Bonehill-Paine was convicted of racially harassing the then Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is Jewish, in 2016. On X he says other parties will “spend all their time focusing on my past rather than the work I’m doing today” if he stands

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

Inexplicably explicable in the next sentence. Logic being you are rin different jurisdictions.

David Coveney@davidcoveney.com · yesterday

Remember though that a lot of speed limits are set with an expectation that many people speed. There's a road near me that passes through three councils. The middle one, inexplicably, sets a speed limit 10mph less than the other two. There's no real logic, just different policy on speed limits.

Indeed. "I've got loads of flags in my living room" (paraphrasing here) was a low point in government comms

Ben Ansell@benansell.bsky.social · yesterday

I recall we had a period of time where the response of Starmer and Cooper to concerns about these groups was ‘I like flags’

If you, to take another entirely random example, describe recent immigration a "squalid chapter in our politics" a "failed experiment", and promise to "shut down the lab" you are contributing to the problem of norm erosion www.gov.uk/government/s...

PM remarks at Immigration White Paper press conference: 12 May 2025

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's remarks at a press conference on the Immigration White Paper.

gov.uk

Yes. I've been called P*ki and told to fuck off home numerous times. Unless you experience it, you have no understanding of the impact. It affects you for weeks/months afterwards - or longer. It destroys self-confidence and any feeling of belonging etc. And then they tell us we're not integrating.

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.

Rod Liddle was a piece of shit in both his private and public life, and it speaks to the state of British media that they're praising the man. He presaged the steep downward decline of British broadsheet print columnists into increasingly open racism, misogyny, and hatred of queer people.

Also worth remembering that Rod Liddle’s response to the death of Nelson Mandela was to rage at BBC coverage and sneer: “Famous nice black man dies!”

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.

As Rod Liddle has died, I notice this column I wrote in 2019 about his attacks on people with M.E. is on the most read again. Rebekah Brooks, of News UK, described Liddle today as “provocative”. In reality, he spread lies about very sick people for cash. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Rod Liddle vilifies disabled people. I’m tired of the hate. We all should be | Frances Ryan

Whether it is ME patients or another target, huge swathes of the media have normalised hatred of minorities for years, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan

theguardian.com

A committed racist, he reached a senior level in his profession and then, protected by a culture which fails to appreciate the human impact of its work outside its own narrow social circle, spent twenty years seeing what he could get away with.

Don’t make policy to appease reply guys because reply guys can never be appeased (and are also a small, extreme, self-selected and unrepresentative group)

Liam Thorp@liamthorp.bsky.social · 3d ago

Andy Burnham correctly points out in an interview that small boat crossings are massively down this year compared with last. The comments in the post are filled with people suggesting he is lying about this very clear, data-evidenced fact. It’s almost as though they don’t want it to he true…

If I wanted to protect the most prestigious and highly paid jobs for the social groups who usually hold them I'd probably design an education system that discouraged poorer children from studying the entry qualifications for these jobs as early as possible..

Trevor Philips was born in Islington, educated at Imperial, was a member of the GLA and lived in Kentish Town before moving the NYC this year.

David Higham@oldtrotter.bsky.social · 3d ago

Dear me.

The number of young people sleeping rough in London has halved, thanks to work from City Hall and organisations like Crisis. But we won’t stop until we end rough sleeping.

Hey @lewisgoodall.com here is our Lancet article on Long COVID. Happy to chat. www.thelancet.com/action/showP...

Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.

Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says

LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance

ft.com

And a Friday news dump for Chelsea’s two window ban for a decade of cheating during the Abramovich era. Swerved points deductions again. Well done everyone

In response to the unprecedented number of game developers laid off this year, we have created a bundle on itch to benefit a Game Industry Hardship Fund, managed by @videogameworkers.bsky.social. More than 100 games for 10+ bucks! Please share widely and donate generously! itch.io/b/3802/game-...

Much as I love the News Agents their discussion on Covid was ill-informed and misleading. christinapagel.substack.com/p/we-are-lea...

We are learning the wrong lesson from Covid school closures

A response to yesterday's News Agents podcast...

christinapagel.substack.com

The News Agents@thenewsagents.co.uk · 5d ago

“I’m glad we live in a country that is deferential to expertise - but at times in the pandemic, that did go too far.” “I’m not sure school closures were a price worth paying.” Lewis on how ‘legitimate questions’ have emerged - and should be asked - about how we handled Covid.

...and this is how i found out the biggest by-election in British history was yesterday

Laura Phillips@lauraphillips.bsky.social · 5d ago

Greater Manchester Mayoral By-Election 'Exit Poll': Craig | LAB: 41% (+3) Astley | RFM: 22% (+3) Coggins | GRN: 15% (-7) Eckersley | CON: 9% (+1) West | RES: 8% (-1) Kilpatrick | LDM: 5% (+2) Farmer | Ind: 0% (-1) Via @FindoutnowUK, 30 Jul. Changes w/ 7-12 Jul.

Curiously nothing from South America and Alejandro Dominguez. He of the 64-team World Cup dream and the unprocessed ethics complaint. This guy: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/w...

Soccer Official Took Millions Reclaimed After FIFA Scandal, Complaint Alleges

Ahead of the World Cup, the head of South American soccer faces an ethics complaint he received payments recovered from a 2015 investigation that shook global soccer.

nytimes.com

Growing up, I would watch football on TV or listen on the radio, from the safety of my own home, after I was racially abused on the terraces and my brothers were chased away from a different stadium by National Front extremists.

Racist and homophobic abuse on the rise in English football as new figures released

Reports of abuse soared last season, with Kick It Out claiming discrimination is ‘deeply embedded’ in English football

independent.co.uk

Thorough write-up of the Times/Chris Philp migrants stat fabrication story by @garethtbij.bsky.social of @tbij.bsky.social www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

False migrant care worker data came from Conservative Party

The Times is forced to issue correction after claiming 12 workers from Cameroon brought 180 family members to UK

thebureauinvestigates.com

Today experienced the 24th day of year hitting 30C in London. For perspective in whole of 1980s we had 21 days.

The Office: Woman Holding 'HOT' Sign

ALT: The Office: Woman Holding 'HOT' Sign

static.klipy.com

Ah, I had thought that the Tories were jumping on poor journalism from the Times re immigration - in fact the party was the *original source* of the false claims, which the paper neglected to check or clearly attribute. Incompetent, unprofessional, dubious, and xenophobic behaviour all round.

Gareth Davies@garethtbij.bsky.social · last wk.

False reports about migrant care workers came from Conservative party 'research' The Times was forced to issue a correction after claiming 12 workers from Cameroon brought 180 dependants to UK

1/2 This and similar incidents should be called out for what it is. A Home Office official manufactured country information to refuse an asylum case. Some lawyers have been doing the same to try to win their cases. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Home Office used ‘AI hallucinated’ information to refuse asylum claim, judge suggests

Upper tribunal unable to find document cited in case and claims it is ‘analogous to relying on bogus evidence’

theguardian.com

The right makes the same claims about New York, which is on course to have a homicide rate < 3/100,000 for the first time ever. But white nationalists claim it is a crime filled hellhole. The racists are just afraid of multiculturalism & diversity and will lie in service of those fears.

I am *absolutely sick* of hearing about young people as 'benefit scroungers'. Nearly 60% of welfare spending goes on pensioners! The people writing this stuff know that too.