"I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency. Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook." Harry Truman

Very much this. Blistering stuff on America by @iandunt.bsky.social

A senior UK judge recently told me that the reason senior courts in this jurisdiction never look at US Supreme Court case-law is that they regard it as so politicised as to be useless as legal analysis.

Stock trades by President. The blatant corruption is just staggering

The Constitution grants the power to make laws to Congress, the power to interpret them to the judiciary, and to the executive the power to keep firing the head of an agency until he finds one willing to just ignore those first two.

Weird how the right both believe Thatcher's council house sale is the best policy in history and that anyone who benefitted from it is bad and wrong.

😂

"It is my strong belief that those who have come to the UK on care worker visas who have played by the rules and have genuinely contributed to our care system should not be required to wait longer to apply for settlement." I struggle to find anything controversial in this statement.

Imagine spending an unbelievably hot week, when people are really struggling to sleep or be comfortable, telling them that we don't need to tackle climate change. Do it in winter, you mad cunts. If you're going to be wankers, at least be professional wankers.

Hard not to regard this as a classic example of a pre-emptive campaign by certain sectors, along with their media sympathisers, to discourage a new prime minister from appointing someone who might damage their interests in the long and short term. And it will almost certainly work.

Reversed, wrong-headed, lied; unhinged, wrong-headed, deprived.

holy shit bsky has a water sealant expert that predicted the reflecting pool failure mode perfectly

nobody in British politics seems to want to say it but the single biggest driver of their inability to keep a prime minister for any length of time is that Brexit was stupid and ruinous and made everyone’s lives worse

Hilarious video that shows none of the Reform voters know any of Reform's policies.

So Starmer is going and Burnham is (probably) coming. But the cycle of failed PMs will just continue unless he has the courage to bin Brexit. #RejoinEU 🇬🇧🇪🇺

I suppose if absolutely forced, we could try and use Burnham in a holding role at the base of midfield, but it would be hard to decide if he displaces Rice or Anderson. I don't think he's got the pace to play wider at this point.

It seems to have become commonplace to blame net zero for Britain’s high energy bills and/or weak job market… … and I guess I’ll have to explain again why there is very little evidence of this. Britain has plenty of economic problems; net zero is not high on that list (though climate change is) 🧵

...... i'm sorry, they wanted to invade greenland because red lobster nixed the unlimited shrimp promotion? www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

I hadn't appreciated this but it seems a fair bit of the increase in the defence budget has been achieved using accounting manoeuvres e.g. moving secret services into the budget and war pensions. A friend who works in the defence establishment pointed this out to me last night.

Two-tier journalism

Labour won by 20 points and net immigration is down by over 80% in two years. But sure write your column again.

In accordance with ancient tradition, our next Prime Minister is announced to the nation while standing between a furry and a man with a bin on his head.

"So ... so I said ... why not sign your treaty here, at Versailles?"

>renames it to the Department of War >names himself the Secretary of War >fights one war >loses

Actually, Brexit was a bad idea from the start. You were not betrayed. You just didn't bother to think through the consequences of your choices.

Morning.

A UK governing party unwilling to use the force of the law to crack down on internal as well as external threats to democratic institutions will look weak to its friends as much as its enemies

It's just remarkable that if you're white, male, and conservative you are allowed to call for political violence that would get anyone who doesn't tick all those boxes absolutely pilloried. The group with the fewest legitimate grievances in society provided the widest grace to rage. Wild.

there were already many reasons to do this but Elon Musk actively encouraging racist violence in Belfast should be the final straw for every UK government institution to stop doing business - including being on X - with him in any way, and for him to be barred from entry to the country.

this should frighten you

There are two inquiries into the Henry Nowak case so far, and Kemi Badenoch is calling for a third. I'm waiting for them both/all to conclude that the horrors of the night Henry Nowak died had nothing to do with police guidance on race, and then be ignored by media and politics. #R4Today

A reminder of what Nigel Farage said following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer.

The Telegraph's response to yesterday's antics: to platform Farage. Morning.

What Reform did today was an incitement to rioting and an insult to a grieving family. This bloke should have hung his goddamn head in shame.

this is going to go on all summer, isn't it

The slightly scary bit of European politics is that nobody has particularly good answers for how we get out of this position, how to deal with the US and China, and so on. So debate is stuck between dated centrism and populist destruction.

Interesting that the idea of another EU referendum is regularly discussed on broascast media as something that would cause division and thus a bad idea. But plans to deport literally millions of people are discussed as administrative questions.

Reform are planning ICE-style ethnic cleansing, with no other precedent AFAIK in a peacetime democracy, tearing apart our country & probably causing mass civil unrest. You’d think our national broadcaster might give us a bit more analysis than just “2 fascists have pinsized disagreement”, but

A Makerfield story in three parts. Morning.

He's doing this because polls show more people in favour of Mahmoodism than against. And from a purely political POV (leaving aside morality and, yknow, thinking) that sounds sensible. But it isn't. It's spineless and moronic. Quick thread >

Just in case you need it, a reminder that we all need a shieldwall now and then: www.instagram.com/couldbeworse...

Good morning

The government isn't forcing churches and community centres and town halls across the country to fly the Ukrainian flag. People are doing it themselves because we see a battle and we know which side we are on. There are lots of ways in which Reform is wildly out of touch with Britain.

“Hoping that Burnham loses because you are Keir Starmer, or have a weird parasocial relationship with him” would be akin to me finding the UCL students who live above me so annoying I hope that their floor falls in and plunges down upon my head, killing me horribly.

Why exactly would a Thailand-based economic migrant secretly give Nigel Farage £5 million as a 'reward' for delivering Brexit? I won't get to ask either of them this question but every single journalist & broadcaster granted access could...

Then I guess it's not a financially sustainable organization. They'll have to close some locations or shorten their hours. Alternatively, we could end the public navy and let private navies provide this service.

I fear Labour people risk falling into an ecological fallacy visible from space when reacting to these results. Here is what is very clear in results so far: Labour are losing *seats* to Reform, but... Labour are losing *votes* to the Greens Greens split the vote, Ref comes thru middle

New for #RuneQuest in the Jonstown Compendium at @drivethrurpg.com – Marsh Attacks!