At a time of feverish speculation and hyperbole about the PM's position, the nation cries out for the calm objectivity of Chris Mason; and the BBC delivers.

If the UK government in London plunges into semi-permanent chaos, how does that help those in Scotland and Wales trying to make the case for staying in the Union?

Elon has apparently finally abandoned his 20 year long assertion that he was just about to build a city on Mars any day now :-)

It's important to remember we're not "all the same." Across Labour, there are hundreds of hardworking MPs, councillors and activists who are want to deliver change in their communities. We cannot let "Scandelson" get in the way of our values. Me on @bbclaurak.bsky.social this morning👇

This excellent post gets to the heart of Starmer's problems. But even more importantly, it reminds us how many British lives were lost in the pandemic as a result of the incompetence of the Johnson administration. Tens of thousands died needlessly. No, politicians are not all the same.

The system we have now quite literally embeds the income and wealth inequalities HE is supposed to alleviate. It is outrageous and incredible that a progressive govt could describe it in any way as “fair.” Too many senior politicians today think we have Plan 1 loans. They just don’t understand it.

A letter from Mr F arrives today, inviting me to vote Reform on 7 May. In it, he asserts that "immigration is out of control". Might one of our well-known TV journalists or commentators actually challenge him robustly about this lie, preferably before 7 May? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Remember the controversy when Obama was accused of intervening in UK politics? This is the current US government openly seeking to undermine liberal democracy in Europe.

Not what I voted Labour for (*adds another item to the list).

I still remember Welsh Labour people talking about how much smarter they were than Scottish Labour and how they'd never make the same mistakes

A gift to @plaidcymru.bsky.social in the run-up to the Senedd elections, and another clear indication that the Starmer administration (still less the Tories and Reform) does not care about Wales.

This. I'm not a BBC-basher but IMO Mason is a poor political journalist. It's not that he's 'biased' per se, it's that he reports politics as a kind of giggly spectator sport and as such is preoccupied with spectacle, talking up 'exciting' events rather than analysing them. 1/2

oh no not gavin williamson, the most beloved tory mp since er suella braverman, seriously is Kemi paying Farage for this service

There are at least 365 MPs with BlueSky accounts (a majority of 65!) acc to this @politicshome.bsky.social tracker, with 244 having posted on the site this month/since new year Labour 265 (65%) LibDem 61 (85%) Cons 6 (5%) Green 4 (100%) SNP 4 (44%) Plaid 2 (50%) Reform 0 (0%) mps.dowu.uk#parties

I am disappointed by today’s NEC decision and concerned about its potential impact on the important elections ahead of us. To whoever becomes Labour’s candidate and to our members in Manchester and Tameside: you will have my full support in this fight and I will be there whenever you need me. 1/2

Labour must reverse this decision if it is serious about putting country before party. We urge the party to reconsider in the interests of taking on Reform and building the strongest possible team in Westminster. Agree? Take action👇 actionnetwork.org/petitions/gu...

The media should cover sport the way they cover the state murder of civilians: ‘Jannik Sinner appeared to win the French Open yesterday after what supporters say was a comeback from being two sets down.’

Starmer's choices were both demonstrations of his weakness. This one comes with an impression of skullduggery & brazen fixes. It also runs a huge risk of handing the byelection to another party. The clock ticks, louder

As an ex-member (Islands of strangers) I do. Burnham is the most popular senior figure in the party among members (according to @labourlist.bsky.social). Tens (hundreds?) of thousands of members have left, including many key activists, and this makes it less likely they'll return. V disappointing.

WHO statement on notification of withdrawal of the United States WHO regrets the United States’ notification of withdrawal from WHO – a decision that makes both the United States and the world less safe. Full statement: bit.ly/46dT0HF

Watching this old man take a water bottle and slowly walk into a mist of tear gas is going to stay with me. Everything they do to make people scared empowers them all the more.

Emerging structural problem for the "stop Burnham" people is that they're all anonymous whereas all the "let him stand" people are identifiable people.

