Who can say that the real joke candidate isn’t the one who called this farce of a by-election in the first place? Lord Cryptohead, Prince of Bungs. theconversation.com/count-binfac...
Count Binface: why Britain’s ‘joke’ election candidates deserve to be taken seriously
Satirical candidates are part of a longstanding tradition in British politics.
theconversation.com
He ‘has convictions for assaulting a police officer, burglary of a police station, and …malicious communications over an anti-Islam hoax that led to death threats….He was jailed after posting “vile” antisemitic material online ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally.’ www.theguardian.com/politics/202...?
Former neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election
Joshua Bonehill-Paine, creator of satirical Crewkerne Gazette, has convictions including for harassing a Jewish MP
theguardian.com
‘The atmosphere doesn’t care about politics. It responds to the concentration of greenhouse gases. Every tonne of carbon dioxide released by burning coal, oil and gas adds to that concentration and shifts the odds towards more damaging extreme weather.’ theconversation.com/was-this-hea...
‘Was this heatwave caused by climate change?’ – we’re asking the wrong question
Instead of asking whether climate change caused a heatwave, we should ask how much hotter it became because of fossil fuel emissions.
theconversation.com
‘Headlines about a Bitcoin tycoon giving £5 million to Reform cut through with the public…. polling showed that when voters saw messaging about the £5 million and this was linked to Reform’s policies on cryptocurrency its vote share dipped by 4%.’ theconversation.com/why-the-ques...
Why the questions about Reform UK and its wealthy donors won’t go away
Reform leader Nigel Farage is attempting to win the Clacton byelection.
theconversation.com
‘Former UK Music Chief Jamie Njoku-Goodwin has proposed extending royalties for certain iconic British authors and composers, with the money funding the arts….the proceeds would go into an independent cultural fund, creating a funding stream for the arts without taxpayer money.’
This is tragic research. Money worries leave lifelong scars on the brain. theconversation.com/money-worrie...
Money worries can leave a lasting mark on the brain, 80-year study shows
Tracking thousands of people from birth to their 80s shows that long-term financial stress may quietly reshape the ageing brain.
theconversation.com
‘…the radicalisation of the British right through exposure to Maga influence (both cultural and financial) in recent years amounts to cognitive surrender. Political fandom has usurped judgment…’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Suddenly the British right feels a political chill. It’s getting cold in Andy Burnham’s shadow | Rafael Behr
The Tories and Reform had it easy when Keir Starmer was self-destructing – but a new PM with ideas exposes how vacant the opposition has become, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
‘The striking thing about the CJP’s leadership is its youth and poise…It’s hard to know how their politics will evolve. What they have in common is eloquence, message discipline, all-round unflappability and the potential to leave a legacy.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Here’s why India’s cockroach protests were such a success – and why the Mamdani effect means more to come | Mukul Kesavan
The young leaders are eloquent and organised – and now they know what victory looks like. That could be a huge headache for Narendra Modi, says Dehli-based essayist and author Mukul Kesavan
theguardian.com
There’s a real problem with prison overcrowding, but this is going too far.
‘A rebalancing of British power is shaping up to be the big-ticket item of the Burnham government. If it works, it will unleash myriad policy moves as yet unimagined across the country, bringing the growth that is the prerequisite for all else.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Scoff at cheaper bus fares and No 10 North if you like, but Andy Burnham knows what he’s doing | Jonathan Freedland
Retail politics while taking power out of London: if this works, Burnham’s premiership could be seriously transformational, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
theguardian.com
Most of us get more from the state than we pay in taxes. Yet we think we don’t. open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...?
Burnham’s biggest problem: ungrateful voters
Few of us believe we benefit from our contract with the state
open.substack.com
What’s the priority? Preventing crime and rehabilitating offenders, or punishing offenders at greater expense? theconversation.com/people-in-th...
