I’m old enough to remember e.g. the Rwandan Genocide, the Siege of Sarajevo and *two* wars against Saddam Hussein justified by his gassing of civilians, so you can imagine how bizarre it is to see these swine constantly squawking like Daleks about how nobody can stop their relentless crimes.

Britain, 2335: The budget ceremony begins with the traditional Announcement of the Fuel Duty Rise. Two months later, there will be the traditional Postponement of the Fuel Duty Rise, continuing a ritual begun centuries earlier by Chancellors in the Fossil Fuel era

I’ve never thought of myself as a writer, but this? This, I could do.

This is what's so maddening about a lot of food authenticity discourse. Diaspora culinary traditions are real! They are not fake!

A dizzying amount of food we consider classic Italian fare was 1) developed in the 20th century, 2) originally urban street food, not served by a screaming but doting nonna on a long wooden outdoor table under the grapevines.

anyway that 'smartphones tank fertility' chart everyone was sharing the other day is fake

The idea pf a "historically accurate" Odyssey on the other hand misses so many points one can hardly imagine where to start, its as baffling as a historically accurate Puss in Boots (specifically, the pantomime version) would be

Funny how there's always a reliable guard of MPs ready to go whenever gambling restrictions get tabled, isn't it?

The religious fascist finance minister responds to an arrest warrant being issued against him for war crimes by announcing his intent to immediately do more war crimes, in much the same way that Cookie Monster’s answer to everything is more cookies.

Likely someone at the Telegraph is working up there "Should the 1832 Great Reform Act be repealed?" piece as we write.

ICYM - Airline emissions in Europe top pre-Covid levels despite pledge to decarbonise - Promises to cut emissions and use more fuel-efficient planes fail to stop rise, with Ryanair’s carbon footprint 50% up on 2019 #climatecrisis #aviation www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Because we are massive shitebags when it comes to delivering infrastructure, basically agree to procure stuff then immediately begin backsliding because of cost, undermining both the project and our reputation with contractors who in turn increase their costs because of the risk of backsliding.

Why do we find it so hard to build fucking railways? Sure, we don't have a managed economy like China, but they've got high speed rail all over the world. Japan! France! There are already high speed lines operating in Europe that are longer and faster than HS2 one day will be, if we ever build it!

They keep cutting it back, requiring new planning making it more expensive. Treasury brain at work

Spain built about 3000 km of high speed rail in the same time, and the Spaniards are not inherently more efficient engineers.

Worth noting that in the U.K. they will almost certainly be a majority public school boys too

Excellent this open.substack.com/pub/mdavidth...

“If the CPS does decide to prosecute, any trials are unlikely to begin before 2029.” Over a decade after the fire. Astonishing that it has taken so long. (Would substantially increasing the resources of investigating teams have shortened that time period?)

bracing for the "millennials are destroying the pensions industry" pieces

bit oversimplified. it's also likely your rent is paying towards someone else's pension. as ever, we're kicking a problem down the road

also, possibly, in a system that made no attempt to explain to anyone that they might have responsibilities towards anyone else - even people they didn't like or know!

you know, I sometimes wonder whether there may have been some long-term downsides to a political economy that loaded housing costs and student debt onto young people in the expectation that growth would probably come back one day yeah

I am being somewhat facetious when I describe 21st century technological advances as “you can do office work at home and watch TV on the bus” but that’s the impact on most people. Good and all, but it’s not the printing press or the combustion engine to the average punter, is it.

I mean, pretty clearly it would be good for *people in Israel* if their country suffered a significant reverse, because they have been in a downward spiral of exterminationist fascism for a decade at least, and that is not conducive to a good and happy future for anyone, including them.

What would we say about this if the relevant country was - picking at random - Bhutan or Paraguay or Burkina Faso? It would look absolutely insane, wouldn’t it.

I don’t think it’s very good if the standard is that politicians must get immediately fired for saying they hope Israel - a country that has been committing utterly horrifying war crimes for many, many years, at this point - badly loses a war.

I appreciate that “we have been supporting a murderous expansionist war” is awkward but there comes a time when it’s way more dignified to just admit that’s what you’ve done.

Do we think the FT would go with a headline like “Russia seizes 1,000 sq km under Putin’s war strategy”? I think they wouldn’t, but Israel no more intends to relinquish that land than Vlad is giving back the territory Russia has seized, unless forced to do it.

Labour MPs: WE are putting MORE POUNDS in your POCKETS. An 8-year-old from 1983 is very excited

somewhat related: they also don't think muslims have access to the same news as other people

Almost no british politicians speak as if their imagined audience is normal people, as opposed to journalists and each other, and when they do the imagined normal person is thick as shit

Yes, there are partisans and cranks among them, but: does this look like a country with a ruling class that executes very smart plans, or does it look like one where a bunch of half-bright lawyers and amateur golfers bullshit and bumblefuck their way to propping up the status quo for five more years

We’re raised on stories with events directed by smart people, and bad things happen for a reason. But the British political class and their media allies did this because we’re cooperative vassals of America; because these people *hate* the left and because they are dumb as fuck, with no foresight.

Obviously politicians and media outlets are gilding the lily, misrepresenting what’s happening and outright lying. And for the most part, this is because they have - over decades - bullshat themselves into a very tight and extremely awkward corner, and now they can’t get out of it.

This comes up a lot. I reiterate: some members of the public assume there’s a secret media plot to advance Israeli government’s interests because the official story *makes no sense*, and nobody will tell the public the truth: our leaders fucked their way into this out of cowardice, spite and idiocy.

I'm so incredibly available to write this movie and 17 sequels. It's like the movie Wall Street, but with dolls. COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/criminal PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

Not a massive fan of having long term political questions proscribed by a bunch of hopped up financial markets gamblers who all pass through the same 5 elite institutions and learn economics at the same business schools

When high flow roads (motorways/freeways/autoroutes/autobahnen) are close to capacity, a small bit of sharp braking can cascade in to a rolling phantom traffic jam for miles. This is the NHS equivalent of one car having to brake sharply, and this sort of thing is happening a lot.

this is my favourite type of catch. individuals who clearly believe themselves to be very clever yet are incapable of spotting the most obvious bait. in this case I think the reason is that they actually don't think the idea is bad, I've just chosen the wrong Good Tory.

We will, I think unquestionably, end up needing a higher rate of housing benefit for pensioners down the line

Francesca Albanese is asked about Nicholas Kristof's article in the NYT detailing the sexual abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, & she rightly points out this information was already widely available

If we think these parties and their supportive media outlets will never willingly give up chasing Yer Da in favour of appealing to younger, more liberal people who do want more EU, then yes: the idea of us rejoining Europe any time soon is pure fantasy and barely worth even discussing.

An aggressively expansionist ethnostate, but all they have to do is to parrot the word "security" (the security of their victims having no importance) and many Western journos just parrot along

Well, the main parties have all been very aggressively pandering to the most reactionary and xenophobic Leave-voting section of the public, because you need their support to be a status quo and crackdowns government. Are they going to stop doing that and pivot to impressing liberals and the left?

"Things are actually getting better for everyone" update

"The total average shows people have never had it so good" latest

*THIS* is why the Triple Lock on the State Pension is a Good Thing and an investment in stopping an absolute disaster happening in the not-to-distant future

I take exception to “driving standards improving”, having cycled regularly for well over a decade now, they‘re noticeably worse than ever. That perception, amongst other barriers, plays a huge part in why lots of women would like to cycle, but won’t because it’s not safe. road.cc/content/news...