Xi aisde, does Putin have better ally anywhere in world than Donald Trump?

Today in Russia (so far): ▪️Russian human rights group Memorial designated an "extremist" movement; ▪️FSB says former Russian freelancer for RFE/RL detained, accused of treason; ▪️Masked security officers searching Moscow office of Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Begs question why similarly-positioned UK wouldn't try something similar... answer: fear of backlash from right wing parties / press & so-called nanny state criticism. So on we go, blindly, towards the potential abyss, w govt assurances everything 'under review' / control

So it has begun

Within a week she has gone from insisting the UK should join with Trump, to denying she said that, to opposing further action and if you asked her, she would tell you that she has never once changed position.

Let's be clear: you would not be pulling THAADs from South Korea and moving a Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan to the Gulf two weeks after launching a war on Iran if you had properly anticipated the fallout it would be likely to cause.

🐶 With plenty of barks, treats and tail-wagging, the world's biggest and most famous dog show got underway Thursday in Britain, with a record number of overseas entries among those bidding for Crufts glory. ➡️ u.afp.com/SuBd

That Nigel Farage thinks it is more important not to endanger his backing from the US government than take a position that reflects the overwhelming sentiment of the British public reflects underlying structural contradictions that could split the British Far Right

www.nytimes.com/interactive/... 52 places to avoid (Americans) this year

Labour MPs may have enjoyed delivery of this #UKbudget in Commons but hard to see party getting majority again in near future given pain inflicting on voters & inept way governing. Could there be bigger gift to anti-Establishment parties like Reform than this Labour govt?

BBC Radio 4's Today just created a "surge of interest in everything" Japan, that's happening in Britain and needs reporting on apparently, including "people going skiing in Japan who normally go to France" 😆

Anti #Trump protest fills Regent St en route to Parliament Sq rally

Amid🕴🍾 🍽 watch moment #climate campaigners who infiltrated #Republicans Overseas' eve-of- #Trump #UK #statevisit dinner in #Windsor reveal themselves -- to pretty hostile reception....

Amid🕴🍾 🍽 watch moment #climate campaigners who infiltrated #Republicans Overseas' eve-of- #Trump #UK #statevisit dinner in #Windsor reveal themselves -- to pretty hostile reception....

Strangest part is how long it's taken for these calls to gather pace; surprised there weren't more after Elon Musk's incendiary posts during summer '24 anti-migrant riots

Commendable but maybe no longer posting on his platform would be good start for Ed Davey...

Never too late for BBC News to realise sober daytime raves have been getting popular for at least a decade or two

Somebody cc Keir Starmer

Big surprise? Trump's threatened tariffs on Russia clearly not coming tomorrow despite his artificial deadline set 10 days ago... & Moscow will likely continue to bomb Ukraine unrelentingly

'To date, regulators have taken a heavy-handed approach' -- X on UK Online Safety Act. Yeah, totally, social media's been so over-regulated these past years 🤔

Just heard #Trump say his first term tax cut massively increased federal revenues, but apparently... www.americanprogress.org/article/the-...

Club World Cup halftime show perfectly encapsulates whole tournament ... tacky as hell. Commercialisation of football on steroids. Can we have our game back please? #cwcf

As usual, I think Brian is right about Brazil. Its economy isn’t very reliant on exports to the US, its judiciary operates quite independently of politics and Lula will be eager to stand up to a foreign bully. Brazil already trades more with China than with the US; tariffs deepen that relationship.

Cracking expose story on couple behind #SaltPath book / film 👏 @chloehadj.bsky.social @tortoisemedia.bsky.social

News media seem shocked that we actually live in a parliamentary democracy...

Would love to see him say that to #Glastonbury crowd during his set this weekend...

The farce that football's become...

Illuminating update 🤔

Quietly damning line from @thetimes.com : “Trump did not say in his post that the White House had demanded constraint, or that he had tried to dissuade Putin from taking action. There is no indication that Trump has spoken to his Ukrainian counterpart, President Zelensky.”

3 London teams in #UCL next season... doubt that's happened before

Really wouldn't be surprised if #NottinghamForest #NFFC bottle it on Sunday... if getting that worked up about #GaryNeville, sounds like distracted & emotion of it all getting too much for them #EPL #PremierLeague

Remember when high-on-hubris Jim Ratcliffe insisted every aspect of his #MUFC operation wud be "best-in-class"? Has statement ever collided with reality more brutally? Wud love if we could get our club back from bizmen whose inept decisions end up costing millions more than salaries of fired staff 😡

Wasn't exactly "strikes", more pokes home...

Commentator surprised by lack of quality in #uelfinal... has he seen these two teams this season?🙄

See one of the Glazer vultures has made it to #Bilbao for #uelfinal... #MUFC truly cursed now

Has there been a worse 20 mins of Premier League football than the end of Chelsea v Man Utd? Truly abysmal from both teams #chemun

The FPA is dismayed by Sir Keir Starmer's press accreditation policy for the EU-UK Summit of Monday 19th May. The vast majority of EU news outlets have been denied access. We have written to @10DowningStreet to urge him to reconsider. @EUdelegationUK, @EU_Commission, @RSF_inter

Perfect, just perfect. 👏 @mortenmorland.bsky.social

This is Marco Rubio explaining how the USA promised to defend Ukraine forever if they got rid of their nuclear arsenal left after the Soviet Union fell. This is why lil marco was sinking into the couch. He was hoping we wouldn’t find it…so don’t RT right now this very second.

Class. Well played, Starmer.

Agree w @jeremybowen.bsky.social on BBC News @ 10... that oval office hatchet job on #Zelensky looked completely pre-planned & staged for max effect... Trump pretty much said it, noting he'd let the media stay to watch

Erosion of 'values' not Russian tanks are biggest threat to Europe, apparently... "The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia... [it's] the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values," US VP JD Vance tells Munich Security Conference

Worst retail sales drop in nearly two years. 🇺🇸

Curious who that one person is clapping aggressively at JD Vance's lecture to Europeans at #MunichSecurityConference about how European nations appear to be the architects of everything wrong with the world today

when writing about the rise of British populism it’s worth bearing in mind that voters still prefer Starmer to Farage… ….and even prefer Ed Davey to Farage

"the US now has an Administration...[that] takes a transactional approach to achieve its immediate outcomes... The US is no longer prepared to underwrite the global order. This makes the international environment far less orderly" Singapore's Lee Hsien Loong sums it up better than any UK politician

Reminder farming protest figurehead Jeremy Clarkson told The Times in 2021 that he bought his farmland because no inheritance tax on it... not hard to find articles about other wealthy people doing the same back in 2023 and earlier before Labour govt unveiled plans to close loophole

Baier: Trudeau said that your wish for Canada to become the 51st state is a real thing. Is it a real thing? Trump: Yeah it is