We now live in a two tier political ecosystem: Can you imagine the outcry if Keir Starmer had been “gifted” £5 million by a businessman whose particular interests then happened to shape his policies? Elections watchdog considers looking into £5m gift to Farage www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Symptomatic of the dire state of UK politics is that the two parties currently leading in the polls are having to spend their time defending Islamophobic and anti-Semitic comments made by their candidates for the upcoming local elections.

That the two parties currently leading the polls are constantly having to respond to dehumanising rhetoric made by their candidates... it's a bad scene, it really is.

Dawn of The Crankocracy

The institutions that are supposed to protect our democracy need to wake up to the reality of 2026. Quite obviously, there is nothing to "consider" here. Quite obviously, this needs investigation. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It is a fact that if this had been a senior Labour politician, let alone the party leader, the story would now be dominating the airwaves to the exclusion of all else. How do I know this? Taylor Swift tickets, glasses and suits.

I can't alt text this because I don't have this in a typed out format, but I don't think I have ever seen a political leader rebuked like this.

The easiest way to shut down criticisms - again regardless of motivation - is to not allow antisemitism in your party and to clearly take action against it. Right wing papers might still try to push it but they won't get traction if there's nothing real there.

While Boris Johnson was mayor of London there were 72,000 knife attacks, 16,000 gun crime offences, and at least 62,000 racially motivated violent crimes. But apparently, those didn't count.

Feel like Farage failing to declare a £5 million donation from 'Bitcoin billionaire Christopher Harborne' before standing in the 2024 general election should be a bigger story

On This Day: 1935: Birth of British Rugby League Hall of Famer Tom van Vollenhoven in Bethlehem, Free State, South Africa 1895blog.com/halls-of-fam...

If you listen to any part of the debate in Parliament today, I suggest you listen to the speech made by Phil Brickell, MP for Bolton West. Here is part 1, where he sets out what his speech will cover and why. 1/n

Post-truth nonsense from Kemi Badenoch at PMQs. Some facts: - employment is up over 800k since the election - employment rate is near the highest on record (look at this chart) - inactivity rates are lower than all but one year under the Tories

This is happening this afternoon, please come along if you're free.

Journalists in the MSM, especially those at the BBC and The Guardian, might like to do some real fact based, evidence led reporting like this rather than the “ tittle-tattle” diet they have been serving up.

“I’m not a pedophile.” — The President of the United States. Incredible.

There are those who feel obliged to make excuses for Donald Trump. But for the rest of us, writes Alan Rusbridger , it is time to speak bluntly about what we see: the guy is nuts

Americans don’t seem to have a problem when shooting kids but they can’t hit a cow up the arse with a banjo when required!

1. BBC published reply. Means they got much grief. Well done! 2. Reply is poor. Only time I've seen party logo is in *separate window* w BBC icon/font THEN party brand before *QUOTE*. This look like BBC's rebranded. 3. "It's ok coz we also gave RefUK even MORE time right after." WUT? 4. Escalate?

A grim week for Starmer – but things could be about to get worse www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Barely a word here about the economy, immigration, NHS waiting lists, education, transport, foreign policy, welfare and poverty. Just gossip. Dire stuff from a dire journalist!

The number in the post is complete fiction - the estimate is about one fifth of that. The actual clip from @zackpolanski.bsky.social also includes equalising CGT and income tax. (Very) optimistically, this might raise the same again. So he's out by a factor of (at least) two, probably more.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will not be "diverted or deflected" from acting in what he says is the "best national interest" following critical remarks made about him by US President Donald Trump to the BBC. The PM once again said he stood by his decision not to drag the UK into the Iran war

Trump is about to hit REM on camera during an Oval Office event. It's just incredible.

Annual UK borrowing falls by £20bn but Iran war clouds outlook Who will be the first to call for Starmer’s head? A) The Guardian B) Kemi Badenoch C) Zac Polanski D) Chris Mason E) All of the above

Another day of the Guardian Starmer witch hunt today. Time to unsubscribe.

