Sometimes I miss random niceness, when I visit my nephew in Shropshire there is an obvious difference, people just seem friendlier. Local bus driver snapped because I don't have tap to pay, Shrewsbury bus driver pulled up to see if I needed directions because "I looked a bit lost." 1/2

Narrator: in fact, he had quite a lot of cards.

BREAKING: New data shows ZERO oil tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz today, signaling what appears to be a complete shutdown of the Strait for the first time in history. The Strait normally carries about 20% of the world’s oil supply.

No Cards, huh?

If you're going to fall off a roof make sure you land on something soft like your head. Better still identify a piece of soft vegetation such as a patch of nettles to cushion the impact. #ClumsyOaf

Point 21 is the giveaway, some cultures produce "wonders," others are "regressive and harmful." Once you accept that hierarchy, you've quietly been given permission to apply different standards of verification to different actors. The form of verification stays, but the democratic function doesn't.

19th April 2026 06.45

People of colour are tired of everyone pussyfooting around the reason why so many right-wing demagogues have gotten traction in the past decade. Racism. Racism in schools & at home. Racism in public & in private. Racism in the news & on the streets. And we're tired of bullshit excuses for it.

Still going.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Straits of Hormuz illusion. Open, closed...closed, open"

Burying the cables has a significantly bigger ecological impact than pylons. Hundreds of kilometres getting dug up, and the corridor having to be kept clear and effectively barren. But the greens don’t care about ecological impact if it means they don’t see pylons

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez: “Here in Spain, we are approving and advancing a process to regularise half a million immigrants. “And I want to say to the Right and the Far Right who oppose this: Spain is the daughter of migration and will not become the mother of xenophobia.”

MEMO TO ALL STRAIT OF HORMUZ CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE OUR OPENING HOURS: MONDAY - FRIDAY: 9.30AM - 4PM.

Happy birthday to Bez. Here are Happy Mondays performing Wrote For Luck in NYC in 1990. Watch their Call The Cops tour film in full at youtu.be/NA0qK-bdmlk

This is a dance off. If you see this, repost a dance, or you’re eliminated

I make this point in tomorrow’s paper: ultimately the vetting process should not override “the sitting PM wants to make an obviously disastrous choice”. That’s not what process should be for!

honestly, anyone with two brain cells to rub together should have seen that Mandelson is absolute kryptonite and should never have been touched with a 10ft disinfected barge pole

“Of course in the old days Bluesky was only on for three hours a day. We used to get dressed up in our Sunday best to log on to it. Then when it shut down again we’d all stand up and sing the national anthem”

Surely it can't be this Oli Robbins? bsky.app/profile/huge...

Deputy heads are going to roll.

The buck stops..down there

If it was an FCO official, imo, it’s a sackable offense. If it was a Minister, it’s a resigning matter.

This is gobsmacking, if true. Surely no FCDO official would have the temerity to issue an override for an appointment of this significance? But if indeed it was not referred to No 10, why the hell not? A massive breakdown in process, or of judgement, or both! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

really do not think the actual lesson of 2024 has been internalized very well: americans will elect hitler if burgar price too high

What's so funny about this is that the TERF worldview literally can't function without 'We can always tell' baked in. And the fact is... it's just not true. Literally, you very often *can't* tell at all if someone is trans or not. They never have an answer to this that isn't evasion or stupidity

Sunder's thread here is great, but I think "why has the government failed to communicate immigration has fallen?" Is downstream of "the government has chosen to behave as if immigration hasn't fallen."

Sharon Osbourne is a Tommy Robinson supporter. Tommy Robinson was quoted in a video uploaded to Instagram under the account GauciReports, with details of the planned ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march to be held on 16 May 2026. “See you at the march.” was Sharon Osbourne's reply. www.nme.com/news/tv/shar...

Zelensky just out with a long comment after the latest Ramstein meeting. Optimistic and gives thanks to many partners. Not a single mention of the US helping Ukraine. The Ukrainians are not hiding the fact that the US is no longer their friend.

As of 16:45 BST today, wind is providing one third of all UK energy - and the wind is free. www.energydashboard.co.uk/live

Say "weak on crime" again. I dare you.

The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world.

right I have wifi again - here was Budapest just now - at quarter past midnight!

Bad night for Nige

The end of Orban has been greeted with chants of "Russia go home". It is an irony that this was the sentiment which launched Orban into politics in June 1989, speaking at the reburial of Imre Nagy, the Hungarian Prime Minister of 1956, executed in 1958 theorangefiles.hu/2013/06/20/f...

All the worst cunts in the world - from journalism to politics, the Kermlin to the White House - are suffering tonight.

It's not just that Orbán losing inspires hope in other competitive-autocratic countries ruled by right-wing nationalist authoritarians. It's that his loss materially changes things in those other countries, because he's been operating as a headquarters and funding source...

The world is still in a very precarious state but there’s a whiff of a change in the air, isn’t there? The bad guys are not having things all their own way. Also looking at Ukraine.

Also, a special congrats to Chinless Nazi Care Bear, JD Vance, who managed to actually COST Orbán a reported three points with his visit. Well played, couchfucker.

Orban is not conceding because he's honourable. He's conceding because his defeat is so comprehensive even he can't pretend he won.

This result was inevitable once Viktor Orbán went woke, by Matt Goodwin for The Free Press.

The illiberals do not always win.

Tonight I'm thinking of the many Hungarians I've met over the years - many of them abroad against their wishes, many of them queer - who haven't stopped fighting, for sixteen years. For most of us, Orbán was an on-and-off nuisance on TV - at best. For them, he was a constant nightmare.

Kemi Badenoch! Roger Scruton! MattGPT! Bari Weiss! Rod Dreher! Jair Bolsanaro! Howard from the Halifax adverts! JD Vance? You hear me JD Vance? Your boy took a hell of a beating! Your boy took a hell of a beating!

My Spring to do list by JD Vance 1. Prevent Iran war 2. Negotiate end to Iran war 3. Reelect Viktor Orbán

apt

PSA Back in the days of Brexit there was this joke reply to the boast that we held all the cards: "EU lays down a royal flush. UK looks at own cards: Mr Bun the Baker, Pikachu, a Shadowmage, a fireball spell, and the Fool" Often (mis)attributed to me, it was by @johnnypixels.bsky.social

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot : "Je n'étais pas prévue sur cette course. Quand j'ai su que son papa (à Vos) était décédé, j'ai demandé à l'équipe de faire la course pour l'aider. J'ai passé pas mal de temps avec la famille Vos, c'était une façon de lui dire au revoir." #ParisRoubaix

Wout takes the win. What a finish! An epic race!🎩 #ParisRoubaix #CouchPeloton #Procycling