Iran and Egypt playing in the 'pride' derby in a country that's obsessed by being anti-woke. Yeah this makes sense. . .

Sounds like a plan. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Cartoonist: Daniel Goris

Sorry? We paid £369m to renovate their house and they're not even going to fucking live there? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

AI is being driven so hard because a few people can get very rich out of it, not because we need it.

This is a very odd little story. BBC News - Starmer and home secretary in row over minister's future www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#5 Melancholia, Anselm Kiefer, 1990-1991

Americans don't understand political words, do they? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Used to be my MP. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I apologise personally to Nigel Farage for having accused him of hypocrisy. I now realise that accepting a £5m bung and keeping quiet about it is entirely consistent with his ethical beliefs.

Really contemptible and dangerous behaviour from Badenoch. This isn't the kind of language we need to be using in politics when faced with the incitement and division that's being fomented on social media and by the likes of Reform and Restore. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

That no one seems willing to stand against Burnham says a lot about both the state of the Labour party and the powerlessness of UK governments in the modern age.

“The last lot had years to prepare and still fucked it up. We’ll just have to do it in three weeks,” one senior source said. “The length of the transition will focus minds.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"...there is deep resentment within his inner circle towards Burnham for ousting Starmer." If that's the case, they are frighteningly lacking in self-awareness. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Spoilt by awful production and costume design.

Why do you think? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

It'll all be about him, won't it. They'll have to pry it out of his tiny hands (which should be easy as they're so tiny), and he'll hang around for the celebration like your nerdy ex at a party. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Starmer's "10 pledges" that he won the Labour leadership with, and which were rapidly ditched. He was fond of lists, just not fond of doing. Fundamentally, he didn't really believe in anything. #Starmer

'“A core philosophy is the thing that holds you together when it’s falling apart,” Runciman said. “Margaret Thatcher was the exemplar of this. But with Starmer, I couldn’t see it, and it never emerged.' #Starmer www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

“After the win we expected some sort of blitz of major policies. Instead, we just had the PM going round meeting mayors on a UK tour. There were a lot of people saying: ‘This can’t be it. This isn’t how you do politics.’” #Starmer www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

“Firstly, he never worked out what the job was – what does the prime minister do? Secondly, he never knew what he wanted to do, above all not on economic policy. And thirdly, he didn’t know who to appoint." #Starmer www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

"No modern prime minister has looked so well-suited to the job on paper and been so fundamentally inept in practice." #Starmer www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

#5 in my occasional series of great modern artworks. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, Mark Wallinger, 2001 #Art

Nigel Farage calls for a general election. I call for Nigel Farage to have his head flushed in the bog; we don't always get what we want Nige, live with it.

If Starmer had applied the same urgency, energy and ruthlessness to solving the country's problems as he did to eradicating socialism in the Labour party, he wouldn't have had to resign. #Starmer #Burnham

#4 'Tree Tunnel', David Hockney, 2005.

"My crown I am; but still my griefs are mine: You may my glories and my state depose, But not my griefs; still am I king of those." - Shakespeare, King Richard II (Richard II, Act 4, Scene 1)

It's been very Shakespearean today, hasn't it. Extraordinary stuff. #Burnham #Starmer #Labour

I think one of the things that disappointed and astonished me the most about Starmer's government was how apparently unprepared they seemed for power. They had 14 years to plan and seemed to have no idea what to do when they were elected. They should have hit the ground like a whirlwind.

The worst thing about a day like this is the vox pops.

I notice that Streeting is pushing the 'nobosy thought we could win' line about Starmer. This is as untrue as it was about Blair in 1997. In both cases you could see the landslide coming a mile off because the voters were pissed with the Tories. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

I'm all for freedom of speech, but blasting out music from a massive speaker system during major political moments is just disturbing the peace.

And he's gone. I do feel a bit sorry for him, but he just wasn't up to the job.

The lectern is out. . .

A lot of people are asking why the UK is about to have its 6th PM in only 5 years. I think the answer is fairly simple: politics is living in a fantasy in which no one will acknowledge that Brexit and our 40-odd year neoliberal experiment have failed. www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63...

10.00am I reckon.

The extremist, Islamist, terrorist dictatorship of Iran is the adult in the room in these negotiations. Let that sink in. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

“You close it and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to your fucking country.” Just a reminder that this is the President of the USA commenting on peace talks currently taking place. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Anthony Seldon, the political biographer, was scathing about Starmer on The Westminster Hour last night, pointing out how he'd squandered a massive majority and u-turned repeatedly. Starmer is the author of his own destruction. If you're still defending him, you're living in cloud cuckoo land.

There is absolutely no way we can carry on with a lame duck PM until after the party conference in the autumn. This is more vacillation from Starmer and yet another example of his unsuitability for the role of prime minister. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I feel a little sorry for Starmer but not a lot. What he did to Corbyn and the left of the party was unforgivable, and his period as PM has been a disaster. His courting of the far right has been pathetically weak and immoral, as has been his response to Israel. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The autumn is far too late. The new leader needs to be in place well before then so that they can call a general election and gain a proper mandate. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

🚨 BREAKING: Politicians shouldn't be expected to be competent at politics.

My preference for what happens next is: 1) Starmer triggers a leadership contest. 2) There is a proper contest which Burnham wins. 3) Burnham calls a snap election in order to put his manifesto to the electorate, beats Reform and forms a government with a real mandate.

The attacks in Edinburgh, in which an armed bare-chested white man terrorised Muslims, leaving five people injured, don't feature on a single newspaper front page this morning. Two tier journalism

This would be a welcome acknowledgement of reality. I've always thought that Starmer was fundamentally decent, just that he didn't have either the politics or the political ability for the job. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Shut up, you whining, middle class tosser. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

This realistic, life-size Donald Trump comes with a range of interchangeable ties and fully non-posable arms, ready to place in a setting of your choice to amuse and entertain your friends. And it's free of the inconveniences of the real thing, like soiling, nodding off and offensive comments.

FAFO www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I think we may have found a legitimate and positive use for AI: putting YouTube influencers out of work. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...