Rob hints at this but it’s worth reiterating that a major failure of the Starmer government was their inability to convey a consistent antiracist message or uphold norms. They confused anger about ‘the boats’ with generalised racism and since they couldn’t denounce the former they avoided the latter

Rob Ford@robfordmancs.bsky.social · yesterday

This is what happens when anti-racism norms erode, and elites bear a lot of the responsibility for norm erosion, as they have disproportionate power to set and enforce norms

Here are the stupidest things Kemi Badenoch has said so far today inews.co.uk/opinion/kemi...

🗺️ NEW EPISODE 🗺️ Europe is secretly at war… in 34 disputed territories where rival nations face off over the same land. 🗺️ Foreign corr and author @hannahluci.bsky.social talks dangerous border hotspots with king of the wild frontiers @jonnelledge.bsky.social 🗺️ Listen linktr.ee/bunker_pod

a podcast in which, for once, I am interviewing rather than merely acting as a source of unsolicited opinions and dumb jokes! fascinsting conversation about a fascinating book

The Bunker podcast – News without the nonsense@bunkerpod.bsky.social · 9h ago

🗺️ NEW EPISODE 🗺️ Europe is secretly at war… in 34 disputed territories where rival nations face off over the same land. 🗺️ Foreign corr and author @hannahluci.bsky.social talks dangerous border hotspots with king of the wild frontiers @jonnelledge.bsky.social 🗺️ Listen linktr.ee/bunker_pod

So, yeah, about that appropriate level of contrition... (took a screenshot to get everything into one post; link to @jamesdaustin.bsky.social's post before)

Amos@amosduveen.bsky.social · 22h ago

So, yes, the ex neo-Nazi should be able to stand. Equally, residents are entitled to know about his past & expect him to demonstrate an appropriate level* of contrition & personal growth. * Voters are also entitled to take the view that no level could ever be appropriate. That's his bed to lie in.

I was open-minded on this at first. I do believe in repentance, I think people can change, & I could see the logic of giving someone who was trying to do better a chance in local govt. But the evidence suggest that the abusive, persecutory mode of politics hasn't changed. He's just switched targets

James Austin@jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 10h ago

I'll be honest: I'd buy this a lot more if his main outlet wasn't abusively attacking opposition politicians via AI slop in ways which obviously nod to other forms of prejudice.

We should respond to that trauma with compassion, but we should not validate the prejudice by treating an innocent person as a threat. Compassion for someone’s trauma cannot mean making an innocent minority carry the guilt of the person who harmed them. 2/2

Re yourl changing room example @mrjamesob.bsky.social : A penis is not inherently a weapon. A survivor of sexual violence may understandably experience fear on seeing one, just a person traumatised by an Islamist attack might feel afraid of a stranger wearing a burqa. @lbc.co.uk #lbc 1/

@nohostages.bsky.social · 9h ago

This debate goes nowhere, @mrjamesob.bsky.social, because Britain refuses to look beyond itself. Countries with trans-inclusive laws have not seen increased violence against women. Sincere fears are not the same as legitimate concerns. 1/2 @lbc.co.uk #lbc

I really like the phrasing of "Sincere fears are not the same as legitimate concerns." The fact that it acknowledges the actual discomfort some women will feel in some situations without conceding the ground or minimising entirely genuine feelings. The point is you can't let any one side dictate...

@nohostages.bsky.social · 9h ago

This debate goes nowhere, @mrjamesob.bsky.social, because Britain refuses to look beyond itself. Countries with trans-inclusive laws have not seen increased violence against women. Sincere fears are not the same as legitimate concerns. 1/2 @lbc.co.uk #lbc

There a million things wrong with the EHRC guidance, as you all know, but for me the weirdest thing about it all is that its authors don't even seem to be aware of the possibility that someone asked to leave a "single sex" facility might refuse.

I’m so furious that we’re in a situation where now everybody in the world has to check their own behaviour, be on their guard in public and be suspicious of anyone wearing glasses, in case they’re being filmed by a pervert. All because Mark Zuckerberg is a greedy creep

Ruth Watson@ruthwatson.eurosky.social · yesterday

Pervert glasses should be banned from general use.

Interesting read and I know that Russ's wit relies on a level of simplification to work but I don't think this is a story about a spreadsheet error. It's a story about motivated reasoning. What made serious politicians take the word of one outlying study over decades of real world outcomes?

Russ Jones@russincheshire.bsky.social · 20h ago

My latest on Substack (free). How one incredibly stupid Excel error broke Britain. russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spread...

Only just catching up with @mrjamesob.bsky.social's show. The 2nd hour on Badenoch and the ex neo-Nazi is painful. Badenoch's *words* are fine but her actions tell a very different story (notably her criticism of Haigh). The difficulty with taking her words at face value is the blatant hypocrisy.

I think I hear thunder outside in the distance somewhere!

