'My proudest moment in my job is when I got the job' is genuinely one of the funniest responses you can give to that question. What a clown.
Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 3w ago"In one of those final interviews, Sir Keir was asked for his proudest moment. He chose walking up Downing Street the day after the general election. It was winning for the sake of winning. Why he wanted the job, Britain never quite learned." - fantastic column by @duncanrobinson.bsky.social:
This is vile. Anyone who can stomach this judgement is disgusting and cannot be trusted. The courts need to stop deciding cases without a factual matrix which will destroy the lives of real people. We're only beginning to see the impact of FWS.
Elizabeth Taylor@elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 2mo agoFor Women Scotland won another case against the Scottish government, this time at Court of Session. Trans prisoners must now be housed in birth sex prison as a result of 2025 FWS. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2621030...
Somebody help me, I keep spending thousands of pounds on plane tickets to Jakarta. My family is starving.
mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2mo agowell def one of those posts that's inadvertantly revealing about the person posting it!
This is the kind of staggering incompetence you get when you have an equality watchdog that's not interested in equality.
Elizabeth Taylor@elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 2mo agoSarah Owen asks if there is a sanction on trans people for using 'wrong space'. Kirkpatrick: Law bears on service provider. Owen says but you just said its not on them to police toilets? Both Kirkpatrick and Stephenson floundering and contradictory
Here's a thread of all the reasons why this ban will not work: 1) It will not stop kids from using social media. It will be circumvented (as we've seen with the age verification rules) with VPNs. My favourite circumvention there was someone using Garry's Mod to get around the ban.
Fuck anyone saying "if this were happening to any other community" when it comes to anti rights backslides and threats to community events. We are all of us facing escalating hate crimes and all of us have been for a long time.
A lot of our discourse seems to assume that 1) these wrong beliefs somehow arise naturally and 2) politicians have a duty to behave as if these wrong beliefs are true. It saves asking questions about old and new media, or doing anything brave, but it’s rotting our society and economy.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 3mo agoMost of Britain thinks net migration is still rising — when it has actually fallen by more than three-quarters From our new 2026 @britishfuture.bsky.social study of public attitudes to immigration, published online here www.britishfuture.org/britain-thin...
Absolutely horrendous, and I thought adult social care was bad.
Ian Birrell@ianbirrell.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe dumping of at-risk children by local authorities in illegal homes symbolises a broken care system and grotesque state failure. My @unherd.com column on how vulnerable children became big business - with damaging consequences unherd.com/2026/05/how-...
A lot of people don't know, but 'democracy' actually comes from the Greek meaning 'power of 30%'.
Electoral Reform Society@electoralreform.bsky.social · 3mo agoFirst Past the Post is often dubbed a ‘winner takes all system’. But remarkably, it cannot even guarantee that the party with the most votes will win the most seats. This is what happened in Wandsworth, as the Conservatives managed to turn a second place in votes into the most seats on the council.
Can anyone who knows Morse code tell me what secret message he's blinking?
Peter Stefanovic@peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 3mo ago“I’m optimistic about the future… about Britains potential to succeed” Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones
Frustrated with the election pundits talking as if votes only 'swing' from one party to another. I did some analysis of the results, and my modelling (based on votes only, not polls) suggests that the largest movement since 2024 local elections (by a long way) is from 'Did Not Vote' -> Reform
This is what 'taking responsibility' actually looks like. Kier Starmer should follow her example.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 3mo agoEluned Morgan "I take responsibility" & stands down as Welsh leader. "The people of Wales rejected Welsh Labour" "I would like to congratulate Plaid on their momentous success" If they form next govt, "we all want Wales to succeed" On Reform gains: "Need to heed the anger, not feed the anger"
The conclusion "Reform won the seat from Lab therefore biggest vote swing is Lab to Reform" does not follow from this pattern. There are multiple vote flows here: Lab to Grn, Lab to abstain, Lab to Ref, Con to Ref, abstain to Ref...Lab to Ref is only one part of this, not typically the largest
Important data point here: “A sharp fall in Labour's performance is accompanied more often by an above average Green performance than it is by a strong Reform performance”. The Greens have already hurt Labour even before any direct gains.
An often overlooked point. Less politically engaged voters tend to have much more elastic political views/allegiances. A big part of the reason Reform is doing so well currently is they focused on one issue (immigration) and controlled the narrative around it. Most Reform voters aren't die-hards.
James Ball@jamesrball.com · 3mo agoVoters often don't work like pundits or activists think – the Green/Reform floating voter is very much real, even if not necessarily super common. (just like there were UKIP to Labour switchers in 2017, because some of them liked Jeremy Corbyn).
Statements that have now come to light from a handful of @TheGreenParty candidates are totally unacceptable & require immediate action. There’s no place for anti-semitism or any hate speech in the party. This is a society-wide problem & needs to be rooted out wherever it’s found
Many powers exist for protest conditions (location, timing) and for policing unlawful conduct on them (intimidation, harassment, proscribed orgs) - A high threshold to ban a specific event re public order - Almost certainly a disproportionate restriction on speech rights to ban any specific theme
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3mo agoFwiw I don't think protests should be banned. If people are doing illegal things on them they should be arrested under existed laws. Otherwise it's important to protect free speech.
A sobering reminder that the police are unable and unwilling to protect vulnerable people. They will abuse their power and then lie in court about it. This is not a matter of a couple of 'bad apples', it is two constabularies working together. We need more social workers instead.
BBC obtains Northamptonshire Police video of woman's arrest
Nadine Buzzard-Quashie speaks for first time about her
bbc.co.uk
There‘s no universe in which you can make this sort of claim without impacting on how actual victims of domestic violence are treated in the immigration system. Since Phillips isn’t an immigration minister it’s unclear how she could’ve “seen a growing number” of allegedly false applications
edith@edithcharles.bsky.social · 3mo agoI hate her so much
“We found two of the worst men in politics to replace one woman who was competently doing her job”
Ian Dunt@iandunt.bsky.social · 3mo agoMcSweeney: "We procured two strong candidate for [the PM]: One was Mandelson and the other was George Osborne." Christ above. What did the weak candidates look like.
Can't believe there might be a place in AI for massively overconfident self-proclaimed geniuses who believe you can data-logic your way through any complex societal problem if you just reject complexity, empathy, morality and legality as obsolete weaknesses.
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3mo agoIt's v interesting that Cummings, Liam Booth-Smith (Sunak's Chief of Staff) and now McSweeney are all working in or planning to work in AI. As well as Osborne and Sunak.
I've just seen this gem in Mayor Perry's re-election material. Truly astonishing lack of shame.
Inside Croydon@insidecroydon.bsky.social · 5mo agoHigh Court judge orders end to Croydon's 'unlawful' LTNs insidecroydon.com/2026/03/05/h... #Croydon #CroydonInCrisis #LTNs @privateeyenews.bsky.social @rosslydall.bsky.social @itvnews.bsky.social
How can it be that The Independent heard Mandelson failed the vetting in September 2025 (and raised it with No 10 for comment), but the Prime Minister only found out about it on Tuesday? This might be the worst attempt at a coverup I've ever seen.
Peter Stefanovic@peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 4mo agoFor context this is an article from 12 September 2025 “Concerns Mandelson did not pass MI6 vetting for US ambassador role – but Starmer appointed him anyway” “Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China”
