You can't be "radical" from the "centre". That's the whole point of the centre ground. There simply is no such thing as "radical centrism", not if words still mean anything at all. Blair is using these terms to try and address the key weakness of his philosophy, but it's pure snake oil. #r4today

Lots of mainstream commentators praising the Blair piece but if Starmer or Badenoch did a speech announcing scrapping the triple lock and disability benefits in favour of foreign aid and bungs to AI companies I suspect the reaction would be different.

Tony Blair on the radio right now saying, “it’s not about traditional left and right politics”. Whenever anyone says that, they mean, it’s about right-wing politics.

Is Nick Robinson going to just accept Tony Blair's nonsense and fact free allegation that the welfare budget is out of control? Will there be any challenge on the basis of facts and evidence? I guess not. #r4today

Deeply pathetic that BBC is reporting this as a Reform power struggle rather than explaining that Reform's policies would require deporting people -including pensioners - who have lived and worked here legally for decades. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

They over did the marketing budget by getting Beckham involved with that #PerfectDraft gadget. It sells itself. Who doesn't want the ability to pour perfect draft beer at home without the whole rigmarole of setting up a proper beer pump, and buying in huge barrels of beer. #C4News

I remember when the government suppressed that report on the impact of climate change a few months back. We still haven't seen it. We only saw the highlights and that was that it was essentially an existential crisis. It said it was the biggest threat we face. Fucking silence though.

For those asking: Yes, designing this as a MANDATORY WORKPLACE TRAINING MODULE is satirical. At @wired.com we love to have fun. (Please do send me your compliance certificate, though.)

Ah, good times.

What did CBS stand to gain from issuing copyright infringement notices against YouTube accounts that shared Colbert's public access appearance? Whatever their motivation, it backfired in spectacular fashion over the weekend...

I was once sent on a six month secondment to the Hong Kong office of my employer. On arrival we always stayed at the Mandarin Oriental, a very swanky 5 * hotel. I had no other instructions, so I just stayed there... for two months. One night, on returning from the office, I found a message...

Interesting that the idea of another EU referendum is regularly discussed on broascast media as something that would cause division and thus a bad idea. But plans to deport literally millions of people are discussed as administrative questions.

Ever since I discovered that Big Brother Watch is actually another Tufton St right wing lobby group, I decided that maybe their objections to regulation of the tech sector are maybe not honest. Silkie Carlo, it's 'director', can go take a long jump off of a very short bridge. #C4News

I mean, we know disappearing messages have been widely used by our corrupt govt ministers (and PMs) to avoid scrutiny, and destroy evidence of nefarious, potentially criminal, conduct - especially when the "my phone was lost/stolen/thrown into the sea" excuses have been used before. #c4news

The UK is one of most corrupt countries, by value, anywhere on the planet. I think we'd all be interested to know how much of these funds end up in MPs, and UK govt ministers & ex-ministers' numbered crypto accounts in Nevis. #C4News #TaxJustice

If their track record holds, many of these violent, far right, Muslim haters, will also be convicted paedophiles by now.

This is called "having friends"

+1000 Been to two of these. Ugh.

Apart from the horrific stuff they show our children, it's really quite incredible what we have allowed tech companies to insert into our lives in the last two decades. Disappearing messages. Secret messaging apps that are advertised as impossible for the security services to hack. #bbcpm

This is both an insane risk given inflationary trends, and not really addressing Starmer's key weaknesses, being a happiness to use racist policies and rhetoric, and accept the same from others, along with a clear willingness to be an ethical windsock over any and every issue as needs be.

No there will not be an early election. A man with 400 seats will not risk half of them three years early to satisfy columnists’ belief in mandate fairies.

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

How can anything be called "locker room banter" if it not only didn't take place in a locker room, and was actually published as a statement online. #Reform #Makerfield

Good. It was clearly an outrage that there was no custodial sentence for a gang rape. I don't care what mitigations might have been proffered in court. The (male) judge should never be allowed to sit again.

Man made climate change denial costs us in more ways than most imagine It's probably already too late to save human civilisation from being all but wiped out by the impending & accelerating climate catastrophe, but the fact that we still refuse to try taking commensurate action means we deserve it

"People want leadership, & in the absence of genuine leadership they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They’re so thirsty for it, they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, & when they discover there’s no water they’ll drink the sand" The problem isn't only Reform.

