Obligatory

The cool kids are calling it The Fun Crunch™ www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/the-fun-cr...

Has anyone stopped to consider that Starmer has largely nailed the first fast-paced, highly-impactful, potentially polarising issue since McSweeney's departure? Can't be a coincidence, surely not...

Has there been any actual attempt to work out whether the "Average Brit" would pass this test?

In the world of dodgy bar charts, nothing beats one based entirely on ✨vibes✨ from the Green Party in Barnsley. One for @markpackuk.bsky.social's archive.

Not to be too nanny state, but it really should be considered whether it is appropriate for Lidl to be selling chainsaws.

Famously, stitch-ups include how to book someone's services, their prices alongside direct quotes from them about how what they does works. Also - £220 for 90 mins in 2013?!? Polanski was raking it in

Has Chris Mason got some serious dirt on someone high up in the BBC? How can anyone with even a little bit of journalistic ability look at him and think "He deserves to still be employed".

Very healthy democracy here, absolutely something we should be striving for.

Gearing up for the 2AM posting session

@robfordmancs.bsky.social, found this absolute zinger of a barchart coming out of Gorton and Denton. Multiple crimes on display here.

Another piece of evidence that doing nothing but politics in life boils your brain.

Bookies will always structure the odds to minimise their losses. If enough money from enough people back an option then the odds will shorten. It is completely removed from the actual facts on the ground; based on vibes, money and companies trying to minimise losses. Don't use betting odds!

Yes, let's hand assessments to an already clogged service, staffed by people who command huge levels of public trust with near zero fiscal or managerial incentive to reject a case. Outstanding policy, literally no notes.

"WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California that trans kids"

So much weight is put behind 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 or 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘅𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱-𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰 in policy, but where is 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵-𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 or 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘆𝗻𝗲-𝗧𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻. I only learnt yesterday that a lot of the worlds banknotes are made by a company in Basingstoke, but who is shouting about this?

I think that this is the perfect metaphor for the "5 Whys" problem solving attitude that is used in engineering and industry. The process works like an irritating 5 year old that is bored on a car journey, keep asking "Why?" to each problem until it can't be broken down further. For example:

There are some local party campaign managers, organisers and council elections officers that are swearing very loudly right now. Giving less than three months to go from "You are absolutely not having elections" to "Full election mode" is taking the piss, honestly.

My two niche baking complaints: 1) Give me the amount of egg in grams, not number of eggs. A large egg is 63g - 73g, which is a ±7.5% tolerance. Also, what happens if I can't find large eggs? 2) Don't give me baking times, give me target temperatures. Every oven is different!

Fuck About and Find Out Now

I can see the Greens have gone to the Lib Dem School of Bar Chart Scales

It's because they will always put delivering leaflets and attending community meetings above spending time with their significant other.

Interesting strategy to announce to the world that you were in regular communication with a nonce adjacent state secret leaker.

They've got form for this. Last year they falsely claimed in a leaflet that @gabrielschenk.bsky.social did not live in the ward, and said they would have corrected it in the next one except they weren't planning any more. Mysteriously another leaflet arrived 10 days later with no such correction.

The BBC should absolutely lean into "secondary" sports programming. Year round content with lower production requirements, exposes a range of people to sports that aren't mainstream and can raise national pride through sporting success.

Just a quick note to @greenparty.org.uk and @greenpartyhan.bsky.social - I was not consulted on being quoted on your leaflets and I have not endorsed your campaign (or any campaign in this seat). I think this note, like the bar chart next to it, is misleading and out of context.

My favourite type of Lib Dem voter to describe to commuter belt Lib Dems is the "Lib Dem Local, Reform General" type. Someone who's politics can be described purely as "What is the best way of sticking two fingers up to the establishment?"

Another one for @privateeyenews.bsky.social's "Olds" section

Just pass the "Mandelson is a Wrong'un Act" to get it done quickly. He complained that when he pulled a lever nothing happened, but when presented with a lever to get something done quickly he refuses to pull it.

Have we ever considered that he meant it as a compliment?

I know the BPC has got a level of flexibility needed for different pollsters to take different approaches, but this feels like an irredeemable sin from Find Out Now.

Find Out Now should really have its membership of the BPC revoked for having the gall to release this polling.

The decision to run Goodwin baffles me. He isn't local, not a household name and has said enough batshit things to motivate mobilisation against him. He's the sort of person you creep into the party at a GE, under the radar, not put prime position in a by-election. Did they not have a local BNOC?

Going to have to keep an eye on the ambitions of the guy who runs FindOutNow.

It's amazing how many drafts in Westminster are written with clearly horrible language. Lessons really should have been learnt after Diane Abbott sent a draft of a letter that was also deeply offensive.

Knowing about and understanding the NEC, the role it plays and how it will impact this by-election will be a pretty good indicator of a political journalist's quality over the next few days and weeks.

Might tell my employers that they are wasting their time and money doing things like buying insurance, updating risk registers and formulating business continuity plans. Thank you senior Labour Minister, Darren Jones MP, for stating that businesses "shouldn't prepare for the hypothetical"!

For the avoidance of doubt, my tongue was firmly in my cheek. Though the sentiment remains, not enough is spoken about military spending being a relatively good way of reducing regional inequality that is self-sustaining. Merseyside, Barrow and S. Yorks would benefit if there was proper strategy.

I'm sure Zack is behind a fully independent and native nuclear deterrent. Operational freedom, well paid and high skill jobs with clear links to reducing regional inequality. Good to see sensible grown up politics from him!

The appeal of Reform to so many is the distance they have from the traditional parties and the "clean break" nature if they do get into government. Will people pay enough attention to notice their swelling ranks comprised increasingly from those parties that the electorate is rejecting?

In the same way that gov.uk is lauded as the gold standard in public sector information websites, should Whitehall invest in LLM'ifying gov.uk to adapt to increased natural language search preferences? Localise information to UK specific contexts, improve access and reduce error.

Based and Ed-pilled

The concept of business rates actively stifles high street development. Improving a premises, either though changing it's use or upgrading facilities, increases it's rateable value and therefore it's business rates. Why convert a derelict shop into a cafe if the new tax rate makes it unviable?

There is always an XKCD

*Whiney Starmer voice* Sadly you must give Bluesky your card details before you can DM & show your knickers to the Knicker Inspectors before you pee because we're protecting women and chiiiiildreeennnn *5 minutes later*

It is completely understandable why the government, has taken the position it has given the vindictive nature of the US Administration. But where do we draw the red line? What do they need to do for our response to be a reflexive moral statement rather than a calculated position?

So we have a CSAM generating LLM which has described itself as"MechaHitler" and stated that Musk was more important than half the worlds population... And journalists just print it's statements? Which link has broken here?

Stood next to Daniel Radcliffe at a baggage carousel after being on the same flight with him from Russia. Picked up the phone to James May. I told him that my uncle was busy and asked him to call back later. Which is more mundane?