The idiocy is truly astonishing ...

Sad and predictable but also interesting and revealing to see the angry reaction from the populist right to the King's Speech. They're reading it as a call for tolerance of diversity, approval for multi-faith, multi-cultural UK, and supportive of Ukraine. Which I think it was & intentionally so. 1/3

The worst, most dishonest prime minister we’ve ever had, rocks back and forth in his Daily Mail cubbyhole spewing out idiotic bilge to kid himself that he and his disastrous Brexit weren’t an almighty national fuck-up. A deeply pathetic threat from an abject failure of a man.

In Central London tonight, and there are jokers standing about on traffic islands around Piccadilly Circus with Union Jack hats and Christmas sweaters etc waving bloody great flags. Bizarre. I assume they think it's serving a purpose beyond making them look like morons.

One for the record books - I don't think I have ever had this happen before! Wordle 1,641 6/6 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who tackled one of the Bondi killers, became an Australian citizen 3 years ago. His deed was "his way of conveying his gratitude for staying in Australia, for being granted citizenship." He took 5 bullets, and fears he'll lose his left arm. www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

Why does screen legend Dick Van Dyke support the fight for equality? It's simple: "Hate eats up your insides." Happy 100th birthday to #NOH8 supporter #DickVanDyke #NOH8Day #DVD100

Apparently the H3N2 variant of this year's influenza virus is travelling fast. Experts say it can get from London to Birmingham 20 minutes faster than the normal strain.

YES YES YES thank you @georgemonbiot.bsky.social 🙏 😩AT LAST someone rasiing the alarm about what Europe's plummeting brith rates really mean!! "In reality, without immigration there will be no Europe, no civilisation and no one left to argue about it."⚠️ It's. that. simple.

What a 2-faced liar! UK MP, whose govt persecutes trans ppl & incites hate against them, weeping crocodile tears as she bans them from public life. This is in breach of the EuroCHR & she knows! If the Supreme Court says the law is wrong, then it’s her job to change the law, not appease fascism

The trouble with BlueSky is that I follow lots of people who express what I believe to be sensible positions, so I tend to repost those instead of making my own similar post, so I look a bit like a bot! Early New Year's resolution - more original content!

All the claims against Dr. Beth Upton failed. She’s entirely vindicated and her evidence was found more reliable. Let’s see if a single paper actually represents that fairly…

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree. Ate it.

“Ah, just one more thing, sir. You’re blowing up those boats, saying they’re filled with drugs headed for the US. But then you go and pardon the guy who brought in 400 tons of cocaine. That’s billions of doses. Help me understand that.”

I feel like one of the most underrated explanations for what's happening right now in global politics is that almost everyone has lost their minds.

One of my biggest fears is how the toughening up of restrictions directed at the many tens of thousands of people on Health and Care visas (both for extensions and settlement) will see increases in undocumented people. Instead of helping them, they are being demonised.

I have only watched the first two to date, but it's a compelling series and yes, it does have a focus on specific events, but for good reason - they happened. One person's "pessimism" is another's "reality" ... I recommend the series, anyway, if you are interested in actually learning something.

Today we’ll get latest net immigration figures - They’ll show immigration for work is plummeting. Why is this not part of the discussion on Rachel Reeves balancing her books & stalled growth? For every 100,000 drop in net immigration, the OBR adds £7bn to the deficit. #r4today

This is one of the big accounts boosting Tommy Robinson, Farage and Reform and ‘English Patriots’. It’s Russian.

Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.

The real BBC bias story, narrated by Anna Ford

In Utah a literature review, far more thorough and evidenced than Cass, shows that gender affirming care improves the mental health of trans people with the effect most marked in the under18 age group. Our government knows this but acts anyway. It feels criminal. Report available here ⬇️

Of course, the tax speculation around the budget is important, but it misses the point that low earners are not so hard up in tax terms (paying less than some other countries) but that costs are absurdly high - I get that the outcome is the same, but even so ...

