If Farage takes over as PM & the NHS inevitably collapses, he'll have a ready audience prepared to believe that lefty doctors, statisticians & academics are lying about the crisis in order to undermine his glorious regime. He's rolling the pitch.

Populism always makes things worse for people - the economy, social cohesion, culture, all wither under its weight. It's a prerequisite for dictators to undermine the authority of the institutions like academia, science & the courts, that track this decline & communicate it to the public.

I don't think he's a coward, he knows exactly what he's doing & is doing it for a reason. It's straight from the denialist playbook, creating a "controversy" where there is consensus. Tobacco, climate change, vaccines & evolution were given the same treatment. bsky.app/profile/padr...

Women took Thalidomide from 1957 until 1961, when it was taken off the market. Paracetamol has been in safe use for over 70 years. It's a perfect example of how populists undermine trust in institutions: it's a bullshit false equivalence, but only an expert would be able to rebut it live on air.

I think the key problem here is a continuing assumption, in traditional media, that when the White House speaks on a major topic, this is a big news story. That model can't cope with a president with no regard for truth, who's in constant broadcast mode, & who veers around from one day to another.

Why is this the main story on the BBC website? It shouldn't even be on its front page. Kimmel is a comedian that very few people in Britain would ever have heard of. In fact, just stop with the daily coverage of America full stop. To hell with them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My magnum opus - a unified field theory of why the post-literate society spells disaster for civilisation as we know it jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

Wonderful piece on James's favourite topic. Deserves to be widely read (or condensed into a 30 secs video).

Let's be honest. Very very few people on the Left or Right actually believe in genuine free speech. That goes for the public too. Most people say they do but in reality they'll happily censor opinions/people they dislike.

The article of course also said as clearly as it can be said: “Kirk’s killing is abhorrent and must be condemned on its own terms – as Democrats, in their masses, are doing.”

Wrote this on Charlie Kirk last week, and I stand by it. Full article: inews.co.uk/opinion/char...

Not every person at the Robinson march was a racist; immigration levels are far too high and have been for 20 years. But sometimes you need to stop pissing around and tell it how it is. They don't all have 'legitimate' concerns. Some people really are just racist.

It's time to tell the racists to fuck off (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/this-is-en...

And this point is so so true, particularly when it comes to Starmer. His judgement is often appalling.

Excellent. This section key:

Late to it (it's a busy "Welcome Week" at @qmul.bsky.social) but, as per, our honorary degree holder @stephenkb.bsky.social absolutely nails it. (Source www.ft.com/content/fbbd...)

Does it not bother any of the very serious men on my timeline deploring the continued use of X that there’s a huge missing cohort of people you’d expect to see on Bluesky? I mean: politically engaged Millennial/Gen Z/Boomer women (usually lifelong Labour voters).

Having said something popular on radicalisation, let me say something unpopular. People on the left are going to have to tolerate sharing online spaces with the centre and centre-right if they don‘t want those people to radicalise.

It’s the same story with Neil Oliver‘s history show being criticised by academic historians. Laurence Fox’s acting work drying up. Russell Brand’s mainstream work stopping. We need a job creation scheme for B-list midlife celebrities to keep them seeking attention on the internet.

He talks about the working man rising up reclaim his proud British birthright. But actually his principal grievance is with the Channel 4 factual commissioner.

I’m a broken record on this, but — there are so many examples of famous people radicalised by midlife career/personal knockbacks. Ant Middleton was on yday’s march. He got done for tax offences and lost his TV work. Now he’s mates with Tommy Robinson.

Usual bollocks from the powers that be. From day 1, officials have used VAR to look for reasons to disallow goals. The 'only use to eliminate "clear and obvious errors" has never been followed. The worst thing football has ever introduced.

Top news. Does anyone have reliable data on how likely kids are to read physical books rather than e-books relative to adults? (I partly ask because I've largely stopped reading the latter myself after realising that what I'm reading just doesn't go in.)

Haha. How The Times must have choked on this headline having done more than anyone to spread the non dom fake news which was based on the patently flawed Henley Partners data extrapolated from 200 LinkedIn accounts

Please just fuck off and leave the game alone. VAR might rule on yellow cards in future - Webb - www.bbc.com/sport/footba...

Just appalling.

Great news. But would love to know what this was:

I love this piece: www.thetimes.com/sport/cricke...

Good thread. Martin's excellent post on crime well worth a read, despite the snooty objections from the smug liberal brigade on here.

2-2 a fair result. One of the all time great Test series.

I think this has been the best series Eng have been involved in since the 2005 Ashes. Never known one so closely fought, with so many ebbs and flows. And, tbh, I wouldn't begrudge India winning today. 3-1 Eng wouldn't reflect the quality of the sides. Still want an Eng win!

Incredible that this is all the same article. How utterly pathetic

The Times' unhinged, self-interested and desperate round the clock coverage of this issue was a big factor in me unsubscribing almost a year ago. There still remains some excellent writers and columnists but I loathe what Gallagher has done to it.

Starts off about plagiarism but it's mostly about the bombardment of online shit and what it's doing to us. And it's only going to get worse with AI. I'm already sick to death of hearing about bloody AI.

This is a great piece by @jonnelledge.bsky.social: jonn.substack.com/p/what-cars-...

I'm one of those who subscribes to Britain being 'fairly' rather than completely broken. Certainly feels like the social contract is fracturing rapidly. This is however a very very good piece.

Did anyone - apart from the entirety of the right-wing media, that is - ever believe that these millionaire migration reports would stand up to the slightest scrutiny? Perhaps that is why they weren't scrutinised...

'When the tribunal ends next week, the focus should be on NHS Fife and those who conducted this witch-hunt, a medical organisation where basic biology is deliberately misunderstood and the only things being doctored are the evidence and the truth.' www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

That singer, Laufey, what an absolutely beautiful voice. Only just discovered her thanks to her latest single "Lover Girl" which is fabulous. Thought it was an old song.

Excellent piece from Hadley Freeman. And that quote from Martin Luther King perfectly sums up the idiocy and idiots of Wokeism. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

BBC News - US tech CEO suspended after Coldplay concert embrace goes viral www.bbc.com/news/article... God, they're so po-faced. US companies have such puritanical attitudes to employee relationships.

I really like this @edjameswest.bsky.social piece from Feb laying out the case against votes at 16: www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-case-a...

"Progressives" think young teenagers (heck, some not even teenagers) should be able to have life altering, irreversible treatments to change "gender."

Very good thread (i.e. I agree with it.)

I’m mystified on lowering the voting age tbh. The public don’t like it, it won’t actually politically benefit Labour, and most other changes we make in recent history takes responsibility *away* from young people (you can’t smoke, or leave education entirely, at 16 now, for example).

I don't support votes at 16 but this is a very good point. 16 just feels too young. There's an age limit for all sorts of things, same should apply to voting.

'Well, I am not persuaded Upton is correct about the science here but I am confident that the science is irrelevant since this is a question of law and the law is entirely clear: Upton is a man because he is biologically male.'

'Meanwhile, Upton says “I’m biologically female”, though we should also acknowledge that “the term biologically female or biologically male is completely nebulous”. I remind you that this person is a qualified physician.'

'Isla Bumba, the health board’s head of “Equalities and Human Rights”, told the tribunal that she could not be sure of her own sex. “No one knows what their chromosomes are,” she said, a development which may surprise any woman who has, say, given birth.'