45 years ago today. Buried on page 20 on a holiday Friday just like this one, news that changed the world. www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/u...

WHAT KIND OF IRISH IS YOUR PREMIER?! WHAT KIND OF IRISH IS YOUR PM?!

@clairehanna.bsky.social : "Last week, in a very high profile case, the murder of Natalie McNally, the judge.. talked about a frenzied knife attack, he talked about wounds so bad the cause of death was unable to to be determined. There were no riots over the perpetrator of that brutal crime"

Surely it will be only fair to Nandy to make her culture secretary first so we can see what she’s good at domestically.

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

It is almost impossible to stress how utterly pathetic it is to say that the prime minister has failed and lost all authority and must be given a few more months because you miscalculated the timing on how you could personally benefit?? Fuck off with this

Yeah whenever I look at these results, my main takeaway is that the guy dictating Labour strategy for 95% of this government really did a terrific job

The nub of so many of this government’s problems is that there is a Keir Starmer where the prime minister should be.

The Long Good Friday, or, Thames Bits The late 70s British gangster movie is the kind of movie they don't make anymore, and honestly weren't making back then, either

I think I’m enjoying SNL UK even more because I was so excited to violently hate it

The Green victory in Denton is the result which will have the biggest effect on Labour, far more so than a Reform win. The blithe assumption progressives have nowhere else to go has been proved catastrophically wrong. Can’t help thinking of this quote from a Labour minister, a year ago…

obviously today is a huge embarrassment for Matt Goodwin and for Reform, which is something that we absolutely ought to celebrate, but we must also remember it's a huge embarrassment for Morgan McSweeney and Maurice Glasman and all the Blue Labour weirdos, and that's important to celebrate too :)

This is pretty rich. The list of people who have a reasonable argument to get in the government’s face on this is long but surely does not include “the guy who brought him back after his last two scandals”.

Sunday ☁️

howling at this utter indictment of the rest who were there!

A core part of “why Labour is failing” is that the backbenchers given prime retirement seats - the people who ought to be the brains of the party - are not asking “what decisions should we be taking to defend ourselves and our allies and to increase resilience?” “How do we reform public services?”…

need more cosmopolitan chauvinism imo. to be able to go to a world city and do this without crossing a border is something you should be proud of, it means you're a great country. To want to tear it down means you are inbred provincial hog with no greater drives than envy and fear.

One of the arguments in favour of the mansion tax, which I admit I did not anticipate, is that it would be like the private school lobby in that it would send media people insane and cause them to not focus on anything else because they're so busy running completely unrelatable case studies

THE SECRET PROJECT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS IS FINALLY LIVE CHECK IT OUT outsidersartsclub.com

Please join me in congratulating Woman on her appointment

Opening my ballot for deputy leader

out in Henley with the coven

I wish there were a way to tell advertisers of the things you’ll never buy and that they’re wasting their money / my time. I don’t want YouTube premium, I don’t want my groceries delivered on a bicycle, I don’t want food with added protein. Advertise me things I want instead!!

I’m in the @ftweekend.com twice this week: once on how Labour can recover, and what Keir Starmer needs to change for that to happen:

Since I posted this fundraiser two days ago on my 10 year tranniversary I've raised over half my original goal of £15k. I never expected it to go this well or to get this much support from, frankly, extremely generous queers. If you can donate or share, it is greatly appreciated. gofund.me/3cb0b03e

this will probably sound spikier than intended but I find it interesting that the right is now (cynically !) doing this, when the Labour left spent so long talking about extra-parliamentary organising, activating communities etc, then did.... nothing of the sort

If a Reform MP argued as regularly and consistently as Neil O’Brien does that people who aren’t “white British” don’t count as properly British and are in fact just foreign, then they would lose the whip, let alone be on the frontbench.

There are too many librarians on BlueSky

Feckless sellout Democrats must imitate the principled left-wing firebrand governments of Anthony Albanese and Mark Carney

Everyone watching Pierre Poilievre eat absolute shit in Carleton and respecting Canada's bilingual culture.

I don’t understand why people are confused by the EHRC guidance. There is one toilet that always lies, one toilet that always tells the truth and one toilet that always answers randomly. Trans people get to ask 3 yes or no questions, directed to only one toilet. The toilets answer in their own langu

That perfect moment when Pope Francis stopped the car to embrace Sophie Cruz. I cried my fuckin eyes out. After all the pain this country puts migrants through, this moment the little Mexican girl broke through was ... everything (video cred: AP). He was a real one. Obit below.

I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.

The fact shes LOTO is objectively bad for britain and all but i find her extreme self confidence and the insane things she says such a fucking funny combo

UK PM Starmer to Zelensky: "You are very, very welcome here in Downing Street. As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom. We will stand with you and Ukraine for as long as it may take."

This would be the same Robert Jenrick that said during the Tory leadership campaign: "If I was an American citizen I would be voting for Donald Trump".

Average South African second hand book stall

I don’t ever want to watch a video please don’t make me watch a video

Heh heh

Subtweet: I don’t think the answer to “how should a midsized open economy react to the critical posts of a man who is a close adviser to the next president of the country thar is the central component of Five Eyes, Nato, the global economy, etc.” is a question with an obvious right answer.

People can debate what Jimmy Carter's political legacy was. But his human legacy was an astoundingly positive one, worthy of deep admiration.

Digger on rails digger on rails DIGGER ON RAILS

Stat from The Economist (sorry, I know) - as a proportion of income, people in west Belfast give 4 times more to charity than people in Kensington 🤯

Gisèle Pelicot has made a statement leaving the court: Her voice did break at a couple of moments but she was clear and composed. Showing exactly the same dignity as she has throughout. Apologies for clumsy translation:

Nothing screams 'doing politics well' like spending *TEN BILLION POUNDS* to compensate a tiny fraction of people, many of whom simply don't need it, for a change with in most cases a 20 year run up.