Mrs Thatcher once said: "The Old Testament prophets didn't go out into the highways saying, ‘Brothers, I want consensus.’ They said, ‘This is my faith & my vision! This is what I passionately believe!’ And they preached it!" You don't have to like what she preached to recognise its enduring power.

I don't know how anyone looks at Nigel Farage's career, at Brexit or at the party now leading the polls in Britain - let alone what's happening across the Atlantic - & concludes that the route to success is a cautious approach that simply mimics what it thinks are the preferences of the median voter

Politics is not like selling biscuits, where the task is to find out what people like & flog it to them. It's a moral activity. It's about arguing for the things you believe in. It's about *shaping* the "median voter". Farage has moved the centre-ground of politics. His opponents can move it back.

We have to keep highlighting how many fascists are not "respectable" people, but known, convicted, sexual abusers & violent thugs. We also have to continually ask why so many "respectable" people don't seem to care who is driving their movement.

I also like this one: “You know it is the most common, lowest denominator of what is filling billions and billions of informations on the internet,” Herzog said. “The common denominator and nothing beyond this common denominator can be found in these fabrications.”

“I have seen movies, short films, completely created by artificial intelligence,” Herzog said. “Story and acting and everything, they look completely dead. There are stories, but they have no soul. They are empty and soulless.” Get their ass, Werner.

I love how Labour politicians sincerely believe that dodging the question this blatantly is normal.

fuck off fuck off fuck off fuck OFF with this bullshit

We are going to lose tens of thousands of vital, high skilled workers and destroy numerous sectors because of this needless hostility and all because the media refuse to relay the facts and tell the truth to the public about immigration.

Buying and selling companies is fine. Financing it via debt is fine. The part that should be illegal is using the company's **own assets or projected revenues** as collateral. You should have to find it somewhere else

I'm probably a tad bit more business-minded than some folks on here but I gotta concur re: leveraged buyouts should not be legal. you're burning otherwise free revenue solely for the purpose of enriching a different set of shareholders. Even stock buybacks make more sense than this

There are no words to describe how happy shit like this makes me. Absolutely masterful set-up and reveal from 1:07. I howled

Buying a company by taking out a massive loan, then making the company you bought responsible for paying off that loan, is so patently evil that it should be beyond illegal. The kind of thing that inspires enlightened societies without corporal punishment to bring back the death penalty as a one-off

i think about this post every time i watch a movie

I've had a set of books arrive in the post for another TTRPG that I probably won't get round to playing until next year, but they're very nice books.

My Dad’s raising money for Dementia UK, give him money! fundraise.dementiauk.org/s/16893/1716...

Some important info on Kaleb Horton and his writing for MTV: as I learned, he'd reupped the Merle piece on his site earlier this year, but otherwise his 2016-2017 work there was scrubbed and long unavailable. Happily, I was able to find a Wayback link with them all. Share, read, and remember.

It hasn't been online for many years, so for today's newsletter I reposted my Big Bang Theory "spec." Tell your friends. kalebhorton.ghost.io/the-end-resu...

I'm listening to the October 1989 KMart instore muzak tape and I wonder how many people's brains this was burned into from listening to it on repeat every day?

I've been thinking a lot about Kaleb Horton today, it doesn't feel real. I don't have anything insightful to say and I didn't know him, but he was clearly a generational talent and I was always pleased to read something new from him. My thoughts are with his friends and family.

Newcastle says no to fascism. The far right brought a hundred or so with them, bussed from far and wide. This city turned out 1000s, from local communities, estates and streets. Geordies of all backgrounds coming together and outnumbering the purveyors of hate by some distance. Newcastle united.

RIP Kaleb Horton kalebhorton.ghost.io/2025-so-far/

this is one of the most chilling scenes in jurassic park, wherein, rather than showing us the brutality on screen, the movie uses sound effects to imply the gruesome violence as the cow beats the shit out of a bunch of velociraptors

Gutted at the news that Kaleb Horton is gone. Kaleb was a brilliant writer, of course, but he was also a gifted photographer. Years ago I encouraged him to sell his pieces. His work was so good, I told him, and people should see it. Here are some of his beautiful shots.

