The dilemma of being one of Kim Kardashian’s psychics and knowing she’s paying you to say “you’re going to pass the bar exam!” meanwhile all the ghosts and spirits in the room are hollering “SHE DOESNT EVEN KNOW WHAT TORTS ARE”

EXC: The Conservatives have introduced an optional streamlined selection process for local election candidates, as they struggle to find people to stand for election

Well, you're in your little room And you're working on something good But if it's really good You're gonna need a bigger room And when you're in the bigger room You might not know what to do You might have to think of how you got started Sitting in your little room - The White Stripes

Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...

Enjoyed chatting with @alaintolhurst.bsky.social and guests about the current challenges facing the university sector We discuss: 🎓The international student levy 🎓The tensions between wider govt immigration policy and unis 🎓And....Reform UK podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

🚨OUT NOW🚨 Are unis about to collapse? 🎓 Ex-minister Jo Johnson, UUK's Vivienne Stern, Public First's Jess Lister and Russell Group's Sarah Stevens join PolHome's @matildamartin.bsky.social & @alaintolhurst.bsky.social to discuss the strain on higher education Listen: podfollow.com/politicshome...

Classic Kennedy move, you never lose it

Tax policy on the British left is pure "anti-bedtime left". Bizarre idea that you can have a big social democratic welfare state without everyone contributing properly www.economist.com/britain/2025...

good morning specifically to the FBI agent who introduced Mamdani’s dad to Marx

I’m going to need the name of the fried fish sandwich place please

Reform has lost over 5% of councillors it had elected six months ago A @matildamartin.bsky.social deep dive into the councils won by Farage's party in May found what a local government expert called "unusual" levels of churn Exclusions, suspensions and resignations have taken place nationwide

I sat down with perhaps the most level-headed man in rock music, Jon Bon Jovi, to talk about Trump, tennis and his return to touring after an atrophying vocal chord put his career at risk. this week's Lunch with the FT: www.ft.com/content/25f2...

🚨 OUT NOW 🚨 Does the OBR really run Britain? 💼 Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Labour MP @jeevunsandher.bsky.social, and the IFS's @benzaranko.bsky.social join @alaintolhurst.bsky.social to discuss whether the Office for Budget Responsibility is too powerful 🎧 Listen now: pod.fo/e/347deb

Oh god, it’s getting worse - time to start googling biggest ever World Cup defeats? I don’t know where they go from here…

So much for a new era under Edwards, this could get ugly for England - absolutely brutal start from Kapp

This really is liquid Chotiner, I had to stop and take a short walk about three times before getting to the end

financially entangling myself with isaac chotiner until it becomes unethical for him to interview me

CHOTINER: So you asked for a Birkin bag? KOKO: Yes. Possession Bag. CHOTINER: And you had the funds to acquire this? KOKO: No, Professor Purchase Koko Gorilla CHOTINER: That doesn't sound like the funds were justifiable. KOKO: Hostility Interviewer

"The other day I text Andy Reid," Bradshaw said. "And I got a text back, and I thought it was Andy Reid, but it was some guy selling pigs." defector.com/terry-bradsh...

Orlando Bloom Spotted At Dinner With Angela Merkel

Exclusive: The Attorney General is a defendant in a torture claim from a Libyan military commander and sanctioned ‘terrorist’ that he represented until weeks before the 2024 election www.politicshome.com/news/article...

My column in the @ftweekend.com: Keir Starmer is in trouble because he has not been serious about governing, and the best way for him to turn things around is for him to become serious:

this is what will happen if mamdani makes bus rides free

My lowkey conspiracy theory is that UK Cruzcampo is just re-badged Harp Irish lager - which was previously brewed at the same Heineken brewery in Moss Side

I’ve wondered the past few weeks if maybe we’ve (and really I mean I) overhyped the first guy who does politics the way we might wish to do it ourselves - but then he rips off a debate performance for the ages, and today manages to sound like the heir to Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’ speech

🚨 OUT NOW 🚨 Is the NHS sleepwalking into another winter crisis? 🏥 Lib Dem MP @helenmorganlibdem.bsky.social, Re:State's @rosiebeacon.bsky.social & @thekingsfund.bsky.social's Siva Anadaciva join @alaintolhurst.bsky.social to ask if an NHS winter meltdown can be avoided 🎧 Listen: pod.fo/e/343756

So much in this, but my overall sense is that this is actually the origin story for the older sibling’s descent into villainy

There's a whole other world out there: www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy...

