Reform had seemed to be moving away from "invade French waters without pernission A risible 'come & have a go if you think you are hard enough' (Likely to end in humiliating crisis by triggering suspension of justice & home affairs + trade cooperation Tim M noted it was daft 18 months ago

This is how a President should use the White House. open.spotify.com/track/2MG01x...

The White House Sessions - Live, 1962

Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck · The White House Sessions - Live, 1962 · Song · 2013

open.spotify.com

Church of England rejects proposal to rewild 30% of its land by 2030 claiming that will reduce capital value. Ugh. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Church of England votes against plan to rewild 30% of its land by 2030

Campaigners criticise C of E for failing to show moral leadership as one of country’s biggest landowners

theguardian.com

Tony Bennett, who Sinatra called “the best singer in the business” would have been 100 yesterday. A Civil Rights Marcher, he refused to perform in apartheid South Africa. His experiences of Hoover’s policies and the depression made him a lifelong Democrat. web.archive.org/web/20111112...

War with France is the logical outcome of the Brexit fantasy of sovereign control

I worked for New York’s largest medical center at the start of the pandemic. There were morgue trucks on the streets. They set up emergency medical tents in Central Park. Healthcare worker colleagues died. It is horrific that RFK Jr is on national TV lying that ICUs were empty.

Remarkably, Duffield herself is now eulogising Liddle fondly

I Am Incorrigible@imincorrigible.bsky.social · 2d ago

In one 2019 Spectator paragraph, Liddle mocked Rosie Duffield, who had given a harrowing Commons speech about surviving domestic abuse, as "sobbing and oppressed", & then suggested holding the election on a Muslim holy day to suppress the Labour vote. He called it satire. It was racism & misogyny

This at the Lost Gardens of Heligan was covered with yoghurt when first installed to encourage the growth of lichen

If *no-one* says a bad word about me after I’m dead, ngl I’ll be disappointed.

July marks the first consecutive twelve month period where wind generated more electricity than gas in the UK...in every single month. In the last decade, wind generation in the UK has more than doubled, pushing first coal and now gas out of the mix.

I understand people wanting to be polite and gracious about their horrible dead colleague but this isn’t that, is it.

Mic Wright@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 2d ago

Fraser Nelson reckons Rod Liddle was “the greatest satirist since Swift” while Michael Gove is comparing him to not just Swift but Orwell. Amazing the comparisons you can get if you’ll pump out exactly the racist opinions even they are too squeamish to commit to print.

I have never seen a social platform so united as on the death of Rod Liddle. Right across the spectrum on here. Not even the standard self-righteous micro-bollockings in the replies. Imagine what kind of cunt you have to be to stem the high-handed whining on BLUESKY. Remarkable.

Well, actually, kinda, yeah, close to what happened. It's not for nothing that Jack Dorsey, who started the place and was on its board, basically ran away when the trans folks and furries scared off all the crypto bros he assumed would be the natural demographic here (they went to Nostr instead).

jack@jackalltogether.bsky.social · 2d ago

Bluesky often seems like a project run by tech people who place great value on its architectural differences from Twitter, which nobody cares about, while not understanding how they walked ass-backwards into having a userbase (whomst they fear and despise)

A useful reminder that the Conservatives' electoral problems are not solely about appeal and image, but also organisational.

Joe Egerton@joeegg.bsky.social · 2d ago

The great Conservative debacle in Greater Manchester has attracted comment by @timbale.bsky.social , @dylandifford.bsky.social , @robertsaunders.bsky.social @stephenkb.bsky.social and others. Electoral Commission data shows the Party's organisational disintegration open.substack.com/pub/jegerton...

I guess he's just lucky there's no record of him supporting Net Zero

I posted about this on LinkedIn and a friend pointed me to something he’d been sent that was written by someone who had done legal ops at this firm. The only problem? This firm is fictional: harringtoncole.com

Bill Childs@billchilds.bsky.social · last wk.

This site purportedly about roller coaster safety posits the existence of a Glass Onion themed roller coaster that killed someone in 2017 zipdo.co/roller-coast...

El Español has reported that Spanish security services detected “Moroccan intelligence agents” among the crowds who converged on Ceuta.

