I have done the maths, and if everything goes according to plan, it will be 7th September when Andy Burnham marks his "Liz Truss" day and 8th September when Truss retakes her place at the bottom of the league table.

This is one of the dumbest and saddest things I've ever seen. We should not think of universities in this way, and if we do that'll destroy everything that is both useful and good about them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New Yorkers think they’re so much cooler than everyone else with their Zohran Mamdani and their leftist congressional candidates and their championship trophy and they are correct

It’s less than a week since my radio was telling me that Britain needed to abandon net zero and drill baby drill because the Tories won a by election in Aberdeen Now it’s so hot the kids can’t sleep

Yep, same guy. Mere days apart.

Erm, the suffragettes were not peaceful protestors, Jesus

This morning scrolling Bluesky, there is nothing at all in my feed about Putin’s barbaric attack on the Ukraine’s holiest site, the UNESCO protected Lavra so I’m posting this here.

The many takes flying around about John Healey and national security spending miss a fundamental point. In Finland, where people have a strong social safety net and a real sense of shared national purpose, around 80% say they would be prepared to defend their country. In the UK, it's closer to 30%.

Wes Streeting should be held accountable for the deaths of children he caused by removing their medical treatment on ideological grounds, despite warnings from experts. His resignation is not enough, he should be prosecuted for the deaths he's responsible for.

The infuriating thing is that he repeated this to every major broadcaster and NOT ONE journalist/anchor challenged his claim that Reform is some "start-up party that didn't exist three years ago", rather than the latest in a long line of rebrands of Farage's very well-funded, decades-old project.

”Nige did take five million quid, And Nige would take five million more, Just a greedy man who talks us down, And riles up hate to screw the poor!” Excellent parody of The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)‘ from @marshfamilysongs.bsky.social

After 12 years, the EU flag is back on Hungary’s Parliament building — the new Speaker’s very first decision. A happy Schuman Day indeed.

This is what Victory Day looked like for Ukrainians in 1945. Instead of the fascists and Hitler, our grandparents got the Soviets and Stalin. And today, Ukrainians are facing their direct descendants: the rashists and Putin.

Is everything better in Europe or in the United States?

For what is a [hu]man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16 v26 (KJV*) [* Yes, soul is more reliably translated life, but I don't think it changes my point if you want to go NRSV]

Why do electricity prices rise with gas prices – even when much of our power i.e . wind & solar - is cheaper? Prof Richard Murphy explains why it’s not a bug, but how the system is designed. It needs to change to avoid higher bills

Top U.S. military commanders have reportedly told their troops that Trump's War on Iran will "cause Armageddon and mark Jesus' return to earth." It's yet another example of the dangerous relationship Trump has cultivated with Christian nationalists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XsORP-VuRI

Has anyone considered that the reason so many different explanations are being given re US-Iran is that confusion is the aim? That it's flooding the zone so people who care about reasons despair whilst people who just want to scream USA USA focus on the diabolical firework show?

I've read people saying Trump is drawn to extreme violence, and here he is, basically verifying it for us.

The fact this is happening on the day Russia is allowed back to Paralympics proudly with their flag and anthem and all and phrases about giving them ‘second chance’ feels surreal and honestly disgusting

He’s right, you know. Wait…

Worth watching the whole clip, but purely in propaganda terms it seems to me, admittedly just an amateur observer when it comes to war fighting, that it may be useful to send the message to the 91+ million Iranian civilians that we are not trying to kill them.

Is it just me or is there something utterly grotesque about the British right wing press relishing this war....as though this is all just a huge compter game where the men, woman and child civilians who are blown into several pieces are of only periphery consequence?

So Russia will supply Iran with intelligence on how to bomb US assets in the region, and supply the US with the fuel to respond? War for war's sake, I guess.

Pretty difficult to refute a single thing in this perfect assessment of where the f**k we are, from @iandunt.bsky.social:

Nothing they talk about more in "left behind communities" than reinstalling the Shah.

Hot Take: Kemi Badenoch wants Keir Starmer to sign us up to Trump's war so she can blame him personally for the body bags that come back, for any and all equipment failures, and for failing to 'win'. She's furious that he hasn't made a mistake.

People who read the Left Behind books growing up (and didn't deconstruct) are now running the biggest military in the world. You may never have heard of John Nelson Derby, but his heresy is killing hundreds of thousands, long after his death.

Since we released this it’s been, strangely, still relevant. Perhaps because of the lack of strategy from the US and Israel.

Starmer insists he is rejecting both the Left and the Right. And in the words of a former Prime Minister, we know what happens to those who insist on standing in the middle of the road: they get run down.

This is a nice summary of the kind of vacuum of thinking we are dealing with. There is no plan for democracy, just a different form of oppressive violence.

FACT CHECK: Horseshit

I am reminded of the statement "You can tell a lot about someone by what they think of Dubai". In a world where Dubai has been normalised, it's great to realise a lot of people aren't buying the plastic, sterile Human Rights black hole. There a heck of a lot of good people out there.

Kind of incredible. I was just sitting down to write about how Starmer should be given credit for keeping us out of this mess when he does this. Unutterably foolish and obsequious. Why in God's name should we have anything to do with this shortsighted madness.

What my life needs is someone to do "This Week In Epstein" like the old @russincheshire.bsky.social This Week In Brexit. Because frankly, just having a weekly touch-base to see if I missed anything or have any wires crossed is super useful, except for my poor mental health.

Ouch. Go Leo.

When in Norway, Have a break, Have a Quick Lunch! (Product is nigh-identical, but produced by a Mondalez subsidiary and, crucially, not Nestle).

Just dropping by whilst in Arctic Norway to say that all bread should come in wrappers with pictures this fun:

I was reminded the other day of the White Woman from Australia who crashed the Break Dancing at the Olympics. Frankly, this has the same energy: white person mimicking back the culture but in a self-absorbed, unreceptive and undignified way. (And stop saying Dementia, this ain't new from Trump)

Good thread on how a big part of the problem of British politics is big media figures with no real interest in being across the details.

28 Aug 25 -- UK trans man denied Gender Recognition Certificate over his intention to conceive a child after board says it means he's not living as a man--a key requirement. (European Court of Human Rights has ruled against req. sterilization for legal gender changes.) @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

How Spain put up wealth taxes - without chasing away the billionaires. Yet the 'don't tax the rich' brigade constantly scare people. Wealth tax isn't just about revenued. It reduces inequalities, capacity of the rich to bribe, pollute, hijack democracy, hold governments to ransom.

The more Starmer and Cooper go on, the more I feel like their legacy will be Resisters to a coming Reform government being arrested and jailed under Labour's laws. A horrific kick in the teeth to any decent human being who worked to get them elected.

hear me out: Kobi Nazrul primary school in London's East End is the first in the UK where *every* pupil is bilingual here.

Are you a business? Do you want to be able to operate on an inclusive basis? Sign this letter.

Sending a very clear instruction to the public that we are supposed to see a link between ethnicity and crime.