On the Oh Noes Points On My Licence All I Did Was Break the Speed Limit discourse – and *not* in defence of the guy, who is clearly a selfish dick – one thing that struck me was that, when I learned to drive, we were taught to "move up through the gears"...

Current 14-day average of polls puts Reform on 25.1%. This is the lowest they've averaged since March 2025... when they were on their way up. I think there's a song for this situation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeqS...

Thomas Pynchon Kate Atkinson Kazuo Ishiguro Jonathan Coe Sarah Egan

Lovely obit. I knew she was born Gaynor Hopkins – which is already so Welsh it's perfect – but not that her Dad went by Glyndŵr, or that she was encouraged to start singing by her Auntie Blod. So long, Bonnie Tyler. Missing you already. archive.ph/DSe1e

Oh I say.

Very disappointed to read that the Forward Party advocate PR with a MMP system using the "Sainte-Lague" method. The cause of electoral reform – and the Sainte-Lagüe method – deserves better than this kind of lazy misrepresentation.

fascinatingly* the French news is translating "Count Binface" as « le Compte Tête-de-Poubelle » rather than « Visage-de-Poubelle) which is, in fairness, more accurate (his entire head is a bin, not just his face) typical British media not asking the important underlying questions * ta gueule

An aspect of the Binface candidacy that hasn't been talked about much is that it threatens to put Farage in the role of serious politician defending serious politics. Which is an awkward fit.

Take me down to the Parallax City Where the grass is green and the girls are just a bit to the left of where they appear to be Or just a bit to the right for some observers

My kingdom for a political class that recognises modern Britain’s biggest strengths and wishes to reinforce them

What a remarkable coincidence that all this new evidence should surface just when Farage is looking insecure. It'd be awful if it had come out at the wrong point in the political cycle.

“I am the most verbally and physically attacked public figure or politician of modern times.” The disgraceful Nigel Farage. Remembering Labour MP Jo Cox, born 1974, murdered 2016.

Labour didn't stand down in favour of Plaid Cymru in Caerphilly. Labour didn't stand down in favour of the Greens in Gorton. The Greens didn't stand down in favour of Labour in Makerfield. This disgraceful party chauvinism has to end. Have we learnt nothing from those three victories for Reform UK?

FIFA have confirmed Balogun’s suspension has been lifted and he *will* be allowed to stand in the Clacton by election

If this is an option, government shouldn’t even consider accepting his resignation. Instead parliamentary law should be changed so that any MP under investigation for breaking it shouldn’t be allowed to stand again unless they’ve been investigated and cleared.

The Government must block Nigel Farage’s resignation until the Standards Commissioner finishes investigating him. The people of Clacton deserve the full facts. If a by-election does go ahead, all parties should stand aside. We cannot give oxygen to this vanity project.

Game on, Nige.

Kemi Badenoch's statement on Farage started well, but should have stopped almost immediately afterwards – there's nothing to say apart from "this clown thinks he can dodge obligations that apply to all MPs by calling a completely unnecessary by-election".

No question of it, Farage's announcement poses the first real test for Andy Burnham's leadership. Can he wait an hour or two, then say something that sounds positive but doesn't commit him to anything, before having a chat with a few people and announcing Labour's actual position in a day or two?

Sounds like things are going great at Exeter! Narrator: Things were not going great.

🚨 2 *HUGE* WINS for children's health have just been written into DfE statutory guidance - and the media didn't notice them! If your child is Clinically Vulnerable due to asthma or allergies, this changes what you can demand from their school. 1/🧵 www.clinicallyvulnerable.org/post/allergy...

Out of idle curiosity I googled the origins of the word 'chonky' (and indeed the phrase 'chonky boi'). 'Chonky' has its own Wikipedia page, which informs me that "the word has roots from the old internet in 2004". Gather round, children, and hear my tales of the Old Internet...

Just watched that third Belgium goal again. Cheered me right up. (Apart from anything else, even into an open goal it was a nice shot.)

I've cringed myself into a pretzel

I'd like to thank FIFA this morning for reminding us so powerfully of the true meaning of their motto.

Bluesky this morning:

This is ICE-level racist repression - shameful. Vote Labour, eh kids?

"when you are a candidate for prime minister, as Nigel Farage is" Somebody really needs to take Chris Mason on one side and tell him how the electoral system works. The only "candidates for prime minister" are those MPs who can command a majority of the House of Commons...

FIFA has how made up some kind of insane appeal process and could rescind the Balogun red card recension no notes www.nytimes.com/athletic/742...

I'm not familiar with Fabrice Sorlin (whose claim to love "the eternal France" sparked it off) but this is a very interesting & persuasive argument (txn to follow)

Tin andra (Gordon), tin eroa (Bellingham), tina theon (OK, Kane's not actually a god, bear with me). What a game. Although frustrating to watch, wrt the next round the "hanging on like grim death" parts of the game were probably the best part. MEX *really* wanted to get one back - and they didn't.

Genuinely amazing performance. From the scintillating first half attacks to the heroic 10-man rearguard effort - it had it all. One for the ages! Are we supposed to go back to sleep now????

And gentlemen in England now abed Will hold their manhood cheap that they didn't see this one Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and not forgetting Jordan Pickford. What a side. What a match.

(Some) foundation documents, US music, at 250. This is my country, not the one being honored with bombs and blather tonight

This an official Vatican photograph of Leo at Lampedusa, Italy - one of the world’s heaviest migrant sites - where he went this morning to pray for migrants who died at sea. This is after turning down the offer to come to the United States.

On the (beer) blog: some appreciative words (which I wish I'd said sooner) about the late Martyn Cornell, beer historian. ohgoodale.wordpress.com/2026/07/04/s...

Thanks to everyone who's reposted this; it doesn't get old. I particularly like the picture, which seems to show someone who's patiently explaining how they're completely wrong without realising it - "That's right, I left the store without paying for *those* goods, that's what I've been saying..."

Who called it “The City & the City” and not “Girlfriend in Ul Qoma”?

This is just magnificent (albeit impossible to work with/against/through). Learning recently that it was recorded live* only makes it more impressive. *at the soundcheck, not the gig itself – and they did re-record some bits – but still www.youtube.com/watch?v=86YG...

Just seen Andy Burnham described (by Gaby Hinsliff) as having the slightly chippy confidence of the state-school-to-Cambridge kid who had to learn to fit into places he didn’t seemingly belong and I find I'm having difficulty letting it lie.

Just a quick heads-up that Our Friends in the North is currently showing on BBC iPlayer - a stunning piece of social and political history: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Musk is effectively approving the murder of Jo Cox here

How many times must a man con before you call him a conman

The contempt case against Rajiv Menon moves forward. Bad news, with the potential of turning into very bad news indeed. www.judiciary.uk/judgments/in...

Yes, I remember it well.

I want to see a movement rise that actually puts the needs, dignity, and thriving of all human beings first—and you'll know if it does, because the media will treat it as "dangerous" in a way that it never managed for open white supremacist fascism led by an illiterate addled Nazi ragejunky.

Be more Vole.

Mahmood should just move to Reform and be done with it. Burnham needs to make sure she's not in charge of so much as a paper clip under his premiership.