La Guardia Civil detecta a agentes de inteligencia de Marruecos entre los migrantes que se colaron en Ceuta

Fuentes del Instituto Armado aseguran que los observaron a través del sistema de cámaras desplegado en la frontera de la ciudad autónoma española. Más información: Sánchez admite que 50.000 personas h...

elespanol.com

Two weeks before the recent influx of tens of thousands of Moroccans onto the territory of Spain—a NATO member—the US House passed a bill asserting for the first time that “Ceuta and Melilla are located in Moroccan territory” and allocating $20 million to Morocco. (www.congress.gov/119/crpt/hrp...)

In Liechtenstein, not only is abortion illegal, but so is but so is information about it! (I wonder what the European Court of Human Rights would think…) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Liechtenstein’s archaic abortion laws need to be modernised. But a prince is standing in the way | Gabriella Alvarez-Hummel

Substantial hurdles are faced by women who have to travel abroad to access abortion, but Hereditary Prince Alois says he will veto any changes, says writer and campaigner from Liechtenstein Gabriella ...

theguardian.com

Lessons from Australia for U.K.. Social media ban for under 16s not working. It’s no substitute for a society that is physically teen-friendly. UK needs adventure playgrounds, social clubs, spaces and organisations for teens.

Lady Yapper (KJ Colt)@moistenedtart.bsky.social · 2d ago

WHERE?? WHERE WERE THESE KIDS GOING TO GO PLAY ALBANESE?!!! “And despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying he hoped the ban would lead to more kids “playing outside with their friends”, the report found “little to no change” in what kids did offline three months after the ban took effect.”

WHERE?? WHERE WERE THESE KIDS GOING TO GO PLAY ALBANESE?!!! “And despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying he hoped the ban would lead to more kids “playing outside with their friends”, the report found “little to no change” in what kids did offline three months after the ban took effect.”

Ben Schwarz@benschwarz.bsky.social · 3d ago

Australia’s eSafety commissioner buried a report (released Friday afternoon) that shows the under 16 social media ban didn’t tangibly reduce teen social media use, and also resulted in parents tuning out of kids usage. We traded our privacy for no reason. theconversation.com/more-than-80...

Sorry, when I said ‘written’ I was using that as shorthand for properly entrenched codification of how power and functions of the state are distributed, protected, held accountable, etc. The really interesting thing to me about Friday’s document was the language: ‘surrender power’.

Even Home Office's own analysis shows tougher measures force more people into longer, more dangerous routes and exploitation. Tackling smugglers starts with ensuring people don't have to use them. Meanwhile, Labour's own policies mean more people are forced to use them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Burnham pledges to be 'relentless' in curbing small boat crossings

The prime minister says enforcement is increased but there also need to be more safe routes into the UK.

bbc.co.uk

Lot of politics coverage is pre literate oral culture. Folk wisdom and rumour passed on via WhatsApp (which is oral but text)

Men signalling that being a lech is OK is a cornerstone of men thinking it’s OK to physically molest women.

Sue Kirk@suekirk.bsky.social · 2d ago

Lads, even if you think this, keep it to yourselves.

Lads, even if you think this, keep it to yourselves.

Burnham has a unique opportunity to return moors to the public - on safety grounds.

Andy Brown@andybrown1951.bsky.social · 3d ago

Too much of the British uplands is devoted to grouse shooting moors which get bone dry and very vulnerable to wildfires. They are mainly used for investment bankers to play at being 19th century country gentlemen. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion...

The 1910s and 1920s were characterised by a huge amount of political fragmentation, and it took until 1945 for normal service to be resumed (though it might have come sooner were it not for the cancellation of what would have been the 1940 election)

Speaking as Bluesky's resident 'went to a secondary modern' person my view is that if you're arguing strongly to bring them back either while: a) Claiming less intellectually capable people get nothing out of academic education b) With only reference to grammar pupils Then you're, at best, a snob

Who remembers how pleased with itself the BBC was its "exposé" about asylum seekers faking being gay

DIVA Magazine@divamag.bsky.social · 2d ago

Concerns for LGBTQIA+ people after changes made to Home Office asylum interviews