Phil Edwards
@philedwards.bsky.social
"Research fellow" (i.e. retired) at MMU, still writing. Interests: legal theory, folksong, real ale, the Left, cinema, Bowie, Aickman. Blogs: gapingsilence.wordpress.com & ohgoodale.wordpress.com . If I was left to my own devices, I possibly would.
It's Textile Tuesday, and you know what that means: a piece by artist Faig Ahmed called "The Dragons of Karabakh" that's woven to look like an antique Central Asian carpet is melting off the wall into a puddle. More about the artist here: faigahmed.com
Anyway, it seems obvious to anyone w eyes & ears that the reason Badenoch has gone big on something she could have just totally ignored is *because* he’s a Nazi. She’s putting her career on the line for a random council candidate *because* he’s a Nazi. That tells you what you need to know about her.
No party should select as a candidate for any office someone with the past extremist convictions (in both senses) of the man Kemi Badenoch is backing. It makes no difference whether it's for a council, any devolved assembly, or Parliament. It's all public power of some kind.
Random personal musing... We had Family Holidays in 2022-4, in defiance of our (and, more to the point, the kids') advancing ages, in groups ranging from 3 to 5. Last year we didn't push it & in the event didn't go away at all.
This is disgusting Abolish the Home Office
the3million@the3million.bsky.social · 3d agoMonique Hawkins, acting chief executive of the3million, said the impact of the Home Office’s retrospective review was devastating for many. "People applied to the EU settlement scheme in good faith...by building their lives in the UK and putting down roots." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
In 1944, MN teenager Jeanne Gibson went to work in the Seattle shipyards welding destroyers for the Allies. She then moved to Juneau and joined the Army Transportation Corps supplying ships in the Pacific. She later got a Master’s and her pilots license. RIP, hero. 🫡 www.kron4.com/news/bay-are...
I think it really is worth concentrating on Labour picking up 2/3 of the vote (2nd round) in an election many thought they would lose as opposed to focusing on Restore managing a grand total of 8.7% in the first round. Let’s not overdo the dooming about the latter.
BREAKING: Prime Minister Andy Burnham has indicated to the press today that he may scrap controversial plans to reduce access to jury trials.
Please note that, as the digital copies are not being distributed, this is *actively* a lessening of the available body of human knowledge, because whenever an LLM company destroys the last copy of any book to convert it to a text document they cannot share, that book is gone forever.
chiller@chiller.eurosky.social · last wk.This is ... horrific
Will I understand Charli XCX if I haven’t seen Charli XCVIIII
"You know what they're all saying, don't you? Every one of them - they're saying 'Fuck off!'" - attributed to Peter Bellamy (who did sing because he had a song)
After Dinner Conversation®@afterdinnerconversation.com · last wk.
MONDAY: "I want to start working in Manchester even before we've got a bespoke Number 10 North. What have we got in the way of secure office space in Manchester?" TUESDAY: - We think the best option is probably Heron House, where GCHQ are. "Great! We'll be there this Friday. Sort it out, OK?"
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 2w agoA number of X accounts - inc this GB News presenter - think the PM being able to communicate the opening of No 10 North by Friday indicates a longer conspiracy to oust Starmer! Good to see ex-minister Steve Baker doing what he can to quell conspiracist thinking.
Ruin a book by adding a word: The Free Trial
Neville Morley@nevillemorley.eurosky.social · 2w agoRuin a book by adding a word: A Line Dance to the Music of Time
Anyone who thinks Broadmoor is some kind of soft option because it's classed as a secure hospital rather than a prison... seriously? Does anyone actually think that? Anyone over the age of oh let's say Old Enough To Get Online? Trolled, we're just being trolled.
On the beer blog: are dark bitters cool again? Seems unlikely, but there it is. ohgoodale.wordpress.com/2026/07/23/g...
