From Politico this morning. Because before the Lobby briefing was axed, these events were just made up of respectful policy questions on whatever the supposed topic was

Trying to work out the thought process of an MP deciding to take part in a Strictly Come Dancing event in Portcullis House today.

It's sad to see people who had never heard of Democracy Volunteers yesterday all over social media trashing them. They've been around for a decade & are partly funded by the (left-leaning) Joseph Rowntree Foundation. We protest when the right trashes these groups. The left shouldn't do it either.

Matt Goodwin, once a professor of politics, now a man surprised at how elections work.

I find this surprising given his public statements about what he knew

18 hours later

I dunno, but two uses of the word ‘pushy’ in two paragraphs from different people does suggest a lot of the Antonia Romeo criticism has a chunk of misogyny to it.

Coworker Laid Off Solely For Performance-Related Reasons Warns AI Coming For Everyone https://theonion.com/coworker-laid-off-solely-for-performance-related-reasons-warns-ai-coming-for-everyone/

Really exciting time to be living in the outbreak hotspot of Enfield with a baby too young to get the vaccine

It’s been a long time since I watched ice skating, but I have to say it’s massively improved now that they all keep falling on their arses for some reason

This piece in The Spectator by @shippersunbound.bsky.social has an absolutely mad detail that I was not previously aware of spectator.com/article/auth...

Actually do respect the way that Starmer’s team are basically replicating the Damian McBride plan for kneecapping David Miliband that he set out in his book

Next time somebody says young people need to be taught media literacy I’m going to show them all the old sods replying to this post with utter nonsense.

Every time someone floats Shabana Mahmood as a leadership contender it’s worth remembering that she is regularly saying things designed to give her no chance of winning it.

Indeed! People keep talking about 'oh, the soft left this', 'oh, his rivals in Downing Street that'. No, it's not the soft left on the backbenches or the Blairites in the Cabinet or No 10. It's the 'alliance of MPs who can count and would like to remain MPs'.

SW1: 'The Keminaissance! That More in Common poll that definitely wasn't an outlier!' Actual public: 'The party that has people joining it and a clear message is doing better than the one that doesn't'.

This is interesting. But also, my goodness, Shriti Vadera was a big fan of caps lock

Nothing is more Kemi Badenoch than beginning a speech by attacking others for 'psychodrama' then dedicating a chunk of it to slagging off some centrist members of your own party for politely suggesting some policy ideas.

This is good and, more generally, it's always welcome to have someone talking about AI and politics that has actually worked in both AI and politics.

I disagree with the vast majority of this thread, but this is true. So many non-fiction books on current topics contain huge amounts of padding

Also, no ‘best Traitor ever’ discussion should take place without the first Australian series being mentioned

I’m sure it’ll be fine if we just announce Trump as the winner of The Traitors

The thing about the Grid is that it’s not just meant to be just a comms tool. The idea really is that it also gives Downing St oversight of what departments are doing and more central grip. If you’re just letting gaps in the Grid dictate the No10 agenda then the whole thing is working backwards.

Badenoch has missed a trick not doing her sacking Jenrick video like his fare dodging one. Chasing him through Portcullis House saying 'you're bang to rights'.

If the government genuinely believes this stat then boy am I confused about what they think the next election is going to look like for them

this thread has the most incredible levels of american bluesky I've ever seen. no need to have an opinion on any of it. just sit back and enjoy.

Not saying there's unconscious racial bias in this country but... #TheTraitors

These are all boring dad choices?

not the kind of behavior I expect from the winner of the fifa peace prize

My gut instinct on this is that so much of the Reform surge is down to the power of Farage's personality that there are maybe three or four Tories where this is actually a risk. For the rest I just think it adds to their sense of momentum

As this great thread is doing the rounds again, for me it will always be this

Relatedly, one of the most tedious things people do is go 'wow. How profound. My pre-school child, who I literally taught to speak and whose brain is a highly powerful and retentive sponge, has paraphrased my politics back at me in a cute way'. I mean, no kidding.

Man, the Bluesky Wrapped 2025 is pretty brutal

This, from the FT, is almost the perfect encapsulation of what is so maddening about this government. ‘If a convenient thing had happened we wouldn’t have had to agree to do something which we actually think is stupid.’

i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse

Your boyfriend tells Susie Dent that she absolutely nailed her word of the day

Introduce a tax on parliamentary speeches that have a call and response bit

Definitely gives me more confidence in the OBR’s numbers to know they can’t tell the time

OMG. The Guardian have confused Kenneth Clark, presenter of the 1969 series 'Civilisation' with Tory ex-MP & former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke in their review of the new BBC series 'Civilisations:Rise & Fall'

Latest piece for the @thehousemag.bsky.social, on the island of strangers speech and similar. Also ft Bob Hawke. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

I have had to pop over to X to stop you posting that bloody Guardian screenshot about Starmer

Not sure if there’s ever been a list of ‘worst political briefings of all time’ but what has come out of No10 this evening is a high new entry

On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.

Man, this person in No10 really wants to get something off their chest about a career bureaucrat who takes ages to make decisions for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on

If you’re going to post a supposedly unhinged literary opinion. Please make it unhinged, I’m just getting quote tweets with stuff like ‘EM Forster was a bit overrated’.

Slightly amazed at his description of this as a ‘low-level mistake’. Just a completely untrue implication of Government corruption on prime-time TV. No biggie! www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

It'll be wild when Charlotte Church reveals she's been pretending to be Welsh this entire time #TheTraitorsUK #CelebrityTraitors

Have had it up to here with people who think telling you off for pointing out racist things are racist makes them the modern day equivalent of Philip Gould.