(This was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes $50bn ago. Autocracies - no matter how much oil they can drill, how many foreign advisors they can hire, and how slick their PR - remain highly inefficient at allocating resources in the long run.)

A fantastic piece of reporting, brilliantly illustrated data, thorough, neutral analysis, transparent data collection… and frightening conclusions. Well done @skynewsrss.bsky.social for putting in long miles on this one

😆😆😆😆

Had to share this from twitter just because

"Crucifixion?" "Nah, freedom for me" "Oh jolly good, off you go then"

Absolutely +1 to this. It is completely baffling to me that this govt has decided on such an "all in" approach - what is the justification? Is that alignment with the EU would be seen to be weakness, or is it ongoing hope for crumbs from the table?

An important consideration is that you can't deport that number of people without developing a police-state infrastructure of goon-squads and camps. And that infrastructure won't be happy when it runs empty.

So Gary Neville is apparently a traitor despite employing 600 Mancunians, paying all his taxes and opening his hotel to front line workers during COVID lockdowns. Sounds like much more of a patriot than those who criticising him who just spend their time talking the UK down.

When AI translation goes _sorely_ awry.

great joke from @zaltzcricket.bsky.social on the news quiz this week: “statistics are like comedians at the riyadh comedy festival: treat them right and they can be made to say whatever you want them to say”

Oh, the grand old duke of york He ██████████████████ He ██████████████████ And he ██████████████████

This.

A bleak dystopia where Sharia law predominates, while economic and cultural divisions mean that the different communities live parallel, segregated lives. Oh, wait, that’s Dubai …

My article is clear. My radio programmes are clear. You Bitcoin evangelists wouldn’t be happy unless my programmes were half an hour of breathless excitement instead of the measured tone accompanied by warnings that I provide for literally every financial topic including but not exclusively Bitcoin.

me: *tosses in vegetables* him: what’s going on here? me: nothing, relax him: this water is kind of warm me: shhh *adds salt*

There are less than 200 constituencies across the entire UK in which the right cannot win. The only way to beat them is to vote tactically. In most parts of England, if you do not vote for your sitting Labour MP you will be making it easier for Reform to take power. That's just a simple fact.

The BBC are accidentally running the subtitles to Mrs Marple over the Mercury Prize, and it’s rather wonderful. A few of lines could plausibly have been written by Jarvis.

Not saying they look *exactly* alike but would definitely cast Robert Jenrick (shadow justice secretary) in biopic of Paul Reczeh (Gestapo agent, all-round sociopath)

It helps to be able to spell the country you say only you are competent enough to run.

I hope it's clear to everyone now that Trump really is going for it - he's trying to become a dictator. I don't know if he'll succeed, but he's working to install himself as an autocrat unaccountable to voters. And he's weaponizing the military against Americans who oppose him as part of that effort

"i just use it to generate ideas"

Am I alone in thinking that prophesying a WhingeUK victory in a General Election around 3 years away is actually not very interesting?

Absolutely unbelievable to see egregious anti-science nonsense being given an airing like this. Well done @lewisgoodall.com for calling it out. “A broad church… freedom of speech” - and that’s the excuse for platforming not just misinformation but disinformation.

Ok… who keeps creating this man… 😂😅🤣 Whoever it is, thank you. 😂😅🤣

@number10cat.bsky.social on the other place... Restore Britain : "There shouldn't be a single foreign rapist in Britain" Larry the Cat : "Will you be opposing Donald Trump's state visit?"

Whoever it is going round Glasgow putting daft signs on stuff, please keep up the good work. Thanks.

Ok, my banking travails continue. More than £20,000 of my money has gone missing and Chase UK have done absolutely nothing about it in the 8 hours since they were notified.

At least Hannah Ingram-Moore had the nous to get someone else to do the walking for her.

Can you hit repost? Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn't want you to know the name of her opponent but will try every desperate attempt to save her seat. My name is Shawn Harris. I am a Democrat, husband, father, Retired Brigadier General, farmer, and I'm running against MTG. Can you share and follow me?

Recycling this from this morning #TheArchers

Jurassic World movie but set in the future where humanity is dead and dinosaurs clone an entire park of Jeff Goldblums

Quite the phrasing from the Hastings Pirate Festival Facebook today.

Hilarious.

Curse of Private equity Asda owner slumps to near £600m loss as sales fall. Company loaded with debt. Drive to cut staff/wages, low morale, less consumer choice, low investment, asset-stripping. Expect more debt as it struggles to compete.

simpler times

Is it too late to give Sacha Baron Cohen an Oscar for this? Not a damn lie told. 🇺🇸

brilliant

Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene have both now said that Fox News is propaganda. The right wing is tearing itself apart and I’m loving every minute of it.

This is a vital message: one of the larger reasons BlueSky is refreshingly free of alt-right shitlords is because in the early days we made a gentleperson’s agreement to starve these fuckos out and it worked. No likes, no quotes, no engagement. They got bored and left. Please keep the Old Ways.

JD Vance joining up and a Spectator article in the space of 24 hours. Something tells me the far-right has a BlueSky fixation and is looking for ways to mess it up. Don't let them.

Just a week to go until Hannan Day! Hope you've all got the fireworks in.

Major 'dress for the Enabling Act you want' vibes.

Evil Old Man.

Tell me about it

Private Eye exposing again the utter idiocy of our politics. This sums up *exactly* how Farage and Reform get rocket-boosted by a media, drunk on sensationalist nonsense. Unserious and irresponsible but it’ll be up to us to prove them wrong.