OMFG I had to go and check that this ACTUALLY happened. Since when does the BBC ever do chyrons with a political party's branding, rather than their own? Not to mention this is during a pre-election campaign purdah. (h/t @iainsol.bsky.social)

I had to double check in case this was Newsthump again…

"It is easier to fool a man than it is to convince him that he has been fooled."

I’m sorry but this will mean nothing whatsoever to Americans but will be instantly recognisable to Brits…

@mrchrisaddison.bsky.social Why have a social media account if people can’t reply or quote tweet? I know you aren’t taking questions at this time but I presume you haven’t heard of the equally wonderful Rosalía?

Sometimes people say things that are not only wrong, but dangerously so. Sexual strangulation (choking) is not an acceptable consensual practice. It can be extremely dangerous, as this article explains: blogs.bath.ac.uk/never-ok/202...

The gulf between what people think of Tony Blair commenting on war in the Middle East & what Tony Blair thinks people think of Tony Blair commenting on war in the Middle East is positively Badenochian.

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

There is an assumption that democracies must basically be good and decent - but the freedom they bring often only applies to the in-group. Israel is a democracy yet it has killed a hundred thousand civilians in last couple years. The US is a democracy but acts as a drunk Empire.

It's not hard to see what's happening here. Labour has been desperately courting voters who switched to Reform years ago and are never coming back, while repeatedly dissing and dismissing its own voters and the things they care about. A plausible alternative emerges, and down the ship goes.

No one expects the Spanish trade position.

The problem for Labour is they demonised and expelled the Left and disappointed the Right. Now they have no friends left, and fewer people believe Labour are the only alternative to Tories/Deform. These are self inflicted woes, Labour's current situation was all very predictable.

Eisenhower

"You cannot bring democracy by aerial bombardment. The sort of regime change that includes no preparation before, no help during, and no plan for after, is basically just rolling a dice, hoping for sixes."

Well, if the apocalypse is upon us, I'm going to go out on a high and make the 15 hour potatoes. Stay tuned to see if I finish the recipe before nuclear Armageddon.

This, from Ian Byrne MP (Labour), is spot-on. I’m 63, I’ve been Labour all my life, but when Keir Starmer said, “If you don’t like the changes we’ve made, I say the door is open, & you can leave,” well, we did as he asked us, 1000s of us, & we saw the result in Gorton & Denton.

Seems like his country didn’t need him, after all

Today's by-election is another illustration of the problems with FPTP. The result may tell us less about what voters want to happen than whether they can game the system effectively to stop a result most *don't* want. The electoral system should not be an obstacle that voters have to work around.

There may be a silver lining: the government might introduce STV for the next Westminster election.

Drug deaths have risen every year for 13 years. That’s 13 years of a failed “war on drugs”. Labour should be looking at legalisation, control and regulation - not playing politics with people’s lives. This is a public health crisis. Treat it like one. Not a game.

What will happen to prices in America now that tariffs are illegal? Will businesses reduce their prices by the full amount of the tariffs, so that the consumer no longer bears that burden or Will businesses keep prices where they are and pocket the difference as additional profit? I wonder.

Ah, Sarah Pochin and “30p” Lee Anderson — a duo so compelling that even a completely imaginary shadow cabinet took one look and said, “absolutely not.” Getting rejected by something that doesn’t even exist? That’s not just a setback, that’s performance art.

Comedy gold, Putin has strategically failed, expanded NATO, built the strongest army in Europe but in Ukraine, destroyed his oil infrastructure, ensured that no more gas will be sold into Europe, sunk the Black Sea fleet, losing ‘shadow’ tankers, lost Venezuela, losing Iran, losing troops…..etc.

This is just beautiful.

This duet cover of Radiohead's "Creep", between a son and his Shastriya Sangeet classically trained mother, is the mash-up I didn't know how much I needed in my life. Totally spontaneous sobbing may have taken place. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZoH...

Sadly for the labour government, they're not publicising their achievements well and their bad actions are significant, cruel and ethically challenged.

@news.sky.com The Politics Hub has been superb tonight. My heart sank when I heard Nigel Farage’s voice but he was interviewed superbly by Matt Barbet, who managed to get Farage to answer questions. He will probably never agree to appear again!

One of the maddest elements of Brexit - and there are *many* - is the rewards that continue to be lavished on the blithering idiots who sold it & continue to be proved wrong about everything every day…

Having spent five minutes shaking this poor toy rat to make absolutely sure that it is dead and any innards have been consumed, Chico is now cuddling up to it in his bed.

This was what voters who chose other parties wanted, and they seem to be more important than traditional labour voters and even campaigners like me.

In the UK our government could learn a lot from this post, as could the Home Office.

It's such a fascinating description, a) as you say, do they think the government is not floundering now? b) was that really the case in the Corbyn years? I don't think 'Labour lacks direction' was the issue!

This is a test for European people of my generation. You will probably remember the song. Before watching the video, make a note of what your memories of the song are (for me it was catchy singalong typical lighthearted 70s British pop) and then say what you think after listening to the lyrics.

This is the reply to my concerns about Palantir from my MP. Make of it what you will. Seems reasonable to me however, still not comfortable UK gov dealing with a guy who has another agenda regarding European politics.

"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hate so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." James Baldwin

What if the whole world agreed to ban all men from public office of any kind. Let women run the world?

The only credible reasons for Mandelson's appointment are ones Starmer can't say publicly: that he might get on well with Trump because he's his kind of guy. That'd be a direct attack on Trump. (Whether the UK PM should say that about Trump is a different question from whether Starmer ever would)

As an ex publican I can tell you cutting the price of beer only helps the big brewers. The same big brewers who have friends in every party to help them continue their 500 year affair with profits and greed. Farage would be a good send to their bottom lines &certainly not any pubs.

The problem with boomer populism is that you eventually run out of other people's children.

The GOOD news is that the Labour Party doesn't need Peter Mandelson in order to embarrass itself, so his services in that regard won't be heavily missed.

Earlier this evening: “Your Party have not yet named a candidate to fight Gorton and Denton because they probably have still to elect the committee that will select the candidate,” said my wife, jokingly. Er….

Some of my followers may enjoy this. I recently said, entirely sincerely, to a member of John Major’s Cabinet, that I thought the cones hotline predicted the shape of the future. They thought I was taking the piss and walked out of the restaurant. 🤣

Honestly, since the referendum, the only voter targeted seems to be the 55 year old working-class social conservative from Barnsley who worked down the mines in 1980s in his 20s and can't spell LGBT that is the demographic of every Leave voter and Leave won.

The Rest is Weather coming soon

A day late, but my Scottish partner made a traditional Burn’s night supper and it was surprisingly good :-)