Interesting post on reintermediation and how creators might escape from under the reign of the tech monopolies. The issue is that the cartel has already formed, and it's very difficult to imagine anything that might be able to compete with it.

It’s just the modern, 21st century right. It’s not their fault, they’ve been encouraged to behave this way. But it shouldn’t have been allowed, we shouldn’t have been so quick to abolish shame. We’ll need to deport them all in order to become morally coherent.

Wasn’t the whole idea of the distributed internet that there wouldn’t be centralised control and a single point of failure? But when you leave all critical infrastructure to markets, and monopolies/cartels inevitably form…

Key point in here is the futile, naive reporting on weapons & Trump’s attitude to Ukraine. If the US was going to send Tomahawks the media would know about it when one detonates in Russia, all the other chatter is just space-filling delusion.

About time. Now don’t fuck it up.

This so overdue. Relieved that it’s now featuring more heavily in messaging - has to be pinned mercilessly on Farage.

This continues to advance the argument for some form of PR. Despite what media Reform-fever would have you believe, there are more people on the left of politics than the right, and a coalition on the left may produce better outcomes than a Labour Party which feels it can’t simply ignore the right.

Fascinating summary of the drivers behind UK house price madness, together with suggested remedies which do seem achievable. But it’s another illustration of why things will remain stuck until there’s a radical change to the financial system.

Again, art did predict this decades ago: this is their ideal model of governance.

One of the best pubs in London - still has a pewter-top bar & was the favoured drinking den of London’s famous c17 “hanging judge”

Tories have a problem reaching tha kidz, so they hired these guys to make Conservatism cool again.

Hmmm. Within the pantheon of over-regarded directors, where well over “60% of the films stink”, I’d probably place Ridley Scott as the apex example. 3 good films, 3 middling films, all the rest (of the many, many films) are bad.

Excellent primer with @zoejardiniere.bsky.social on the present state of the immigration system & the policy issues involved. Good on the recent history, inc. Dublin regs. Policy thoughts on how the govt might stop fucking this up so repetitively. Recommended as part of your anti-Farage arsenal.

Really interesting detail on Ukraine’s campaign targeting Russian oil refineries. I wonder if this type of campaign can be co-ordinated with the sanctions and other activity on the part of the European states, in order to further disrupt global movement of Russian oil & accelerate the pain.

"The renewed enthusiasm for the death penalty...is bigger than the inadequacies of the system...it is a symptom of Trumpism, and the creeping degradation of civil, legal and human rights".

Excellent from Krugman on the stupidity and inadequacy of Hegseth:

“We’ve had enough of them calling us Fascists, we’re going to respond with Fascism!”

What is missing is Brexit. I understand the initial impulse not to fight yesterday’s battles or re-open a divisive, nationalistic culture war, but that war arrived anyway. They must end the Brexit Omerta, *repeatedly* itemise the costs to Britain, and pin those costs on Farage.

Ooof this is a damning verdict. And an indictment of her lack of self awareness, if she really is as much of an incompetent dick as this summary of her book suggests.

Strongly suspect that Hanson may have been the birth of Christian Nationalism #TOTP

Lighthouse Family. Emperors of the dirge. 98 gets even worse #TOTP

I did not remember ‘98 being this bad for chart music. And always hated Vindaloo, Keith Allen & a bunch of dickhead Notting Hill luvvies with an offensive impression of what they imagine football fans to be and to like #TOTP

The endless battle to stop my two from speaking American. They now do it purely to wind me up. Rage-chased my 5-year-old around the table the other day while he shouted “Zucchini!”

This is the most rambling, deranged madness. Does the Republican Party have no shame? Aren't they embarrassed to have elevated this delusional, narcissistic dotard to the office of the Presidency? www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

This needs to aim squarely at Reform if it is to have any meaning whatsoever. The right can no longer be indulged as a comfort blanket of transgressive fantasies. It needs to start with *blame* for Brexit, including an explanation of the damage it has caused. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Fucking hell that was stressful #arsenal

My Gary Neville tolerance meter has smashed through the red. Dark sludge of indignation now oozing out the ears. #arsenal

Romney Marsh, last day of summer.

