Happy Chrimbo Eve Everyone!

‘Reform UK isn’t undermined by bad apples, it’s actively harvesting them’…more brilliant writing from @bearlypolitics.co.uk… open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

What the article headline conveniently omits is that the billionaire in question previously lived in Switzerland for many years - and that his business, by all accounts will remain open in the UK. Almost like it’s… whisper it… no great loss.

Reform UK Doesn’t Just Have a Racism Problem - It Has a Racism Infrastructure Why focusing on Farage’s past misses how racism is incentivised, normalised and repeatedly rewarded in the present

Farage’s past racist comments are revealing - but ultimately become secondary to the larger issue: The party he's built from the ground up to incubate rotten apples.

“Ghost towns” “Capital flight” “End of London” Actual number of houses involved: 41 I regret to inform you this is simply not a crisis.

“We have sacrificed our national success because of our fear of immigration. And now, if Farage has his way, we'll do it all over again” Superb, important analysis of the profound harm Farage does to our country in his rabidly racist and egotistical bid for power liveapp.inews.co.uk/category/407...

Indeed, who DOES give a fuck about an Oxford Comma?

Please forgive me if my heart does not break cleanly in two at the idea that uber-wealthy property owners having a fannywobble about their tax-break disappearing are being replaced by… checks notes… different uber-wealthy property owners. Honestly, you can’t make this up.

He’s not sacking the candidate because, say it with me, Farage and Reform UK are foundationally racist. Removing that scaffolding of bigotry would cause the party to collapse into incoherent press conferences and fantasy economics.

@bearlypolitics.co.uk One of the other things that annoyed me about blue Labour cosplaying as Tory lite.

Something for #TheArchers to muse upon. Perhaps @garyseconomics.bsky.social will make a guest appearance to distribute the F&P prizes more imaginatively next year. 🤞

Also... it's Christmas. One of the most dangerous times for anyone at risk from domestic violence. Please, be especially vigilant over the next week or so. Don't ignore anything that you "think" you heard or saw.

And when that bus tells migrants that there are different rules dependent on their income to determine whether or not they belong in this country, while at the same time vilifying them for all the country’s ills then I’d rather walk, thank you very much.

I'm none of those things - I'm that oppressed minority, the straight, white man, who has had all the power for the last few thousand years. Poor me. But this shit isn't about me. I'll be fine. It's about people who need help - and Labour aren't helping. So I'm out. They lost me.

As someone who has worked in strategic organisational transformation, this is an absolutely brilliant thread by @metaphorqu.bsky.social - thank you for this. I think there are absolutely valid points here in terms of the rate and expectation of change and I do think some of the things we will see

You called?

A 🧵 Things to acknowledge about Labour. - I won’t be voting for them again. I also don’t know yet who I’ll be voting for in the next GE. - I will happily acknowledge that the Worker’s Rights Bill, the Breakfast Club programme, the VAWG work and quite a few other points are good work. However.

The “Island of Strangers” speech by Keir Starmer and the two tier system currently being proposed by Shabana Mahmood would like to have a chat. I get your intention is good, but when your party has spent most of the year using migrants as cudgels I would suggest some introspection is needed.

I presume that this is not the culture that is “not equally valid” that Kemi Badenoch was referring to, no?

Our greatest pandemic is domestic violence.

The first chapter of Jayne Eyre depicts the 14 year old boy John Reed physically assaulting the 10 year old eponymous character. This was Britain in the 19th century, hardly a culture that was imported.

You probably need to read this. And maybe we do need to talk about the Patriarchy and is problems in a British context. I know we’d all rather be criticising Islam or something, but the elephant in the room’s eye shows which is the mote and which is the beam

As BadEnoch shows her rascism yet again a great commentary from The Bear yet again... #Violenceagainstwomen is usually perpetrated by someone KNOWN to them... So it IS important to reach young boys before social media does... Please follow @bearlypolitics.co.uk! open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

"The narrative that Badenoch is trying to spin is nothing more than a comforting fiction that allows men in our own culture to avoid responsibility." "It is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men who are known to the victim - partners, ex-partners, husbands, boyfriends, colleagues, classmates."

The idea of “imported” violence against women and girls is a deeply comforting fiction - one that allows people to avoid looking at where it actually happens: within our homes and behind closed doors.

What Badenoch so egregiously misses is that these 11 year old boys, whether “native” or migrant, turn into men who are capable of perpetrating violence against women and girls. This is a desperately poor show from her, not unexpected in that it happened, but worse than usual.

I log into the Hellsite about once a week or so to check for messages and to distribute a few posts. This was waiting for me in my mentions. I adore it. If only I had some funding from a billionaire sugar-daddy! Alas.

Six months ago I stopped half-arsing my writing and started treating it like something that mattered. This is a small, slightly hungover State of the Bear, and a very real thank you to the people who made it possible - you guys. 🐻🍷

I think the wine I had at a Christmas do last night was a bit off. I definitely have some sort of poisoning. Must've been past its best-by date. I can't find any other explanation for why I feel so bleugh. Might call the bar and give them a heads up.

Now this is a can of worms I consider to be well worth opening.

I am unreasonably chuffed by this, and even more so that my first reader from Kentucky is called “Pissed Off Old Lady.” I could not have asked for a better Christmas present, thank you so much! 🐻

You don’t say? Shocking.

Your fourth Brexit debunk, courtesy of a patient Bear.

When sovereignty means less power, less influence, and worse outcomes - all while pretending you’ve won. Brexit Debunk 4 is now out.

Trump's lawyers have no idea who Liz Truss is, do they?

Taking Back Control…Trump is exposing the emptiness of that for Little Brexit Britain. Great blog as ever by @bearlypolitics.co.uk. open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

To all the people in the US who follow me (which I know is everywhere now outside of Montana, Kentucky, Mississippi, West Virginia, Michigan and Vermont for some reason), can you please do us in the UK a solid? Tell Orange Grampa to wind his neck in - he’s becoming very problematic. Ta! 🐻

As always, our friend from the forrest nails the abusive relationship.

A brilliant profile of Farage by @mrhenrymorris.substack.com - well worth a read!

If your “special relationship” involves lawsuits, threats, and conditional investment, you might not be special, just… exposed. On Brexit, leverage, Trump tactics and learning the hard way that when you exit the tent, sometimes a bigger, bullier country will come urinate all over you.

The “Trade Barriers” in question are food safety regulations and taxation to the tune of 2% on digital services from massive US tech giants - tech giants that make billions from UK consumers anyway. This is a blatant shakedown.

We seriously need to tell the geriatric orange game show host to fuck off now.

1. Fewer than 5% of estates are subject to Inheritance tax. 2. Those estates that are subject to IHT are not those of the super-rich, they are those of people who typically bought a house a long time ago, saw its capital value rise ridiculously but didn't know enough to use loopholes to avoid IHT.

I’m willing to be that Streeting is going to go full-fannywobble and start blaming doctors for every conceivable wrong in the NHS on the back of this decision.

Best decision when it comes to mental health has been to tell X to go fuck itself. While I still distribute articles on there, I have not meaningfully engaged with it since September - and don’t want to ever feel like I’m being forced to do so.

Erm… what now?