Where’s Andy Burnham going?

"We were sailing and to be fair, we were the stand-on vessel, we actually had right of way, but we weren’t going to argue with a warship.” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The irony is he went on to speak eloquently about how the Government is neglecting the nature of modern warfare, and saying the current approach is stuck in the past.

One detail in this fascinating BBC investigation into the Russia-instigated attack on Keir Starmer's home is the way it shows, in passing but very clearly, that Tommy Robinson is to all intents and purposes a Russian asset. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Massive fan of Major Tom being played after Germany has scored. Probably best known in the UK as Deutschland 83/86/89's brilliant theme song.

Had to rewind. This is so funny

Great BBC opening montage for the World Cup game in Canada, complete with a splash of Saturday Night's Main Event-style backing music.

The lengths some people will go to object to the Defence Investment Plan

Of course Newsnight have booked Barry Gardiner for tonight's show. He must proverbially sit by the phone on days like this for the Government.

Years ago a World Cup game with three red cards would go down in history as 'The Battle of the Azteca'. Not quite sure those red cards justify that tag. Great fun, as a game goes nevertheless.

Aberystwyth University Interpol graduate Dan Jarvis appointed Defence Secretary. All of the best people studied it.

It’s not dark yet…but it’s getting there.

When I meet people in the real world, they have 0% - and I mean zero - knowledge of the disaster unfolding in British HE. Even if their kids are actually at uni. They look at me as if I've gone mad. This is why. 👇

It’s 15C in the Antarctic in winter. 15C.

Suspended Labour peer Lord Matthew Doyle is due to speak in the House of Lords tonight for the first time since his links to a convicted sex offender were reported in February.

In the Lords earlier - a Home Office minister has denied reports China had put a tracking device on a prime ministerial car in 2022. "No evidence" was found, Lord Hanson said. This is despite a claim by a former diplomat to a select committee yesterday.

This sounds utterly hellish, and completely depressing.

My colleague @hannahalothman.bsky.social is in Belfast tonight. This is what she’s seen. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

"West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been banned from having contact with the club's women's and youth teams for the last three years because of safeguarding concerns... The restrictions were not made public..." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In his first interview since being kicked out of the US, FIFA referee Omar Artan tells’s the NYT’s Matt Bigg that the biggest dream of his professional life has been shattered. The World Cup ref was questioned for 11 hours, held in a cell and then dumped on a plane. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/w...

No surprise of course, but this is a pathetic response. FIFA should be reminding the US of the commitment they made when they bid for this World Cup.

If you had to make me guess which cabinet minister would use the words "fun police" regardless, I'd have still guessed Steve Reed.

Finally caught up with the final episode of #Rivals before the break. You can tell former Eastenders' exec Dominic Treadwell-Collins is involved, because it was basically an Eastenders Christmas special but in the Cotswolds.

NEW On Monday, the father of murdered teenager Henry Nowak asked for restraint: " We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.” Hours later, Elon Musk and America's far-right were exploiting the death to push anti-white racism www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

X is currently full of posts falsely naming Christi Hill and another officer as having arrested Henry Nowak. One names and pictures the other PC, saying, "Wanted: dead or alive". It gives his address. What more exactly will it take to get UK MPs, ministers and departments off that hellsite?

Leaked messages show how Lime has quietly removed speed restrictions in London's parks and pedestrian areas for Deliveroo riders in a bid to win them over to its service. www.londoncentric.media/p/lime-bike-...

The glorious celebration of journalism that is the Paul Foot Awards feat. the exceptionally worthy shortlist being celebrated by Ian Hislop and the winner, @petergeoghegan.bsky.social for Democracy For Sale’s brilliant work exposing Labour Together

Not the box office viewing of the day, but Tory shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew has just spent the last ten minutes in a baffling meandering metaphor combined with several hypothetical scenarios. I'm not sure this is what is meant by parliamentary theatre

telly recommendation: Legends (The Steve Coogan thing) (It's very good)

Rivals really is the best thing on TV at the moment. So rich, so funny and rarely a wasted scene.

Such good fun to see Blackstock Road closed for one long street party. Litter aside, would be fun if it became an annual thing (Arsenal titles pending). A lovely and lively atmosphere.

Peter Murrell bought 108 toilet rolls just hours before then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned the public against panic buying during the Covid pandemic.

This Sonny Rollins set which BBC Four have unearthed is absolutely banging.

funny part about this posturing is that Reform's 2024 voters are the least likely of any party's to regularly attend church

Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson announces cancer has returned www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Updated: Hottest May days at #London Heathrow (1948-2026) and we’re not totally done yet. Historic! 35C 26th May 2026 *new* 34.4C 25th May 2026 *new* 32.1C 24th May 2026 *new* 32C 28th May 2026 *new* 31.7C 25th May 1953 30.7C 27th May 2005 29.7C 23rd May 2026 *new* (1/2)

This week in politics has been one of the most hopeful I can remember, I find it genuinely uplifting that senior people in Labour are actually grappling with what the believe in public. Long may the essay writing continue. open.substack.com/pub/keirstar...

Nearly as many Tory voters from 2024 think Reform are the main party on the right of British politics as they do the Conservatives. Reform now main party on right of British politics, poll finds www.the-independent.com/news/uk/home...

Birth rate falls to lowest level in half a century

In his latest political intervention Blair continues to flag his dislike of transparency, as pushed famously in his autobiography. State transparency doesn't prevent efficacy. It enables it, cutting waste and allowing us to identify what is going wrong before it blows up.

This is a fascinating read about the life and times of Roly Gregoire www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Probably the most detailed response by a Government minister to Tony Blair's essay. Some interesting and nuanced insights

If I was Tony Blair I don't know if I'd have picked a week when the UK population was melting from record temperatures to call on the UK Gov to move back towards fossil fuels

"I always used to say when I was Prime Minister the greatest source of election-losing advice was the Guardian". Tony Blair on Radio 4, still not over been told off by Polly Toynbee in 2001

Think @peterwalker99.bsky.social has captured my thoughts perfectly from when I read Blair's essay earlier. Not sure it helps Labour, or anybody in it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This via r/LondonFood is very cool ❄️ Someone has scraped the UK government's register of air conditioning inspection reports for commercial premises and created a database of London's cafes, pubs and restaurants with AC:

Very lightly edited for space from this excellent 2020 NYT interview. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Sonny Rollins on playing with the Stones. "I didn’t relate to them because I thought they were just derivative of black blues. I remember I was in the supermarket in New York... I heard this song and thought, Who’s that guy? His playing struck a chord in me. Then I said, “Wait a minute, that’s me!”

Ultimately this is the most important story in British politics and much of the world - the Iran war is putting pressure on real wages, which people will blame on the incumbent government.

One of the last of the pantheon of true giants has left us. A great originator. You do not learn jazz without learning Sonny Rollins. We’re lucky that we had him for so long, but the loss feels tremendous.