reading about lab leak theory today www.propublica.org/article/sena... also see podcast transcript or listen to this www.bigbiology.org/episodes/202...

The "progressive/left/pro-Europe/sane voters have Nowhere else to go" gambit. What could possibly go wrong

Starmer: “the real problem with the Nazis is that they didn’t provide a fully costed analysis of the final solution.”

Keir Starmer’s spokesperson asked for the PM's response to Nigel Farage’s plan to deport hundreds of thousands of people living and working completely legally in the UK, replies that he thinks it is “unworkable” and “unfunded”. So his objection is that they’ve got their sums wrong

Running against Mussolini by agreeing with him on everything except the org-chart of his proposed train reform taskforce.

really good explainer podcast from experts on psychopaths. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/d...

Unconstitutional as prevents free speech

This is one of the most important posts of the day.

When I pointed out Starmer had pivoted to right wing authoritarianism way back in 2020 people told me: "It's OK: he was lying on every pledge in his Labour leadership campaign so he could be lying now". Wondering, how's that going?

Thank God we don’t have the cancellation of satirical comedy in this country. I can’t wait to see how they deal with the Trump visit on The Mash Report, Mock The Week and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order!

Labour's only hope of coming back from this is to reject the nativist fascism from Reform. That's the only way they can win back the voters who have deserted them. Instead Starmer talks of "patriotic national renewal" like it's 1930s Germany.

superb column from @stephenkb.bsky.social “racism does not diminish through rising GDP but through the willingness of politicians to argue against it….” www.ft.com/content/fbbd...

"Lucy Powell – now apparently on a vengeance mission running for deputy leader against the Starmer/McSweeney candidate Bridget Phillipson – was removed as Commons leader because “she kept standing up to McSweeney and telling him he was wrong" www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Some sublime Sugar Minott - Studio One period. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OfN...

"Fast forward a year and not only have reports of McSweeney’s political genius become as rare as hen’s teeth, but many Labour MPs are coming to the realisation that any recovery for this Government is now wholly dependent on his removal from Number 10."

Jeremy Vine on vintage Mandelson

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

Brexit really is a staggering and pointless waste of money: even the customs facilities lie empty, virtually unused. Billions down the drain with ongoing costs. www.politico.eu/article/brex...

"Over in parliament, Keir Starmer has insisted that the UK’s fiscal rules are “non-negotiable”, as he is questioned at Prime Minister’s Questions." This is ridiculous: Fiscal rules aren't even negotiated, they are arbitrarily set by the chancellor. They can be changed at will.

"The latest appointments mean that since Starmer became Labour leader, he has had four chiefs of staff and five directors of communications."

I literally spent 5 years posting about Labour's authoritarian pivot from 2020.

"I’ve heard persistent complaints from ministers about the team in Downing Street. “They’re very crap, on the whole,” remarks one acerbic minister. “They think they know everything when they clearly don’t, and they don’t listen.” (Andrew Rawnsley - Observer)

"Brexit was NEVER debated properly, and then Keir Starmer whipped us all to vote with the Tories in favour of Boris Johnson's snake oil Brexit deal because reasons." Funny you left that last bit out, Nick.

Never drive in Albania. The road rage is off the chart. In traffic jam today. Guy behind got out his car 3 times to run at me to try and pull my door open and beat me up. My crime? Not fast enough through incredibly narrow streets with sharp corners, parked vehicles, milimeter clearances

This was very good in explaining WTF has happened to Labour

“I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR's Juana Summers.

Look up "Sane-washing" in the dictionary and in place of text, there is this photo.

the proximity of dense housing to the airport in Ahmedabad is staggering.

Every Sunday, newspapers are full of ads for tech jobs that aren't really looking for applicants. They reveal an aspect of U.S. immigration law that hurts both domestic and foreign workers — yet has endured for decades. @alecmac.bsky.social is on the case.

This is the interview in which I learned that as hard as I try to make sure that the words I say are entirely analytic, sometimes my facial expressions betray a deeper sense of what I also feel.

Bit Late

"A YouGov survey reveals that almost twice as many people want proportional representation in this country as those who wish to preserve the current system" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

People actually dont mind not having a referendum. Referendums tend to be tools by politicians to duck responsibility

Doug Stanhope's nationalism routine should be played to reform voters and Labour HQ on loop until their eyes and ears bleed. We never even talk to our neighbours as Stanhope points out. And that doesn't even bother us even though they speak the same language as us. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsPD...

65% of Britons have an unfavourable view of Labour, the most since YouGov began asking the question in June 2017 Favourable: 26% (-3 from 13-14 Apr) Unfavourable: 65% (+4) yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

These are cataclysmic falls within a single month even by recent PM standards.

True: You might not be a massive racist, you could instead be a small/diminutive racist. Or a medium sized one. I'm happy to concede that point

In my view this is an exceptional level of political analysis by Rafael Behr. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I don’t get why people are suddenly surprised at Yvette Cooper’s rancid anti-immigration rhetoric. What rock have they been under all these years?

We will do anything for growth but we wont do that [where that is anything that would actually enable growth]

Welcome to Brexitland, US, in which waywardness is described as "strategic uncertainty", restrictions on trade boost performance and self harm is lauded.... Spoiler, it does not end happily www.ft.com/content/342d...

Canada can now benefit from the education that Mark Carney received in Britain on how to deal with populist loons

Since anti-government protests began in Turkey over a month ago, foreign investors have pulled money out of the country on an almost apocalyptic scale. We've never seen outflows this big before, not even during COVID. This is why the central bank's official FX reserves have been falling so sharply.