What I love about Western democracy is you can bung a political party £ 36 million earned from criminal activity & most media will continue to point at asylum seekers & migrant care workers with families as the barbarians at the gate we need to defend ourselves from 🙄.

This is completely on Andy Burnham Last week Labour could have stopped this. Now we have a single person giving more money than the entire general election spending limit for a political party www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

Just copy & share everywhere please. Absolutely thumping.

A small number of MPs taking lucrative second jobs is giving all MPs a bad name. We're calling on the Government to take action on MPs' second jobs. Please sign our letter. secure.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/page/199569/...

MPs' Second Jobs

A small number of MPs taking lucrative second jobs is giving all MPs a bad name. We're calling on the Government to take action on MPs' second jobs. Please sign our letter.

secure.unlockdemocracy.org.uk

THIS is the story that needs to be amplified

Shadow Home Secretary@missfairhurst.bsky.social · last mo.

Especially when there is a much, much bigger and more concerning story about Cambridge University that the MSM are ignoring. www.bylinesupplement.com/p/palantir-c...

Arday found dead and a very large number of British commentators are deleting posts and videos.

worth saying this isn't just a British press problem, for some reason Arday was also written about extensively in mainstream national publications in the US and in France, among others, we really do have an entirely fucked up global media ecosystem

Jason Arday's utterly sad death holds a stark mirror up to the dehumanising political-media-societal culture we are in – one we must all be honest about being complicit in – which forgets there is a human being at the centre of a story, a case study, an issue, a scandal. It is dehumanising.

The Clacton byelection cost taxpayers a quarter of a million pounds. That is the cost of employing six NHS nurses for a year. Put that on the side of a bus.

Nephew staying with us. He is part Italian and raised in Senegal. Offered the outsider's view that this seems to be a strangely antiquated way to change a Government in a democracy. It is true yet there is a glimmer of hope that this could be rectified if mooted action on electoral reform occurs.

Just as i think Americans can’t embarrass themselves any further, miss piggy appears at the World Cup final to prove me wrong

37 Hitchcock Cameo Appearances Over 50 Years: All in One Video

37 Hitchcock Cameo Appearances Over 50 Years: All in One Video

Early in his career, Alfred Hitchcock began making small appearances in his own films. The cameos sometimes lasted just a few brief seconds, and sometimes a little while longer.

openculture.com

The slow death of the UK university sector is a travesty & will make the UK financially & culturally poorer in decades to come. Whole areas of expertise will be lost & cannot easily be regained. Such a shame.

Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · 2mo ago

‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Reading reports around Badenoch's latest speech. You've got to wonder how someone can misread the zeitgeist so badly, no one approves of "language policing" (assuming it means unwarranted censorship) but a basic civility is something we should expect from elected politicians in public discourse.

Nothing to add.

Ian Dunt@iandunt.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Don't have anything to say about the Brexit anniversary except: What a goddamn waste of time.

Around 29,000 lightning strikes light up sky across southern England. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Up to 29,000 lightning strikes light up sky across southern England

Thunderstorms caused flash flooding and travel disruption across parts of England, with more extreme heat expected on Tuesday.

bbc.co.uk

First Labour leader not from streets of North London since 2010. Not quite sure what this means but it is certainly indicative of something.

Brixton Market is at risk of being bought by private equity developers, which could push out independent traders and bring in chain stores. Locals are launching an emergency counter-bid to bring it into community ownership by June 22. Sign to keep it independent: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/bu...

Back the community bid to keep Brixton Market independent

Private equity developers are trying to buy Brixton Market. Support the local traders' emergency counter-bid to keep it in community hands before the June 22nd deadline. Add your name to the petition:

you.38degrees.org.uk

magazine.newstatesman.com/2026/06/10/t... This piece about migration, ethnicity and the World Cup from David Goldblatt illustrates changing nature of just about everything through prism of tournament where the key host sees nothing beyond commercial opportunity. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

The MAGA World Cup

Could football be a symbolic riposte to Trump’s xenophobia?

magazine.newstatesman.com

Excellent on the Government's problem of trying to meet expectations the budget doesn't cover when you're boxed in by your own rules. The country won't sit still while Labour tries to resolve this. It is clear that Starmer has got worse at the his job over time - growing out of rather than into it.

Gaby Hinsliff@gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Something bleak about watching this govt just lamely fizzle out. Unable to take decisions; waiting for Burnham but not convinced he’s got it; PM not even really using the ‘sod it, what have I got to lose’ freedom you get in the last stretch www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Caroline Lucas: "We need to recognise that what happened on the streets of Belfast was being orchestrated by the far right, by Elon Musk, by a network of people who actually want this to happen, so it wasn't quite as spontaneous as it looked.. and that has to be stopped"

Another example of the cowardice that characterises this Govt. They simply don’t have the courage of their convictions and we’re all suffering because of this. Tackling the tech bros is not a limitation on free speech, in fact it is failing to do so that damages the public sphere.

Ian Dunt@iandunt.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Of course the prime minister is posting on X about how bad the riot organised on X is. Fucking of course he is. An expression of complete subservience to the men in Silicon Valley and the White House who have instigated this moment.

The government needs to leave X. EVERYONE needs to leave X.

This is a great piece on the chaos within the university sector. Anyone interested shoukd take the time to read and share.

London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 3mo ago

‘The mantra, repeated ad nauseam in those years, was “competition drives up quality,” an assertion that anyone looking at, say, the privatised water companies or privatised train companies might greet with a hollow laugh.’ Stefan Collini on the crisis in universities. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

This is an excellent summary of the position we find ourselves in. I've also got a limited sympathy for Starmer who is carrying the can for a collective failure, but this is diminishing as his stubborn belief in his own authority and endless recourse to hiding behind process damage him further.

Ian Dunt@iandunt.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The end of Starmer: He's going to make it ugly iandunt.substack.com/p/the-end-of...

Petition from Compass calling for electoral reform. Please sign and share. Reform won 1453 council seats and in 45% of these the progressive vote was over 50% of votes cast. We're facing a serious crisis if Labour continues to implode. actionnetwork.org/forms/unite-... @compassoffice.bsky.social

Unite the Progressive Majority to Build a Better Britain!

Most people want a fairer society, a working democracy, a protected planet. So why split the vote & let the far-right in to destroy it all? That's why I've signed this open letter urging progressive l...

actionnetwork.org

Letting the days go by.

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 4mo ago

No one expected Keir Starmer to solve our pressing problems overnight. But what we did expect – and had every right to expect – was that he would lay out a clear vision and roadmap for doing so. Instead, we’ve had drift, appeasement and a startling absence of ideas, values and ambition. 🧵1/6

Even though it is early in this election with many declarations yet to come, it is possible to say that for first time since I started voting, electoral reform is the immediate interests of both major parties - Labour and Conservatives- plus Lib Dems and Greens. Carpe Diem.

Local conservative candidate came by. Asked who I was voting for, I said I hadn’t decided but it wouldn’t be for him. He replied“vote Green, it’s time for a change”. Our ward is solid labour so he hopes to split the vote. He wished me good luck and said I was rude when I could not wish him the same.