Patrick Andelic
@pkandelic.bsky.social
Historian of US liberalism, Congress, and the C20th Democratic Party. Trade unionist. Lanyard class warrior.
He was only briefly here - giving two lectures to North Shields anti-slavery society in 1846 - but it’s good to see Frederick Douglass celebrated, adding to the complex record of Shields’ history. www.bbc.com/news/article...
North Shields plaque for abolitionist Frederick Douglass unveiled
Frederick Douglass gave two lectures at North Shields in 1846, according to a local group.
bbc.com
"Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, recently appointed to the role by the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, meets Secretary of State Rubio in Washington" is one of those lines that would sound perfectly plausible to anyone in 2015, but explaining the intervening period would give them an aneurysm.
Credit to Badenoch, this was a totally unsurprising news alert until the final clause when my eyes popped out of my head like a cartoon character.
🎶 You stretched for the stars, And you know how it feels, To reach too high, Too far, too soon, You put a hole in the moon 🎶
The Independent@the-independent.com · 20h agoBREAKING | An out-of-control SpaceX rocket has collided with the Moon READ MORE: trib.al/mGkWuJh
“We’re allowing this former neo-Nazi to stand but only because local councillor is a fake job that we don’t respect.” Lol, top work, exceptional strategery.
Kevin Schofield@kevinschofied.bsky.social · 19h agoSerious mental gymnastics this morning from Kemi Badenoch of former neo-Nazi-turned-Tory-candidate Joshua Bonehill-Paine ... www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/kemi-b...
The Lib Dems are going to spend the rest of the parliament fretting about their lack of ‘cut through’ and then win 90+ seats in 2029.
Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 19h agoThat Joshua Bonehill-Paine is a suitable Tory candidate but Grant Shapps and Gavin Barwell have been excluded is quite a good indicator of how many seats the Tories will realistically regain at the next election.
“The president of International Federation of Sports Corruption, Bribery, and Graft gave us the most solemn implied promises!”
Nathan Kalman-Lamb@nkalamb.bsky.social · 2d agoThe US host cities for the 2026 men's World Cup claim that they were *verbally* promised $1 million each by Gianni Infantino and that FIFA hasn't paid up. Truly incredible stuff. www.nytimes.com/athletic/749...
LIB DEM: “I am nice and will fix the church roof.” CONSERVATIVE: “I am a former neo-Nazi.” Which message will resonate with voters?
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 2d agoOnly takes half a brain to see an ocean of possible support between the Lib Dems and Reform! That Reform keep moving Right and the LDs aren't firing on all cylinders! But Badenoch keeps moving Rightwards and vacating all that space... Political malpractice. 😡 www.thenewworld.co.uk/rats-in-a-sa...
Kemi did say she wants candidates with conviction. I just didn’t realise she meant for burglary, assault, inciting racial hatred, malicious communications, and racially-aggravated harassment.
Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 2d agoKemi Badenoch certainly seems to be advancing with her agenda to turn the Conservatives into Reform.
If it turns out he supports Net Zero, he’s gone.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2d agoFormer neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election
And after all of Mark Rutte’s grovelling and toadying.
FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · 2d agoTrump: Windmills, you lose your shirt. Any country with windmills is a loser
I recognise the specific context here but “Please, I need my car to meet criminals” is a very funny plea for leniency.
Unofficial BBCNews (UK) Bot@bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social · 2d agoAuthor Lynda La Plante banned from driving for six months
“Why, Swift and I are like peas in a pod. We’re both writers. We both recognised babies as a cheap and plentiful source of food. But my plan would have worked, damn it!”
Ian Fraser@ianfraser.bsky.social · 2d agoFormer Spectator editor Fraser Nelson: “Rod Liddle was the greatest satirist since Swift”. Sometimes, you wonder what planet these guys are on.
Many remembering Rod Liddle as a misogynist who accepted a caution for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, but we should also remember him for his posts on a Millwall forum claiming that black people were “ten percent thicker than whites” and complaining that he wasn’t allowed to smoke at Auschwitz.
It’s funny they’re getting themselves tangled in relitigating this when it’s just irrelevant to the rules. New MPs have to declare any interest that ‘others might reasonably consider to influence’ them received in the 12 months before becoming an MP. When Nige felt the calling again doesn’t matter.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3d agoFarage admits he discussed returning as Reform leader months earlier than previously stated
I don't think people are ready for this kind of joke yet.
Every painting of Dracula comes out slightly off, like a cartoon character on an ice cream van.
Anthony Oliveira@meakoopa.bsky.social · 3d agoI am going through Bram Stoker’s earliest notes on DRACULA today - they include a list of the powers and features of the Count (then named “Wampyr” before Stoker stumbled on “Dracula”), many of which are never elucidated in the book…
I’m not sure there’s a sentence that better encapsulates the trajectory of the American online right than “Laura Loomer is fending off accusations that she’s a transgendered Mossad spy.”
Seth Cotlar@sethcotlar.bsky.social · 3d agoMeanwhile Laura Loomer is fending off accusations that she’s a trans woman. Participating in right wing political discourse just melts people’s brains.
We’re assuming this is political, but there’s many good artistic and commercial reasons why a manager would want to stop their white client releasing an AI pro-Israel reggae track.
Seth Masket@smotus.bsky.social · 3d agoNow THAT's a headline
“He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought” is savage. I can almost hear Lady Bracknell saying it about her feckless nephew Algernon.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4d agoSen. John Kennedy on Trump's blatant reflecting pool lies: "The president says it was caused by vandals. I don't know if he really believes that or it's part of his political messaging or he's just thinking out loud ... he grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought."
Weird to be bodied so thoroughly by an author who died before the founding of NATO.
eileen chengyin chow@chowleen.bsky.social · 4d ago"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week." -Willa Cather (from The Professor's House, 1925)
“What is the charge? Leading a tour, a substantially fictional otter tour? This is zoology manifest.”
In Otter News@in-otter-news.bsky.social · 4d agoSounds like otter chaos.
Thinking through the unedifying, un-evidence-based rush to an undefined, apparently unmodelled paradigm of 'specialisation, what's being lost/threatened? Herts History was an excellent example of performing to a top standard in REF, but also much more than that. Questions to think with include: 1/4
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 4d agoSo it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)
“And, if anything, there’s too much island.”
Unofficial BBCNews (UK) Bot@bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social · 4d agoLove Island UK has a problem, say fans - 'there's not much love'
