It's always bad when the Labour Party gets involved with the Labour government.

“Psychodrama” has always obscured more than it resolved- right from the start it was the way that BBC Politics in that era babbled its way around the conviction that couldn’t cover Brexit in detail without being biased and that the public needed to be talked down to.

Make a band out of two others. Bananaramazulu.

Yes. And the reverse is also true.

There are lots of questions I want to ask Reform people, mostly starting "about that five million quid", but it would be a shame to let this moment from Robert Jenrick slip past unnoticed. thecritic.co.uk/toda...

The gap between how much I enjoy voting and my happiness with the available options gets wider every time.

Farage is no champion of mine. I have and will continue to point out antisemitism in Reform (as well as vicious racism towards others). This does not in any way excuse the antisemitsm we're seeing from Green council candidates or Polanski's refusal to criticise it. It's always wrong.

We're on it! We're thrilled to be listed alongside some great investigations:

The desire https://botfrens.com/collections/69/contents/20058

Make bad art. Especially if your job is making good art. You gotta let go my friends. You gotta create just for the sake of creating. Let it out. Make a mark. Share it with nobody but yourself. Indulge in the act of creation. It's what humans are made for.

Is social media dying? How much did Twitter change as it became X? Which party now dominates the conversation? Using nationally representative ANES data from 2020 & 2024, I map how the U.S. social media landscape has changed Here are the key take-aways 🧵 Full paper out now in in JQD:DM!

Remembering Clyde Stubblefield on his birthday

In my mid teens if someone had said to me “when you are middle aged, the leader of the opposition is a black woman and the leader of the party polling in third is Jewish”, I really would have had a much more optimistic idea of how the future was panning out.

I don't think I'll ever get the hang of knowing which royals people on the news are on about when they say 'the Duke and Duchess of Whatever'. Can we not have their actual names, at least in parentheses?

1/ This Yanis Varoufakis screed made me so angry the only way I can salvage my day is to go through it line by line as catharsis. You are welcome to come on the journey toward my aneurism with me. An angry h/t to @sianushka.bsky.social for bringing this into my life. unherd.com/2026/04/why-...

This is great news: an immediate ban on political donations in cryptocurrency & a £100k cap on donations from UK citizens abroad. Yes, there's more that needs doing, & the door is left open to crypto in future. But we should celebrate (& applaud) the wins when they come. www.gov.uk/government/n...

8 am update for you. The UK grid is currently close to fossil fuel free. Wind and solar 70%, nuclear 13%, gas… 4%. grid.iamkate.com

I don't think "don't conflate Judaism with Israel/zionism" is a good response to antisemites justifying antisemitic hate crimes

There isn’t an “answer” to the trolley problem, it’s meant to make you appreciate moral complexity, not be solved.

The show that nearly killed me on a number of occasions, but especially with this:

Written English has barely changed in 300 years. If you can read Harry Potter, you can read Robinson Crusoe (1719).

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agree with this (hah) but also think a particular mistake the left made for a long time online, and still makes to an extent, is failing to understand that the person whose mind you may actually change is the one reading the argument you're having, not the one you're arguing with

Billy Steinberg RIP You may not immediately know the name but by jingo you've heard Like A Virgin, Alone, So Emotional, True Colors, I Touch Myself, I Drove All Night, I'll Stand By You and Eternal Flame.

Yes. This is it. Some people believe their politics; other people adopt politics as an excuse to hurt other people for fun and tell themselves it’s for a good cause and they can’t be blamed. The internet has let all the people in the latter group find each other and make better rationalizations.

People don’t really understand the nature of the problem. It’s not lots of little random ankle-biter tweets. That’s annoying but whatever. It’s when hating you becomes this communal pursuit that exists separately from yourself. Like there’s an entire group of people working together to target you.

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I have today been informed that, despite personal assurances to the contrary, the Green party have once again used my image and misrepresented my words on a second leaflet circulated in Gorton and Denton ahead of the by-election. I have now lodged an official complaint with the returning officer.

If you were looking for an exposition of what British values *could* be you could do a lot worse than Ian McKellen wielding Shakespeare like a rapier.

Peter Mandelson is telling the truth on one thing: the idea he was bought for a $4k “bursary” or a $75k gift is ridiculous The real incentive was a post-government payday - one so big he *rejected* a $3–5m-a-year offer And Epstein enabled that payday Here’s the evidence. 🧵

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For Jim Moir/Vic Reeves' birthday, a reminder it's thirty years this year since this advert.

Ooh, "pop music".

Say what you will about Hitler, at least he knew which countries he was invading.

Pray you once more, Is not your father grown incapable Of reasonable affairs? Is he not stupid With age and alt’ring rheums? Can he speak? Hear? Know man from man? Dispute his own estate? Lies he not bed-rid? And again does nothing But what he did being childish?

Today’s Connections was an absolute SHAM! #IYKYK

This is a vg list if you don’t want to live in an echo chamber (polite reminder that if you never want to hear from another Tory again, there is always the option to just go on your merry way without feeling the need to say so)

also, you cannot just roll out AI - or worse, have people using it as a side thing - you absolutely have to do the work of training people. Train them on how it works, what its limitations are, how to use it *responsibly*. Have processes in place for disclosure; have guardrails, have leadership.

Maybe something like: Letter to Hermione Life On Mars? Aladdin Sane Sweet Thing Young Americans Station to Station Warszawa DJ Love is Lost (DFA remix) Lazarus

Musk: "Why is the government so fascist?" (10/1/2026) Musk: Calling non-violent people fascist "should be treated as incitement to murder" (26/11/2025) Musk: "Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die, that’s the truth, I think.” (13/1/2025)

This is just stunning. James Murphy turning in an epic remix with a lovely nod back to Ashes to Ashes. #Raveyardshift youtu.be/VpXleysIs90?...

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

Deep into my Christmas cake era

Tomorrow marks 10 years since the greatest piece of art of our generation

How many other people have spotted that APT by Rosé and Bruno Mars shares a good chunk of its melody with Suppose You Gave a Funeral and Nobody Came by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine? Double figures globally? Single?

another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls

Support your local podcaster. They’re up against this huge machine of posh lads, production companies with huge PR budgets, and lazy millionaire comedians. It was once a steam rally, now it’s a car show.

Making sure everyone knows that Kate Bush's 1979 Christmas special is available to stream on YouTube and it's VERY worth your time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6BP...

I tell you what, that Santa Claus has got real presence about him