Newly elected Reform UK councillor Andy Arnold has a swastika tattooed on his arm, but his wife claims the tattoo has been ”misunderstood” and is actually a Buddhist peace symbol. 🧐🙄

Looking after the Alte Kämpfer.

Damn right

Reminiscent of what Second TAF did to the Wehrmacht in Northern Europe in 44/55.

Big shout-out to YouGov's ability to recruit people living in the 16th century to its panel. Tell-tale is the 1% choosing Bristol.

It's too easy to say that debacle is down to seasoned Jew-haters joining the Greens having been kicked out of Labour. The roots are much more complex. First, Polanski's "populist" style plays directly to those who want easy answers. Antisemitism is after all the socialism of fools. Second...

This Israeli government is a natural experiment in the impact of an actually-quite-vulnerable-nation alienating as many potential supporters as possible.

The reason why the Southampton/Boro story has had such an impact is that we are utterly unused to cheats getting their comeuppance. When we are told that the Grenfell criminals will not be in court for three years, the idea of swift and firm justice seems very, very remote.

Roy Cohn owned suits that fitted him. This seems beyond Blanche. Every single suit he owns looks like he chose a random size at Mister Byrite.

This stuff makes me worry that the problems in this government go *way* beyond Starmer. In a well-functioning system, with civil service, SPADs, etc., doing a good job, these ideas shouldn't even appear on the long list of things to be presented to top leadership as options. The rot is much deeper.

Basically, government has stopped. This has all the hallmarks of no one seeing the bigger picture and gripping stuff. Instead they're all plotting, leaving officials to suggest stupid stuff that somehow gets cleared.

www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u... Wtafwtafwtafwtaf

"Shall we tell motorists that they might have to drive slightly slower to conserve fuel, fellow Minister?" "Nah, let's betray democracy instead." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Rupert Lowe, Rishi Sunak, Weirdo Matt Le Tissier, Craig David, your boys took one hell of a beating.

Unspoken here is the looming impact of pensioner apartheid. Which will be the split among retirees between former public sector workers with index-linked DB pensions. And the rest.

Wake me up when the wonks they are hiring are not the sort of people you uneasily back away from when meeting them at an IEA drinks do.

It's not Christianity. It's something wholly new.

Don't think there has ever as unsympathetic a fan campaign as "We Want Our Chelsea" back. It's actually Abramovitch they want back. Putin, in other words. Before Russia, Chelsea were usually a midtable team with occasional triumphs and relegations. Give them Ken Bates if they Old Chelsea back.

Dunno why Will Self is on the telly. He knows eff all. Seems to think Makerfield is deeply poor. It's not. It's about average on IMD.

Over on the other site, there is an avalanche of videos of scared Russians as Moscow is repeatedly hit. And, frankly, it's wonderful.

Even drones propelled by jet engines have been used against Moscow, Russia. It looks to me like a Palianytsia long-range drone.

Stay classy, Chelsea. Briefing this on the day you got lost on the way to the FA Cup Final.

Staying out of Central London today to avoid the pogrom enthusiasts of all creeds and colours.

Staying out of Central London today to avoid the pogrom enthusiasts of all creeds and colours.

On gilts etc., it is impossible to overstate how little the financial gnomes understand politics. They pay huge sums to consultants for advice they then ignore because they all think they understand the SW1 game. When actually they understand it about as well as politicos understand finance.

Trump: Last thing we need right now is a war.

Obviously, someone should tell the Iranians.

Civil servants putting out a press notice which is undiluted spin from X. But also from themselves. "These targets, if met, will give UK users some of the strongest protections on X globally."

This.

The thing about Polanski is that he's not actually a politician. He is only playing one. Sometimes the script he has written for himself contains duff lines.

America was always mad. But the place is now utterly deranged.

Iran sends the message that any business from Uncle Sam and Japanese, Pakistani and Chinese ships are back on the block list. Trump is playing checkers, the Iranians chess.

Gareth Southgate.

Never change, Labour.

Said it before and I'll say it again. Holborn and St Pancras is possibly the only seat where Burnham has >90% chance of winning.

Nobel Prize. But for fighting climate change and Trump gets it for services to decarbonisation.

I reckon upgrading the utterly shit WiFi on West Coast Main Line would add 1.2% to UK GDP.

Hippies. They're hippies. All hippies are like this. It's because they are fundamentally bourgeois.

Having the Streeting meeting right before the State Opening so he's less likely to brief on it is a very Partridge move. A bit like locking himself in the meeting room right before he tells the Pear Tree Productions staff that he didn't get a second series and they're all redundant.

Finally. Someone is calling out what this actually comes down to. Prejudice against hippies.

This guy's views are clearly batshit. So I'd fully expect the shallower end of bien pensant opinion to line up behind him.

This is the correct view.

Burnham hopes ebb away as it emerges Neal Lawson is working closely with him.

"Watch: Lobby hacks whatsapping spads" didn't do as well in the A/B testing.

Overlooked again. I'm gutted.

Alabama was the last state in the Union to legalise interracial marriage. Just 26 years ago.

Tell you what's weird on the face of it. The complete absence of Nandy in leadership discussions. Because nobody can make the case she has done anything whatsoever worthwhile at DCMS.

Bluesky is oblivious to this. But X and messaging channels are full of accusations about Starmer's private life. Nonsense, of course. And being pushed by accounts that have a very Russian feel. If you are wondering why/how he is so disastrously unpopular, stuff like this is probably part of it.