Starmer - [Farage is] A state-slashing, NHS-privatising, Putin apologist. “Without a single patriotic bone in his body. We will take to fight to him. We will fight as Labour.

Going round & round with this immigration white paper stuff. It is what it is, & hysterical arson attacks are simply deplorable. I'll leave you with a quote from Starmer today:

If there has indeed been three separate fires overnight linked to Starmer, that is really quite bonkers news, no matter your political persuasion. Coordinated arson against the Prime Minister. No wonder counter-terrorist squads are investigating! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Keir Starmer house fire: Police investigate links to two other fires

Police are investigating a fire at another property and a vehicle fire to see if they are connected.

bbc.co.uk

For no particular reason at all, here is some excellent Turkish punk music: youtu.be/1LXNQQ9V8pE?...

THE RINGO JETS - Spring of War (Official Video)

YouTube video by THE RINGO JETS

youtu.be

After the Atlantic published the texts this morning, Tulsi Gabbard is confronted today on why she lied in her testimony to the Senate yesterday. She says she misremembered.

Starmer phone call with Zelenskyy: “The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II.”

A dictatorship hosting another dictatorship to negotiate with an aspiring dictatorship about the future of a democracy that’s not represented.

Bumping for relevance.

Dr. Rob Cronin@robcronin.bsky.social · 2y ago

Watch him get confirmed, and then draw conclusions about those guardrails you think are there in the American system…..

Watch him get confirmed, and then draw conclusions about those guardrails you think are there in the American system…..

Adam Schwarz@adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 2y ago

Robert F Kennedy Jr blitzed by @bennet.senate.gov: Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bio-weapon? RFK: "I probably did say that". Did you write that it's undeniable that African Aids is an entirely different disease than Western Aids? RFK: "I'm not sure".

This is a very good read, and chimes with what I’ve been seeing since Labour came to power. The govt has not been without scandal, but the scale of some of the reporting has not matched the scale of some of the stories. Some stories need hounding down, but not every story is Starmer’s watergate.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2y ago

My Prospect column this month is on the increasingly feral Lobby and why Labour has little choice but to ignore them www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/691...

kinda curious how deepseek decides when to use "can't answer" and when to give propaganda

I was debating trying the new Chinese 'Deepseek' generative AI, but the official app lets you know that it collects key-strokes etc...; you need an account to try it on the web, and according to Newsweek, it refuses to talk about Tiananmen square. Yeah, no thanks. www.newsweek.com/deepseek-ai-...

DeepSeek AI refuses to criticize Xi Jinping: "Talk about something else"

Chinese-owned DeepSeek AI was also unable to provide any information on Tiananmen Square when asked by Newsweek.

newsweek.com

It’d be nice if you could sort Bluesky lists by number of subscribers. I’d like to see the most used lists.

Trump confirms that the US is again withdrawing from the Paris climate accords. "We're not going to do the wind thing" says Trump, saying wind turbines are ugly. Reaffirms that the policy is to "drill baby drill."

"It was a Roman Salute" the Elon Musk/Paolo Di Canio crossover we didn't know we needed (because we didn't)

I do like video, but… Am I the only one who experiences this consistently? Occasionally a video will work, but it’s the exception not the rule.

Bluesky@bsky.app · 2y ago

We had to get in on the video action too — Bluesky now has custom feeds for video! Like any other feed, you can choose to pin these or not. Bluesky is yours to customize.

Vivek's involvement with DOGE lasted negative Scaramuccis

A day later...

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 2y ago

The economic picture for the UK (and much of the developed world) is tough, but not disastrous. Low productivity, demographic challenges, and poor wage growth are real issues. But much of the criticism is whipped-up panic from those with something to gain from talking down Labour's approach

Would be nice to have some breathless media coverage about what this tells up about market perceptions of the state of the UK economy..

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 2y ago

UK 10 year gilts nearly back to where they started at the beginning of the year.

A pol comms side note - I’m sick of seeing news reports like: “100 killed, including 31 women & 27 children.” When it should be: “100 killed: 42 men, 31 women, & 27 children.” The former infantilises women, removes their agency, and at the same time acts like the deaths of men aren’t a concern.

Biden: Good afternoon. It's a very good afternoon, because at long last I can announce a cease fire. And a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas

Please let it hold. Please to all that is holy let it hold.

With the rise of AI, I imagine we will see a decline of political cartoons in news media: because they don't have to imagine or imply ideas now, they can just commission pictures that show exactly what they mean. And this has consequences (beyond annoying historians, who love political cartoons)...

Robert Shrimsley@robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 2y ago

So here's a curious thing, Jacob Rees-Mogg posted this teaser for his discussion on Rachel Reeves in China, with an image he attributed to Grek (I assume he meant Grok) & it has given her an exaggerated hook nose. I'd love to know how what it was in the wording or algorithm which accounts for that

This is utterly heinous. I can’t believe people act like Mogg has any pretence of civility. Childish, stupid, dangerous, and with a sexist undertone. Don’t people realise EVERY major female politician will already be in deep-fake/AI porn? Where is the concern over using this technology in politics?

Robert Shrimsley@robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 2y ago

So here's a curious thing, Jacob Rees-Mogg posted this teaser for his discussion on Rachel Reeves in China, with an image he attributed to Grek (I assume he meant Grok) & it has given her an exaggerated hook nose. I'd love to know how what it was in the wording or algorithm which accounts for that

It’s going to take me a while to get over the idea of “unconditional discharge.” Quite hard to rationalise such an abject failure with the types of systems I usually put my faith in.

Making voting easier is the right call 👍 Our latest report on voter turnout recommended expanding accepted photo IDs or removing ID requirements entirely. This step from Angela Rayner is a welcome move in the right direction. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

Labour could scrap voter ID rules, says Rayner

Deputy Prime Minister tells MPs that reports suggest ‘electoral fraud is very minor’

telegraph.co.uk

If 29 deaths in 3 years is enough to outright ban a form of transport, maybe these people should be looking at motor death numbers….. Do we need to get the E-scooter stuff right? Absolutely. Do I regularly encounter older people who have an irrational hatred for them with no introspection? Also yes.

The Prime minister hits back at Elon Musk ‘Those that are spreading lies and misinformation…are not interested in victims’