Happy birthday to Josephine Baker! Who besides an amazing performer was also a civil rights activist, adopted 12 children and was also was a highly decorated resistance member and secret agent during the Second World War.

If you read one thing today, make it @stephenkb.bsky.social's admirably clear and rational analysis of the police's actions following Henry Nowak's murder, from the @financialtimes.com Inside Politics newsletter www.ft.com/content/aa94...

No Helen of Troy was probably not Kenyan, but I am more certain that Odysseus would not have been from Boston so I guess we'll all need a little suspension of disbelief when watching this modern film adaptation of a 2800 year old work of fiction.

Cartoon by Liam Francis Walsh. www.facebook.com/liam.f.walsh.7

In fairness, they might have been concerned that he wasn’t putting in a shift.

The Helen of Troy controversy is ridiculous. It’s not history, it’s fiction. How many real historical figures get whitewashed by Hollywood? Why’s that’s ok? Also, in Xena: Warrior Princess, Helen was portrayed by a Black woman, and that was in the 90s! How is inclusive casting a scandal in 2026?

Big announcement on March 3. No part of this ever happened.

This. Flying the flag is all about context. Royal wedding, fine; BNP rally, no. This really isn't hard. And yet councils seem reluctant to remove the flags as they may upset people 'simply expressing their patriotism'. It is flatly not that; it is marking out territory. (Starmer useless here.)

The bizarre insistence that Enoch Powell was not *really* talking about race is at odds with almost everything Powell himself said on the subject. gladstonediaries.blogspot.com/2018/04/fals...

"With that smoky voice..." The Daily Mills & Boon.

@tds153.bsky.social Is it gloomier and/or loomier than Wastwater? bsky.app/profile/tds1...

@publicradionerd.bsky.social Talents for low intrigue & the little arts of popularity may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single state; but it will require other talents & a different kind of merit ... [to be] a successful candidate for ... President --A Hamiliton hmmm???

While Boris Johnson was mayor of London there were 72,000 knife attacks, 16,000 gun crime offences, and at least 62,000 racially motivated violent crimes. But apparently, those didn't count.

Yes, he should.

Well done Beryl! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...

No law enforcement officer operating in Connecticut—federal, state, or local—can wear a mask on duty. ICE and CBP agents have to show their faces and badges. And when an officer assaults someone recording them, commits false imprisonment, false arrest, or malicious prosecution, they lose immunity.

Virginia Woolf, more than a hundred years ago:

#TheCompleteBritten #76 Two Lullabies for two pianos (1936) 1. Lullaby 2. Lullaby for a retired colonel Britten wrote these when he and South African pianist Adolph Hallis auditioned for the BBC as a piano duo. The first lullaby's harmonic unease slightly undermines its stated aim.

If one of my party's recent prime ministers had redecorated the Number 10 flat in a way that ended up involving TWO separate inquiries and a Wikipedia page, I would simply not have put out a press release confirming that the current prime minister had spent less than the allowance he was given.

Every reference to 'welfare' ever should have 'including pensions' or 'excluding pensions' in parentheses next to the word. All interviewers/articles should clarify at first use whether the word includes or excludes. Interviews should be stopped if unclear. Because frankly it's getting tedious.

I suspect the Pope sounds "woke" to many Christian conservatives because the US is steeped in prosperity theology, where the point of worship is to deliver health and wealth to believers. Thus, "feed the hungry" and "show mercy for the poor" sounds needlessly political and "woke."

Genius move by Trump to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, because he can then claim credit for removing that blockade.

This is the famous painting Red Balloon (German: Roter Ballon), created in 1922 by the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee.

I’m sure many have drawn attention to the advice given by the Oracle of Delphi to King Croesus of Lydia, that if he should send an army against the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire. Just not in the way he hoped

hmm

Scheherazade, having failed to keep the Dow above 50,000, was summarily deposed of the next morning.

Ukrainian artist, Elena Yurchenko

@publicradionerd.bsky.social Has Snoops seen this?

I know this has circulated with alacrity recently, so you may have already seen it, but if you haven't... WOW BOY HOWDY it's the most useful thing. Thank you cardcatalogforlife.substack.com -- this is a very very very helpful public service: cardcatalogforlife.substack.com/p/google-has...

It's interesting how The Daily Wire attacks the idea that gender is a performance when their sets are all about gender performance. Look at the aesthetics here — the cigars and crystal decanter with Japanese whiskey, the black dress shirt, the tight suit with two-toned double monks and tie bar ...

There is a wise old saying in litigation that if you are "surprised" at what your opponent is doing, then you are in the wrong job. You may be disappointed by what an opponent does, but you should never ever be surprised. Trump is "surprised" by Iran's response to being attacked.

8 March: Trump tells UK not to send ships to the Gulf as "We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won". 14 March: Trump asks UK to "send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat". It's a tragedy that so many lives hang on the whims of this angry child.

That's a throwback! Remember this? www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-t...

How the women farmers of Burgenand marched to Women's day. 'We don't want to be second class people' March 8th, 1929, Vienna.

@rolandmcs.bsky.social Allister Heath Headline Generator, input= "Axel Springer", fifth iteration: "If Axel Springer is allowed to triumph, the British dream is officially dead" -- Allister Heath, The Telegraph

@paddybriggs.bsky.social @davidcolquhoun.bsky.social In case you haven't seen this

Interesting idea from David Howarth on “how to become a republic”. Abolishing the Lord Chancellor turned out to more complicated than people thought - to the extent that we still have one David’s idea for the monarch is simpler - keep all the same functions, just have them done by someone else

The inconvenient TRUTH about social media. History happens to catch up with you in the end #TrumpTheWarCriminal and your ILLEGAL #TrumpsEpsteinWar.

As someone whose mother had dementia and whose father had MS, I found this by Ros Taylor (@rostaylor.bsky.social?) particularly resonant.

Got to love a leading question. You could ask Trump if Starmer's policy is the result of wicked elves climbing down the No10 chimneys and get this answer.

Reform are in denial about why they lost by 12% in Gorton & Denton (60% white, 80% UK-born) after losing by 11% in Caerphilly (98% white, 98% UK-born) to Plaid Cyrmu Both seats unusual in seeing more people vote than at last Welsh Senedd/last GE: more voters turned out to stop Reform than supoort

Just your regularly scheduled share of this masterpiece by @tomgauld.bsky.social

You'd think Reform would be delighted that a white, working class plumber got elected and they beat the metropolitan elite university lecturer.

Hillary Clinton’s Opening Statement in front of the House Oversight Committee.

Oh no. There goes my productivity.

would love to be a fly on the wall in Reform HQ this morning www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...