something has gone very, very wrong with the UK

Kevin Thurston@del-boy.bsky.social · 5d ago

An RNLI lifeboatman is taking part in the Great North Run tomorrow, wearing his full kit. Please donate here if you can: fundraise.rnli.org/fundraisers/...

James Waters

I'm taking on Great North Run 2026 - please help me reach my fundraising goal of £1000!

fundraise.rnli.org

Food so good you grow an extra finger!

This is the coverage of Arday **just in the Telegraph** in the UK. This is only the first four pages of results, just in one outlet.

You have to enjoy the straight-faced ‘BIN 26.7%’, as if this is all entirely normal! 😀

Britain Elects@britainelects.com · last mo.

Clacton parliamentary by-election, result: REF: 62.8% (+16.6) BIN: 26.7% REU: 1.4% IND (Tony Francis): 1.2% Reform HOLD.

The CMI has published its latest analysis of age-standardised death rates in England and Wales. Despite the summer heatwaves, the year-to-date mortality rate for 2026 is significantly lower than any previous year. Deaths from flu and pneumonia especially low. www.actuaries.org.uk/system/files...

I don't think people are ready for this kind of joke yet.

A fascist party founded just months ago polled 8.7%, ahead of the Conservatives, in the Manchester mayoral election. What’s happening on the right of British politics is terrifying.

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 2mo ago

Greater Manchester Mayoral By-Election Result: 🌹 Craig | LAB: 47.2% ➡️ Astley | RFM: 21.0% 🌍 Coggins | GRN: 12.2% ◼️ West | RES: 8.7% 🌳 Eckersley | CON: 7.7% 🔶 Kilpatrick | LDM: 2.2% 🙋 Farmer | Ind: 0.6% 2nd Round: 🌹 Craig | LAB: 66.3% ➡️ Astley | RFM: 33.7% Labour HOLD.

We’re sourcing our reshuffle news from an alternate timeline of the 1980s…

Chagos with Ed Milliband! [Am I doing this right?]

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

Ed Miliband is foreign sec

open.substack.com/pub/rorycell... Your daily reminder to get behind the @parkinsons.org.uk nurse appeal

Raising funds for Parkinson's Nurses

Right at the top of the demands in the Parky Charter, the manifesto for better Parkinson’s care put together by the Movers and Shakers podcast, was a call for “Speedy Specialists”.

open.substack.com

Argentina decide to start playing real football in the 109th minute of the match ….

Looks like there’s been a split in the Official Monster Raving Loony Party…. www.tendringdc.gov.uk/news/clacton...

Record number of candidates confirmed as Clacton voters prepare to choose next MP

The candidates who will contest the Clacton constituency by-election have now been confirmed.

tendringdc.gov.uk

Canvassers out in force in Clacton.

If Mahmood does become Chancellor it will interesting to see if her views on immigration change when she's responsible for the economic consequences....

Pet peeve: forms that ask for your bank’s address. There is no conceivable reason for this information being required any more.

A Brit in the semis of Wimbledon, England still in the World Cup and Nigel Farage spending the summer arguing with a bin. Oh this happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea

Saying you're the "most physically attacked" MP when two MPs have been killed in the last decade is just horribly self-absorbed.

DCMS logs off X: a second Whitehall exit buff.ly/VFTacYp

DCMS logs off X: a second Whitehall exit

Welcome to my latest update on work in the House of Lords, this time a quick update with some praise for a Cabinet minister’s decision.Did someone share this with you?

lordseyeview.substack.com

Just realised this will be my son’s fifth prime minister and he’s 6.

Nightmare for a friend of mine in London. Please share.

Don Quixote, Pedro Almodavar, Julio Iglesias, Francisco Goya, can you hear me? Your boys just took one hell of a drawing.

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 3mo ago

CABO VERDE THE WHOLE WORLD IS CHEERING YOU

I wonder why the Govt issued its decision not to compensate WASPI women at 5pm? www.gov.uk/government/p...

Government’s new decision: Women’s State Pension age communications

gov.uk

💥 In Donetsk region, birds are building nests from drone fiber optics.

At the start of my terrorism studies course, I ask students what most terrorists have in common. They always say: 1- Mental illness 2- Religion. They are, of course, wrong. The two most common traits of violent extremists are: 1- Gender 2- History of domestic violence and online mysogyny.

Wall-E origin story looks terrific.

Ed Jennings@edjennings.bsky.social · 4mo ago

It's all kicking off in Canterbury.

This is a very good, balanced and crucially evidence-based piece by @stevewebb1.bsky.social on the triple lock. archive.ph/BweOI

Steve Webb, as always, hits the nail on the head. Bountiful private pensions are enjoyed by relatively few, while our state pension still lags considerably behind the European average.

Steve Webb@stevewebb1.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I’ve come to the view that the state pension Triple Lock (or similar generous increases) needs to go on for longer. TL:DR because private pension savings are nowhere the level needed to make up the ‘other half’ of what we need in retirement. My piece for the Telegraph today:

😂 Sam Coates makes an ABSOLUTE TIT of himself. Calls PM photos "fake news" then finds out they're from the Press Association. If you make a spurious, inflammatory point you never made about any official photograph before, to pitch yourself as the only reliable source, at a minimum check your facts.