With no disrespect to Simon Clarke, whom I knew slightly when he was a student, the fact that he is routinely described as a "senior Conservative" is a mark of the party's problems. He was an MP for 7 years, a Cabinet minister for 1 year and a secretary of state for 49 days.

Next preview dates for my Edinburgh show, RICHARD ASHCROFT REVIVED MY LIBIDO, are UP! 'Such an honest and funny show - so cleverly insightful and life-affirming' (Phil Clarke, Various Artists Ltd, Producer PEEP SHOW). Do come! Book here: www.museumofcomedy.com/richard-ashc...

#TimelineCleanse WHAT HAVE WE BECOME Listening here to President Carter's Nobel Peace Prize speech "WE HAVE NOT ASSUMED THAT SUPER STRENGTH GUARANTEES SUPER WISDOM" "We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children " I long for the day when Trump is gone

NEW: Continued Ukrainian advances in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast are likely constraining Russian offensive operations in the Oleksandrivka direction and may soon threaten Russian offensive operations in the Hulyaipole direction. (1/5) Full assessment: isw.pub/UkrWar031626 1/6

This very straight news piece buried deep within the FT never uses words like corruption or insider dealing but every detail is quietly devastating. Why is the FT virtually alone in the UK media in covering this important story?

It's difficult to end a war if you don't know why you started it in the first place.

Leavitt's responses to questions about Trump's call with Putin and whether or not he pressed him about sharing intelligence with Iran are evasive

Rising oil prices and uncertainty make homegrown clean energy transition more urgent than ever. Today, we presented a new set of initiatives to boost clean energy investment, strengthen Europe’s energy independence, and help lower energy prices, including ⬇️

Markwayne Mullin is the same dude already under scrutiny for suspicious stock trades. And he’s supposed to run America’s national security. • No government security experience • No law enforcement background • No intelligence work • No military service • Not even a bachelor’s degree

This is the guy who works alongside eunuch Jared to represent us in the Mideast and other parts of the world. Yes, he actually does!

Once used to detain recent border crossers, the Dilley Immigration Processing Center now houses families arrested in ICE sweeps, Caitlin Dickerson reports. Dickerson, who visited the facility most recently in 2019, writes about her experiences inside:

Scoop: DHS ousted multiple privacy officers at CBP after they questioned orders to purposely mislabel records about government surveillance to prevent their release under FOIA.

You once explained the dilemma of journalists who dare to ask the tough questions, “If you duff them up, they won’t come back.” I suspect Shawn McCreesh of NYT will get his WH pass revoked for this but at least he’s highlighted the timidity of his colleagues.

Kristi Noem has done a stunning amount of damage and it’s good she’s gone. But this doesn’t change the fact that we need a complete overhaul of DHS, impartial investigations into the killings of two American citizens, and information on children that were taken from Minnesota.

So we’re like Germany in 1939. But we’re going to wait longer to violate the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after invading Poland. bsky.app/profile/acyn...

REPORTER: Yesterday you told us Israel was going to strike Iran and that's why we needed to get involved. But today the president said Iran-- RUBIO: No. Were you there yesterday? REPORTER: Yes. I asked the question

Calum Miller (Lib Dem) to Isabel Oakeshott: “You’re a journalist who makes her money from commenting on what’s happening in the UK despite not living here. You & others have mounted a trenchant attack on what’s happening in the UK…” #PoliticsLive

here's the full clip of Karoline Leavitt getting big mad when Kaitlan Collins presses her on Hegseth complaining about press coverage of US troop deaths

Someone needs to remind Trump that the "warfighters" are conducting a "special military operation."

This IPSO adjudication against the Telegraph is quite something Confirms their story titled: ‘We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays’ was completely fabricated, with the family involved non-existent and stock pictures used www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/0210...

The new war machine. Machine learning and large language models. Palantir, OpenAI etc are really the Krupps and IGFarben of the 21st Century www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Abysmal, immoral, cruel, small hearted, tiny minded, ineffective, undemocratic, and just generally utterly indecent. What a bitter godforesaken disappointment these people are. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is true if you recognize Reagan was an awful president who did untold damage to this country: Lindsey Graham: “To Donald J. Trump, you just surpassed Ronald Reagan as the most consequential Republican president since Lincoln… You’re a Reagan plus, plus, plus.”

