This will go well, I'm sure.

Fascinating trend in British politics of leaders who think they are harder workers and better thinkers than Boris Johnson, who…really really aren’t.

This is ridiculous! Voters aren't stupid, they can remember what she said two minutes ago!

The waste of four of five years under Reform, before they all fall out and fall apart, would be a massive tragedy. We need to get on with our problems now, with people who aren't unpleasant grifters, BS merchants and fantasists. We can't just throw away half a decade.

So far, one of the greatest geostrategic humiliations the US has ever suffered. It's not yet a Pearl Harbor or a Fall of Saigon, and things could change, but the signs all point one way. www.lloydslist.com/LL1156720/Te...

As a Christian, I find this obscene. Those churches that have prostituted themselves to Trump should take more seriously their "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets. Because the answers do not include "lie, cheat, bully, stoke racial hatred, bomb people "to the stone age" or "grab women by the pussy"".

Then vs now. Such a shame.

Slightly more seriously than my previous post, freedom of navigation of the seas underpinned by the hard power of the dominant naval hegemon has been the foundation of the global economy for the last two centuries.

I sort of feel emotional about this. Finally, a clear statement that we made a mistake & we need to do better.

Is it reasonable to say that this Administration is completely mad? I mean I don’t want to be rude but the whole thing defies history, geography, logic, the laws of physics… everything. It’s not just politics we’re talking. We’re in the game of defying the laws of nature!

Look, if this was the mid-2000s, constructing a grid of Gay-Not Gay vs Homosexual-Heterosexual would be the peak of humour.

First, marginal cost pricing has a clear economic logic. If some gas plants are needed to meet demand in a given hour, prices need to rise high enough to cover the cost of running those plants. Otherwise why would they operate? The UK still needs some gas to keep the lights on in most hours. (3/12)

‘It’s going great, we’ll soon have a deal and if we don’t we’ll do some war crimes’. Interesting Monday morning message.

So the real big downside scenario this week is if the Houthis successfully hit the KSA east-west pipeline that goes to Yanbu on the Red Sea. That would significantly and rapidly intensify the oil shortage rippling across the world.

Oh sweet Jesus NYT

In fairness the personal conduct in question was providing uranium to the Ayatollahs.

probably completely obvious but the reason Project Hail Mary is doing so well (apart from being very well made) is that it is all about problem-solving, cooperation, self-sacrifice, and forming deep relationships with those from far away. All values that people feel a desperate need for right now.

Hell, series 7 of DS9 has galactic war to end all wars overarching plot including the best exploration of war in Trek (Siege of AR-558) but still has holodeck baseball bants, and at least ten episodes of holographic Frank Sinatra being a marriage/PTSD councillor.

It’s not just that it has to be 22 episode seasons, it has to be made with the same budget as the ten episode seasons. Pew pew boom costs money to show you, budgets are a cap on action and forces writers to consider other, cheaper options to fill time.

This is totally true; it also has the benefits that: 1. It gives the various members of the cast time to breath when there are not world ending stakes every week, 2. You get the joy of tropes like torturing Chief O'Brien onces a series to appear and spreading the budget thinner clams the pace.

All I need from legalization is for people to drink less booze and I'd still score it a massive public health win. But yeah not a shocker that the recreational drug turns out to just be a recreational drug instead of a miracle cure suppressed by killjoys.

Good CNN analysis here. I agree - these islands are more sensible targets than Kharg if the aim is opening the Strait. I also agree though that holding these islands implies a longing running and costly deployment. edition.cnn.com/2026/03/28/m...

Cool map from #$JPM showing dated oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz will stop arriving. Keep in mind that (excluding Saudi flows through Yanbu and Iranian flows) the gap in flows then continues forward by 4 weeks and counting + some further time to stabilize tanker networks.