Couldn’t agree more with this. In Kent we have one of the highest NEET populations in the country. The Grammar system doesn’t help. There are thousands of young people crying out for skills training, together with a skills shortage. Strategy urgently required.

To quote Paul Mason’s recent article: “I don’t know what this is, but it’s not politics”. Or maybe, to paraphrase Spinal Tap: “too much. Too much fucking politics now”. Perhaps ppl may understand that Jeremy Corbyn and some sort of tankie coalition is not the answer. Neither are the Greens ftm.

"The landing zone for making a professional living in the creative arts remains narrow and obscure, no matter the medium"

Wrote about free speech, MAGA & fantasy a few weeks back - the new Martyrdom dimension is a essential step in dictatorship myth-building “the Maga-Right’s distorted concept of “free speech”, in a context where they are otherwise highly censorious…exists to protect their fantasies.”

Wow. Who would have predicted this??

“The UK will be at the leading edge of defence innovation as the government signs a new partnership with Palantir” www.gov.uk/government/n...

As much as I didn’t like the purity tests & heresy boycotts, there is a vast difference between individuals & advocacy groups engaging in boycotts, and what this is: political repression by the state. It’s been developing for months - law firms, universities, foreign journalists, media networks.

Amid all the (entirely correct) citations of President’s Men, Butch Cassidy, Candidate etc I thought I’d draw attention to All Is Lost - a fabulous film and outstanding late-career performance.

I think this will be a mistake. Heat is one of my all time favourite films, but Mann hasn’t made a decent film since The Insider, and the Heat 2 book was *not* a good read. Would hate to see the legacy despoiled.

“I don't think free speech should be a license for people to promote hatred or to exhort other people to carry out criminal acts” - Jacqui Smith in 2009. We need to get back to simply banning these characters, make v clear what’s acceptable - Elon Musk should be the headline act in a new line-up.

Hands down the best commentary on the assassination that I have read.

This is a worrying dispatch from a town relatively near to me, and I’m seeing similar where I am. The election of a Reform council is emboldening it. There is no serious attempt to confront MAGAism & the resurgence of the far-right in the UK. It’s starting to get frightening now, really frightening.

Powerful argument for a govt shutdown in the US. I think it would be a mistake - dictatorships require an initial crisis to consolidate and then rolling crises to maintain. Creating a national crisis which can be presented as a political binary (“this is the Dems”) would be walking into a trap.

South Foreland Lighthouse

What’s incredible about the Rayner affair, is the litany of far, far worse transgressions during the Johnson period, which they simply brazened out (Cummings eye test etc) for years.

They've successfully, disgracefully, hounded out a working mum who made an error in re-organising her affairs around her divorce and the needs of her disabled child. Now let's see how much attention they give to the tax arrangements and finances of Farage, Tice & the rest of the millionaire club.

"The fastidious insistence on being “data led”, a concept absolutely intrinsic to the tech sector, naturally leads to an effort to re-create what has worked in the past, rather than create what might work in the future".

This man sought to justify collective punishment, and explicitly claimed that violence against Palestinian civilians is legitimate. He is subject to investigation by the ICJ. He should not be hosted by the UK, especially in such proximity to the planned, formal recognition of Palestine.

Levy is leaving Spuds!

Finally someone demonstrates how to nail Farage. The (respectable) UK media, and the Labour Party, need to replay this on a loop until it’s burned into their collective retinas and the only voice they can hear in their heads is saying “I see what you’re doing here Mr. Farage”…

If taking lessons from the Blair years, can’t help but feel that the messenger is more important than the message right now - successors to Campbell/Whelan who will come down on the BBC et al’s incessant amplification of Faragism, and stop bringing fly swats to a gunfight.

Incredible purple-teal sea this morning