I think the fundamental answer here is nobody has any hope for the future and nobody thinks anything will get better. Increasing wealth inequality, the rich and powerful acting with impunity at the cost of the average person, corruption on a massive scale...

So much UK political opinion is literally just whether someone "looks right" for the role. I suppose it is a mark of progress that Sunak met this criterion as much as Starmer does. As the below implies, this 'right sort of chap' gets leeway, even when pushing policies that accelerate insanity.

I don’t say this to undercut Duncan’s excellent column, more to share an epiphany I had during it: yes, the bang average (and indeed the most successful) parts of the UK are “left behind”, because that’s the consequence of underperforming our peers and weakening our comparative advantage.

This would be an absolute disgrace. www.ft.com/content/c98a...

"The vindication" has 2 outcomes: trans people vanish and society treats them as fetishists. The second is the anti trans activists' friends and colleagues who stopped talking to them, left the movement, disagreed with them etc reach out and say that the activists were right all along. 3/x

UK activists are having to fight American-backed attempts to exclude trans people from recreational sports. The ADF have sent letters to at least 10 sports organizations threatening legal action if they don’t exclude trans people. www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/05/amer... #transrights #sport

His mommy?

New price caps introduced on Snickers. Working well.

BBC News still using the "a biological male who identifies as a woman" wording in an article about a trans woman winning a discrimination case in Australia. And telling us that the original article was amended accordingly. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This does always happen - on the other hand, a ship in harbour is safe but that is not the purpose of a ship

How it started How it’s going Knox County Schools whitewashing history banned books edition 📚 🤔. Shameful.

Whenever racists go off about how Sharia Law is taking over I'm like, fun fact: the Church of England has courts that have the same legal standing as Crown Courts - and so as the only person in this conversation who's actually been taken to a religious court... I'm telling you to shut up.

Increasingly think there is a strong case for an explicit wealth tax in order to make the politics of a more general tax rise more manageable. About fairness and burden sharing rather than revenue raising as such.

Welcome to mid-19th century Ireland: the heart of Southern & Eastern Europe.

Dorian is right. My simple view on this is 'more town centre housing'. There's more to say but having more people live somewhere does promote other stuff whether that's public services or businesses. A bit of gentle densification would help Morecambe a lot, and help us prep for the Eden Project.

Terrorist convictions mean you serve your full jail term. You can't travel to another country. The police decide if you get bank accounts, phones and computers and they have open access to all of them. For life. Absolutely insane to secretly use this on kids convicted of criminal damage. Deranged.

I know there’s a lot going on with the Labour Party, but it is all in the bounds of democratic politics. This however, paid collusion between the leaders of two political parties in the run up to election, if true, is a scandal of staggering propositions

Congratulations to Arya! This is wonderful scientific work. www.irishtimes.com/environment/... archive.is/5RV69

Is it good when every single org like ofcom, the electoral commission, the EHRC etc etc etc are not fit for purpose? Is that a society functioning well or not?

Beach finds from Seaton Carew, Northeast England (watercolour painting). 🐡 #rocks #fossils #seashells #art

Pretty urgent that we purge every police force in the country. Really unacceptable conduct from them in relation to politics for the past decade.

I think we took something of a 'wrong turn' as a society when we made our intellectual ideal the young 'best and brightest' and put all of the value on *intelligence* as an inborn trait rather than on *learning* as an earned value. Learning is, frankly, far more important.

Drunk?

“The supreme court betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, and they betrayed our democracy.” - Barack Obama

For context, the Serious Fraud Office has 600.

Oil crisis? KMA www.temu.com/uk/1-400-nor...

I think this sort of comes back to "who is regarded as real, and who isn't?" In the same way Starmer can write a letter about the dangers of sectarian voting after losing to the Greens, or Farage can characterise the entire left as those who don't work, certain views make you count less.

The UK is over 4000km (over 2500 miles) closer than Ireland?

Jeff Bezos is hoping ONE WEEK from today when he chairs the Met Gala that he’ll be celebrated and pictured with Beyonce. F*ck that. We’re exposing the truth: Amazon's servers are used to track and deport people for ICE. Thanks to the 1000 people who’ve funded these ads. Donate via link in bio x

The most important news from the US yesterday

Third time lucky?

Twat. archive.is/nZlAn

BRB, off for my remarkably relaxed walk with the dog.

@nialloconghaile.bsky.social This is hilarious. And yet another example of British immigrants who think they're doing their host country a favour and should get to dictate to the host country. bsky.app/profile/timb...

You're looking at velvet malachite, Cu2CO3(OH)2. A few warnings: Please resist the urge to touch it to feel how soft it is. Absolutely /do not/ lick it. Keep far away from any Supermen. If a wingéd creature emerges, do not agree to any pacts. Let's talk about the science here.

Update: solved.

Today is officially the 30th anniversary of Steamed Hams. On April 14, 1996, "22 Short Films About Springfield" aired for the first time!

From Soviet-inspired protests to MAGA-inspired. Such a pity. stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8537...

We have many decades of verified, repeatable, consistent research showing that is exactly how mass media works. Several enormous industries are built on the idea of media affecting attitudes and beliefs. Reporters who deny this in a fit of pique at facing down their own behavior just look unserious.

As in Budapest and Damascus, so in Washington and Moscow.

Alison Killilea’s Corkonian translation (“Boyo-wulf” naturally) has “C’mere to me!”

at some point I think we need to conclude many, esp on RW, simply do not want certain kids socializing online OR in person and don't care about "healthy outdoor time away from screens" or "protection" etc, but are literal bigots who seek control, that simple. no good faith/benefit of doubt to be had

And this is hardly reported in our media "More than 750 schools. Over 300 healthcare centers. And 90,000-plus homes. The US and Israel have destroyed or damaged more than 115,000 civilian structures, Iran’s Red Crescent Society says "

As everyone focuses on Trump and the U.S., Israel just continues committing war crimes with impunity.

Tribal nations are using their sovereignty to keep ICE out of their lands! Choctaw Nation just bought a vacant warehouse that ICE wanted to turn into a detention site. www.projectsaltbox.com/p/choctaw-na...

In April, the health part of universal credit to be halved (or frozen for new claimants) unless their condition is terminal or severe & lifelong. Multiple sclerosis, learning disabilities, bipolar, Parkinson’s, ME may not meet new eligibility criteria. More cruelty towards people with disabilities.

70/ Why it feels to many of us PANICANS that we are in Covid time (think late february) JP Morgan analysts mapped out how the Hormuz closure may unfold over the world. The red lines are oil from the Persian Gulf. Asia: April 1. Europe: April 10. North America: April 15. Australia: April 20.

This is why we need to understand racial capitalism. The economy and profit is not more important than their commitment to white supremacy.

Organizations such as ILGA-Europe recently reclassified the UK as having "no functioning legal or administrative process for legal gender recognition." This places the UK alongside countries like Hungary and Russia in European rights rankings. rainbowmap.ilga-europe.org/categories/l...