Did you know that Comrade Stalin was also the world’s greatest brain surgeon

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Was this the most talented Labour leadership election ever? In the second part of our miniseries on the 1976 transition of power, Richard and I discuss the remarkable field of candidates who sought the lease of Number 10 after Harold Wilson. Featuring... 1/2

Just horrifying to read this in 2026. 'Mr. Buria [Hegseth's chief of staff] told Mr. Driscoll [the army secretary] that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials said.' www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/u...

How many ways can they find to say "if it weren't closed, it would be open"? Drinking game in the making.

Truly extraordinary that a country famed for a constitution of checks and balances turned out to be so exposed to a leadership personality cult.

A work of genius.

I've said it before & just because he's gotten less popular doesn't make it less true: The American constitution is currently operating as a dictatorship or monarchy

Couldn’t agree with this more. People love to use semantics to knock womens’ writing down a peg or two. We saw it with ‘chick lit’, we’re seeing it again now.

It is nuts how there's a) a very real energy crisis b) yet my electricity price is 31% cheaper than normal because it's very windy in the uk c) really big batteries (possibly a lot of those big ones that you used to put in portable CD players) could sort a lot of this out

Dying empire embroiled in a quagmire of its own making attempts outlandish conquest to restore faith

It's been up there for nearly 183 years. Not mystical, not numerological — just documented history that most people walk past without knowing. A Muslim sultan's tribute, at the top of the most British landmark imaginable. No metaphysics required. The actual history is extraordinary enough. Innit.

If you're replying to a post about torched ambulances in London with a point about Israel, you've crossed the line into antisemitism. And you're doing absolutely nothing to help any cause. Even if you consider yourself one of the good people. Maybe especially so. You've just caught racism.

Sort of wish a lot of commentators would drop the snark about Trump and Hegseth threatening to commit what are in effect war crimes because we are probably heading to outcomes shaped by their willingness to commit war crimes

don't put it in the newspaper that Trump is mad

if you're a "leftist" and you love Tucker Carlson and you'd vote for him as president, you're not a leftist. You're a fascist.

Around 7000 Americans were killed on Iwo Jima and 19,000 wounded, and it was part of a campaign that ended with a nuclear weapon being used, so maybe not the wisest comparison.

There is a clip of John Terry saying something to Ledley King in a Chelsea v Spurs game from years back and Ledley reacting in a way that he never, ever did on a football pitch even once before or since. It was pretty clear from that what Terry is. Ledley was also five times the player Terry was.

In the Observer today, pointing out that this whole thing is a nightmare for the Gulf not just in the short run but in the long run as well. You couldn't get a clearer demonstration that reliance on fossil fuels is ultimately too damaging for the global economy.

Once again I come back to the complete shock and panic we're going to get next week if this carries on and the consequences sink in. The British public is nowhere near prepped or aware. This is still 'stupid conflict a long way away'

I keep seeing this framing like Bremmer's. It is wrong. Instead: 1. Iran was developing an ICBM when Khamenei imposed a 2,000-km range limit. 3. The programs shifted to space launch. 4. Khamenei lifted the restriction in October 2025 after the June attacks. 5. Now he's dead, and here we are.

Britain is sliding into a really, really dark place We seem to look at the US with a ‘could never happen here’ attitude, meantime long accepted tenets of life in a liberal democracy are thrown out in real time Needs concerted pushback now

1/2. He took the greatest military force in history, lost a war to a middle power in a week, begged the world to save him, & demanded the media lie about this & everything else. I try, but at a simple human level I do not see how anyone mistakes this man’s almost supernatural weakness for strength.

Pentagon seems to be run by something resembling a Maoist cult.

The fun thing writing about US elections is that it's just so comically polarised. Every race is like: Republican: made millions lobbying for oil companies, has been charged with fraud, tweets racism. Democrat: was a teacher before setting up a charity for needy children. Wants free healthcare.

Oil now above $110 a barrel.

Rayner having a pop at Mahmood (see 2nd post in Pippa's thread) is very interesting. Suggests she reckons there are enough votes to force a u-turn.