A reminder that this week the Conservatives announced they want a “British ICE”

@theguardian.com To me, this shows us that franchise comps are about money not the sport. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/o... I won't watch the "hundred" because teams are synthetic, temporary things not built from academies, player development programmes & loyalty from players, clubs & supporters.

@somersetccc.bsky.social This is another lovely interview. somersetcountycc.co.uk/news/club-ne... The account of the concierge in Manchester tells me an awful lot about the character and team spirit at the Club.

@somersetccc.bsky.social The interview with Andy Umeed shows what a great chap he is.You can sense the sorrow in leaving but the gratitude for having the opportunity and appreciation of the club and staff is very clear. I'm sure he will be missed in and around the County Ground.

@somersetccc.bsky.social Congratulations are due to Matt Renshaw on being included in the Australia squad for ODIs against India. Any chance he will be back with Somerset?

@govpritzker.illinois.gov 37 and Kedzie, East Garfield, Illinois. This is assault.

no excuse for being this bad

SCOOP: PA prosecutors were alerted to possible voting irregularities by one of MAGA's leading voices. A long paper trail shows Jack Posobiec has been living in Maryland but voting using his parent's address in Pennsylvania for years. Me with @marisakabas.bsky.social slate.com/news-and-pol...

The cynicim of this rancid attack in Manchester. Jewish people have been telling us for years they feel less safe. It'd about time they are believed.

On top of more than 30 years of leniency they've already had.

Keir Starmer's aides are reportedly telling him not to go to the COP30 climate conference, because Reform would attack him for it. Yes, they might. And he should wear it as a badge of honour. Standing up for humanity, for science and a habitable planet. Where's the hazard in that?

Yikes, that’s a collapse and a half.

SUPPORTERS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 🏆 It's time for Somerset fans to make their selection for an award that will be presented at the End of Season Dinner! 🗳️ VOTE 👉 somer.st/POTS #WeAreSomerset

The Conservative Party chair is saying the 60,000 people in hotels would have been deported to Rwanda. The capacity of the scheme was 300 in year one

The revolution will have an Eton education

Important piece by John Simpson in @theobserveruk.bsky.social, on the American money funding Yaxley-Lennon and the far-right in Britain. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

"Musk marches on London. America's richest man calls for overthrow of British government". The British Government can't just wish this problem away. It can stay silent as night falls, or it can light the beacons and go out to meet it. observer.co.uk

Govt should take this message seriously. The far right, backed by the world's richest man, is actively stoking racial & political violence. Staying quiet, flattering them, saying "we hear you" won't work. Stand up for decency, for respect, for the best of modern Britain or watch those things burn

BBC under fresh pressure over extent of Reform UK coverage

As the Epstein case shows, Trump’s Maga faithful care about only one kind of sex-crime victim | Emma Brockes

A reminder of what Mandelson said to the FT's questions about Epstein in February this year

Carbon emissions from oil giants directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for first time

Payments and pravda in the Boris Files | Letters

Leaked files cast doubt on source of £2.6m in Tory donations

Leak exposes Washington Post boss Will Lewis’s role as secret adviser to Boris Johnson while PM

📰 Seen some online headlines about snow? Check out our Fact Check below on how some headlines may not be accurately reflecting the full forecast... 👇

@anniechave.bsky.social I agree about non-county names. Like you I avoid franchise cricket and deplore the fact that they avoid locality in their chosen names.

The British Army is based and built on bullying.

Women in the British Army are dealing with an onslaught of sexual harassment, including predatory behaviour from superior officers, sexual assaults and “nocturnal doorknocking” from fellow soldiers in mixed barracks, yet another report confirms. 🧵 1/2

UPDATE: Reform is excited to tell you that freedom of speech is now bad. thecritic.co.uk/free...

A mob of angry drunken men screaming abuse outside an asylum hotel have defended their actions, saying all they want is for women and girls to feel safe walking the streets. From the new Private Eye, out now.

Quite apart from the fact that this is garbage, I see that Mr Free Speech "will not stand for" people teaching interpretations of the past that he doesn't agree with.

Why oh why does anyone give a shit what influencers say.

Have I gone mad or did Today just do an entire interview with the Conservative energy spokesperson, on the Conservatives' plan to max out North Sea oil, without a single question about the environment? (There was a question on crowding out investment for alternative energy, but I think that was it)

The programme is now discussing the harm being done to bird populations in Britain by climate change. Everywhere we look, the lights on the ecological dashboard are flashing red. But heaven forfend that this might affect our economic decision-making - or even, it seems, the questions we ask of it.

the juxtaposition of 'let's enjoy Paddington bear!' and 'let's deport human migrants to the Taliban!' is too perfect

Provisional statistics from the Met Office show that summer 2025 will ‘almost certainly’ be the warmest summer on record for the UK. It would move 2018 off the top spot and relegate 1976 out of the top five warmest summer in a series which dates back to 1884. 👉 www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

@somersetccc.bsky.social I'm sorry to read on the BBC website about players departing at the end of this season. I can't find an announcement, so are these leaks unconfirmed?

Early ripening of berries in UK shows nature is under stress, say experts

It was at this ground, on this day 150 years ago that Somerset County Cricket Club was formed ❤️ 🏏 Sidmouth Cricket Ground #WeAreSomerset

A crown court trial in relation to the M25 gantry actions in 2022 was due to start today, but has been postponed until at least December 2026. Why? Because there weren't any judges available.

Tough as an English cricket fan to applaud Johnson but 👏👏👏👏 Spot on, mate.

Talks stall on world’s first plastic pollution treaty one day before deadline

I hear she really hates being compared to the lettuce. So please keep mentioning the lettuce :-))

“We have previously made our views public on the Vitality Blast. Alongside some others; we were not supportive of a reduction in matches from 14 to 12 and we remain disappointed that this change had majority support and will occur. Read the full story ⤵️⤵️ somersetcountycc.co.uk/news/club-ne...

Revamped = Reduced www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

@georgedobell.bsky.social @thecricketer.com #askgeorge For the last day of the series During the first two Tests, I didn't warm to Siraj. He looked fierce, glared & intense, angry even. Now, despite working so hard for so long he is smiling, sometimes ruefully, and I rate him as a favourite player.

@thecricketer.com @georgedobell.bsky.social #AskGeorge Bethell seems to be inked into the touring party despite playing only 1 First Class and 1 Test this summer. Is his selection justified or is he really just a white ball player?