Yupp, what Cathal Malone says here...

Is this for real? The Security people let her get that far into her speech before taking action? Somehow, I suspect the actual security guys weren't unsympathetic to the message...

Worth reading from Karen Attiah if you want to see what is really meant in practice by the punishment of those who 'mocked' the death of Charlie Kirk. It appears that the meaning of 'mocking' has been changed to simply not being prepared to bow down in adulation of the dead.

Reform UK the next government? Read on about their attempts to run a county council...

So we might as well not have bothered having a General Election in the UK last year at all then, is that it? On the continuity in the pulling of the real levers of power in the UK, whether the government is Tory or Labour (and don't even think for a second that Reform would evict these guys...).

Well worth reading if you want to understand what currently passes for political debate in the UK. Yesterday, Nigel Farage embraced Lucy Connolly on stage at the Reform UK party conference. That should tell you a lot.

Once again, King Nigel is regarded as the only show in town in British media circles. No wonder we are facing up the potential nightmare of a Reform UK government.

Indeed... what he says.

Well worth clicking the link to read the full article here.

NEW Yes, an incoming illiberal and radical UK government would have absolute constitutional power By me Substack: emptycity.substack.com/p/yes-an-inc... Personal blog: davidallengreen.com/2025/08/yes-...

This text by Richard Haviland is now two years old, but it is as vital now as it was then. Our culture clearly has not listened to what he had to say about this (why listen to an intelligent and informed observer of the world with extensive experience of international politics rather than Farage?).

Yet another nail in the coffin of freedom of speech and thought in the UK: 'Auntie' Beeb will now become paternalistic Beeb, deciding what it is appropriate that we might know rather than allowing us to find out. A seriously retrograde move.

Well worth reading (and reposting) here... on how easy it is to become a racist.

Vile, utterly vile. Predictable, but vile. Those who have become inhuman themselves are doing their best to strip others of their most basic humanity.

Very regrettable - and deeply hypocritical: preserve the programme at home while saying that it is now redundant overseas. Not killing people though: we need more money for that!

A good question, but I think we all know the answer: nobody wants to be the one who dares to have to take responsibility for holding the hot potato.

What George Monbiot says... how the hell did Starmer allow things to get to this point of moral and anti-democratic obscenity?

Chilling.

An important discussion here... read on. (And I have no candle to burn for either Bob Vylan or Kneecap, since they were dragged into this fuss too, I should add.)

In which the President of the USA gave a desperate regime a nod and a wink to do as they see fit while arming them to the hilt, and then he tries to say 'nothing to do with us; the blame is with all those Iranians that we pick on constantly'. Very worrying indeed.

What Mike Galsworthy says here... but note how bored Trump looks with having to listen to what the leader of another country has to say about a big issue like the war in Ukraine.

Yesterday, in footage shown on mainstream TV, the Portuguese President forcibly manhandled a (peaceful) female protestor, in an attempt to shut her up. Why is this not a big issue in the Portuguese media this morning? Not least with the extreme (misogynist and racist) Right on the rise?

2/2... by Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett. The manuscript of this book dates back to the period of 1974-75 and has never previously appeared in English. If you wish to attend, there is a short form which you need to fill in: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

To all my friends in and around Lisbon: on June 17th at 7pm, Timothy Dale Walker and Daniela Melo will be at the British Council (Rua Luís Fernandes 1-3, 1249-062, Lisbon; sala 201) to launch a book entitled 'The Captains' Coup: From Dictatorship to Democracy in Portugal'... 1/2

We are getting the usual war of words over whether or not there was a mass killing at a food distribution site in Gaza yesterday. Believe the GHF (the only agency permitted in by Israel and with backing from the USA) or believe MSF? Sadly, I have to go with the latter. www.msf.org/dozens-pales...

Yes... well worth reading here (and, in spite of the headline and the picture, the article is not so much about the sad events in Liverpool the other day as about how people and the media collectively reacted to them.

De tudo o que Abril abriu ainda pouco se disse e só nos faltava agora que este Abril não se cumprisse. Só nos faltava que os cães viessem ferrar o dente na carne dos capitães que se arriscaram na frente. (Ary dos Santos) (Obrigado a @PereiraCarrilho no Twitter por estas palavras numa noite triste.)

The Lib Dems like to dress themselves up as the 'nice party'. But when it comes down to it: Brits first, Brits second, Brits third, and foreigners... out. It's no longer Tweedledum and Tweedledee. We now have Twiddledoh too.

'Sun-dimming technology': it sounds like something from a James Bond movie, doesn't it? But it actually sounds like it is a lot more serious than that. Please consider signing this petition if you are a UK citizen or resident. (And, if not, then at least take note!) www.change.org/p/stop-uk-su...

It's the maturity and generosity of spirit that we value more than anything else, isn't it?

Magnificent (the bridge and the tapestry representation of it).

Now they are intimidating the lawyers... 'don't take on clients that Trump doesn't approve of' is clearly the message. eu.freep.com/story/news/l...

Well worth reading in these perilous times...

You really need to add people like Orban of Hungary to this group (and maybe Javier Milei of Argentina), but the basic point is well made: these four people are all not just not backing Zelensky and Ukraine, but actively opposing him.

Another thing we can thank the Golden Gobshite for...

Is this for real? What is the worst aspect? The narcissistic personality cult? The sheer sickness of the bad taste exploitation of a major catastrophe? The blatant greed? The utter lack of cultural sensitivity? The implications of massive ecological damage?

Oh dear...

In which the Golden Gobshite attempts to act like John Wayne...

This is an important article for anyone who cares about the future of higher education in the era of the neo-Liberal academy.

Uma canalha anti-democratica na Assembleia da Republica ontem: o partido Chega a atribuir a culpa pelo seu proprio comportamento barbaro a todos menos a si mesmos. www.jn.pt/5583283323/v...

An important article here... and one which Keir Starmer himself might usefully read, after he declared on Wednesday that he would be seeking to 'correct' a court decision on asylum for a family from Gaza which he regarded as inconvenient.

Starmer is given an open goal at Prime Minister's Question Time to condemn the overt racism of the Tories, but, instead of calling out hypocrisy and double standards, he chooses to join in the game of 'I'm more racist than you are' by saying that people from Gaza don't count.

Going by that pattern, we can expect them maybe to win one trophy next season. Or maybe not. We shall see. Others just need to keep going about their own business.

Only the Daily Telegraph could present this concession to Trump and Musk as an acceptable sacrifice. 'Free speech' in the USA these days? Try teaching Black History, for example. Promoting racism? That's OK! I hope Starmer does not give in to this blatant blackmail.

In which Keir Starmer's pretend Labour Party decides once again to cave in to the Far Right. Argue the case against Racism, for goodness' sake. Don't break your electoral promises! Defend Human Rights!

Yes, an important message here for the eightieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Never heard of Roos Ulbricht? Maybe you need to... read on.

Hmm. Time to have a proper look at the finances of ReformUK, the privately-owned company masquerading as a political party? democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-black-...

Oh joy. After his direct perverting of the recent elections in the USA and his contacts with similarly dangerous populists like Bolsonaro in Brazil and Farage in the UK, Elon Musk (or, as I shall now call him Elephant Tusk) is turning his favours towards the neo-Nazi party in Germany, AfD.

Yes, a good point.