Do I know anyone who’s F L U E N T in Scottish Gaelic? I have a phonetics question regarding a beguiling water spirit character name that I’ve created and I want it to sound authentic. #ScottishGaelic

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wtf

m.youtube.com/watch?v=O7xu... #Cuba

“Starmer's Government followed a plan... to tack hard to the right to chase Reform on immigration, bigotry towards trans people and, weirdly, flag-shagging. This so upset its voters that they got up and left, going to the Green party or just staying at home.” #Farage #Starmer #Labour #Transphobia

Burnham is claiming that the wholesale destruction of the UK's manufacturing base – planned and executed by the Tories in the 80s – can be wholly or partially reversed. It can't. Farage does the same, despite supporting the Thatcher project at the time, and selling Brexit which made it worse #Brexit

Spookily reminiscent of Operation Himmler which was designed to create the appearance of Polish aggression in order to justify the German invasion of Poland.

The plot to end Scotland's Independence “Daniel Defoe, the writer of 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Moll Flanders', was a spy in Scotland in the early 1700s, sending information to England, to help England end Scottish independence...” www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... #Scotland #Alba #History #Literature

If he gets into a Burnham cabinet, the off-the-record briefings will start within a fortnight.

Charting human migration over deep time (via outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.org/media/2013-0...)

If you think we need a better voting system, please consider supporting @makevotesmatter.bsky.social makevotesmatter.org.uk/2026-wake-up...

There are 4 health ministers in the UK, this man is the new one for England. 11 million people in the UK do not live in England. Every day, coverage like this ignores the fact that Wales, Scotland and NI exist, and presents England as the UK, and the UK as England. @thatsdevolved.bsky.social

Journalists abroad use obvious words that UK journalists don't dare to or which, thanks to exceptionalism, don't occur to them.

Today is Nakba Day. You cannot understand what lies at the heart of conflict in the Middle East unless you understand what happened to 85% of Palestinians in 1948. Here Eugene Rogan explains how hundred of thousands ended up as homeless refugees in Gaza

“Why don’t you send the smuggler gangs and put them on the barge that has been set aside for the asylum seekers, and then ship the barge up to the north of Scotland for all I… you know, who cares?” - Josh Simons #Labour #Scotland www.holyrood.com/news/view,pu...

More than 20 MSPs were sworn in to the Scottish Parliament after saying their oaths and affirmations in languages such as Gaelic, Mandarin, Shetlandic, French and Scots. Here's a full list of the 15 languages MSPs spoke while swearing in🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

For every Milliband there is an equal and opposite Milliband

This is the kind of niche facts you like @harrymcnally.bsky.social

Why stop there? Just bring Mandelson back on board and he'll be PM for another decade

And they won the two wards that are partially in the Makerfield parliamentary constituency as well.

As Helen Lewis's views on trans people are indistinguishable from those of the ghoulish American right-wing fanatics she writes about in the piece below, maybe the experience will have prompted some self-reflection on her part. But I doubt it. #transphobia

Hubristic demands from Labour people already that the Greens should not stand — or at least not campaign hard — in the by-election that Labour politicians have *chosen* to inflict on voters, or in the possible subsequent mayoral election in Manchester. #Starmer #Labour #AndyBurnham

When Democracy for Sale started publishing stories about how Labour Together under then minister Josh Simons hired a lobby firm to investigate journalists I *really* couldn’t have foreseen this…

Robert Jenrick's wife was warned that his campaign had accepted an unlawful donation of almost £40,000 from a convicted American fraudster, according to the Times. Police are investigating allegations that Jenrick's campaign illegally funneled the money to his campaign via a UK-based company

Survation today showed what any member could tell you, but Wes boosting polcorrs seemingly don't want to hear. In a head-to-head with Starmer, WS would get under a quarter of the vote, Starmer more than half. Streeting would lose to Burnham by 53 points, Miliband by 28 points, Rayner by 25 points.

People are laughing at the idea of Burnham running in either the Aberdeen or Dundee by-elections (triggered by Scottish results) but what if he simply switched to SNP? 1) join SNP 2) win seat (either is fine) 3) switch back to Labour 4) become PM This is what 4D chess looks like - make me a spad.

Gonna be getting a LOT of mileage out of this in coming weeks...

Interesting that a Labour MP sitting behind Keir Starmer in the commons right now has a copy of "The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Labour Together, and the Crisis of British Democracy" by Paul Holden, in their hands..

The "heart of Europe rhetoric” is very different from the reality: “Starmer retains a commitment to ‌red ⁠lines that Britain will not return to the EU's single market or customs union, and will not restore freedom of movement”

Mahmood has learned absolutely nothing from the local election results.

Ok.

Like many people, I knew Wes Streeting when we were both involved in student politics. He’s always been mega-impressive, in the sense that he has always been able to impress whoever he needed to, by working out what they wanted to hear, and saying it.

This individual is best known for mocking people with cerebral palsy and vile comments about women. When speaking off-the-record, his own colleagues call him a clown. So he's been made 'chief of staff'.

Three unionist politicians, one SNP, no Green representative, and a person from the Spectator bussed up from London in their place. #BBC

Is it accurate to describe this as the majority indepence block flanked on one side by centrist Scottish unionists, and on the other side by very right-wing anglo-centric British nationalists?

Best description of Streeting ever.

This remarkable colour photograph of hot air balloons at the inaugural Paris Air Show was taken in 1909 by Léon Gimpel, using the Autochrome Lumière process, the first commercial process for colour photography

This is false. Every other week was “you can have no border, a border in the Irish Sea, or a border on the island of Ireland. Please pick one”.

It is remarkable what happens when you #TaxTheRich

ikey. That’s an average of nearly 20 posts an hour. About One every 3 minutes. 😵‍💫🤪

I met Wes Streeting when we were both at university. It was apparent then that he had the mad-eyed desire to be Prime Minister. That is precisely why he absolutely should not be.

You could see this as trivial, and on it's own it would be. But it's a 100 times a day, every day. The disregard for Wales, Scotland and NI across the entire political and media class based in England is corrosive.

Usually I write about human rights, children's rights, cases, campaigns. Today, I've written about something far more personal. www.thejournal.ie/readme/grief... @thejournal.ie

The Daily Star have bought another lettuce 👀

Convincing people that the Polish family at the end of the road are a bigger problem than their own health is quiet an achievement.

More than one in five people in what we are persistently told is the fifth or sixth country in the world.

In other news, the government today announced 26 life peerages for hereditary peers, including for one Duke, three Earls, and three Viscounts. Such is the break with the status quo. www.gov.uk/government/n...

While the Labour Party is divided over his future, just 11% of Britons believe Keir Starmer has been a great or even good prime minister so far Great/good PM: 11% Average PM: 25% Poor/terrible PM: 58% 2024 Labour voters Great/good PM: 22% Average PM: 36% Poor/terrible PM: 36%

It's been 16 months since I left X, and I feel so much better for it. I hadn't realised just how big an impact the daily tsunami of hate, trolling, sealioning and strategic incomprehension was having on my state of mind. I cannot understand why anyone who values their mental health is still there.