This morning I’ve seen Olly Robbins’s appearance before the select committee described as ‘box office’, while a commentator flagged up another key political moment with the words ‘bring the popcorn’. That’s one of our main problems right there.

I know Mandelson is a long word and hard to spell, but Keir isn’t.

The BBC integrating a specific political party's branding into a live to-camera report that lists that party's main (dubious) talking points is a gross dereliction of the broadcaster's editorial duties. If you live in the UK, you can complain to the BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comp...

I support the right of everyone to block me for any reason whatsoever, including that their dog farted while they were reading my post. That said, occasionally I do go through three stages of being blocked: 1) Huh? 2) Seriously? 3) Yeah, that’s probably for the best. We were not gonna be friends.

My reflection on COVID is that it sucked for everyone, but it sucked for everyone differently, and a lot of broken friendships and family strife are the result of people assuming that everyone else had the exact same COVID experience they did.

45 years ago I did a charity parachute jump. I was taught how to fall by army types who aimed to make it instinctive. It was painful, boring and we hated them. Today I tripped on a steep slope and did a perfect rolling fall, to the astonishment of two nice young boys who ran to help. Not a scratch.

Surely I’m not the only one who thinks this whenever they see a map of The Strait Of Hormuz on the news?

If the past really is a foreign country I’m surprised so many right-wingers want to live there.

proof that nature truly abhors them

I was in a wonderful cemetery in Porto this morning. This was my favourite thing. A portrait in stone of a dog missing its owner

I’m adding “Err, no.” to my list of blockable phrases, alongside “Just saying” and “Spot on”

The existence of Tim Curry and Tim Rice leads me to hope that somewhere there is a Tim Naan.

For those keeping track at home. The Iranians have now blockaded the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US blockading it because the Iranians had blockaded it, in response to the US attacking Iran to ensure that the Strait which was fully open at the time wasn't blockaded.

I remember seeing Unaccountable Albatross headlining the Hammersmith Odeon in ‘83. Good times.

Hadn’t been clothes shopping for a dog’s age, so bit the bullet. ME: This is kinda cute… CARE INSTRUCTIONS: Hand wash, lay flat to dry in shade, do not leave in direct sunlight, do not dry clean. ME: This is not a shirt, it’s a mogwai.

Was this GP struck off just because he asked a Muslim woman to remove her veil? How likely does that sound? 🤷‍♀️ Did he actually ask her to remove her veil 'because he was struggling to understand her?' Let's take a look at what really happened based on the tribunal reports... 🧵 1/25

*gasp* I have been accused of being a snob by a colleague because I include the diaeresis in "naïve." Now admittedly, it was probably ill-advised of me to briskly say "It's not an umlaut."

If, as is probably truth of matter, Mandelson was to be appointed Ambassador, come what may, because Trump was a sui generis problem which needed addressing in a sui generis way - a Trump-whisperer - then PM should just say that. The faultlines are developing from pretending that was not the case.

The Covid 19 vaccine roll out was an extraordinary feat which may have saved upwards of 475,000 lives. In the face of a deadly virus dedicated professionals worked hard to make it happen and millions did the right thing and took the jabs. That's to be celebrated. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg...

Trump did this.

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.

Donald Trump keeps moaning about Starmer not drilling for oil - but not for the reason you think www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

When I joined Bluesky there was a limit on characters in handles. That’s it. Sorry.

A+ headline. defector.com/president-ex...

It's Schrödinger’s joke: It only decides to be a joke when you open the box to ask why Trump said it.

Time for 🛏️ #sunset

it's like the first wave of covid except it lasted 16 years non-stop seeing a press conference where the press could ask questions for example truly caught me by surprise it's a political cliche trotted out by all sides that "now is the time for healing" but this time it is genuinely true

Many thanks to the people of Shetland for their warm welcome. Photo from @hughharrop.bsky.social

One thing this leaflet promotes, & indeed is probably a general 'view' of planning, is that you only comment when you want to object. WRONG. You can, & should, always write to Planning to support something if you think it is worthy. It IS recorded, & noted, as part of Officer reports.

I have seen a lot of NIMBY selfishness in my time, but "my convenience matters more than cancer care" is a new low. Quite seriously tempted to email them and tell them as much.

New post out: "The fall of Orbán" Péter Magyar’s victory in Hungary is a key moment in the global battle against the radical right. I look at the three big lessons we can take about how they can be defeated. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

Further point on the "[almost] everyone feels poorer despite fact median incomes are (slowly) growing" AFAICS it's just not true. Vast majority of people (80%) say they are very/relatively comfortable/can "comfortably cover essentials", and this hasn't changed much.

But we can be sure the crew of Artemis II cares about you, Jess.

Surely the Pope will have to reconsider now that he has lost Melanie Phillips www.thetimes.com/article/2123...

This is a sentiment you hear a lot from now-elderly people who grew up without a lot of material comforts. Their perceptual and material worlds were pretty well aligned! Now we basically all live in the perceptual world of the wealthy. It’s hard to imagine anyone not knowing what they don’t have.

as a non Christian I am wildly impressed by how well they predicted Trump in the Know Your Antichrist section of the Bible

I’ve been accused of passing off AI as my photography multiple times since starting this page. Part of me is upset. Photos can’t compete with modern AI, the days of extra digits are gone, so the other part of me is absolutely thrilled 😁 Fuck off with that shit tho, all pics my own 😡 Love and light 💛

The key to democracy is showing up in large numbers

Me, sowing an electoral system so I can get a constitution-amending supermajority on a smaller share of the vote: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!! Me, reaping an electoral system where they can get a constitution-amending supermajority on a smaller share of the vote: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

Perhaps Magyar's most important promise, and the one that certainly resonates with voters: "never again a country without consequences!" The crowd chants: "To prison! To prison!" [with the corrupt officials of the outgoing government]

“Apart from all that, Mr Vice President, how was your trip abroad?”

christ, not to relitigate It a decade on but it's hard to watch people happily waving Hungarian flags and EU flags at the same time and not think "oh right, almost like it's not that fucking hard to realise that you can have and cherish multiple, complimentary identities"

in addition to this (which i agree with), something that should put some wind in your sails is that orbán actually *was* the competent competitive authoritarian (relatively) everyone worries about, he had a stronger grip on power than i think trump ever has, and he had it for far longer

Regret to inform everyone that Peter Magyar beat the world’s smartest illiberal populist in large measure by working incredibly hard for 2 straight years, meaning the rest of us are just going to have to get off our asses and do shit rather than just complaining.

initially i thought it extremely inappropriate for jd vance to travel to another country and try to meddle in their elections and now i think he should go stump on behalf of every right wing reactionary party in europe, give him a special budget for it, i don't care, get him on the local news

Trump and Vance seem to have no idea how deeply unpopular they are outside the US. Perhaps this will help?

Enjoying your evening, Froggy?

walking from my election party to the Tisza rally and we heard crowds cheering in the distance as Orban officially conceded 🥰

Oh wow! Well done!