just had a horrific vision of the future in which Zack Polanski and Kemi Badenoch have a podcast and now I need a lie down

Badenoch represents double-down conservatism. Never apologise or moderate. Insult your opponents. Patronise journalists when challenged. Contradict yourself, lie, whatever it takes, but never back down. And that's how you end up creating an extremely avoidable Tory antisemitism scandal overnight

Bede's World! Bede's World! Party time! Venerable!

Reminder that the Tories believe any non-British person who commits more than a minor parking or traffic offence should be automatically deported. They “believe in second chances”, apparently, but only for literal Nazis.

Kemi Badenoch defends selection of man jailed for harassing Jewish MP in council election – as it happened

Conservative leader tells press she stands by decision to select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a candidate for local election in Somerset

theguardian.com

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

Charles EP Murphy@cepmurphy.bsky.social · 2d ago

news.sky.com/story/nhs-st... stereotypically this has been seen as Old People, but not only would the old people of now have often been born post-Windrush, lot of this will be younger people who've always lived in a diverse Britain. The guy with a pregnant wife likely millennial at oldest

The most terrifying enshittification I've discovered has been learning that Microsoft Word documents no longer auto-save if you are not saving them to one of their own proprietary cloud services. I'm slapping control-S like it's 1999.

Its quite hard to know what, exactly, will actually lose someone their licence if 59 points, driving while disqualified and no insurance doesn't. Its not juat dangerous - its clear contempt for the law. We should treat car crime like any other crime

Jon Owen@anotherjon.bsky.social · 2d ago

"I'm getting fed up with getting pulled by you guys, so this one will result in a complaint," says the driver with 59 points on his licence. 59 points, and still driving, and he didn't go to prison. The system is broken. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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.

@jonnelledge.bsky.social The Strait of Hormuz a geopolitical choke point is it? Crikey, hope no one does anything to choke that point.

I just answered my phone and all I could hear were chattering teeth - I think it was a cold caller.

"Kew Gardens has had a weather station since 1871. This July was, based on third party analysis of Met Office data collected at the site, the first calendar month on record where no rainfall was measured at Kew."

London's first month without rain

Plus: There's nowhere to bury the dead • London wants to keep its money • When will it stop being so damn hot • Who is to blame for turning off the air conditioning in the tower block?

londoncentric.media

Words to live by

Michelle@michelleroy78.bsky.social · 4d ago

No matter what's going on in your life, just remember there's some form of potato that can make it better.

No matter what's going on in your life, just remember there's some form of potato that can make it better.

This reminds me of the bit in Nick Clegg’s recent book where he evangelises about having an AI agent which can talk to his wife’s AI agent so they never need to talk with each other ever again.

Veerender Singh Jubbal@veerenderjubbal.bsky.social · 5d ago

here we go again

Circe turns Miss Piggy's crew from pigs into human.

Standplaats Kraków could really use some cash!@standplaatskrk.pl · 6d ago

The easiest possible layup for a President at war with another country would be to explain that they are attacking us. Trump won't do that because he views Minnesota as a bigger enemy than Iran.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d ago

Trump: "We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota."

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

Incredible. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference

State department ‘takes full responsibility’ for erroneous, widely shared chart displayed at Aids conference in Brazil

theguardian.com

Hello. I just found out that a death metal band has covered John Cage’s 4’33”, and now I need you lot to know that a death metal band has covered John Cage’s 4’33”. youtu.be/voqCQSDAcn8

John Cage - 4' 33'' Death Metal Cover by Dead Territory [ORIGINAL VIDEO]

YouTube video by DeadTerritory

youtu.be

Aleksander Čeferin has been elected Leader of the Avignon FIFA and taken the regnal name Clement VII.

This statement by UEFA on FIFA attempting to sell off the World Cup gave me goosebumps, what a statement - the beautiful game deserves no less “As so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”

I am left wing and always be, but stuff like this which you do see pop up is just like…. I’m tired of it. As well as being dog whistle politics it’s just so… that’s not actually true is it? Things that are true matter

This is an amazing conversation but I recently encountered the idea (obviously of longer standing) of this - the 'Alan Keyes Constant' that basically 27% of people will vote for any lunatic as long as they have the right party ID or what have you.

His Grace, the Duke of Ankh, CDR Sir Samuel Vimes@bklynmichael42.bsky.social · last wk.

27%

Andy Burnham, "To me, carers should be the best paid people in society, not the worst" "Many people from other countries have been caring for my dad" Andy Burnham praises migrants to the UK who care for our elderly, a stark contrast to Keir-island-of-strangers-Starmer

Yesterday I learned that during appeasement French journalists mockingly called Chamberlain Monseur J'aime Berlin, which is exceptional work. Well done France.

*Trojan historian watching as the Achaeans break down the gates* Wow, my civilization is undergoing a complex transformation from a heavily centralized and stratified administrative society to a more socially-fragmented modality of living in which material culture is dispersed amidst smaller sites.