I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Ignore the haters, London is the 🐐

I can't disagree with Dan here...

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

"I'm cancelling your show ... for a week!"

I’m not sure it reflects all that well on Mason that the most aggressive interview he’s managed with a politician in quite some time is in defence of his own journalism. It’s also a fairly extraordinary attack to make in response to a fairly mild critique. Not sure his judgment on the money here.

If only there were a Labour Culture Secretary with a brief to stop such media abuses #WheresLisa

Sometimes wonder what John Birt makes of BBC news coverage at the minute, and how he feels it is doing with the mission to explain and contextualise.

There should be a high bar for politicians attacking the media, but maybe Ed Davey has half a point here? For example, the first three paragraphs of this BBC story repeat Reform's £243bn figure without saying that the thinktank behind the estimate now disowns it. (This is mentioned in paragraph 35)

It's obviously true unless something unexpected happens, but a) the incumbent government needs to actually have *delivered for its coalition* to lead a republican front b) the leader needs to be a plausible leader of it and c) they do need to actually be able to say 'Vichy was bad'.

It would be good if the only political pushback against Nigel Farage's plans to mass deport hundreds of thousands of our neighbours, friends, family and colleagues didn't just come from a handful of backbench MPs and one regional mayor

.@SadiqKhan responds to Farage’s deportation plan “Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain. They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city. Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.”

We had months of discussion about "there might be a hung parliament" when Labour were polling 20pts ahead

The reduction in the number of people coming to the United Kingdom is going to improve Labour's polling, the political debate around immigration and the British economy any day now.

Retrospective removal of Indefinite Leave to Remain from "hundreds of thousands of people" in the Reform plans is obscene. They talk about "preventing disruption to businesses" but have no regard for what this means for the people themselves, their families and communities which will be torn apart.

This has been important for a long time. Stop pandering.

No mention *anywhere* on the BBC front page of Reform’s latest policy. I guess the deep dives into the details will be along later…?

The ITV exposé on COVID now turns its sights on testing. I was stunned in 2020 when Sir Paul Nurse - Director of the Francis Crick Institute - told me he’d written to the government to offer the services of the Crick (the biggest biomeolecular lab in the country) - and never got a reply…

comment masquerading as a news headline

The true question right now is whether you believe in the moral character of the British public. If you do, you'll want to have the fight with Reform. You'll believe that the public will hate the idea of breaking up families, spying on & deporting people who've worked here for years.

Small boats: TV coverage - day after day after day after day.... PPE scandal: TV coverage - let's stick this powerful, enraging documentary on at quarter past ten on a Sunday night.

A striking dynamic in British political commentary is the people least likely to write about policy are incredibly prone to say that political parties can solve their problems with policy announcements.

Reform are now coming after people with permanent residency. It'll be citizens next. No one is safe from authoritarian governments.

In which, remarkably, while talking about the fiscal bind, and even after Jeremy Hunt goes on about acting in the interests of the country, no one brings up the TWO NI cuts carried out largely if not solely for narrow party political ends. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

I confess I become increasingly irritated with Brits who inform me in what kind of deep trouble my country is in, and how blind we are supposedly to this, at a time when right wing nationalism is surging in Britain and NATO is hanging by a thread. My Friends. We are in the same boat.

BBC headline signed Chris Mason at Farage conference: “Reform conference shows party's growing ambition like never before.” Laura Kuenssberg, BBC headline for LibDem conference: “Ed Davey loves clowning around, but is it time the Lib Dems got serious?” Fuck you, BBC.

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’ Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

STEWART: “Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether— we’re the banana peel in the coal mine… authoritarians are the threat to comedy, music, art, thought… progress.” Nailed it.

I would love to be part of the conversation on MSNBC related to the Kimmel story and it's chilling effects on first amendment, but unfortunately I was terminated by MSNBC for stating that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which lead to hateful actions".

Bit strange to hear the Today programme interviewing the CEO of Newsmax like he's a public intellectual, then interviewing a Labour minister like he's a war criminal

"When I became Prime Minister I took the view that it was time to understand a little less and condemn a little more. By that I meant that we shouldn’t explain away why people commit crime. We should just say bluntly: “it’s wrong”." - John Major, 1995

If someone’s not mourning the death of Robert Redford in a manner that’s consistent with your views, make sure you set up a database, call their employer, and get them fired.

He’s running

“Bipartisan negotiation” with a fascist. Dunno Chuck, sounds a bit

I cannot believe they allowed that man into power not once but twice. With all the mechanisms in place to stop him - mechanisms that other countries would beg for. And they just let it happen. It is enraging and painful beyond measure and so many more will die before he is done.

We must unite against those who seek to divide us.

“Legitimate concerns”

Ed Miliband also right to call out Musk as a narcissist on LBC and "refuse to stay silent against prejudice and racism wherever it is". Also says that Government should probably look at coming off X. The decent majority would agree with this.

TLDR: Make racism shameful again. While you’re at it add fascism too.

This times 100. Not wishing to sound like a member of Dad's Army, there were Britons struggling 100 years ago who suffered from real economic anxiety. And when they were called upon, they went off and fought fascists, rather than marched for them.

superb column from @stephenkb.bsky.social “racism does not diminish through rising GDP but through the willingness of politicians to argue against it….” www.ft.com/content/fbbd...

Stephen is correct as usual but also i'm glad he's called out the utter bullshit about eCoNoMiC aNxIeTy

WTAF WATO! You basically allow a right-wing columnist to conduct an absurdly favourable vox pop on the "Unite the Kingdom" march. Why don't you do your own homework? Get one of your own journalists who attended to reflect on it. Absolutely pathetic.

There is much worth being angry about in today’s world, and much worth protesting. But let’s be clear: the far-right organisers of Saturday’s rally in London are seeking to stoke division and mistrust. Violence is not the answer to any of our problems. (1/2)

Reform UK's own "one in, one out" policy. ~AA July 2024: 4 MPs July 2024: 5 MPs March 2025: 4 MPs May 2025: 5 MPs July 2025: 4 MPs Sept 2025: 5 MPs

Every great Labour Government has expanded access; whether that be CROW in 2000, the Countryside Act in 1968 or the National Parks and Countryside Act in 1949. This Government should follow suit; bringing in Scottish style right to roam, a right to wild camp and a right to swim. A lasting legacy

Telegraph columnists be like…

The problem is that ‘this is not who we are’ is coming to feel a little empirically unconvincing. It might help if the PM actually stood up and made the case for a liberal, tolerant and inclusive country.