The harrowing dark side of England's World Cup exit - www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

I hear Bryson DeChambaux is packing a petrol strimmer in his bag today! 😂

A priest who made a powerful address at the funeral of Lyra McKee has urged society to “end this culture of silence”. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/end-thi...

Burnham and “the black box” How the intense secrecy of Burnham’s plans for cabinet and government is fuelling rumour and paranoia www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Clearly a better communicator than Starmer and there will be a different tone in gov. But far from clear he will shift policy direction decisively -or that he can find the money necessary to meet the aspirations outlined. Time will tell.

Great interview here of legendary @dinkyhanrahan.bsky.social by @nadineoregan.bsky.social well worth a read 👍👍

I think he will be judged as a massive failure -he entered power with huge majority (though of course won less votes than JC in 2019) but squandered most political capital within months. Rudderless & certainly poorly advised. Aping Reform was huge error. Arguably he’s a bigger failure than Truss!

Didn’t think they could beat the Mosque effigy this year-but there you go! What a time to be alive 🤦‍♂️

And so the university, becomes technical college. To borrow from Dickens, they will have people who know what a Quadruped is - but they’ll never understand a horse. A Bitzer nation.

Lovely piece here on the late great Sam Neill #RIP

Surprised? Not really. Burnham is basically a policy centrist (even though the centre is now further to the right) and his government is likely to have much more in common with Starmer’s than points of difference. Everything else is better comms.

I thought the best person to go on Laura Kuenssberg to defend me against charges of financial irregularity would be Nadhim Zahawi, who claimed £6,000 to heat his stables and hid £27m in an offshore account then threatened to sue anyone who asked about it.

A proper journalist. One of the good guys. #RIP

Assuming Count Binface doesn’t actually win (💪) the only story line from this fiasco will be that his vote share against Farage has increased by 1000+% Enjoy 👏

Jim Gamble is a very credible appointment in this area -but extent to which it’s an independent process might be contested as DUP set the terms of reference themselves, which on first reading, seem quite narrowly focused on JD. Remit could have been wider to capture other historic abuses of women.

Ah -the memories 😂

Outstanding interview by KG-M. On @channel4news.bsky.social Tenacious, polite, informed on the detail, kept LC focused on the questions while she tried to deflect. A masterclass. 👏

Make it happen Count #Binface #Clacton

Not sure if the Count has clarified if he’s standing -or if he thinks this could damage his credibility? If he does then it could be a Boaty McBoatface moment and Count Binface is set for the largest vote swing in UK electoral history,

What on earth ⚽️

Given their utterly shabby treatment when arriving in the US, it would be so sweet if they left with the WC trophy under their arms 🇪🇬

Haven’t seen a robbery from Egypt that blatant since Howard Carter

This is now a full on crisis -not just for DUP but for the future of the devolved institutions. The optics of ELP being co opted into the deputy FM position by Donaldson-and the allegation she thought he was a danger to young women (if proven to be true) will make current arrangements unsustainable.

We are all Belgians now. 🇧🇪 🇧🇪 🇧🇪 🇧🇪 🇧🇪 🇧🇪 🇧🇪 🇧🇪

Yep -had several of these but luckily I’ve had so many bogus ‘book club’ e mails lately full of over effusive AI slop, that it took me a nanosecond to delete it. Btw if anyone is a proper book club or agent & you are going to e mail me, just start with a few critical jibes & I’ll take it seriously

To be fair, the WWII refs and inflatable spitfires are less noticeable now they have a German manager. Though I see altitude is already being lined up as an excuse if they lose tonight.

Hi Mr Mayor, could you…you know? I mean…could the world have you next time please? Cheers -the rest of the world

This an official Vatican photograph of Leo at Lampedusa, Italy - one of the world’s heaviest migrant sites - where he went this morning to pray for migrants who died at sea. This is after turning down the offer to come to the United States.

