Another branch in the legacy of Peter Mandelson and those who facilitated him.

Somehow it’s so appropriate that at the end of this bizarre experience you might notice where it says “Glenn Jacobs Treasurer” and yes that is Kane from WWE

On Count Binface being elected *as Count Binface*: In Japan, at least 3 pro-wrestlers have been elected having run as masked gimmicks: Great Sasuke, Super Delfin & Skull Reaper A-Ji. The first two wore masks in the legislature. Skull Reaper had to unmask. In Mexico, Tinieblas ran for Mayor but lost.

Absolutely key that Count Binface does not break Kayfabe. Stay in gimmick, brother. Don’t let the media work you into a shoot.

Wait...wait wait wait... Does RFK Jr. not know about kayfabe, or is he in kayfabe? youtube.com/shorts/OCuM-...

I’m writing about Jesse Ventura currently and IMO his is a truly authentic populist performance. Read his books, follow his career & the persona he enacts in political arenas is at once the one he developed as a pro-wrestler, action star, shock-jock, *and* his authentic self barely dialled-up. (1/2)

This is a point I made in my recent piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social - when it comes to the current cast of characters who dominate politics, anyone who hasn’t been listening to QAA, True Anon, Chapo, etc is playing serious catch-up. Constant shock @ known stuff. renewal.org.uk/articles/in-...

This is a point I made in my recent piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social - when it comes to the current cast of characters who dominate politics, anyone who hasn’t been listening to QAA, True Anon, Chapo, etc is playing serious catch-up. Constant shock @ known stuff. renewal.org.uk/articles/in-...

Morally bankrupt you say?

Anyone feeling sympathy for how Keir Starmer was treated by newspapers should recall: 🔴 as DPP he rejected bringing charges on phone hacking; 🔴 he was therefore found ‘culpable’ for phone hacking; 🔴 he then called to end prosecutions for criminality early; 🔴 & he refused to bring back Leveson Pt.2.

This rather speaks to this analysis of the value of political paranoia. Sometimes they are out to get you! Sometimes world affairs are run by a small group of people!

I have a provocatively titled piece in the latest issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social, in which I propose that among the lessons of the “Epstein files” revelations is the value of a properly directly, healthy paranoia suited to an age of opaque networks, dark money, and unaccountable elites. (1/2)

I have a provocatively titled piece in the latest issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social, in which I propose that among the lessons of the “Epstein files” revelations is the value of a properly directly, healthy paranoia suited to an age of opaque networks, dark money, and unaccountable elites. (1/2)

The UFC is doing a very clever thing: they have given each fighter an honor guard that includes a medal of honor recipient, which means every service member must salute as the fighter walks past

Judged against Trump & UFC’s own goals, the White House event looks like a huge success. Trump pulled off a spectacular hyperbolic celebration of the MAGA aesthetic, framed by U.S. state symbolism and military power - upsetting all the people they’d want… (1/2) www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...

Roman Reigns previously announced he’d voted for Trump, despite being a registered Democrat, so choosing to attend the UFC White House event is on brand I guess. But he seems to have been the only non-exec there. www.cagesideseats.com/post/RZbtV8f...

It’s me - 英バース大のデービッド・ムーン上級講師（政治学）- quoted in Nikkei, with more comments on the politics behind the UFC fight on the White House lawn: www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZ...

Some thoughts from me in Libération today about the UFC fight on the White House lawn: www.liberation.fr/internationa...

Miz and. Charlotte Flair at the White House UFC event. I’m very interested the extent to which this event will see greater blurring across the TKO lines in terms of visuals of WWE workers at Trump events - and the extent to which it’s noticed.

Last night sixteen service members lined the path of UFC fighters at the Lincoln Memorial. The military’s highest honor. Reserved for funerals for heroes. Today they enter the ring from the Oval Office. Where Kennedy sat during the Missile Crisis. He owns the stock. That is the institution now.

It’s subtle stuff.

