I do wonder if Tony Blair is the only member of the Labour party who thinks the things that he does.

The fate of some elderly people is to become crude caricatures of their younger selves; so it is kinder to remember them as they were then and to draw a veil over them as they are now. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Since 2010 the number of UK billionaires has doubled. If wealth trickles down, then why aren't we all richer?

I’m so unseen.

🧐

Very cross channel ferry 😡

He certainly does human in a way Starmer never could, and there is a certain ring to his rhetoric, inspiring dare one say it just a little bit of hope. But let’s see what is the substance …

The BBC World Service is doing a great job covering this crisis. It remains the jewel in the crown of the BBC, despite all the things the BBC is doing to undermine it.

At times like this, I always wonder what the Pebbledash People think about politics and how sadly neglected they must feel these days. www.heraldscotland.com/news/1214791...

Sometimes size isn’t everything. Manchester, irrespective of how geographically big or otherwise it is, is the bigger city.

Was he always a joke and we just didn’t notice or has he become a joke? Although to be fair, I’m not laughing.

It’s something British universities have adopted with mad alacrity and with … brilliant results.

Who is Andy Burnham? I try to provide some answers. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

It’s not the most important point here, but where do wannabe fascists get their uniforms from? Is there a shop?

This, from one of Obama‘s speech writers is also relevant to a British party currently considering a change of leadership. Whoever succeeds Starmer needs to do this. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/o...

If there was a Corbyn Labour membership surge in 2015 and thereafter there are early signs of a Burnham trickle.

One of the most depressing things about this is that it ended up in my timeline on Instagram. My God, what kind of a monster have I become??

What title would you give to this new ITV4 detective drama? Please no references to anybody’s plagiarism.

Yes, that’s the big fear.

More research needed, I think, to confirm this is accurate.

As is likely if this source reflects Burnham‘s approach it is a spectacular instance of path dependency. When 1st mooted many years ago I thought this way of addressing concerns about immigration was sensible. But it’s failed, demonstrably & repeatedly failed. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Andy thinks ‘migration is a moral issue’, it just isn’t necessarily your morality that he’s interested in. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Mapp Effect.

I read somewhere that Starmer considers Ukraine to be part of his… legacy… But maybe I misread. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I really couldn’t care who becomes the premiership champions, but I’m really upset that it looks like Liverpool is now going to qualify for the Champions League.

It’s a job-owning democracy.

New Associate Professor role in modern British History, just advertised here at Oxford. @lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk @kelloggoxford.bsky.social my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Burnham says he will change politics but within the existing fiscal rules: a nice trick if he can do it but isn't that what Starmer said? giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Funny, I seem to remember the same author in 2021 praising Burnham when he was a useful means of undermining Starmer. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An interesting interview from way back when before Burnham was Mayor, suggesting a mildly socially conservative person and pretty mainstream in their idea of Labour politics. highprofiles.info/interview/an...

Latest Housing Numbers for Manchester-a record year. In 2025/2026, a total of 4,766 new homes were built. 901 homes were affordable, with 439 for social rent, and 159 for Manchester Living Rent. Also seen 600 empty homes brought back into use since Nov. 2024.🏡 ilovemanchester.com/manchester-a...

That’s something at least.

I’m very much enjoying those people who want to show us how to make a variety of egg sandwiches that feel they have to indicate how we should boil an egg, peel it, and mash it up. You learn something new every day.

We all know how this ends. It will be utterly hilarious.

Let them be steel workers!

If it’s true, Streeting has only come out for a reverse Brexit to screw up Burnham’s campaign then Burnham shld go for broke in the byelection & avoid all the mealymouthed stuff we associate with Starmer. If being radical fails in the byelection, then it would fail nationally, so what’s to lose?

It would be nice if she focused on her job as culture secretary which is something I think many of us here would be surprised to know she actually was.

I’m confused why some think what Starmer was trying to achieve was incoherent as it seemed pretty clear what he thought he was doing, ie return to ‘normal politics’, the problem was it was economically inadequate & too extreme re: immigration - but very much social democracy in hard times.

She’s not running.

If this is right, I’m more left-wing than I thought and Jeremy Corbyn is my hero.

But why do supposed serious bbc journalists take spin for fact? No conspiratorial answers please.

I was once a guest at high table at an Oxford College and one of the Fellows told me that his family had Arsenal season tickets and had done for some generations. It confirmed everything I imagined about Arsenal and more. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

And ban free stuff. All of it.

There is a Gaviscon advert in which dancing actors mouth the words to a song about its virtues; one of them mimes the word ‘diarrhoea’. I can’t but think we’re like that actor, this being the summit of his career, his showreel clip, and that this is what his whole life was but a preparation for.

I don't know how typical I am of Labour members in Manchester (not at all probably) but if I become motivated enough to go canvassing in Ashton-in-Makerfield it'll be to stop Reform winning the seat and to stop Streeting becoming Leader. About Burnham himself I am definitely unethusastic.

Streeting, the swordless scabbard.

Had my haircut this morning and the conversation was all about the survival or not of… Arne Slot.

Immediately after he has the numbers to challenge Starmer Streeting loses confidence in the Prime Minister so much so he has to resign. Strange, that.

Which of the many problems Labour has just now will a Streeting premiership solve? The presentation will be better, the leader will at least be familiar with the use of words to make a case, but what fundamentally will have changed and will he attract back those voters lost to the Greens?

It’s a shame these achievements were not reflected in the results of last week… I wonder why that was??