I hope the abyss in @stephenkb.bsky.social's newsletter becomes a returning character

We’re certainly ‘under threat from dark forces’. Trump and his puppets in Reform.

NEW: Reform UK says it would re-impose the two-child benefit cap - scrapped by Labour - for most families to fund £3bn support package for pubs.

This is not turning out to be the investment I had hoped for.

You're not wrong. Here's a bit written by Hunter S. Thompson in the 70s and it could have been written in the last year. #Trump #Nixon #DementedLittleFascistPunk

That is one of the most deranged attempts at a chemical structure drawing that I’ve seen on a loooong time. (And boy does it strip the “phos” out of glyphosate along the way)

...they told her no, didn't they

Peter Mandelson – the great genius at the heart of New Labour. Dominic Cummings – the great genius at the heart of 'Leave'. Nick Timothy – the great genius at the.... Morgan McSweeney – the great genius at the.... Can we ban all alleged great geniuses and cast them into outer darkness forever?

A recent cartoon for @newscientist.com. p.s. my new book of science cartoons, ‘Physics for Cats’ is out now. Links at www.tomgauld.com

It really was a wildly successful political project to re-define “elitism” as “listening to professors and researchers” and not “agreeing with whatever drug addled wealthy lunatic perverts say”

www.ft.com/content/d0b7... No thank you.

I'm publicising the ChEMBL UGM. There are various community members or organisations that maintain newsletters in the field of cheminformatics, but I'm not aware of them all. Andreas Bender has one, CICAG and CINF have more formal ones; are there others? #cheminformatics #CINF

The Telegraph’s political editor is saying, more subtly, what others are saying brutally.

The petrosexuals are still doing the “having services available near where you live so you don’t have to spend all your time and money driving everywhere all the time is communist actually” thing. 🤣

“The only consistent finding is that politicians indulge in motivated reasoning, commonly assuming that more voters share their opinions than is actually the case.”

After some consideration, the synthesis I have settled on is Starmer is bad and cynical for shamelessly pulling strings to block a rival, Burnham is bad and cynical for being ready to risk a Reform mayor in Greater Manchester for his own ambition, and it is time at last for chaos with Ed Miliband.

If there's a better analogy for Brexit, your Prez has not yet seen it.

One of the funny* things about the Jenrick defection is his articles basically amount to "Reheated Thatcherism and bungs to pensioners have broken Britain, and that's why I'm joining the Reheated Thatcherism and Bungs to Pensioners Party".

How about elite football as a parable for modern life? More watched than ever before, higher technical standards, better pitches, more money, and... large numbers involved are in some way unhappy. www.ft.com/content/31d9...

Conservatives Say Renée Good Was Brainwashed By Bible Into Loving Thy Neighbor

Marx remarks somewhere that historical events appear, as it were, twice: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. He forgot to add that beneath the farce also can lurk tragedy.

From FT letters today: "The parallels [between the churn of PMs and Man Utd managers] are striking, with the exception being that United fans still have a chance of seeing their team in Europe again soon, while the rest of us can only dream of a similar future for our benighted country."

This intro to David Frost's Telegraph column sums up so much that is wrong with British politics.

“We’re gonna need a bigger bus”

So half as many as the number of children living in poverty, then - but maybe they're not the Express's key demographic.

"Disappointing Number Of Deaths in the Deadliest Place On Earth", writes the Telegraph

X is in a death spiral. There’s a reason Elon only posts vague metrics and no longer opens anything up. Headline active users are down but I’d bet engaged time is down MUCH more. That’s not the result of boycott. It’s that he can’t run a party people want to be at. The service isn’t fun.

Kudos to whoever made this! #Epstein

The Iranian government has done this before during periods of mass protests, and it’s never a good sign.

Chevron CEO Sure In Good Mood This Week https://theonion.com/chevron-ceo-sure-in-good-mood-this-week/

It's the only game that matters. My SKETCH of British politicians playing the Trump Game.

I think what China understood and the rest of the world has been slow to do is that Trump is running a protection racket more than a trade or foreign policy. He wants the payoffs more than the invasion or regime change.

Latest from me in The Guardian: about how Farage, Jenrick etc won't be beaten until their delusional version of the UK's past is exposed. And why this should happen in the culture (a la Rock Against Racism) rather than through, say, Keir Starmer speeches www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Interesting point.

BREAKING NEWS: Actual facts appear for the first time on "Truth" Social.

I seem to have woken up in 1529…

This has to be a candidate for the platonic populist radical right news story - not a (hot) button left unpressed.

The amazing power of robots to allow oneself to accidentally kick yourself where it hurts.

👇 This sums up underlying problem with actually existing Brexit. The ways you actually maximise the benefits of Brexit run against the electoral coalition for Brexit, are not popular enough with Remainers, just end up with 'you're divorced, but you refuse to join Tinder or move out of your home'.

Important letter from an actual expert

Nope. Same old wishful thinking from UK politicians on EU links, taking the trade and leave the rest. Not available. Money, people, alignment, and making a positive case in public in Brussels all required. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Loved this.

“The last-minute christmas rush at the bookshop.” - my latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books

It's like poetry, it rhymes

With a wave of political predictions coming our way at the turn of the year, a reminder of how cautiously many should be treated...

An agreement to rejoin Erasmus – the EU’s student exchange programme – set to be announced on Wednesday as part of UK government’s drive towards closer relations with Brussels👏 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...