So Starmer's big Europe offer is an ambitious youth experience scheme. That's what he wants to be at the heart of the UK's new relationship with the EU. That's it? Is this a joke?

“Oh, fuck off!” I shout out repeatedly as I listen to Starmer on the car radio. Incrementalism won’t cut, he explains, before setting out an agenda of limp incrementalism on Europe and everything else. All he has done is make a compelling case for his own departure.

🚨Great Western Railway is coming into public ownership in December This is only a first step to running our trains for passengers, not profit. The Railways Bill must make sure the railway has duties to passengers, the environment and the economy - instead of prioritising competition law.

Britain "at the heart of Europe", 2026 edition:

"Britain at the heart of Europe" is everything wrong with Starmer is in a nutshell. Pro-Brexit groups hate it for obvious reasons. Pro-EU groups immediately notice it isn't accompanied by any change to red lines, making it an empty slogan with no policy behind it.

We’ve achieved a lot in London these last ten years. Thank you, London. I couldn’t have done it without you.

He likes to talk about his record, but his only real successes are electoral. There is no meaningful policy delivery record to cite, because it does not exist outside of Net Zero and housing. It's just so empty, a car trundling down a hill.

In so far as it has any policy content, it is internally contradictory. He wants Britain "in the heart of Europe" but not actually in the EU or single market. He values diversity & fairness, but supports extreme anti-immigration policies which trap ppl in an administrative half life.

For the best though. The worst possibly way to start a conversation about rejoining the EU would be in this context, with this leader. Better he never supports it.

The quid pro quo of a Starmer leadership was that - fine - we weren't getting a storyteller or a charisma powerhouse, but we'd at least get serious, competent leadership committed to delivery. In fact we got neither.

guys please please PLEASE add alt text to your images. It just takes a minute and helps you and the people looking at the image.

mother’s day isn’t all flowers and cursive. it can be hard. for moms lost, for mothers never known, for regrets or resentment or remorse. these are very real today too. we’re grateful for the moms and role models out there. but if you’re out there feeling something different, you’re not alone.

My contribution to the local elections post mortem is this

The cowslips were very abundant at Martin Down my picture doesn't do them justice! #wildflowerhour #MartindownNNR

"not my circus, not my monkeys" exactly what a ringmaster in denial would say tbh

Floof patrol reporting for duty!

Oh look, David Gerard lying about Bluesky/atproto again, no way… - Blacksky definitely uses their AppView, I used it myself when Bluesky's broke - Eurosky definitely does have plans for a relay and AppView circumstances.run/@davidgerard...

This is a very good question which I suspect has no good answer right now, but will need to have one sooner or later…

you know you're too atproto-brained when the reddit makes you ask "why the did someone make an atproto couch?"

hooking an llm up to the bluesky firehose to give it a new condition im calling “human psychosis”

On the occasion of Europe Day - I've got updated language statistics of @eurosky.social users 🙂 🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺

After 12 years, the EU flag is back on Hungary’s Parliament building — the new Speaker’s very first decision. A happy Schuman Day indeed.

Congratulations to Péter Magyar on becoming Prime Minister of Hungary. This Europe Day, our hearts are in Budapest. The hope and promise of renewal is a powerful signal in these challenging times. We have important work ahead of us. For Hungary and for Europe, we are moving forward together.

found a good thread if you want to feel insane: circumstances.run/@davidgerard...

Good news is there are steps you can take to mitigate the data flow. Depending on your devices and how much you are willing to give up in functionality. coveryourtracks.eff.org

This website shows you what your browser is leaking about you. sinceyouarrived.world/taken

why does signing in to @leaflet.pub now want access to all of my bookmarks, mutes, notifications, preferences, age assurance state, etc etc? seems like a lot 🤔

Panic over x

big news

new data diary! this is the most in the weeds yet, all revolving around our proposed URI structure for permissioned data. turns out you can figure out a lot about a protocol from the uri! as always, let me know what you think :)

It exists! I interviewed backup dancers, producers, the costume designer, the song’s producers who granted the rights, and so many more who were involved: web.archive.org/web/20240227...

For his 100th birthday David Attenborough should get to surreptitiously release an animal of his choosing into the home of a big game hunter.

G rated 🤝 PG-13 rated

Labour have lost 57% of the council seats defended. That's an attrition rate greater than suffered by John Major's MPs in 1997 - the famous asteroid destroying all life on earth - and is in fact equivalent to what happened to the Magnificent Seven (3 survived). www.politicshome.com/thehouse/art...

Sadiq Khan's statement after Labour's losses in the elections with alt text 💫

Sadiq Khan says Labour faces an "existential" threat and "London has been taken for granted for too long". Wants "bold assertion" of progressive values to take on the Greens.

Sadiq Khan says the local election results in London are "bitterly disappointing" "Too many of the government’s achievements have been overshadowed by basic mistakes and a failure to boldly assert our progressive values." Says Labour must change course "before it is too late"

The Seed Song

Hey, so, weird thing: A few hours after we published this story my Bluesky account was suspended for what I was told was “suspicious activity” detected on my account, akin to being hacked.

boy that's another thing. they have a bunch of excuses for this but the obvious reason is to put VA Dems on the back foot and hope they don't have time to react before the midterms bsky.app/profile/norm...

did the Virginia Supreme Court stop Republicans from gerrymandering the piss out of VA state and congressional districts in 2012 without asking the voters at all? they did not

wandering the Sonora desert in a carefree fashion like

We've reached the point where one party has so obliterated the rule of law that everyone else continuing to abide by it will only hasten the end of our democracy. That's a recipe for chaos and violence. It's terrifying, and I don't know what we do about it.

insane every blue state in the country needs to pack their own state Supreme Court immediately if the unelected law wizards want to make donald trump a god-king with a 30% approval rating their power must be broken at every level

Remember when ABC folded to Trump's shakedown scheme with a $15M settlement? Maybe they thought it would buy peace with the dictator. It didn't. The regime demanded Jimmy Kimmel's firing and harassed "The View." Now ABC is fighting back after learning that fascists always come back for more.

Quote of the day goes to Eluned Morgan, who is standing down as first Minister and Labour leader in Wales after losing her seat. To Reform: “We need to hear the anger, not feed it”

Eluned Morgan "I take responsibility" & stands down as Welsh leader. "The people of Wales rejected Welsh Labour" "I would like to congratulate Plaid on their momentous success" If they form next govt, "we all want Wales to succeed" On Reform gains: "Need to heed the anger, not feed the anger"

The two Green MSs in Wales right now are: - Anthony Slaughter - Paul Rock Rock and Slaughter is the 1980s cop duo we never knew we needed.

now thats an anecdote with a punch, from Gillian Tett www.ft.com/content/c0ae...