This is unacceptable practice from Tesco.

So hands up who thinks Burnham is actually going to do anything about electoral reform once he's in office

Furious that Chris Nolan would disregard historical accuracy in adapting The Odyssey by making a "movie" with "cameras" instead of memorizing the entire story and then going on a nationwide tour to sing it to us while tripping on ergotized barley

Just heard Wayne Rooney's got a podcast *Burns iPod*

It would be baffling but we're in a topsy-turvy world now where signalling your opposition to using technology to reduce our reliance on fossil-fuels is now considered "Hard-headed pragmatism" amongst swathes of the media and political classes. There will be whole PhDs written in the future on this

If you go to our linked report/model, you'll see this is what happens if you replace council tax and stamp duty with a 1.28% land value tax. 69% of households benefit in cash terms. Everyone benefits from abolition of stamp duty and boost to growth. This is easy! We're done!

Wishart did indeed call it. Pity since then if anything the UK has become more like the drunk who has gone on a 10-year bender and his family and friends are still to hear from him.

I see Count Binface is pledging to bring back Ceefax. *Registers to vote in Clacton*

New from me on Political Sandbox Trashing the Threshold How Count Binface is Poised to Obliterate By-Election History open.substack.com/pub/politica...

We are in a climate emergency and it is killing people. Stop illustrating these stories with old timey cute beach huts and other faux boomer memorabilia. This is serious and we are in trouble. Start treating it as such.

Never before has a politician announced their intention to run for re-election on an explicitly pro-sleaze, anti-transparency ticket. Never before has a politician gloried in having enriched themselves by breaking the rules, and then demanded a mandate to continue doing so indefinitely

@countbinface.bsky.social needs to record a 20 minute video whining about the media and other stuff to really put the boot in

Is there anything in Erksine May about having a bin on your head

What about this for a hypothetical possibility? Boris Johnson quits the Tories and runs against Farage in Clacton as an independent. He is one of the few candidates who could conceivably beat him on his home turf. And he'd love being back in the fray again. If it happens you heard it here first.

@ollymann.bsky.social Good to speak to you earlier on 3CR. Thanks for having me on 👍

This is a great episode. Worthington and Quantick - together at last! I learned more about Terry Jones and Michael Palin's early poetry career then I ever realised I needed to know 👍

Just did my first Substack "Note" on this Farage resignation gambit. substack.com/@politicalsa...

In this speech, Burnham is the most naturally speaking, comfortable in his own skin political leader I've heard speaking since Tony Blair.

Mark Thompson (@markreckons.bsky.social) joins me for a chat about Lenny Henry’s Square Crisps ads, ‘Allied Lyons – A Great British Company, The Quiet Earth, Steve Jackson’s Illuminati, The Optimist, Father’s Day and more. timworthington.org/2026/06/21/l...

Brutal but accurate on Starmer from @lewisgoodall.com on @thenewsagents.co.uk podcast just now. "In the end, if you've got no time for politics, politics will have no time for you."

This was great fun. Listen for my attempt at "Accrington Stanley, who are dey?" Scouse impression alone!

Great story. I've heard similar good things about Anthony. I was shocked to hear of his passing. RIP

The Democratic Cliff Edge Here's a big reason why Keir Starmer's government is so unpopular and why it's about to get a lot worse From Political Sandbox open.substack.com/pub/politica...

I bet Reform are delighted with this

Just realised that Tom Burke is a dead ringer for Charlie Brooker. Just a more grizzled version of him.

Some news - you can read it all in the alt text www.gailmyerscough.co.uk

Once again: Jo Cox MP was murdered. David Amess MP was murdered.

Andy Burnham is not going to walk it in Makerfield, where last week Reform won seven wards with 50% to Labour’s 26% it’s not inconceivable that he will end up with a humiliating defeat his best hope is tactical voting from supporters of other progressive parties but this could go either way

Makerfield is not an ultra safe seat by any stretch. Simons only had a majority of around 5,400 in 2024 and the polls are much worse for Labour now. There's no guarantee Burnham can win it even if he's allowed to stand.

I covered that march. Here's the first paragraph of the story I wrote about it: www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-t...

Reupping my own meme. I miss the days when #thepolitics was all about traffic cones and being aghast at the thought of John Major and Edwina Currie shagging.

So Wes has jumped. Will he now go for it? I look at his chances in my latest on Political Sandbox. open.substack.com/pub/politica...

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

Latest from me on Political Sandbox. Why Wes cannot expect a Coronation Street-ing glide path into No 10. open.substack.com/pub/politica...

Bridget Phillipson: "Enjoyed Kemi’s quip about free breakfast clubs being a defining legacy of this Labour government. When the Tories deride breakfast clubs, it shows how out of touch they still are. A £450 saving is a lot for working families. Easing the morning rush makes a big difference."

You would think that everyone would have got the memo after Brexit that voting for some hugely damaging thing in order to kick politicians out of complacency does not end well. But no.

Great piece here about how institutional inertia in large private and public bodies is leading to mistrust and fuelling the rise of populism

we only know about the £5m Harborne donation thanks to journalists at the Guardian, but sure trash the MSM for clicks

Streeting's resigning tomorrow and will trigger a leadership contest

From way back in the Looks Unfamiliar archives, here's the very first one that went unexpectedly viral - me and @markreckons.bsky.social talking about Hanna Barbera's classic horror-themed The Drak Pack, microchip-skewed action series Whiz Kids and more... timworthington.org/2017/09/08/l...

I think Starmer is toast now. Once your Home Secretary is making it publicly known she thinks you should go the writing is on the wall.

The biggest majority in the modern era, and terrified of your own shadow for two years. It beggars belief. I've never known any govt. to have less to lose, and never known a greater need for political honesty than now. But, hey, best stay cautious. You don't want to become unpopular do you?

Starmer's Ming vase rn

Having said all this Starmer really needed to do better today. I could see he was really trying but he just doesn't seem to have it in him to properly connect. He needed something bold to announce today to shake things up properly and seize the narrative. He definitely failed in that respect.

Re Burnham: Too many political commentators get carried away thinking they're in an episode of The West Wing. UK politics runs much more like The Thick Of It. Cock-up is far more likely to drive events than unlikely Machiavellian schemes that require several ducks to be lined up simultaneously.

THIS. Westminster journalism has muted into a dangerous parlour game of "Who should the next leader be?" Whilst the country twists in the wind over and over again. We need something to drop this. A written constitution? Genuine fixed terms? I don't know what the precise answer is but something.

1986 Children's BBC gangland thriller Running Scared was so unrelentingly grim that it used actual authentic 'villain' slang without at any point explaining it. Here's @markreckons.bsky.social on being confused by menacingly-snarled references to 'bins'. timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

Watch with @emmaburnell.bsky.social on Grange Hill, @markreckons.bsky.social on Running Scared, @alkennedy.bsky.social on Count Duckula, @whenisbirths.bsky.social on Emu's Broadcasting Company and @gfrancie.bsky.social on Faerie Tale Theatre. timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

From the very earliest days of Looks Unfamiliar, @invaderace2000.bsky.social on Food Fighters, @emmaburnell.bsky.social on The Patchwork Monkey, @fil5000.bsky.social on the Platoon computer game, @markreckons.bsky.social on Night Shift and more. timworthington.org/2018/04/03/t...