The corollary to this is that if Farage's Reform party is able to form the next government, you'll get a cabinet with a keen resemblance to the dog-end of the last Tory administration.

Yes. Why on earth would you welcome Anderson, Dorries, Zahawi, Jenrick, Braverman, and others into any political party? They all have a solid record of failure. They are all self-serving self-publicists.

To prevent Burnham from reaching Westminster. Starmer will come to regret this decision.

The week ahead in #Darwen #Lancashire: Average temperatures. No frost. Windy Tuesday. Dull with frequent rain. MON 4°C ↑Cloud→Light rain TUE 6°C Wind & rain occ heavy WED 7°C Fine start→Cloud↑ THUR 6°C Light rain pm FRI 6°C Intermittent light rain SAT 6°C Some light rain Week after: A bit colder

Burnham should be allowed to run, and if he gets enough support, challenge Starmer for the leadership. It's called democracy.

You may wish to complete and/or share this survey about the future of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. But beware. Lancs has a Reform council. They may have an agenda to lay off firefighters and sell the service to their corporate mates. www.stayintheknow.co.uk/Alerts/A/385...

It used to be "Education, education, education", but not anymore #KeirStarmer #BridgetPhillipson.

Unsurprising. "Never-Ending" workload, unsupportive parents (& sometimes leadership), real-terms pay cuts, Ofsted/accountability pressure, lack of resources, rapid staff turnover, poor work-life balance, challenging pupil behaviour, and being increasingly expected to deal with all society's ills.

In 2015 14 Senior Fifa officials were arrested on fraud, racketeering, and money laundering charges. I don't think they got them all.

Do we need any more evidence that this 'man' is certifiable? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This ignorant and treacherous buffoon has gone too far. He must apologise. Across the Atlantic, the GOP must insist that he apologises. Senators and Representatives should be tripping over each other in their rush to condemn. This is an appalling slur. www.euronews.com/2026/01/23/o...

Sadly, Karp's wealth amounts to $15bn. He currently supports Trump to the tune of $1 million, but in 2018, he backed Hillary Clinton. Later, he was a major Joe Biden donar. Nowadays, Big Tech is mainly interested in boosting profits and lowering their tax burden - which supports the little people.

Great news for Palantir and Karp. Terrible news for people. What an awful excuse for a human being this man is.

Looks like a reasonably sane European has managed to find an adult in the American kindergarten. www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

This May’s elections (if they happen) are expected to bring chaos because of our broken voting system. You may wish to write to your MP to push for fairer elections before it’s too late. It takes 2 minutes using this link: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell... @compassoffice.bsky.social

#BBCNews has put a different spin on this. They seem to emphasise that it was "inadvertent." This was 17 "inadvertent" breaches of MPs' rules totalling over 4 times an MP's annual salary. Shameful.

You may wish to sign this petition regarding long waits for cancer treatment. c.org/L6xq48KLdK

Brave words, Keir Starmer. Keep it up.

This may be necessary, but at considerable economic risk to Europe, including the UK.

Russia's allies in the EU are working hard to support the Motherland. Russia is relishing the rupture of the Western Alliance, especially NATO. Trump is certainly a fool, maybe a fellow traveller, and definitely a danger.

Given recent events, I feel that this has become increasingly important. You may wish to sign the petition.

Essential reading...

And, as you've said elsewhere, they are the cause of the problems we now face…

And our position on Greenland must remain unchanged and steadfast.

The week ahead in #Darwen #Lancashire: Mainly mild but colder by next weekend. Quite breezy. Intermittent light rain. MON 9°C Some light rain TUE 9°C Sunny spells WED 8°C Cloudy→Light rain later THUR 6°C Light rain later FRI 6°C Dull SAT 4°C Light rain Week after: Colder

If you believe that our water companies should be transferred to public ownership, you may wish to sign this petition. weownit.org.uk/act-now/sout...

In his "Britain is in decline," diatribe, Honest Bob rattled off all of the failings of modern Britain. He failed to remind us that his former party, having been in power for 60% of the time since WW1, is responsible.

Furthermore, allegedly, in 2019 – just before the General Election – Honest Bob & Jake Berry personally chose 61/101 towns to receive £25m from the Towns Fund regeneration scheme. 60 of the 61 were Tory held or target seats. Jenrick also chose his own seat – Newark.

