The government seems to believe it's main problem is Comms, not policy, but we could now be six weeks into a big "This is what is happening, this is what it means" campaign about oil prices... And we just aren't?

Got to be honest, loosening sanctions on Russia before we’ve even tried any basic demand-side measures is not filling me with pride or joy

I read somewhere that Starmer considers Ukraine to be part of his… legacy… But maybe I misread. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Interesting thread on a speech which tickled all the right spots but showed that AB needs to work hard, and quickly, on fleshing out what he means by rebuilding communities and restoring a sense of place.

Looking forward to seeing this - but not looking forward to the fact that after extensive access to my work’s collection of British papers relating to the American Revolution, and a long historical context discussion with the production team, neither myself or my work’s archives are credited.

And the EBU breathes a sigh of relief.

GET ON WITH IT

Beano #599, January 9, 1954

Good grief this is taking sooo long.

I think this maybe the most niché bit of trivia I’ve ever heard.

Really just an excuse to post this again:

If you can find a university near you that's still open...

As an act of mayoral solidarity, perhaps Sadiq could post one of these to Andy.

"You want to make sure you got your numbers right"

If you want a break from the Starmerdramrama, me in @thehousemag.bsky.social on how a good night's sleep can get you to the polls.... Also featuring cheap gags about Geoff Hoon and Bill Clinton. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Wes' theory seems to be that if you wield the knife then you get seen as a traitor and can't win, but walk around waving a big knife with 'backstabbing knife' written all over it going "hey, I'm not using it YET" you'll be a contender. What??

Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?

There can surely be few designers who have achieved this level of ubiquity for their work over such a prolonged period. Extraordinary. And that cake is just perfect.

Coincidentally, the number of staff currently at risk of redundancy (2700) at the University of Nottingham is the same as the number of jobs at risk at British Steel. Yesterday, the govt said they aren't neutral on job losses & so pledged to save those steel jobs. Watch as they blithely ignore HE.

“Psychodrama” has always obscured more than it resolved- right from the start it was the way that BBC Politics in that era babbled its way around the conviction that couldn’t cover Brexit in detail without being biased and that the public needed to be talked down to.

I think the use of the word psychodrama is starting to obscure more than it reveals. Yes it's ridiculous to be about to have our 7th PM in 10 years, but each PM ran into a problem that they couldn't resolve. Getting rid of them really was necessary to solve the immediate problem and move on

Labour's processes for changing leader are hopelessly, catastrophically unsuited to government. More than half of all prime ministers since 1945 have taken over between general elections. This is not an unusual procedure. So it really matters when parties screw this system up... 🧵

It blows my mind that there were virtually no questions as to ‘how are you going to do the things you describe when you’ve spent two years not managing to do them’?

I still cannot quite believe anyone is actually suggesting Al Carns, even though clearly some people must be

If the first rule in politics is learn to count, the second is read the rules.

Writing about this atm, and I keep hearing this sort of thing. It's been Wisdom for years that the future lies with STEM and arts/humanities is basically luxury nonsense for posh girls. But we may be in for a rather different status lurch. The National Theatre may outlive Deloitte.

It’s also the attrition rate of the current Hantavirus 🤔

There are lots of questions I want to ask Reform people, mostly starting "about that five million quid", but it would be a shame to let this moment from Robert Jenrick slip past unnoticed. thecritic.co.uk/toda...

Why does it look like Rachel Reeves is officiating a wedding between Keir Starmer and Gordon Brown

**Begins singing Nearer my God to Thee**

The Tories figure of 44% is slightly a slightly worse attrition rate than that suffered by First Class passengers on The Titanic.

Labour have lost 57% of the council seats defended. That's an attrition rate greater than suffered by John Major's MPs in 1997 - the famous asteroid destroying all life on earth - and is in fact equivalent to what happened to the Magnificent Seven (3 survived). www.politicshome.com/thehouse/art...

it was the best of elections, it was the worst of elections

Based on analysis of nearly 100 wards, Reform are tending to secure larger gains in areas that are older, have lower levels of educational attainment, and voted for Brexit.

Multi-party politics, innit

Always worth voting...

Sat in an archive, reading an unpublished MPs reminiscences from the early 20th century...

Had this last week. It's not just that there are ads, it's that they've put the ad in *the worst possible point* in the film to put an ad. Arguably the worst possible point to put an ad in the history of cinema.

Why would we want to learn from our pasts, or ponder the power of the written and spoken word, or explore the deep questions of humanity? According to the University of Hertfordshire, we wouldn't. They've just cut all of our undergrad Humanities programmes

Appalling

NEW from me: many of our universities are now in a dying fall. A new global-national-regional-local split is opening up, which could choke off progress on almost all the Government's plans. Do they have a plan? Nope, nothing, not a clue. 👇 isrf.org/blog/whats-t...

Well, if it’s 5 May... YES, THAT’S RIGHT! It’s the 52nd anniversary of Kenneth Tynan’s diary entry in which he recounts the not entirely sensible decision to have a vodka enema. (content warning: just nasty)

I always think it’s interesting/sad that we spend so much time in school teaching the American Civil Rights movement and never our own. I remember when Steve McQueen’s Small Axe came out it was full of stories I’d never heard of, we never really teach the riots in Brixton/Toxteth, etc

I'm very confused. There's a bunch of people I follow who generally seem functional as humans and write persuasive things well using solid reasoning (even if I don't always agree with it) that are aggressively agreeing that while badenoch is a dolt (on board so far) Lincolnshire is in the north east

That's the west coast mainline for you

Mrs Thatcher once said that "every prime minister needs a Willie". Here @timbale.bsky.social argues that "every prime minister needs an Ian": a PPS who can be their eyes & ears in the parliamentary party, see danger coming & "speak truth to power". Fascinating piece on an underrated political role

Sometimes the Lady *was* for turning. Me for ConHome this morning. conservativehome.com/2026/04/29/t...

Latest article for @thehousemag.bsky.social, this time of the records broken by the 2024 general election: www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

The professor will see you now: Philip Cowley explains why the 2024 election could be known as the 'records' election ✍️ Professor Philip Cowley

It is, today, the 55th anniversary of that gift to satire James Arkell, whose solicitors wrote to Private Eye on this day in 1971, prompting everyone’s favourite reply. You may know the story, but I put it to you that you cannot hear it enough. We begin with that initial letter... 🧵