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 :-)

And… flop!

Starmer needs to ditch McSweeney and craft a narrative for his government that appeals to Labour’s actual potential coalition - liberal, educated, urban, Remain-coded - as opposed to chasing working class voters with Diet Reform stylings.

The irony being the only reason Reform and Greens are viable in a GMCA election is the current national Labour leadership is so crap. "Burnham can't possibly resign and challenge for the leadership, because Starmer is so dire we'll lose Manchester in the process".

Why do the former presidents of the USA who are still alive not say anything about their country having been overtaken by fascism?

You know who”stayed a little back” in VIetnam? DJT.

This will not stop until the users doing this and Elon Musk and his X developers are prosecuted and jailed. What are we waiting for?

“Danish citizens are organising a huge boycott that includes cancelling planned holidays in the US, cancelling subscriptions to on-demand services based in the US & more generally, recommending the use of EU services instead of those provided by American platforms.” So, same as Canadians.

A neat summary of where we are in 2026:

Evan Davis on #bbcpm: "It's hard to keep up with his speeches sometimes as digression is his rhetorical style, & his speech was wide ranging listing his many achievements, disparaging [Europe], & mocking wind farms, but in all of that there was an important section on Greenland" See what I mean?

Public Service Announcement. (Mostly for the hysterical cranks) International Diplomacy doesn’t happen on social media nor is it delivered via speeches to the media. That YOU haven’t been briefed on Facebook is NOT proof that nothing is happening. Ask a small child to help explain this. Ends.

LOL at how everyone is breathing a sigh of relief because Trump has seemingly climbed down over his threat to invade Greenland, as if an asteroid had narrowly missed crashing into the earth. Have politicians and, especially, the press, learnt nothing? In two days time he will be saying the opposite

Remember how some Americans felt when Saddam was in power and denigrating and destroying his populace? "Why don't Iraqis just get rid of him?!?" Now we are Iraqis and the world is watching.

💥Viktor Orbán’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó says Hungary is BLOCKING a joint EU statement on Greenland. After years acting as a Trojan horse for Russia and China, Budapest now does the same for Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Orbán ally Andrej Babiš’s Czech government also refuses to back Denmark...

Lib Dem source: “Just 45 more Tory defections until Ed becomes Leader of the Opposition.”

This is the trophy I won back in 2020 at the Eurovision fan club convention’s annual Eurovision covers competition. I had come to realise that I didn’t deserve this award and I have therefore presented it to the rightful winner, Donald J Trump. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

"And we now have María on the line who would like to swap a Nobel Peace Prize for the presidency of Venezuela..."

If #KarlToldYouSo to #HandsOffGreenland, #Trumpmuskovia ns, that not only means Shots are fired! It means also, the #US Economy will be torn to shreds! And if forced to, there will be a Guarantee for that. Nobody's doing Economic Warfare like the #EU!

Finding the reactions to this bleakly funny. Lads, the point isn’t that you are sending enough people to “win”, because we in fact, can’t win. It is just to have a tripwire! If you are going “why not 13, like Germany?” you have not understood how bad things are.

I think certainly the opposite is true. Without it, they are lost.