Why did these women not simply apply for asylum in the UK using the HM Government Online Portal? BECAUSE NO SUCH THING EXISTS. Because you have to be *physically* in the UK to apply for asylum and you can't get here on a plane or ferry. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Sky News and the BBC repeatedly mention the "migrant crisis" in doing so they are normalising and legitimising far right talking points. There is no "migrant crisis", there is only migrant hysteria, which the British media is feeding into instead of countering.

Completely normal country where I wake up every day and see some polling asking people whether or not I should be allowed to live here and and exactly how much of a scourge to society I am. Very cool. I feel great, actually.

The main story on BBC 6 Music News this morning is that a ‘boat carrying migrants is on its way to France’ Delivered in the same upbeat tone as England winning the women’s Euros. The migration ‘debate’ in this country is unmoored from reality, and the media-political complex is feeding it

The most accurate recreation of DS9 I've seen.

Statistical proof for what the left has been saying for years: when centrist parties spout racist rhetoric, it damages their support but boosts that of the far right. The only party leader with the sense to get this right now is @zackpolanski.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘Watched Attack of the Cybermen.’

creature

Both-sidesing things like this is irresponsible journalism and borders on misinformation.

Coincidentally I took a picture from this exact same spot last weekend.

if you want to understand tailoring, you only need to watch mid-century movies, when actors were dressed by tailors, not brands. in the 1944 film cover girl, gene kelly's suit drapes beautifully, moving with him, not against him. collar stays on his neck, even as he dances.

This is staggering. Dismantling the right wing propaganda machine is imo one of the biggest and most vital obstacles to the future of this country.

I'm sick of people treating the spectator like a normal news journal with the occasional controversial piece instead of the dangerous shit rag it is. Do you think these people would read the Mail and nod sagely if it just had better cartoonists? It's the exact same stuff, just aimed at posh people

Goodnight, I’m hoping to wake up to a slew of posts from anti-woke “comedians” who have spent years complaining about cancel culture and the oppression of free speech, defending Kimmel and condemning the F.C.C. Unless it was only an issue when you wanted to make jokes about the trans community?

I do have a half formed thought about how it's the decline of public good stuff that is not that inexpensive but hard to make profitable - loos and flower beds - that lie at the root of our problems as a society. I think it's downstream of the decline of local government?

A toilet pod has opened at Brough station. How, you may wonder, does a toilet pod differ from a toilet? Best one can tell it's that you have to ring a buzzer to contact the ticket office, and show them your ticket, before they let you in. Dignity all round

This statement from Kimmel is just objectively true. That's a literal thing the GOP have been doing for the past week.

One thing I'll say about DC not only canceling Red Hood, but recalling the first issue and refunding stores for buying it, is that you can still get Neil Gaiman's work through them. They still work with Otto Schmidt. Eddie Berganza worked there for years AFTER the formation of a policy that no women

Hey all! I'd like to thank the world's media institutions, and of course the Bluesky mods, for being totally normal and proportional about a barely famous trans woman cracking wise about a Nazi's death.

If something really good is hidden under your terrible headline and people aren't reading it that's kind of a "you and your editor" problem

I say this in the nicest way possible but journalists need to stop expecting us to read past the headline if the headline is stupid. Yes I know you didnt write it. Doesnt matter, I read the headline, decided to save myself the headache and skipped reading it

While I understand the BBC’s imperative to provide balance in stories, at times it can feel completely ludicrous. Data vs one person’s entirely anecdotal opinion isn’t balance.

We really do need to bring back asking people “what is wrong with you?” when grown ass adults say unhinged racist shit instead of trying to debate with them. It isn’t a debate. Being a bigot is a personality flaw that needs to be confronted and shamed.

If you want to know about the state of British media, these 'formidable obstacles' include assault of a police officer, ABH, football hooliganism, entering the US on a false passport, mortgage fraud, stalking, endangering a grooming trial, defaming a 15 year old refugee and a lifetime of racism.

this is a recurring phenomenon in the UK: older people who are somehow convinced that they personally lived through WW2.