I am sorry, but does that 'memo' published by the New Statesman, and apparently read by several Labour MPs, really say "Class conflict, whose origins lie in the 2016 EU Referendum" (LOL)? I think I can stop reading there.

Here's the swan btw

Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system! Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.

I posted a picture of a swan and someone commented to tell me I shouldn't be photographing swans, because next time they will be gone.

Unless you were/are a lucky EU citizen on (pre-)settled status, you need ILR so your spouse can join you on a family visa. If the proposed 10 years for ILR will come into force, many people could have their family life severely disrupted. I wonder if people in government ever think about this stuff.

Perhaps he should have, though.

That was also my first thought! I get so frustrated by this kind of reporting which can't be bothered to check any facts.

Which new anti-immigrant policy will Labour announce today? Place your bets.

"In order to get ILR, immigrants will have to know the kings of England, and quote the fights historical from Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical"

I read that piece by Fraser Nelson on how it's unfair to call Farage or Reform racist and wow...it really is one of the worst things committed to paper since humanity invented writing.

I seem to have become a bit obsessed with solo cello music this weekend.

"Migrants will have to listen on repeat to Pomp and Circumstance to get ILR"

Getting mighty tired of the meme on here of “oh, it is just so difficult for the government to set the agenda”. The government (which literally employs thousands of press officers) is setting the agenda - it’s just that it is setting it on toxic ground it can’t win.

If you're an immigrant in the UK, currently the main choice is between the opposition parties who want to deport you, and the government party who wants to make your life as difficult and miserable as they can. There are exceptions, like the Greens and the LibDems, and that's where my vote will go.

This is nonsense. I'm so tired. [I'm glad I've already got my citizenship, but my wife might have to do volunteering* to get ILR?] *It's not volunteering if you're forced to do it

Amazing year for Italian volleyball. After the women's team a few weeks ago, the men's team became world champions today, for the second time in a row 🇮🇹🥳

Farage makes up racist lies, and somehow it's the Left (?) who's at fault? I mean, it's the Mail, but they manage to get worse every time.

Shame on the BBC. I love Radio 3, but the news part is dreadful. They should call themselves RBC News, where the R stands for Reform.

Starmer says Reform's plans to remove people who came here legally are racist, immoral, & would rip the country apart. Absolutely. But both Labour & Tories also planning to move the goalposts for people who are legally here. Time to make clear that won't happen. ukandeu.ac.uk/immigration_...

At the same time we get this stuff from the Home Secretary, which makes Starmer's words sound very empty. news.sky.com/story/shaban...

More 20th century solo cello music with Rohan de Saram, this time Bax, Cassadó, Dallapiccola, Ligeti

Reform: "We're going to abolish indefinite leave to remain" Labour: "What if we made it *really* hard to get ILR by adding some very arbitrary idea of a wider contribution to society as a requirement?" This is the party that supposedly should oppose Reform. Good luck to us with that.

This post says everything, but also: are we supposed to believe the PM is not aware of "right to work" checks? Did I imagine having to give my passport and share code to my employer(s)? Maybe we should punish the employers that don't follow the law.

Nathan Gill is no fringe politician. He was the leader of the Reform Party and before that UKIP in Wales. A Brexit Party MEP. A friend and ally of Nigel Farage, who in 2016 called him: "terrific," and "as honest as the day is long." This is a MASSIVE story www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A highlight of my bike trip to Wigan today was the beautiful All Saints' Church, a very welcome suprise!

As an example (the comments are about a photo of Manchester)

Not every day you see some ducks and some sculptures of some ducks.

From "The Road to Wigan Pier" to "The Ride to Wigan Pier" along the canals (Bridgwater Canal and Leeds & Liverpool Canal) [more photos in the thread]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when someone posts a beautiful photo of a city on facebook someone will comment that it is actually a dump/horrible place/a no-go zone. It's especially funny when the supposed no-go zone is a place where you go all the time.

The spokesperson for the BGC:

There are things I am worried about, for example British governments doing their best to sabotage rail projects, I am worried about the rise in xenophobia and racism under the watch of this government, I am worried about people intimidating asylum seekers, I am not really worried about this though.

#NowListening to some 20th century music for solo cello

I'm praying the capricious gods of English weather to grant me a nice day for a bike ride tomorrow.

No room for your car? Just leave it on the road, on the pavement, on a verge - anywhere really.

It's kind of insane how you can split opinion on the British immigration system into "people who know *anyone* who has to interact with it" and "everyone else"

To speak of something nice, can we talk about how amazingly George Eliot writes in 'Daniel Deronda'? Marvellous prose, great insights into the characters' psychology, very acute observations. It's the first book of hers that I've read (well, that I'm reading), but Middlemarch will be the next.

What is he talking about? Britain has been *obsessing* about "illegal immigration" for years! Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw...

I already liked him as a player, but now even more.

The people who complain about "uncontrolled legal migration" should have to pay the same very high costs that those on visas have to pay (like the ones we have to pay just so my wife can live with me in the UK), it's only fair.

There'll be scenes like this (and much worse) up and down the UK if Reform get into government and start acting out their Send Them Back fantasies. A thousand acts of sadism carried out by malevolent racist thugs employed and empowered by the state. Some of you will be safe. Many of us won't.

Una bella chiesa e una santa per @tziaciccittaminore.bsky.social

I am going to repeat today that 1 in 6 residents in the UK was born abroad. If your plan to "give communities back control" does not include us as part of those communities, I don't want to hear about it.

No such thing as "uncontrolled legal migration", Sir Keir. I frankly have lost any hope with him ever getting his message/ideas on immigration right.

Now listening to the historical Don Giovanni conducted by Fritz Busch in Glyndebourne in 1936. Busch was fiercely anti-Nazi, and was dismissed from his post as conductor in Dresden in 1933, to be replaced by Karl Böhm. He then moved to England, where he founded the Glyndebourne Festival in 1934.

I'm not opposed to ID cards in principle (Italy has one and we're fine), but if the rationale guiding the new government plan is (as reported by the press) to "crack down on illegal immigration"*, how is that even meant to work? How is it helping achieve this goal? *Of course it is, in today's UK

Italy has moved me to tears for 3 days straight. Bravo ❤️

I don't really believe in miracles, but that Rossini wrote L'italiana in Algeri when he was 21 is pretty miraculous if you ask me.

Every now and then I see a tendency among certain UK commentators to praise Meloni for having "moderated" in government. Her party still often openly celebrates Giorgio Almirante as father figure; he was editor of the Defense of Race magazine, and ordered anti-fascist resistance fighters to be shot.

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Nigel Farage wants to drag Britain down the same road as Trump’s America: chaos, division and fear. Our NHS, our rights and our communities are at risk. Do not let Trump’s America become Farage’s Britain.