2057 and the only two jobs left are dancing on TikTok and writing op-eds denouncing woke while claiming the solution to all the left's problems is to cease being left wing in any recognizable way.

This is what you get with (a) the collapse of social media moderation, (b) the radicalisation of conservative media and (c) politicians acting as if it's much worse to be called racist than to be racist. All the elite cues are dismantling the taboo and telling people it's OK

The Russian oil decision is a travesty that cannot be allowed to survive the day.

Anyone know a (preferably UK-located) expert on AI & financial crime?

Lots of (often very good) pieces about this weekend lamenting Britain being ungovernable/too fast turnover of PMs. I think “why do we keep getting ineffective/bad PMs?” is a better question than “why do we get rid of them?”

Two things should be true in a democracy: 1. Being rich should not help you get elected. 2. Getting elected should not help you get rich. How’s your country doing on these criteria?

Maybe the government should do something about corrupt foreign influence in British politics?

we only know about the £5m Harborne donation thanks to journalists at the Guardian, but sure trash the MSM for clicks

The state of the UK has been a lot of frantic motion with no forward movement since June 2016

Starmer summed up. A "good man" but only on the sense of well meaning not in actively striving to do good. A man who listens to men like Kyle and McSweeney and their dreams of monorails and techbro money ahead of the voices of women and girls. A timid man.

The most damning resignation letter yet, I think:

Social care reform, immediately. Bon the commission, give task force 3 months to propose final recommendations building from Dilnot proposals, implement immediately with penny on basic and higher rates of income tax to pay for it. Immediately transforms local govt fortunes too…

And they are right not to. Effective and good governments need a prime minister who will adjudicate between departments, sell the government's message, and not appoint someone known to have slept over at the home of a convicted paedophile.

YANG GANG ASSEMBLE

The government's cowardice in failing to aggressively respond to X/Musk after the summer 2024 riots and the 2025 Grok CSAM scandal are illustrative of why it finds itself struggling even with ideologically sympathetic voters.

STOP FIXATING ON CATEGORIES OF PERSON Cut NHS waits. Support economic growth. Try to keep a lid on price rises. Get criminal cases to trial faster. Build houses. Push up school standards. Run a humane, competent asylum system. None of this requires declaring who you are (and aren't) the party of.

Whatever you think of these two Labour veterans, it's hard to think of a better illustration of quite how tin-eared Keir Starmer (or whoever suggested this to him) is. Why would anybody in their right mind think this was even part of the answer to his or Labour's problems? Absolutely extraordinary.

You can't fight fascism if you can't stop the money. You can't stop the money if you can't control offshore finance. So, the place to start is to impose proper controls on offshore finance. It's a stupid idea anyway.

‘One Labour figure said: “There was a collective failure of elite political thinking in the UK…’ No, no the failure was entirely *yours*

as a very grumpy op ed editor I would say the skill set has gone in this gen of pols and in their spads - writing is thinking and argumentation, they can't do it, they don't understand what a column is, they can't understand the phrase 'make the case' or 'make the argument'. it's a HUGE TELL.

Anyone remotely interested in deliverism in the uk starts by injecting 5B into the criminal justice system and then making prisons nationally important infrastructure so the home office can over ride councils and get some built in a hurry.

It is beyond absurd that the same man who is the main author of a project (Brexit) which a clear majority of Britons consider a failure, stands a realistic change of becoming Prime Minister. This makes no sense.

"there is nothing Starmer can do to stop the crypto cash" I'd say there's always the option of criminalising the holding of what is literally the crime currency, and which exists for little other practical reason than that

Short-form video is at best a major social ill and at worst straightforwardly demonic

It’s a hard thing to say but it’s now obvious: Britain has an antisemitism problem. How deep, widespread and violent it is is something I am not expert enough to know. But I’ve been around here long enough to know that Britain now has an antisemitism problem that didn’t exist when I was younger.