I have today written to the Chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee seeking permission to enter the selection process for a candidate for the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election. Read my letter here.👇🏻

Our debates on what next with Europe must not stay stuck in ideas and policies of past because the world has moved on since Brexit - and so have the British public. Join me making case for our future with Europe and for all options to be on the table in talks by joining @labour4europe.bsky.social

The guy should get a medal. He’s trashed Labour’s natural support base, sunk them to a distant second or third in the polls and made Starmer the most unpopular PM in history all for the grand reward of 0% of Reform voters switching to Labour. Quite an achievement.

This could be a big moment for Farage. His only comment so far has been insipid, saying that what Trump said was "not quite fair". I'm not sure that anything short of publicly repudiating his friendship with Trump will play well with many of his supporters. Meanwhile, Labour should press the bruise.

In Wales I saw many opportunities for 🇩🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 academic and business cooperation at universities and at Newport‘s Semiconductor Cluster. Around 80 🇩🇪 firms employ about 12k staff in Wales. These firms are looking for German speakers. Investing in MFL at universities is an investment in jobs and growth.

I don't think even American liberals and anti-Trump conservatives really understand how much work Trump's successors in Washington will need to do to restore European trust in the United States

14 of the 457 British armed forces who died in Afghanistan who according to Donald Trump; "stayed a little back, off the front lines"...

If we were a serious country, all of this stuff undermining our foundational & central roles in major international organizations would immediately end this presidency. But then, so would the fascism on the streets of Minneapolis. And the unprecedented corruption, & the...etc. etc.

My brother fought in the infantry and lost soldiers in Afghanistan. The press used to report deaths before families had been told and I would check my phone over and over, scared it would ring. I went to the inquest of one of his killed men. I saw his red-eyed parents, girlfriend and baby daughter.

Europe took on Trump — and won. Total surrender by Trump after he humiliated himself and the nation on the world stage.

"It is not clear what Trump meant". www.ruv.is/english/2026...

The Carney speech is v good. More generally, I think it’s important that the UK & EU recognise that this is a new world. And waiting for the mid-terms or 2028 and things to get back to ‘normal’ isn’t good enough. Need to build the capacity & resilience to be less reliant on the US for security.

This is such a powerful argument for the UK to rejoin the EU, or at least coordinate MUCH faster and closer with it (it's also an argument for Canada to join the EU, but that's a matter for them).

Still, she adopted the right approach to this issue for 24 hours, which must be a record.

Macron didn't concede anything in private messages to Trump, but the US Right is so high on delusional hubris that even basics of diplomatic back channels are useless as means to achieve stable outcomes. How do you de-escalate with a US government that is obsessed with performative escalation?

Iceland PM: Trump's Greenland conduct 'must be brought to an end' www.ruv.is/english/2026...

The ferocity with which the vile phrase “a biological male who identifies as a woman” is being embedded across multiple media in Britain is horrifying. It shows how quickly support for eliminationist attacks against trans and gender diverse people is being solidified

Emily Thornberry is right. But it's astonishing that Labour wasn't on this the instant they got into government. And they're STILL on X.

When are people going to be held accountable for the nonsense slop and puff they emit.

Macron: “No intimidation or threat will influence us—neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations. 1/2

Rare combative tone from Keir Starmer on the Trump tariffs tonight, as he stands up for Greenland/Denmark. "Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong. We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration."

If you listen very carefully, you can hear Charles de Gaulle screaming I BLOODY TOLD YOU SO from some rural French cemetery.

A massive "Hands off Greenland" protest is happening right now in Copenhagen to demonstrate against Trump's threats. "The aim is to send a clear and unified message of respect for Greenland's democracy," organisers said. “Respect for Greenland, respect for Greenlanders, respect for Denmark.”

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Artemis II—humankind's first crewed voyage to the moon in more than a half-century—is at last almost ready to launch, and NASA revealed some new details about the mission in a press conference earlier today. Check it out! www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

Incredibly, no-one on Nigel Farage’s team has got round to deleting this post. It’s still live as Robert Jenrick gives his big defection speech.

This is clearly depressing and radicalising in a way a tax wouldn't have been.

The Government staying on X is pathetic: Ministers need to show some moral backbone inews.co.uk/opinion/the-...