The majority of this time was given over to "Honest" Bob Jenrick. As Ministry of Housing in 2020, Jenrick allowed planning for a £2 billion London housing scheme led by billionaire Tory donor Richard Desmond. It was against the advice of planning officers, and ultimately declared illegal.

The Drive show on @bbc5live.bsky.social devoted around 30 minutes of airtime to Reform earlier. I hope this sycophantic indulgence will be afforded to all of the other political parties with six or more MPs.

This includes Blackburn with #Darwen. Local Government Reorganisation should have been scheduled to coincide with the elections. BBC News - Twenty one English councils ask for election delays www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Public ownership for Thames, then South East Water, then the rest.

Save Freeview TV! Internet-Only TV Must Be Stopped! You may wish to sign this petition. www.change.org/p/save-freev...

Even the Tories don't want Zahawi. It's parasitism - but I'm unsure which one's the parasite.

60% of the UK vet market is owned by just six companies. In 2015, it was 10%. Over a similar timescale, prices are up 63%! It's akin to the ride we are subjected to for food, energy, fuel, water, broadband, rail etc. #KeirStarmer #RachelReeves

Workers at Airedale Hospital do NHS work. But the Airedale Board is refusing to give them full NHS pensions, pay and conditions. You may wish to sign this petition to support these frontline workers. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/de...

Although it's raining, the promised milder weather is upon in #Darwen #Lancashire. The temperature has risen from -1.0°C to 7.0°C right now (7pm on Sun 11 Jan). Expect a maximum of at least 9°C tomorrow afternoon with less wind - but frequent breezy showers.

The week ahead in #Darwen #Lancashire: Quite mild. Breezy at first. Often wet with some sunny spells from midweek. MON 9°C Breezy showers TUE 8°C Light rain WED 4°C Sunny spells→Light rain by evening THUR 6°C Light rain→Sunny spells FRI 6°C Light rain SAT 5°C Dull Week after: Still relatively mild

Thanks @mluckovich.bsky.social.

I'm not sure what can be done about the tragic situation in #Iran, but we must raise and maintain awareness. c.org/7MLKymggxZ

Terrifying thoughts. It must not happen #UKLabour.

Trump has succeeded in intimidating the BBC... and when it suits him, climate change is a "con job," and it's "drill, baby, drill." Here, he's threatening to invade Greenland because its ice-choked sea lanes are melting due to the aforementioned "con job."

Farage's "cosy relationship with the UAE makes a mockery of his belief in individual rights and freedoms" - if you ever believed he had one.

It didn't feel like it, but Tuesday (6 Jan) was a milder day in #Darwen #Lancashire. Last night's min was -3.7°C, & today's max is 1.8°C at the moment, rising to 3°C by evening. Expect the slightly milder conditions to last until #StormGoretti drags a northerly back in on Fri/Sat. Snow is possible.

If you didn't already realise, "Trump’s [coup in Venezuela] is part of an international, oil-guzzling agenda that includes the systematic subversion of Europe’s progressive, clean energy policies – a campaign that Farage has been all too happy to assist." More reason to worry.

Monday has been a sub-zero day in #Darwen #Lancashire. Today's (Mon 5 Jan) maximum temperature was only -1.3°C. Last night's minimum was -4.5°C, which is the lowest temperature in Darwen since -6.4°C on Thursday 18th January 2024, which was the lowest minimum of that winter.

This morning's #Darwen #Lancashire minimum temperature wasn't quite as low as forecast but it was the coldest of the winter so far, with -2.2°C. There is currently about 20mm (0.8 in) of lying snow. Expect a few more snow showers in the early evening before a clear & very cold night.

The week ahead in #Darwen #Lancashire: Very cold then cold. Some snow or sleet. Often sunny at first then more cloudy. MON 0°C Icy start→Sunny TUE 4°C Wintry start→pm Rain showers WED 3°C Sunny spells/Odd wintry shower THUR 5°C Cloudy FRI 4°C Sleet or rain SAT 4°C Cloudy Week after: Less cold

Impressed by Anna Haugh's convictions about mashed potato on this morning's #SaturdayKitchen... and the sea bass with salsa on top looked delicious.

Lunacy.