Man's Excited Anticipation

Alt: Man's Excited Anticipation

static.klipy.com

There is a danger that by arguing the amount, we end up conceding the framing. Britain's welfare is ungenerous, the spend in total is mid-to-low table, and below past peaks. Benefits need reforming because they're unfit for purpose and trap, instead of enabling people. Not to make fantasy savings.

I think the question has to be "what are you trying to conserve?" to which the answer remains the same: privilege, power, and inequality. Historically, that meant supporting institutions and heel-dragging when it came to equality and redistribution. What's changed is that institutions now...

James Ball@jamesrball.com · yesterday

You are also, fundamentally, just *not* the Conservative Party any more. You're just a new party wearing its clothes. Yes, the tory party evolves over time but...evolution not revolution, and all that.

Does she realise Dunkirk wouldn't have even been possible if French forces had surrendered as opposed to fighting a rearguard action which allowed the BEF to assemble in Dunkirk and the evacuation flotilla to be formed?

Roland Smith@rolandmcs.bsky.social · yesterday

The war. It always comes back to the war. That happened long before they were born.

I wish credulous idiots had not made this thread necessary ...but here we are. 🤷‍♂️

Ash Oro@ashoro.co.uk · 2d ago

1/13 I have spent the last few days analysing proposals to use the Royal Navy to intercept small boats in the English Channel. Most discussion has focused on immigration policy or the ECHR. I think there is a more fundamental maritime question that has barely been asked. #MaritimeSecurity

Shout it from the rooftops

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 2d ago

Finally, there's an *economic* coin-trick: "AI will destroy jobs." Sure, yes, AI is destroying jobs. But there's a vast difference between "You got fired because an AI can do your job" and "You got fired because your boss was convinced that the AI can do your job, even though it *cannot*." 45/

Long 🧵 but well worth the read. The point about differences in process being important, despite similar outcomes, cuts right to the heart of that niggle in my thinking I just haven't been able to shake off.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 2d ago

The greatest magic trick of them all is *lying*. The reason you can't figure out that coin vanish even after the conjurer performs it three times in a row is that they *didn't* do the same trick three times in a row! 1/

Rod Liddle was very much like Marmite, in that you wouldn’t want him on your television screen, radio, or newspaper.

Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.

It absolutely boggles my mind as a South African that I am living through a drought in the United Kingdom. Like, how? We have what feels like pretty much non-stop rain most of the year - the country is rather known for it. Yet here we are, with the countryside looking like the Free State in (1)

Farrukh@implausibleblog.bsky.social · 3d ago

BBC News reporting on concerns about food security and water security We can all see the food and water crisis unfolding, why isn't our government doing everything possible to protect these two precious resources, our food and water supply?

I hope to live my life in such a way that no one celebrates my passing.

Doing Origin Story reveals a few core narratives in history. One is: "This thing didn't really matter until right-wing journalists and activists twisted it into a moral panic that destroyed people's lives for no good reason and then moved on"

Why is the public confused about wealth taxes and climate change? Because for 40+ years, lobby groups and think tanks have been paid to confuse them. And it started with Thatcher pulling off one of the greatest financial cons in modern history. 🧵 @mrjamesob.bsky.social @lbc.co.uk

I Am Incorrigible@imincorrigible.bsky.social · 2d ago

We have all been gaslit by the lobbyists, the "merchants of doubt", whose while raisin d'etre is to sow uncertainty in the publicind about things that would otherwise be easy, evidence based arguments to make. @mrjamesob.bsky.social @lbc.co.uk bsky.app/profile/imin...

Loving the fact that @mrjamesob.bsky.social is going to be asking the question once been banging on about for years!

Amos@amosduveen.bsky.social · 3w ago

Riffing off this reply. What *should* the purpose of education be? There's a persistent idea that education should prepare the next generation for the workplace. That is such a bleak analysis driven by purely economic imperatives. Fortunately, our education system has retained a sense that...

Definitely something to be said for this analysis. Also worth remembering that locking down hard and early leads to shorter durations and faster recovery ...but we got the polar opposite: late and lax lockdowns leading to longer durations and slower recovery.

Small Robots@smolrobots.bsky.social · 3d ago

Anyway, everything that people rightly lay at the feet of lockdowns for COVID mitigation is not actually a problem inherent to lockdowns themselves, but caused by the declining level of support the government provided for us as they continued because they were ideologically opposed to them.

On the flip side, Lewis is now recieving a crash course in epidemiology for free... 🤷‍♂️

The News Agents@thenewsagents.co.uk · 5d ago

“I’m glad we live in a country that is deferential to expertise - but at times in the pandemic, that did go too far.” “I’m not sure school closures were a price worth paying.” Lewis on how ‘legitimate questions’ have emerged - and should be asked - about how we handled Covid.

Badenoch in the Telegraph today: "scepticism at net zero policy is not the same as climate change denial." She then spends 1,200 words doing exactly that, blaming net zero for high energy prices and arguing Britain is closing North Sea production needlessly. Thread. 🧵