we talked about it as an unfortunate practical necessity not a natural phenomenon

Genuinely amazing logic by a “retired school teacher now Labour activist loyal to Starmer” for why basic rate income tax doesn’t need to go up

Blue Owl private credit fund merger leaves some investors facing 20% hit on.ft.com/48hR6Hq

Oh so It WILL be Ed Miliband or Yvette Cooper

AI Chatbot Obviously Trying To Wind Down Conversation With Boring Human https://theonion.com/ai-chatbot-obviously-trying-to-wind-down-conversation-w-1850146151/

"Incompetence persists because, for some powerful interests, it works quite nicely." Terrific piece by @chrisdillow.bsky.social on competence/incompetence in government, politics and the media: open.substack.com/pub/chrisdil...

After populism..... A liberal communitarianism that is realistic about the international economy and concentrates on work, place and the public good in ways that the last era of liberalism too often missed. New Substack. open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...

A levy on foreign students is one of the closest things you're going to see to tariffs on services - except the UK will be putting it on its own exports... www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Homan: "I don't think the UK is a friend to this country and friend of the president"

This is, in essence, a dumb take because it’s either focused solely on public opinion or is confused about the gilt market being “just another opinion” It isn’t The gilt market is a lender It’s really really not getting through to politics peeps that we’re on a glide path to Truss 2.0

40 years ago, ZZAP! had this fabulous ZOIDS cover. Top reviews: Scarabaeus 96%, Batalyx 94%, Who Dares Wins 90%, ACE 90%, Z 88%, Crazy Comets 84%, and the synth program Electrosound 97%. Excellent month for games - Xmas 1985 was an incredible time for software development.

Yes I know all economists love a policy trilemma. But what we have now is a simple dilemma: you can pay attention to political reporters; or you can have intelligent economic policy. Choose one.

*UK GILTS PLUNGE AT OPEN, 10-YEAR YIELD CLIMBS 13 BPS TO 4.57%

1/2 The decision not to raise basic income tax is catastrophic for Labour Not only is the country going to remain on a slow glide to another Truss event, the plan to raise every other kind of tax (pensions, green vehicles) means the death of every project of every faction in Labour

It’s interesting that Kemi Badenoch is killing the Tory party precisely because she believes too many things too strongly while Keir Starmer is killing the Labour Party precisely because he believes in nothing

So this from Glen O Hara didn’t age well did it? But O Hara got what he wanted - a Labour leader who would prioritise Israel which O Hara somehow defines as “prioritising the UK instead of the Middle East” www.gq-magazine.co.uk/politics/art...

Nah, this just isn’t credible I can believe it’s all incompetence but the idea that the NYT chooses NOT to look at the photos Epstein offers doesn’t hold what as “normal” behaviour Either way the NYT has failed as an “institution”

The FT’s description of Labour as consisting of 5 factions: 1. liberal Blairites 2. socially conservative old right (more closely associated with Blair & Mandelson than the Blairites) 3. soft left 4. hard left & 5. Scottish MPs suggests Labour won’t be able to maintain cohesion regardless of Reform

Left: Donald Trump’s Jan 6th quote, as presented in the dossier that brought down two BBC bosses Right: What Donald Trump actually said. Full story in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social: www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e...

"Another minister, who asked to be kept anonymous, told PoliticsHome it was 'pretty simple': "We either increase our birth rate, slash the state in half, or make the positive case for migration" Perhaps they could try saying this non-anonymously? Just a thought www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Max Boot furnishes a tour d'horizon of Trump foreign policy... except it's completely incoherent. wapo.st/3JQVELu

at the 'stack, I suggest that many decisions in British politics ought to be handed over to foreigners, as they're less emotional about things. backofmind.substack.com/p/the-cognit...

Careful how you edit this lads, wouldn't wants to be treating anyone unfairly

SURPRISE!

at this point it's stating to feel like McSweeney has Starmer in some kind of hostage situation, he's shown no evidence of actually wanting to be there, let the poor sod go

📕 With the Booker Prize winner set to be announced tonight, how does voting intention vary by favourite book genre. Reform’s highest score is with fans of horror, while Labour enjoys a landslide lead among fans of self-help books. *Read* into that what you will.

In a demoralizing world it does warm the heart to see an eighty seven year-old lady repeatedly burn the world’s richest man to a crisp in a manner that clearly gets right under his skin and provokes him to flailing, compensatory exertions that only affirm the point she was making.