Old film poster spotted in a small and cosy Japanese curry restaurant (Jakson) in Takayama, Gifu prefecture. One for @mickpuck.bsky.social

Now Keir Starmer has answered his question. Let’s turn to Nigel Farage 1. Who paid for your house? 2. Why did you say the same as Nathan Gill who is in prison for taking bribes? 3. Have you paid for that Street’s energy Bills? 4. Has Dickie Tice paid his tax bill yet?

The Mandelson trivia was a massive exercise, in UK media mud-slinging. It was a topic that they latched onto and tried to blow up into a major scandal, (It wasn't) and blame the Prime Minister, with the ulterior motive of forcing him out of office. The media behaviour was a national embarrassment.

www.theguardian.com I’m sick of this overblown outrage over mandelson it’s getting very boring now. Boris Johnson failed vetting and Farage would definitely fail. There’s more important issues for Britain than this cheap political point scoring by the tories and reform Glass houses

Starmer has been under fire so now back to Nigel Farage: 1. Who paid for his Clacton house? 2. Has Tice paid his tax bill? 3. Why does his company Thorn In Side Ltd own properties that are not declared? 5. What does he gain from supporting the likes of Nathan Gill? #NigelFarage

The whole thing is a nothing burger. Did Starmer personally gain from Mandelson’s appointment? No. Did he break the law? No. Breech the Ministerial code? No. Sack Mandelson soon as? Yes. Apologise? Yes. This whole thing is a political journalistic w⚓️ fest. Who cares? Let him run the country.

Key government business in Parliament today: Ministerial statement: Middle East economic update by the Chancellor - due around 12:30pm. English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: Consideration of Lords Amendments. 170 amendments from the Lords will hopefully be whittled down to just a few.

'Richard Tice’s girlfriend is very annoyed that the free press she champions, despite having emigrated to a dictatorship without one, is investigating her boyfriend for stuff she says people who aren’t her boyfriend, like Angela Rayner, should resign over.' You couldn’t make it up. 🤦🏻‍♂️

🚨With Labour, the number of patients waiting for treatment is down...again. 📨 Invite friends and family to join the Daily Herald community.

I'm used to Labour getting a raw deal from the media. I expect it. But what's happening to Starmer is different level. It's more intense, more sustained and more deliberate. Any excuse large or small. Wave after wave. If they can't pin him with something they want him to quit out of exhaustion.

I just don’t get why Olly Robbins - a very experienced and very senior civil servant did not just send a written memo to either David Lammy or Keir Starmer saying quite plainly that “Mandelson has failed his security vetting.” Seems very straightforward really.

The media witch hunt of Starmer continues apace. They got used to filling up pages and TV schedules with repeated Tory PM scandals, sagas and resignations and are now looking for that to continue.

Apart from helping the MSM fill up their schedules I don’t really see why we have such a big fuss over the Mandelson appointment. The constant need for the press and TV to have a turnover of supposedly “scandalous” Prime Ministers is tiresome. Serves only their best interests.

And nor should he! Correct decision!

What’s your favorite Bible verse? (Wrong answers only)

Why is anyone having to resign over the appointment of a relatively low level government administrator. A foolish appointment? Yes - as some (by no means all) of us pointed out at the time, but it hardly matters in the grand scheme of things. It won’t impact the price of petrol!

And expensive given the poor quality of analysis. Savings should start with him.

Governments deserve scrutiny but every word that Chris Mason writes is anti Labour. It is tiresome.

Why is it, when it was Starmer who made the decision to appoint Mandelson, that everyone else is having to resign?

July 21 1935: The Führer orders a new reception hall and ballroom to "entertain foreign diplomats" at the Chancellery. Underneath the dance floor is an air raid shelter. A 2nd deeper bunker is built next to this in 1944, where he would spend his last days as the Reich collapsed.

I'll tell you who does 'rely on benefits'. It's the supermarket chains that pay their bosses millions of pounds a year while driving shopworker wages down to levels that force staff to claim Universal Credit.

I'm biased, but I think this is the apex example of how our discourse has become detached from reality. The reality has moved rapidly in one direction (dramatic fall in solar and battery costs; climate change seeming worse than expected). The discourse has moved in the exact opposite direction

Oh, he’s good. And quick.