Here's a Jan. 6 rioter posing with a press pass before Pete Hegseth's press conference, just to give you a sense of the type of "journalists" who were in the Pentagon briefing room this morning.

Well, no, they’re not just as wrong. The bigger error is not seeing that “trying to win over voters from a party on the opposite end of the spectrum, whose values your core voters oppose” is not same as “chasing voters from party on same side ideologically whose values your core voters like.”

This story has been puzzling, because im still not clear exactly what is meant to have happened where, or why DV insists there was egregious family voting but the council seems so sure nothing was raised with them on the day (bar one concern, I’m told, which apparently turned out to be innocent)

A case of “friendly fire” happened: Iranian forces attacked the Skylight, a tanker belonging to the Iran–Russia shadow fleet, which was sailing under the flag of Palau. The vessel was carrying Iranian oil and is subject to U.S. and EU sanctions.

In October 2024, the Georgia secretary of state’s office launched an investigation after receiving numerous reports from residents across several counties saying they’d received partially prefilled absentee ballot applications from Musk’s America PAC. trib.al/jzxMUxz

Utterly horrifying. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Exc: As many as 80 Labour MPs are braced to oppose the home secretary's immigration policies Dozens of backbenchers and ministers are understood to be hostile to Shabana Mahmood's reforms. After the Gorton by-election they're pushing for a "recalibration" observer.co.uk/news/politic...

This aged well. Note the author.

'inside the red-faced hawk is a dove, with an almost physical horror of violence' 'Trump is as close as a pacifist as we've seen in the White House' Pure pundit brain from Ian Leslie in March 2025

A close second for Maureen Dowd...

Then what happened?

‘Trump’s not enough. And he knows he’s not enough’: California governor Gavin Newsom on populism, ‘purity tests’ and whether he’ll run for the presidency

Zahawi on Sky now complaining of "industrial scale voter fraud" and the "weaponisation of sectarian Islamism" in British politics. Absolute trash. British Trumpism, about as low rent as you could ever imagine.

the worst people around have long figured out that you just say whatever you want with no pushback and it becomes fact. no pushback, just say it. say whatever you want, nobody cares. the interviewers nodding at you don't understand and don't care and won't challenge a single thing ever

FBI Director Kash Patel fired at least a dozen FBI agents and staff tied to the probe into Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office in 2021. More cuts could be coming, two people familiar said.

Gorton and Denton turnout: 47.6% (+0.8) 36,903 votes cast

What a surprise this comes out right after the story breaks about her secret bag on the flight with Lewandowski.

Delighted to announce that following the consultation, I'm giving the green light to make Oxford Street traffic-free.

Where Minnesota is now, we all might be. And who Minnesotans are now is who we all should be.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but a country where civilians must show papers to men hiding behind a uniform, and who can snatch you from work, school, the street, or your home because they don't like the way you look, speak, or pray, is NOT a free country.

www.nbcnews.com/world/europe... Poland needed to defend itself against Russia, a country which “has very aggressive intentions vis a vis its neighbors,” the country's deputy defense minister said…

Q: Why couldn't you just work with Congress to come up with a plan? TRUMP: I don't have to. I have the right to do tariffs and I've always had the right to do tariffs. It's all been approved by Congress, so there's no reason.

Very much as expected Trump is doing his tariff thing again, now claiming another legal basis. Here's the text of sec. 122 of the Tariff Act of 1974. Note that the text says for up to 150 days. Note also that Trump just ignores that bit. www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

Team GB's Gus Kenworthy says he is "on the right side" after he received death threats for posting a graphic message about the United States' Immigration and Customs Enforcement organisation. - BBC Sport share.google/u17PZeAzQv4N...

MAGA voters loved tariffs. Thought that it meant punishment for the rest of the world. Instead they've made themselves poorer. Way to go Einsteins. abcnews.com/Business/tru...

Trump meanwhile has become incredibly rich. Almost doubled his wealth in last year.