Truly a generational politician, may never see his like again

I think this and the following post are interesting. The main thing I would add is that about half of Labour’s policies appeal to this base, whilst the other half target Reform voters (unsuccessfully). The combo of the two means you simultaneously shrink your base and really piss off what remains.

Big win for the Greens this - they threw a lot at it.

I am deceased

This is (predictably) turning into a huge self-inflicted strategic defeat for the US - in large part, born out of the belief that their enemies are inferior and incapable of action (see the “NPC” meme popular with the online right).

One of the most important lessons of the 20th century is that all of us have a duty to refuse immoral or unlawful orders. A country where that principle is no longer upheld has no right to claim to lead the free world.

My anger is, of course, primarily aimed at those directly responsible for those responsible for this current disaster. But a fair chunk must be aimed at those who were at best useful idiots - who allowed themselves to be convinced that manifestly bad faith arguments about free speech etc mattered.

No reason…

File under: “when someone tells you what they are, believe them”

Quick reminder that perspective still exists in space and the Moon is much smaller than this photo makes it look

The deleterious effects of not having a hobby are becoming a defining point in this cultural moment—and who is poised to help? That’s right: the autistics. Job fair day where we all set up tables explaining our deep dives and give people a hand out, a path back to society.

The Greens have now overtaken both the Conservatives and Labour, according to the latest polling average

city captured by barbarians in Civilization economic plan: sell off all improvements, put all funds into building level 1 warriors as fast as possible

Arrive in Scotland, immediately eat a pizza lasagna - basically a stack of cheese pizzas filled with bacon and pancetta. 10/10, would recommend (thank you Civerino’s)!

If Artemis is going up then it gives me an excuse to once again post this photo, the only one to contain every human being in the universe but one.

One would have hoped that a great advantage of going to the moon would be not having to check outlook

Train breakfast brought to you by one of the less popular emperors

I fundamentally cannot comprehend the mind of someone who would view such an experience as uninteresting

Particularly excellent spot in this week’s Private Eye

Happy autism awareness month all, please bear that in mind before playing a rogue as you’re going to have an unusually hard time hiding for the next few weeks

In an administration filled with Bad History, this might be the worst

These days, I find it hard not to think about this a lot. From here: harpers.org/archive/1941...

Will this go better for the Government than last time they suspended the whip to try and head off a rebellion on an ultimately doomed policy measure? Find out soon!

The Trump administration managing the rare feat of less constructive dialogue with allies than a salty League of Legends player

Once again, a reminder that roughly 90% of voters have politics which are completely irreconcilable with what you’d expect if you’re very deep into the policy/political ecosystem

Being unable to understand principled, altruistic or courageous actions is a gaping and fatal blind spot

It’s worth saying - past performance is not always predictive of future performance, but iirc Verian were the most accurate pollster in 2024

This is a fantastic articulation of something I have worried about a lot but not very coherently. "He’s just a dude, on his phone, alone in a room, choosing to root for death." Prediction markets and what they could do to society are terrifying. www.derekthompson.org/p/we-havent-...

If Reform do pick up a couple of thousand councillors in May, I’m willing to bet that the number of serious vetting failures will be in the hundreds

This is where building your politics purely out of opposition to the left gets you - trapped in a parasocial relationship with hydrocarbons

If anyone fancies learning more about Labour's (increasingly important) sister party, check out my recap of their recent conference! thepartyanimal.substack.com/p/the-people...

Crispin Blunt pleading guilty to cannabis charges leaps to the top of the best nominative determinism of the year list

People out here sleeping on the co-op party

I think the mainstream polling industry in the UK gets it in the neck unfairly a lot of the time. In the US however…

You can’t tell me this isn’t the start of a bad anime

I’m on Team Send A Centuries Old Corpse To America

One for the “working people don’t look or vote like strategists imagine they do” folder

As mildly unscientific metrics go, this is one of my new favourites

"Bunch of guys obsessed with Ancient Sparta can't beat the Persians at sea" was probably one of the known-knowns, come to think of it.

I am reasonably certain that, given how young and Extremely Online many of those around Trump are, the situation in the Middle East right now is at least in part attributable to them playing Hearts of Iron 4 and going “well, surely topping the Iranian regime can’t be that much harder!”

This is disgusting and any politician unwilling to condemn it should be a pariah

We really need to have a word with the Germans about their financial terminology

The median age in Britain is about 40. The median Briton has not experienced sustained economic growth in their adult life time.

If the govt is to survive this, it's gonna need to socialise the term "Trumpflation", like the TUC has begun to do

Entirely predictable (and was in fact widely predicted), but the Home Office ignored it.

1. Britain has very much *NOT* always tolerated minority faiths. Just ask Jews and Catholics. 2. The idea that religious expression should be "in conformity with our values, our norms, our beliefs" should worry every faith group, starting with Christians.

This is, explicitly and definitionally, an argument for Christian nationalism and should be treated as such.

I really hope this is a bit but I legitimately worry it is not

It's a start, but they'll need more than one.