Getting darker
In the course of this year’s Mild Magic, I had 25 different milds from 22 breweries; Brightside, Holt’s and Thornbridge were the breweries offering more than one. Only Thornbridge had b…
ohgoodale.wordpress.com
Insane new research. Scientists gave asthma patients free electric stoves to replace their gas stoves, then checked to see if symptoms improved. Not only did symptoms improve, ditching gas was *better than medicine.* Details in today's newsletter: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/electric-s...
Researchers used electric stoves to treat asthma. It worked.
The latest evidence that gas is bad for your health.
climatecoloredgoggles.com
NEW | One woman seems to represent *all* of Britain’s pensioners… OMNIBUS WANKERS AND THE BRITAIN’S ONLY PENSIONER The big problem with BBC vox pops on buses and a case study on VAT. brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/omnibus-wa...
Omnibus wankers and Britain's only pensioner
Vox pops in the BBC's coverage of Burnham's bus fares policy and VAT cuts highlight the problems with attempting to represent the public's view on any given issue.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
This is the equivalent of asking how a £1.5m turnover company is going to pay for £100 of drinks at the Xmas party.
I have just discovered that much of the text on pages visible to search engines in my website are no longer indexed by Google search. So yeah, it looks they're ACTIVELY making search worse to make you want to use their chatbot.
A barrister represents his clients in court. Clients who are political dissidents. He now faces criminal prosecution for doing so. Not Turkey. Not Egypt. Not Russia. England. Astonishing, deeply disturbing, and part of a long slide towards authoritarianism. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Palestine Action barrister’s prosecution criticised as ‘chilling’
CBA chair says contempt charge over closing speech by Rajiv Menon KC has left lawyers fearful of doing their job
theguardian.com
These people aren't saying that Burnham sacked people who are good at running things; they're saying he sacked people who are good at throwing tantrums and undermining people in authority. Sounds like Burnham made pretty much the right call.
PoliticsHome@politicshome.bsky.social · 2w agoLabour MPs unhappy with the treatment of Starmer loyalists have warned they could make life hard for Burnham at the Budget “Andy’s Starmerite purge has created an incredibly powerful phalanx of skilled political operators who intimately know the government’s fiscal position" Harriet Symonds writes
If they were skilled political operators perhaps they wouldn’t be on the backbenches, along with their chief, two years into a Parliament which began with a landslide election win?
PoliticsHome@politicshome.bsky.social · 2w agoLabour MPs unhappy with the treatment of Starmer loyalists have warned they could make life hard for Burnham at the Budget “Andy’s Starmerite purge has created an incredibly powerful phalanx of skilled political operators who intimately know the government’s fiscal position" Harriet Symonds writes
On the beer blog: some thoughts on a new (old) style in beer. ohgoodale.wordpress.com/2026/07/23/g...
Getting darker
In the course of this year’s Mild Magic, I had 25 different milds from 22 breweries; Brightside, Holt’s and Thornbridge were the breweries offering more than one, although only Thornbri…
ohgoodale.wordpress.com
Over on the other place, Al Karno is explaining – at great length, naturally – that he wasn't *sacked*, perish the thought. He was offered a different position – *in government* mind you – which wasn't Forces-related and wouldn't have let him pursue any of his weird Forces-related obsessions...
We must remember the Utøya massacre, and remember it for what it was: a far-right attack specifically targeted against democratic socialist activists. Today, the ideologies of its perpetrator are openly espoused by a global network of nationalist oligarchs as they wage war on democratic societies.
Roberta Metsola@president.europarl.europa.eu · 2w agoFifteen years ago today, 77 lives were taken - most of them young - on an island that should have been a place of summer, friendship, and first ideas about the world they wanted to build. On that day, Norway grieved, and Europe grieved with it. Utøya. Oslo. We remember.
Stop scrolling!!! A puffling* has been spotted in Purbeck, Dorset for the first time in 30 years! *Baby puffin (yes, they have the cutest name)