Fantastic hoedown reworking of a venomous masterpiece. These Ionic Original Recordings from Dylan are something else. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia_8...

Dreadful graceless bullying behaviour by Dallas police but driven but wider systemic xenophobia within the US that has been promoted by Trump. Who in their right minds would go anywhere near the US at the moment?

Stephen Pollard prefers a website run by an open antisemite who Hitler-salutes his audience and sponsors the barely-legal successor to the Nazi party, and who has also literally ensured the death of millions by ending USAID. So I’m not 100% convinced I smell worse than he does.

About time 👏 One for Andy Burnham’s ideas box (and it won’t cost him any money) would be to get No10 & all government departments & ministers to leave X & open accounts here. They would bring most of their followers across & Beth, Bob & rest of the media would have to follow suit. You’re welcome 😉

Football in Ireland is of course much more important than mass slaughter of a civilian population, genocide, ethnic cleansing, siege, occupation and associated and repeated war crimes. I mean it’s the Nations League we’re talking about here. 🤦‍♂️

This is the content I am here for 😂

Sorry but the DUP marking its own homework on this isn’t going to cut it. There seems to be enough here, from what is already on record, for PSNI involvement and certainly independent oversight. And if Ian Paisley Jnr is giving you ethics lessons then you haven’t been paying attention.

Absolutely. Humanity & morality should be key attributes of new leadership (a return to normality), but this requires moving beyond a post-truth media AND political landscape. Honesty must be the third attribute. And it’s been woefully lacking since the turn of the century.

Delighted to have a piece on Andy Burnham’s possible impact on Northern Ireland (yes, there’s always a Northern Ireland angle) included in the July issue of Fortnight magazine.

Exactly right. If Burnham keeps her in post it is an active statement about his own political morality and the extent to which his project differs from the current Prime Minister. (Or not)

Taxing vulnerable people for the crime of fleeing from war, torture and persecution. A new low from Shabana Mahmood

One of Burnham’s challenges is finding money to do the things he wants. Another is to change the tone of the government, end the hostile state approach and show some humanity & morality. If he doesn’t reverse these asylum reforms he will have failed utterly on the second.

It’s all starting to sound a bit Perfect Curve. AB will need some quick policy wins that make a tangible difference to people’s lives, otherwise he risks looking like Continuity Starmer. No10 North thing reminds me of Starmer’s Great British Energy reform. Has anyone really noticed any difference?

"McSweeney quietly inflamed the 'antisemitism crisis' that would dog Corbyn’s leadership from at least 2018. "He did so by seeding and placing stories into the press that helped to build the narrative that Corbyn’s Labour had become riddled with antisemitism" www.declassifieduk.org/inside-labou...

NEW: Boris Johnson failed to declare to parliament a gift of private jet flights from the same cryptobillionaire, Christopher Harborne who gave £5m to Nigel Farage, leaked documents reveal. New #HarborneReceipts investigation from @thenerve.news. 🔗 below 1/

Okay, so the PSNI serious crime guy ‘happened’ to be in London working at MI5 -& then him & a colleague decided to go get some grub, & then blow me down, who does he happen to see feet in front of him going into a gay sauna -well the bold Jeffrey! Seems more like an organised surveillance op to me.

I knew there was a Brucie Bonus in there somewhere 👍

Seem to remember (or mis-remember) that Bruce Forsyth’s Dad had something to do with building the Palm House/Botanic Gardens?

Did people really find this surprisingly moving? I’ve filed it with the footage of Thatcher gurning in the car while she was driven off after getting turfed out. For me (and full disclosure - I voted Labour) his emotion was for himself and the realisation of his own failure, not for anyone else.

No Irish Sea Border for Workers’ Rights!

Totally 👏 Why not have done with it and just issue everyone with 1sts when they pay the last instalment of their fees? I mean they are ‘customers’ now not students, have bought and paid for their degrees. We are months away from being listed on ComparetheMarket.Com