I'm not sure if others have noticed this, but interesting that one of the Prescott criticisms of the BBC is based on those of the 'History Reclaimed' group, which is also associated with the 'Restore Trust' group's attacks on & so far unsuccessful attempts to take control of the National Trust. 1/3

You honestly can't make this up. There was no way #Brexit was ever going to cut regulation or bureaucracy for exporters to the #EU, large or small, unless we opted to stay in the Single Market and Customs union. Many of us in business repeatedly made that point. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Let's hope the awakening is beginning ...

This is genuinely terrifying isn't it? No one should be this rich. But when it's someone like Musk, it becomes truly dangerous. He's effectively above the law. He can bend the world to his will with this kind of money. He's a real-life Bond villain and there isn't a real-life Bond.

School pupils are to be taught how to tackle conspiracy theories, spot 'fake news' & root out misinformation. The Daily Mail, ajudged by Wikipedia to be an unreliable new source, is furious. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out why.

For anyone in the US: I live in a small English village and, like most such places, a key feature is that there are few hobbits and also a very small number of non-white faces, despite us being half an hour from London. Certainly no asylum seekers, and the kids are safe enough. Musk is a moron.

Even a big far-right vote couldn’t give the far-right total control, because the Dutch democracy promotes cooperation. Here in the UK, just one-third of the vote could give Nigel Farage a huge majority of MPs. Our democracy isn't fit for 21st-century politics. We need Proportional Representation.

Reform very unhappy with the coverage they got from Welsh media. The message is clear: the far-right can only succeed when they enjoy the fawning treatment that English media provide.

It's not an issue, but something I have noticed - is it my imagination, or is there a lot of Australian politics here on BlueSky? We're used to seeing the UK and US stuff, but I keep seeing posts and then realising that it's Australia-related ...

We need the BBC to be properly functioning again. It is essential for our democracy.

Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community. Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.

I found a capybara pebble🤎

There is only one correct response to being asked a question about Sarah Pochin, and that is to say that she is an idiot who should learn to keep her foul mouth shut, and stay out of public life. Any other response is mealy-mouthed, and tacit approval of her words. It's not difficult.

Yay. Priceless. The right column at the right time. And a gleefully English two fingers to the haters.

Almost nobody in the Cons Party or beyond it had noticed that the Shadow Home Secretary with two other frontbenchers and 5 backbenchers tabled a bill in May to deport 3 million people - stripping almost every pensioner, parent or nurse who did not take out citizenship of their right to live here

The Home Secretary should not be making false statements about human rights watchdogs

I'd like to take this opportunity to emphasise I consider it unacceptable for the Home Secretary to deliberately misrepresent the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner's concerns regarding discrimination and the exclusion of trans individuals, and others www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Please rebloop to raise awareness. 🫟

The thing about Farage is that even supportive coverage usually features a photo of him gurning or pulling some sort of weird, occasionally comical, face. It's as if it's some sort of game - even thought they support him they know he's not a serious contender ... very odd.

Had a debate on here recently with some jokers who had complete faith that the Government could deliver the technology behind digital IDs. They told me the "engine" was already in place. I tried using my new "GovUK One" login yesterday, and again today - it can't even send the verification SMS. 🤣

This lady works in housing and made this post public so that it can be shared around the net.

This is what it boils down to, I'm afraid ...

🚨 Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago answers this question brilliantly. 1/2

Please consider signing this - no large donation comes without strings attached, quite obviously, and accepting money from overseas non-nationals, and bizarrely crypto, is clearly absurd, and banning at least those ought not to be controversial in the slightest. It should have been done already.

Always makes me giggle that naive flag shaggers up and down the land fund all this and his many holidays. Utterly gullible fools.

Nobody can predict the next election. But you can choose a system that behaves predictably – one that translates votes into seats in a consistent, transparent way.