The racist shit Jim Ratcliffe spouted the other day is only made worse by an apology that frames it as "language that offended some people". The only people not offended by his inaccurate numbers and deliberate racist framing were other racists. 1/2

Crystal.

Renting property in the UK absolutely fucking sucks. Landlords are arrogant, entitled piss-babies.

He lied and lied to get into power. He expelled MPs who did the right thing He pretended migrants were the source of all our problems He watched a genocide taking place and protected the perpetrator. He criminalised decent citizens who spoke out. I could go on. Starmer is not a decent man.

Has anyone told @themerl about this absolute unit?

Well, I think I know who we are all going to be cheering for this week. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articl...

Sir Ian McKellen is further proof that it is possible to be both a good man and a great man at the same time, despite the evidence of the times. And Shakespeare? He was a bit special too, wasn't he? To write something for audience entertainment that's still educational 400 years later!

Do they understand how mad they sound? As if anyone has ever decided to cross the Channel in a small boat because, if they make it, they might get to take a free taxi to a doctor's appointment? "Pull factors" on steroids. www.bbc.com/news/article...

But Mandelson is only resigning to clear up the accusations about receiving money. Helping cover up rape is not a resigning matter, apparently.

It's this kind of hard work on marginal gains that modern football is all about. If Palace come in under the PSR limit by £1 they'll be very proud of this saving.

As brewery merchandise goes, this is certainly .... something. #jumptheshark #stopitnow #punk?

The fact that Reform welcomed her into membership ought to mean a huge drop in support for them. Of course it won't, because most of their voters have no interest in politics of principle or even consistency.

BBC report at a headline level that Grok will now not make sexually exploitative images any more. An actual reporter comes on and explains that it will do no such thing, and will just make the images invisible in the UK. These are two very, very different things.

I didn’t want to post the chants but I feel I have to, to underline how absolutely insane it is that there is total unanimity on this from far right to the Sensible centre, while it’s crystal clear to football fans and almost nobody at all is saying “This all looks quite fishy”.

I keep thinking about how bad this headline is. I can't find an end to the awfulness. "If women leave the burning building because of the smoke and the flames, the arsonists win - so I'm staying" The predators don't care whether women use X or not, they're having their fun. We must turn it off.

This should be the campaign slogan for the next Dem candidate for every elected position in the USA.

I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.

We are the shithole nation. From Caracas to Greenland to Minneapolis, we are the problem in the world, we are the source of the tragedy, we are the affront to all human dignity. This is the United States now. We are the evil.

Today once again proved that everyday citizens protesting their government are braver than the titans who own the largest media corporations, run the biggest law firms and lead the most powerful technology companies.

I'm a 56 year old cynical, depressed, rage-filled and despairing old man. Until it snows. Then I'm a child filled with wonder and joy at the world. Conclusion: it should snow more often.

“Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s tweets were wrong, but he is no ‘anti-white Islamist’. Why does the British right want you to believe he is?” Some sense from @naomiaklein.bsky.social ‬⁩

Surely the Independent didn't think that "Nigel Farage was racist as a young man" was a fact that would surprise anyone, or make anyone change their opinion of him?

Alaa has had his life all but destroyed by the Egyptian regime for the crime of being brave in opposition to dictatorship. His mother nearly died on hunger strike, his son born while he was unlawfully imprisoned. Fifteen years of his family's life has been emotional torture. 1/2

I exchanged several tweets with Alaa during the time of the early Egyptian uprising / Arab spring. I never felt "hated", he was a thoughtful, articulate, passionate advocate for humanity. The game being played by the UK right wing here is abhorrent.

A pretty good summary of the latest political football concerning Alaa Abd El-Fattah

I see no one in legacy media is calling for Israeli's who hold dual UK citizenship to be deported for calling for the deaths of Palestinians. Hypocrisy again over the case of Alaa Abdel Fattah

Oh my goodness. The political demonisation of Alaa Abd al-Fattah is so inappropriate & so unfair. For the man, read his statement here. freealaa.net/alaa-response

Best news for Christmas that Alaa is finally somewhere safe and with his family. And a hearty "fuck off" to Robert Jenrick and anyone else trying to dig up tweets from sixteen years ago to make him out to be some kind of monster, so they can grab cheap headlines.

Saddened to hear of the death of the legendary comic Stanley Baxter. From comedy films to large variety series to children's favourite Mr Majeika , Stanley was on our screens regularly for 30 years. Here Stanley plays 5 characters to show you how everyone loved the BBC Micro

Has Armando Iannucci taken over at the Staggers? There really cannot be any other explanation for this.

More of this please. Every time they pop up, smash them to pieces.

Steal from a supermarket, get locked up. Steal from a restaurant, feature in the local paper.

Pity the stadium announcer at an early kick off mid table championship game, trying to gee up an empty stadium to cheer for our substitutes. #lcfc

Oh yeah, America, this is perfectly normal behaviour for a democracy.

Blood on a lot of people's hands in today's COVID report, but they're too busy moving on from Starmer to Streeting to notice, or care. They'll hang Johnson but never admit their own culpability.

When you need to dispose of a man, there's really only one choice...

Oh. My. God. This is awful. Like truly, horrifically, awful. A sitting president boasting that he intervened with Congress to prevent any kind of justice being served for the murder of an American journalist. Surely this is the point that everyone in the media industry stops enabling Trump?

Yeah, this. It's the best and worst text adventure game you'll ever play. Thank me later. Or find me and strangle me, I guess.

Stella Creasey, there, with a party political broadcast on behalf of the green party.

I think you spelled "execrable" wrong. That's ok, it's a tough one.

I'm starting to think that the society in Logan's Run might have been on to something.

It's been commented on before how we now have a generation of MPs, especially on Labour benches, who have degrees in subjects like "public policy". What really hasn't been said enough is how, compared to previous generations, of former car mechanics, dockers and nurses, they're fucking shit at it.

I kinda thought that playing in Saudi would be the political low point of his career....

BBC News: "the government believe refugees are deliberately bringing their children to avoid deportation" As opposed to doing what with their children??

So much basic working class Portugal culture has been lost because of decades of defeat. Obviously there's a principle of solidarity in not crossing picket lines, but also it's self-protecting. If the management were decent, the original workers wouldn't need to be on strike in the first place.

And this was before the Labour government made very clear that it no longer wanted the support of its anti-racist left-leaning Labour movement base. I fully expect single figures next week.

I do hope those sensibles telling me that Labour's new policy was fair and sensible are enjoying Tommy Robinson's endorsement of it this morning. That's who you've joined. Tommy Robinson.

Step 1: force through obviously destructive policies that impoverish every aspect of life in the UK because "sovereignty" is more important than material reality. Step 2: cheerlead for a foreign despot claiming to be the most powerful man in the world as he attacks Britain's national broadcaster.

Racist shitweasels are tearing Britain apart. Especially the ones masquerading as a Labour government. The damage this is doing to people's lives is immense. The damage it will do to our culture in years to come is incalculably vast.