Not only are they still a thing, but I actually purchased one fairly recently as I really wanted a Greggs at London Bridge - but the shop is beyond the ticket barriers. Best 10p I’ve spent in ages www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types...

where's the bit where they say it's bad, instead of just repeating what the policy is?

Lawyer Friend Makes Strong Case For Nachos https://theonion.com/lawyer-friend-makes-strong-case-for-nachos-1819567126/

Shohei Ohtani plays the greatest baseball game of all time: defector.com/shohei-ohtan...

What can you even say about this guy?

Above all, the police approach in that decade culminated in the unlawful killing of 96 people and decades of cover-up.

You know that piece about nobody watching the 9pm TV shows anymore - I have an idea how we can get 1m people to watch it again

🚨OUT NOW 🚨 Can government solve its China problem? Host @alaintolhurst.bsky.social looks at the state of the Anglo-Sino relationship and the challenges therein with Labour MP @tonyvaughanmp.bsky.social, ex-Asia minister Mark Field, Prof Kerry Brown and Luke de Pulford podfollow.com/politicshome...

The UK & China are planning talks over science cooperation in Beijing next month, PolHome understands It'd be the first in-person meeting of this convention since 2018 Gov sources stressed there'll be a thorough risk assessment before collaboration is pursued @matildamartin.bsky.social reports

With the collapsed China spy case set to dominate #PMQs, @politicshome.bsky.social is sharing our March 2023 podcast featuring Chris Cash It was recorded 10 days before his arrest on espionage charges, which have now been dropped Cash continues to deny the allegations Listen here: pod.fo/e/169a8e

In 2004, Parisian police were conducting a training exercise in the french catacombs and found, after moving past a desk and a tape playing audio of snarling dogs, a fully functional movie theater and bar. When they returned 3 days later, the equipment was gone, with a note: “Do not try to find us.”

His father’s reply changed his perspective. “I was an Indian in Uganda. I was a Muslim in India. And I was all of these things in New York City,” Mahmood Mamdani explained to his son. And “to be a minority is also to see the truth of the place amidst the promise of it.”

Jonathan Powell is back in the spotlight – credited for helping broker the Gaza ceasefire but criticised over his possible role in the collapse of the China spy case My 2024 @politicshome.bsky.social interview with him offers insight into his approach to negotiation and peacebuilding 🧵👇

🚨OUT NOW 🚨Panic (on the streets of Manchester?) Join @alaintolhurst.bsky.social inside Tory conference as he talks to James Cleverly & Mel Stride, pollsters Allie Jennings & Patrick English, the IfG's Tom Pope, and academic Rob Ford about whether the party can recover podfollow.com/politicshome...

🚨OUT NOW🚨 Inside Labour conference 🕵️🌹 Join host @alaintolhurst.bsky.social in Liverpool as he talks to West Midlands Mayor @richardparkerwm.bsky.social, Labour MPs, pollsters, and PolHome / House reporters about a high-stakes conference for the PM Listen here: podfollow.com/politicshome...

Have been watching some old Michael Cockerell films (as is my wont) - and was really struck with Blair just eviscerating one of his own voters here; it's a reminder of both his supreme clarity as a communicator, but also how timid modern politicians are when faced with the concerns of the electorate

Our Labour conf coverage kicks off with a bang: Big @siennarodgers.bsky.social read on whether Starmer can survive PM ally Nick Thomas Symonds defends "one of the most resilient people I’ve ever met" in a chat w/ @sophiealichurch.bsky.social pieces from Powell & Phillipson (+ much more to come)

I've written about Mainstream, "The Starmer Symptom", and why the soft left getting organised is a good idea – if they can update themselves. www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...

One old lag’s opinion, but the only way you could “approvingly” read ‘What did we learn on our summer holiday?’ as a Labour MP is if your brain is, to put it mildly, absolutely cooked