Stephen puts his finger here on one of my biggest bugbears in politics: people mistaking a demand side problem for a supply side problem. Universities are responding to public & cultural demand for university education, not manufacturing the demand in order to sell courses!

Still of the view that the biggest risk in this whole mess is widespread hunger in poorer countries leading to political instability.

The Left/Liberal split just never happened on a party level in America the way it did in Europe & the (rest of the) Anglosphere. This has probably been good for the Democrats on an electoral level, but bad for political analysis.

News from back in Surrey is that Lib Dems signs are being defaced in Elmbridge. It seems like things are getting increasingly bad tempered as the locals draw nearer.

You see this idea a lot in (especially but not exclusively American) pulp/fantasy/sci-fi from the early-to-mid 1900s. Tarzan and Conan are the most obvious literary examples, but it pops up everywhere, Paul Atreides in Dune is a partial example even as Herbert uses him to critique imperial culture.

While I don't think this is impossible, IMO the only way it happens is if Farage dies before 2029. If that happens, she's got a clear shot at potentially uniting the rught wing vote again. This is also why you see Tory Party types wishcasting for Farage to keel over.

This is incredibly cool tech! It makes me want to break out my sword again, I haven't fenced in years, but maybe it's time...

Well that was draining. Starmer came across poorly, and Labour MPs are clearly deeply unhappy with him. But we still don't really understand what happened with Mandelson's appointment, and I doubt this is the end of the story.

@sorchaeastwood.bsky.social makes an excellent and impassioned contribution about just how damaging this affair has been to trust in politics in general and Parliament in particular.

Zarah Sultana has been suspended from the House for calling Kier Starmer a liar and then not leaving when asked by the Speaker.

Christine Jardine had a brilliant question earlier that focused on Epstein's victims, people that are important to remember amongst all this political turmoil.

First dud anti-Starmer intervention is from Robert Jenrick, who chooses to use the opportunity to grandstand about small boat crossings. It went down poorly in the Commons.

After Ellie Chowns, I make that three parties (Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens) that have called on Starmer to resign, including both of the other two 'Left Bloc' UK-wide parties. That basically leaves any possibility of Labour under Starmer leading the Left Bloc in tatters.

Aww that is incredible! A rare genuinely lovely story in British politics.

Wait is there a dog in the House? Since when?

God Lammy looks like he's given up, and Reeves looks utterly miserable.

This is actually a big deal, in that Davey and Starmer had a publicly cordial relationship until very recently. It suggests Davey thinks Starmer is done, and Starmer himself seemed shaken after Davey asked him to resign. I don't think he saw that coming.

I've mentioned this before, but the UK really doesn't have an 'ethnic' concept of nationhood in the way some European countries do. You do get more of that kind of thing within the nationalisms of the constituent nations, but even then its a lot less than you'd fine in e.g. Germany.

I think this is right, and also an underplayed reason for his success. For all his gestures to the far right, Farage remains a creature of 90s Euroscepticism, just about able to cling to old Tory traditions and remain within the accepted bounds of British political culture. Restore...isn't that.

It is interesting that more people are turning bearish on Reform *before the locals*, personally I'm waiting until then to see whether my assumptions about their ceiling is correct. My position for now remains that i can see them as the largest party in hung parliament, but not having a majority.

Sword & Sorcery readers be like:

think it’s fair to say that there are still some details that may need to be ironed out

Making giant chalk figures out of solar panels is exactly the kind of 'modernity 🤝 tradition' thing people love in the UK, like how the public prefers high speed railway designs that look like Victorian red-brick. It could also help give a boost to local tourism, and even local identity.

The statistical tie between Lab-Lib-Grn supporters here on rejoining the EU is almost certainly partly to do with the homogenisation of left bloc voters, but it is also very interesting that the 'Lexit' contingent of voters has seemingly dried up. They were a small but influential bloc in 2016.

Good analogy here. The real worry isn't high prices (although that's bad enough by itself). It's resource shortages and rationing.

Essentially you need to *pitch* to the public. I do wonder if the lack of private sector experience is part of the issue here, in that there seems to be a real terror of actually pitching the case for a thing, and then justifying the monetary cost. You don't start a pitch with the cost!

"Dirty old river, must you keep rolling Flowing into the night? People so busy, make me feel dizzy Taxi light shine so bright But I don't feel afraid As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset I am in paradise" (Great picture!)

This is why Members of Parliament were right to take the ultimate decision on non-disclosure of the Mandelson papers for “national security“ reasons out of the hands of the Prime Minister www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

At some point today maybe I'll be able to see what the 16 notifications I've got actually are

Sometimes, we just need to wait for nature first. This blackbird has chosen an unusual home for her nest - inside a roll of air pots at our Plant Conservation Centre! Enjoy the spot, we’ll just use these when you’re finished…

#sunset behind a tree! What a perfect photo!

Honestly I think this is one reason why I bounced off Lies of P. It's so consistantly po-faced even though its core idea is sillier than anything in the Fromsoft games. Meanwhile Elden Ring has a boss with 12 arms who sticks a dragon on his hand, and even Bloodbourne has the DJ Micolash fight.

I've developed a nascent theory of 'pilot parties', where the creation of small parties of a certain political strand presage the movement of larger, more established parties into that political space. It's happened with Your Party & Greens, Change UK & Lib Dems, and (temporarily) with UKIP & Cons.

I absolutely love this idea, but yeah you couldn't make it for under $100 million and there's no way the audience would be big enough for it to make money. Demon's Souls though? That would be a lot cheaper (less fantastical) and has a more obvious plot. Though would it have the brand recognition?

This + inflation (high prices especially for essentials) & increased housing cost is essentially my argument for why everyone feels awful about things despite the line going up. There are other factors (covid trauma, deteriorating public realm, international events) but this is the core of it.

'And I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide...' We can but hope.

An extremely diverse set of trending topics tonight!

Even if Magyar is no liberal, this is why it is still a huge defeat for illiberalism. For it shows that a powerful illiberal political machine and methodology can be defeated.

Orban admits defeat in the Hungarian election, "The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us" "I congratulate the winning party"

'But, but Donald, it's already closed....'

Me re-reading my Master's Thesis recently:

Freelancing in my 20s has been incredibly fun, and I wouldn't swap that for anything. It's also given me senior level experiences I would never had got if I was working for a company. But it has also been financially all over the place, and there's a reason I'm now looking for full time work.

Are you able to identify which bluebells are the native English variety and which are the more vigorous Spanish bluebell? This might help. Also, use your nose. The English bluebells have a sweet scent, whereas their Spanish cousins have little to no scent.

Hey Bluesky. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend 🙏🌻

Ashen was the first game inspired by Dark Souls to genuinely interrogate and then re-interpret what Dark Souls was, rather than just replicate its tropes. As a result, it was the first (and still one of the few) true soulslikes. Why yes this is a summary of a video essay I did a while back :)

This is...actually quite a big intervention here from Zelensky. I have to assume he'll have briefed it to Starmer beforehand.

One of those slow news stories in a fast news world. Suicide rates around the world have been dropping since the mid 1990s ourworldindata.org/data-insight... @ourworldindata.org

While true, that assumes that the legislature will line up behind an election winner in parliamentary democracy in a similar manner to the US Republican legislature has. I would suggest the recent British example of Johnson's removal in 2022 suggests that isn't the case.