“Trump is shrewd about what his fans – the Maga base– wants to see, according to biographer Gwenda Blair. “They want to see this anti-elite, anti-upper-crust, anti-upper-class event,” she said. “It’s on the White House lawn? That is rubbing everybody’s face in it. It’s a version of bragging.” “

‘Rubio, who described UFC as “the United Nations of fighting,” claimed that the fights are “educating Americans about cultures, societies all over the world.”’

Absolute perfection 🇺🇸

If, as reported, there’s a larger than already reported no. of WWE wrestlers at the UFC 250 event this weekend, it could be a key breaching moment in the evidently conscious attempt to separate the brand from Trump. Having executives at the WH different to workers. cultaholic.com/posts/severa...

A reminder that Trump recently bought stock in TKO holdings, the parent company of UFC.

Me: Whom amongst us was not personal friends with the head of the British intelligence service Also Me: Coincidentally, and on an entirely unrelated topic - here are my very detailed arguments and my very specific demands for hugely increased government military spending

Trump tests the lights on his 92-foot-tall UFC stage on the White House lawn

“UFC chief Dana White said in an interview that he invited a handful of megawatt stars to join him at the bout [including] Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson… A source close to The Rock tells Vanity Fair that he will not be attending.” TKO board member snubs TKO. Tut tut www.vanityfair.com/story/ufc-25...

It does seem strange that a media-boosted leadership candidate explicitly stating that it’s a “fact” that the Prime Minister ignored evidence of war crimes when shown it, and did so to protect his own political position, isn’t a headline on the BBC, or causing bigger waves generally.

Remembering how David Cameron was able to waltz back into government despite a front-page lobbying scandal with this guy. Classic Brit Pol stuff. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

amazing this is not a skit

A real mystery why we never did get Leveson 2

Trump’s onscreen attendance and promotion of UFC is very different to his invisibility on WWE programming - this despite the McMahon/HHH government roles. But his grifting purchasing TKO stock while promoting UFC paints WWE’s distancing from Trump as aesthetic. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

“Highly unusual intervention” is it? In one of my lectures about the British political-media sphere I have a slide with a few headlines/articles describing Blair’s “rare interventions”, making the point they’re so frequent the phase has become a cliche. So nice to see a twist on the classic.

“Highly unusual intervention” is it? In one of my lectures about the British political-media sphere I have a slide with a few headlines/articles describing Blair’s “rare interventions”, making the point they’re so frequent the phase has become a cliche. So nice to see a twist on the classic.

CM Punk has let himself go.

Incredible

An iconic Jesse Ventura role. 👽

Well there seems to be the answer then.

Burnham as Empty Signifier. In this article I will …

So, WWE superstars will be appearing at the Trump-UFC “Freedom 250” event - next question is whether they have a choice, or TKO decides who goes. Just hope Danhausen is far away from this whole thing. No need to ruin one bright spot at the moment. www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/443380/w...

Today’s BlueSky is largely media columnists and commentators posting their FindMyPolitics results that read ‘Technocrat’, ‘Liberal Conservative’ and ‘Progressive Realist’ and writing “that sounds right” - which feels the sort of data analysts of the Herman/Chomsky school would once have screamed for

18 months ago, @ntmatthews.bsky.social and I published a paper on the persistence of the mythology of New Labour in British Politics and how it seemed to play a big role in the new government’s thinking. Feels relevant today (open access) — www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

It was notable in Eluned Morgan’s concession speech that she explicitly wished Plaid well, said she hoped for stability & that they all wanted the best for Wales. In doing so she framed PC as legitimate and reasonable - where you’d imagine the knee-jerk from London would be ‘nasty separatists’ (1/2)

“…to understand our world, we need to look to “men in teeny tiny hot pants”. Maybe we’re all wrestlers now? … We all follow cultural and political scripts to some degree; it gets more dangerous when we forget that’s what we do.” www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

One Labour figure said: “There was a collective failure of elite political thinking in the UK about this, too many of us looked around and said, if everyone else thinks he’s acceptable then he must be.”  www.ft.com/content/a829...

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