"English Women don't care about their bodies and just walk around with their fat bellies and odd shapes pushing a pram at 16 in their PJ’s." Robert Kenyon - Reform candidate for Makerfield. Patriot. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

This should happen everywhere. We need to understand that there are & *should be* limits to personal freedom in all areas of life where it impacts others' rights to live, & not be seriously injured, by other people exercising their 'freedoms'. Total liberty should not be a rational society's goal.

Banning indoors smoking is one of my all time favourite examples of societal change. Afterwards, even the majority of smokers agreed the downsides were minor & it should've been done earlier. But before, it was opposed *fiercely* for years. Many thought it was Utopian, and/or totalitarian policy.

I broadly agree with this, except for perhaps the most crucial point: it wasn’t *just* luck then either, it was because of choices made by individuals and groups. It is possible to resist the rise of fascism, but you have to do it and keep doing it.

The best thing I can say about Anna Foster's political interviewing is that she is consistent. #r4today

Nick Robinson just interviewed Joseph Fiennes for 5 minutes, and ended by thanking "Ralph Fiennes". A little embarrassing. #e4today #DearEngland

#DearEngland is fantastic, so much better than I was expecting. Wish I'd gone to see it in the West End. #r4today

I don't understand this at all. It feels like pure distraction to me. Why does it matter if Farage lied about being hacked by Russia? The issue is the £5m 'gift'. #r4today

Tory, Simon Wolfson, is on #r4today claiming that banning zero hours contracts (euphemistically called "flexible working") means businesses employ fewer people. It want an interview where he was challenged and all, it was essentially a statement, & the BBCs Simon Jack didn't challenge it at all.

Wasn't going to comment on Peter Murrell embezzling £400k from the SNP, but Kwasi Kwarteng just told #GMB this is the sort of thing that makes the public believe all politicians are on the take, & only in it for themselves. Has Kwarteng ever met Boris Johnson & his billionaire 'donors'? #r4today

Let those among us who have not accidentally followed a fascist leader on Facebook in full on fascist gear... who's like the most obvious fascist... doing really fascist stuff... cast the first stone. #Reform

Social care providers in England MAY face ‘excessive’ profits cap. 84% of adult care controlled by private sector, including private equity. 23% -36% profit margin, council budgets depleted. End privatisation. Better to let only councils and not-for-profits provide social care. archive.ph/dy5oc

Notable this bonus scheme is purely for the 'elite' tier of civil servants. The cohort who, like MPs, we are forever told are doing the job because of their love of "public service", but who are still in the top 2-3% of earners in the country, and expect to be called Sir before they retire #r4today

Pretty much how anyone who considers themselves in the bounds of normality feels about annual appraisals. Actually shuddered as I read Lucy Kellaway's bit. #r4today

Imagine giving millions to a man who feeds starving victims of wars and disasters instead of to domestic terrorists who ransacked the Capitol and smeared their feces on its walls! Donald Trump *hates* Stephen Colbert but is the opposite of Colbert when it comes to kindness and intelligence.

Amazing. #Chicago

offering to you, as a present, the fact that in Nantes we have a high school called La Perverie which we used to refer to as "La Perv", you're welcome

And yet it will be Reform supporters who are unhappiest today, after net immigration falls to the lowest level since 2021 (and is heading to net emigration). Go figure. #r4today

By luck I’m in Paris on 4 June so will go to whatever we’re supposed to call a Bluesky meetup. Tweetup was a good name. Anyway whatever it is I’ll be at this for at least part of it 🙂

Reform are again saying this. BBC were clear it is a drop in immigration today. Broadcasters should challenge/correct inaccurate versions of claims the fall is about emigration

🤬🤬🤬

Things BBC News has talked about since 2015 while also agreeing that no one is allowed to talk about immigration without being called racist: 2015-2020 Immigration 2020-2022 COVID 2022-202n Immigration AND Refugees #r4today

What the government is doing to trans people is a society-wide version of Section 28. It is a level of bureaucratic cruelty that utterly decimates a whole group of people’s rights and puts anyone who doesn’t ‘look’ right in the eyes of others under constant surveillance. It’s a horrific thing.