What a novel idea!

For some reason every time I see Andy Burnham I keep humming the Human League song: "Here comes the mirror man Says he's a people fan... You know I'll change If change is what you require Your every wish Your every dream, hope, desire"

I looked again the the list I made back in 2020 of my Top Ten Books (not The Best Books Ever but Those I Remember Most Fondly) and six of those ten were originally written in a language other than English, four in Spanish and two in Portuguese. Would my list be the same today? I suspect not! 🤔

How do people think empires were* built? *deliberate use of past tense here

Forty years on and I am yet again looking for Sunday afternoon displacement activities to distract me from my MFL* homework. *it was French, German and Spanish, now it’s Italian but the vibe is exactly the same

‘El imperio no va a volver…’ Meanwhile, from a neighbouring country, coping with the much-later loss of its own empire but still able to grasp a bright future: youtu.be/V2DsabWSiOU?...

Mr DR is a systems engineer and our house doesn’t even have the gun (or the printer, for that matter).

You know what, Judith? I think they might just have been extremists.

Your periodic reminder that racists are comprehensively racist and we would do well to stop pretending otherwise.

Rubio’s Revenge, served very cold.

"I need the most on the nose statement of populism you have"

A list which proves conclusively that even bookish people don’t read enough literature in translation.

Also worth considering that it was an investment more than a purchase. He will get new and looser crypto regulations in return, as well as a host of other benefits. £5m will pay for itself easily.

Not the main thing but I read this as ‘To meet a person you are going to marry requires flirting through a lot of people’ and actually I think mine is better

Read this and then look at the application process for the new Crisis Resilience Fund in your area…

You know your dog thinks you were out of the house too long when he's figured out how to make his own tea while waiting for you. #dogs #tea #beagle

Every book* I loathed when I studied it for a school exam, I have loved when I reread it as an adult: the book stays the same but the reader changes until she is worthy of it. *jury still out on Madame Bovary and Manon Lescaut, neither of which I can bring myself to re-embark on.

Nice eyelashes, strong arms.

I will not be alone in buying the popcorn. 🍿

I mean, this is both pathetic and contemptible and so deeply embarrassing that it should rule him out of any further involvement in electoral politics.

The defeat of the AV referendum is criminally under-appreciated as a dark day in British history. It was a good idea, and admirably suited to the present situation, where much of the voting public is primarily motivated by loathing of (at least) one party, rather than support for any of the others.

For nigh on twenty years, more’s the pity.

I know there’s a lot going on in the world, and we don’t have enough attention to pay to any of it. But the throttling of Cuba by the US should be a bigger story than it is. There are about 10 million people in Cuba, subjected to horrendous collective punishment. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

The reason we see so many HR horror stories on TikTok is that they're from the US, which has shit employment regulations. The lesson here isn't "HR is bad" but "for a good life, don't live in America." (In the UK most truly egregious employment practices are in SMBs where HR is weak or nonexistent)

The political journalistic class won’t rest until Farage is PM & this country is divided

Perhaps the Labour Party could take 5 minutes out of its busy infighting schedule and let this be news for a bit

Parading yourself as a politician while not paying your taxes: these people have neither shame nor social conscience (and are pretty poor at risk assessment too). #bbcnews

Fundamentally, a lot of the problems in British politics comes from a political generation being forced to do something they think is a bad idea, to appease voters they think are wrong with beliefs they don't really understand.

« The desire not to have an argument means… » ooof!

David Cameron presided over the biggest disaster in British foreign policy since the Suez crisis, of course he had to resign, and that basically doomed his successor from the jump as well.

I was almost 42 before I saw my seventh PM.

it’s such shibboleth of modern politics to blame politicians for failing town centres when the primary driver is - surely - all of us buying more and more stuff online

In the past two months alone the government has ended the two-chikd UC limit (so increasing some households’ income dramatically) and given private renters more rights than they have had for 30 yeara so it does make you wonder what exactly people want… www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Summer 1989: the happiest I have ever been or could ever hope to be.

Honestly, the Burnham stanning really annoys me. He's done nothing to merit it, and he and his supporters still act like the leadership/keys to No 10 should just be handed to him. The arrogance is spectacular.

Still reeling from Zia Yusuf’s recent #newsnight performance, where he said the money was g(r)ifted before Farage thought about standing for Parliament. Zia, mate, Farage has been thinking about standing for Parliament for the best part of half a century: I doubt the money predates that!

Invoice for buying up Britain. @theobserveruk.bsky.social

You’ve got more than 400 MPs to choose from but you’re shilling for the man who has already been twice been rejected by members… 👀

100 per cent this. It’s really not that difficult.

When* Reform get into national government and is able to change the laws that protect vulnerable people** and which cost £££, these are the things that they will be cutting. *where is St Augustine when you need him? **basically social care, disability benefits and state pensions

Baroness Davidson now shilling for STV… #newsnight

As a Rejoiner, I kind of hope he doesn't, because he'd taint the brand with his own Reform-lite-fumbled pragmatism. Better to get him out of the way and for a cleaner skin to make exactly the same move/gamble.

Painting by numbers.

I am reminded of Elmer the elephant by the Birmingham political map of 2026 though the quite positive patchwork of harmony message of that storybook may be challenging to emulate in city local politics

Pleased to see Waitrose in #Dorchester catering for such a wide range of disabilities…

What's happening is we're moving to a European party system but without PR.

Rather than endlessly debating why the state is broken, we could just try reversing Osborne-ism

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, though, Gus. www.ft.com/content/d1b0671f-2388-4f04-a7e9-ea1d5a9cff31?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Whining Farage claims he’s the ‘most attacked ,physically in modern times’ So he’s never heard of Jo Cox, David Ames’s,Margaret Thatcher, Norman Tebbit ,Stephen Timms, Nigel Jones and others. All who were either murdered, stabbed or injured in bomb attacks. Farage has had a milkshake thrown over him