People in the UK favour harsher punishment than Norwegians – belief in free will may help explain why
What people believe about choice and responsibility shapes what they think prison is for.
theconversation.com
Just seen the film, The Odyssey. It was absolutely terrible.
‘The new leader ….has to restore flagging faith in democratic politics as the method. He needs to generate patience in an intemperate age.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Andy Burnham is playing the long game in an age of short attention spans | Rafael Behr
It is hard to make the case for a 10-year plan in our political culture of constant campaigning frenzy – but the new PM will try, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
@mrjamesob.bsky.social is talking about buses, so here’s a bus! scrittipolitti766694713.wordpress.com/2018/08/27/t...
The Outer Circle
Still reckoned to be Europe’s longest urban bus route, the No.11 in Birmingham, known as the Outer Circle (there is also an Inner Circle, obviously), began in 1923. I decided to ride the rout…
scrittipolitti766694713.wordpress.com
When did Britain’s growth rate fall off a cliff? Brexit? Covid? They didn’t help. The plunge came after 2010. Cameron, Osborne, austerity. The guilty men.
One of Truss's worst legacies is to give the lobby an obsession with small moves in gilt prices.
Will Dunn@willdunn.bsky.social · 2w agoFOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE ***THURSDAY***
Football’s come home (to Europe). That’s enough for me. Trump, Milei, you lost.
‘There is a sense here, perhaps, of Burnham’s placatory, agreeable instincts getting the better of him, and the kind of grimly comic fate once summed up by Harold Wilson: “I am running a Bolshevik revolution with a tsarist shadow cabinet.”.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Andy Burnham I’ve met over the past 20 years gives me hope for British politics | John Harris
You hear the word ‘empathy’ a lot when people talk about our next prime minister. I can see why, says Guardian columnist John Harris
theguardian.com
Farage’s close associate Posh George has written a book called How to Launder Money. Even the late Ronnie Biggs never had the imagination to pen a book entitled “How to Rob Trains”. The stink off Reforn’s funding is overpowering app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/74154/...
Nigel Farage is swimming in crypto—and has never looked closer to drowning
The Reform UK leader’s man-of-the-people act is losing its magic
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk
Why is Kemi Badenoch never asked about the hefty funding the Conservative party has taken from the oil industry and its lobby groups whenever she talks about her decision to scrap her commitment to Net Zero?
NEW: Who funds Nigel Farage? And why has it taken till now for any journalistic scrutiny? @carolecadwalla.bsky.social who has tracked him for a decade exposes how the UK press & regulators looked the other way 🧵👇
‘On the one hand, CPAC GB was a series of confused and furious rants delivered to a half-full hall of a few hundred often bored people. On another, it could be a harbinger of things to come. Just a few years ago, CPAC in the US was easily dismissed, too.’
James Ball@jamesrball.com · 2w agoIn truly incredible timing for CPAC GB and for Liz Truss herself, the Tate brothers have just been arrested.
‘The president claimed this week to be “winning big”. No one believes him. Even as it counts the vast human and economic cost of his Persian folly, a watching world scoffs at US impotence.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Trump, not Iran, is the world’s greatest danger. He’s a one-man weapon of mass destruction | Simon Tisdall
As the bombing starts again, it’s clear the president has dragged the US into a limitless fiasco – and the world into an economic quagmire, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall
theguardian.com
"Turnout for the election was the second lowest since the role was created in 2012, with just 17.14% of the electorate" Reporting elections without turnout is not only inaccurate, it plays a key role in the mainstreaming of far right parties making them look far more popular than they really are...
Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 3w agoNorfolk Police & Crime Commissioner By-Election Result: ➡️ RFM: 26.7% (New) 🌳 CON: 15.0% (-18.9) 🌍 GRN: 13.8% (-2.0) 🙋 Ind: 13.4% (New) 🌹 LAB: 11.6% (-23.6) ◼️ RES: 10.9% (New) 🔶 LDM: 8.6% (-6.5) Reform UK GAIN from Labour. Changes w/ 2024.