One of the most remarkable achievements in modern political history has been the emergence of "anti-establishment, anti-elite, people's army" parties - committed to "bringing back the nation-state" - that are led, directed & financed by the richest, most privileged & most mobile people on the planet

Christian Turner’s comments were made at a private meeting with schoolchildren two months ago. Someone disgracefully abused his trust by recording them and keeping them to leak at the most embarrassing moment. It’s not a big deal. He said he was speaking as a citizen not as Ambassador./

The basic issue is obvious: Starmer decided to appoint for reasons unknown a man as ambassador to the US who was utterly unfit for the job Everyone knew that at the time There was no mystery that Mandelson was unappointable. Mandelson self-destructed. Starmer is responsible The rest is noise

Incidentally from what I've heard of Robbins at the FCDO there will be a lot of folk very happy about his departure. Shrinkage and reorganisation were a considerable upheaval. The most over-rated and over-promoted official of his generation.

Politicians make a category error when it comes to car crime. They are far too light on it for fear of the "war on the motorist" when motorists hateeeeeeeeeeeeeee dodgy drivers

by no means the main take to be had here (indeed takes 1 to 25 should be along the lines of "fucking hell Keir"), but worth noting just how quickly moral rot can spread - all of this obviously happened because Trump won and the government needed someone morally rotten to step in to help them

We're now into the Chris Pincher era of the government where: A) You are sending out allies to do a media round, knowing it will be grisly. B) You know there is more to come, and aren't telling them, leaving them to feel ever more betrayed. C) No actual governing gets done.

The nub of so many of this government’s problems is that there is a Keir Starmer where the prime minister should be.

In addition to having one of the all time great soundtracks, Grosse Pointe Blank is one of the driest dark comedies you'll ever watch. Truly one of the great movies of the 90s.https://bsky.app/profile/jasondashbailey.com/post/3mjaaqqoghq2t

The Telegraph just gave a convicted criminal a two-page spread to explain why he's pumping £4 million into Reform UK. They tucked his criminal record away in the small print. So as a former financial crime specialist I’ll do their job for them👇

Cliftonville (Kent County Council) result: 🌹 Joanne Bright (Lab) - 557 ⚪ Lucy Gray (Ind) - 68 🌳 Charlie Leys (Con) - 811 ➡️ Marc Rattigan (Ref) - 1767 🔶 Mo Shafaei (LDem) - 63 🟢 Rob Yates (Green) - 2068 Turnout - 37.7% Green GAIN from Reform.

Some reflections on our first year. The Kent Current is still a small operation, but year one has confirmed that there is an appetite for journalism in Kent that goes deeper, joins the dots, and treats what happens here as worth understanding properly.

The real headline: crypto crook (who pleaded guilty to breaking US money laundering rules) plans to try and buy UK politics www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

I talk to my children about the news every day, even when it’s hard. I am not telling them what the US president just said.

When you throw in the sudden urge to try new grifts like crypto, lurching to extreme religiosity, weird ideological spasms, abrupt abandonment of lifelong tribal affiliations, the whole thing resembles nothing more than a coordinated male midlife crisis, for which we must all suffer

Farage. Three wallets of cryptocurrency in a trench coat.

Feeling very March 2020 today. Beautiful day outside. Sounds of kids playing happily. Looking at terrifying projections on my computer...

💰 🗓️ Campaign spending limits for political parties should apply all year to avoid parties gaming the system and risks of foreign interference. Our director, @suehawley.bsky.social gave evidence to MPs on why transparency and fairness matter in an age of permanent political campaigning. 🧵 ⬇️

Good to see this but the scandal to my mind is that the government let this uncertainty and anxiety about World Service funding drag on right up to the wire. Stupid austerity posturing over what's effectively a pittance. Be serious! www.theguardian.com/media/2026/m...

It's not even him any more. It's the legion of minions. Those snivelling, squirming, faceless, loose-shoed head nodders in back of shot. Every ounce of self-respect squeezed out of them by the school bully till they can't even take a dump unless he gives his blessing.

🎥 Here's @kamilakingstone.bsky.social to explain why the Representation of the People Bill should be amended to make 3️⃣ major changes to spending limits on general election campaigning.

This was a car crash waiting to happen. Start a war without consulting allies. Demand they join. If they hesitate, remind them that they are under another immense threat in Europe and need your help in an emergency. Which you won’t necessarily provide unless they do what you want.