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Diane Purkiss

@janetanderson

I love books, reading, eating, cooking, and my French bulldog Bunty. I write history and I teach English at Oxford University.

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Latest posts by Diane Purkiss @janetanderson

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Friends, it’s a cult. MAGA is a cult. Please—for God’s sake, after a decade—accept this.

Accept it, internalize it, and then decide what you think America should do.

And as you think about that, think about all the other cults you’re aware of, what they did, and how they ended.

06.03.2026 22:27 👍 779 🔁 271 💬 39 📌 7
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Kamala Harris: "I predicted a lot about what's happening right now. I'm not here to say 'I told you so,' but we did see it coming."

06.03.2026 21:20 👍 7691 🔁 1853 💬 469 📌 447
What Is Trump Trying To Achieve In Iran?
Politics
Politics Unpacked >
25m
W
Donald Trump has demanded the
"unconditional surrender" of Iran and says he wants to choose its next leader. But does he have any idea of how to achieve that?
Guto Harri unpacks the news and politics of the day with Alys Denby and Michael Binyon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Is Trump Trying To Achieve In Iran? Politics Politics Unpacked > 25m W Donald Trump has demanded the "unconditional surrender" of Iran and says he wants to choose its next leader. But does he have any idea of how to achieve that? Guto Harri unpacks the news and politics of the day with Alys Denby and Michael Binyon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And as you say, this Tim Shipman piece made it very clear that his instinct was to be with America, and Ed Miliband and other members of the cabinet strongly opposed, I think was a great quote, it was a petulant, legalistic, and deeply political.
And let's not forget, this comes right off the back of this Gordon and Denton by-election, which Labour spectacularly lost.
A safe seat for hundreds of years, lost to the Greens by forming a coalition of Muslim voters and rainbow open borders lefties that handed this seat to the Greens.
So Keir Starmer does have political difficulties at home that are influencing his decision making, whatever you think.
So I don't think this is a sign of strength, I think it's weakness. And I think Ed Miliband is the secret linchpin behind all of this.
There's something I like to call the Ed Miliband theory of everything.

And as you say, this Tim Shipman piece made it very clear that his instinct was to be with America, and Ed Miliband and other members of the cabinet strongly opposed, I think was a great quote, it was a petulant, legalistic, and deeply political. And let's not forget, this comes right off the back of this Gordon and Denton by-election, which Labour spectacularly lost. A safe seat for hundreds of years, lost to the Greens by forming a coalition of Muslim voters and rainbow open borders lefties that handed this seat to the Greens. So Keir Starmer does have political difficulties at home that are influencing his decision making, whatever you think. So I don't think this is a sign of strength, I think it's weakness. And I think Ed Miliband is the secret linchpin behind all of this. There's something I like to call the Ed Miliband theory of everything.

I have a funny feeling we need a long lunch to discuss that. But there is, you know, I was just thinking Ed Miliband opposed, you know, the last full on Gulf War. His brother didn't, he was part of the Tony Blair government that backed the Americans.
When it came to the leadership that should have been David Miliband's, Ed Miliband, his own younger brother stood against him and beat him. Lot of people have said, had that gone the other way, David Miliband had won, Labour would have won the election, and Ed Miliband won, Labour lost the election, and the history of Britain was different, and whether we'd be out of the EU and all kinds of other things, all go down to Ed Miliband being fratricidal.

I have a funny feeling we need a long lunch to discuss that. But there is, you know, I was just thinking Ed Miliband opposed, you know, the last full on Gulf War. His brother didn't, he was part of the Tony Blair government that backed the Americans. When it came to the leadership that should have been David Miliband's, Ed Miliband, his own younger brother stood against him and beat him. Lot of people have said, had that gone the other way, David Miliband had won, Labour would have won the election, and Ed Miliband won, Labour lost the election, and the history of Britain was different, and whether we'd be out of the EU and all kinds of other things, all go down to Ed Miliband being fratricidal.

At the Times podcast, the lads are discussing Britain’s disastrously fucked domestic and international state. Former foreign correspondent Michael Binyon, who appears to be authentically deranged, identifies the true culprit.

06.03.2026 19:18 👍 68 🔁 12 💬 13 📌 0
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Justice Department publishes some missing Epstein files related to Trump The Justice Department has published additional Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor after an NPR investigation found dozens of pages were withheld.

Let’s see if the DOJ “finds” the missing 37 more pages of documents or if they are continue to be “offline”:

www.npr.org/2026/03/05/n...

06.03.2026 19:48 👍 343 🔁 91 💬 7 📌 0

It's hilarious that "working class" now applies exclusively to the racist failsons of regional car dealership owners but every unemployed trans person is an "elite".

06.03.2026 20:01 👍 2197 🔁 515 💬 12 📌 8

Barack Obama right now. My God. What an amazing speaker, what a genuine statesman, what an inspiration, what a shame he's not the president.

06.03.2026 19:51 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Oh, just the business vehicle of Nigel Farage masquerading as a political party breaching its obligations at Companies House.

06.03.2026 19:49 👍 522 🔁 239 💬 27 📌 7

I’m watching President Barack Obama @ Jesse Jacksons Memorial and man! Do I miss having a competent leader who was not a fucking moron….

Preach! That’s what leadership looks like…

06.03.2026 19:44 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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Obama on Jesse Jackson: "The message he sent to a 22 year old child of a single mother with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn't any place, any room, where we didn't belong"

06.03.2026 19:52 👍 4184 🔁 829 💬 64 📌 36
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Good for them...
Time for us to #RejoinEU?
#Iceland #EU

06.03.2026 19:48 👍 14 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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Re-creating the complex cuisine of prehistoric Europeans SEM analysis of pottery residues showed people combined fish with a wide variety of plants when cooking.

This is incredibly interesting — archaeologists have been able to reconstruct the diets of different prehistoric Europeans from 5,000-8,000 years ago by analyzing the charred remains of food in clay pots. Extremely cool!

06.03.2026 18:33 👍 189 🔁 55 💬 0 📌 0
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Scottish Government's New Guidance Counters the Myth of "Irreversible Damage" Scottish Government and NHS Scotland have published new patient information for trans and non-binary patients considering fertility preservation by egg freezing.

"This new guidance by the Scottish government highlights how much the gender critical use hyperbole, fear and a distortion of facts to terrify other parents into preventing their child from receiving the healthcare they need."

sophie-molly-reports.beehiiv.com/p/scottish-g...

06.03.2026 17:18 👍 64 🔁 23 💬 2 📌 1
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06.03.2026 20:16 👍 5519 🔁 1386 💬 256 📌 91
French Laundry chef again scolds Bay Area town over affordable housing project

French Laundry chef again scolds Bay Area town over affordable housing project

lmfao Thomas Keller showing up to a community meeting in his chefs jacket to complain about affordable housing being built near his 3 Michelin star restaurant is just beyond parody. what a piece of shit

06.03.2026 14:23 👍 2596 🔁 383 💬 67 📌 67
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A guide to screening the Ancient World Films and TV series, from 'Jason and the Argonauts' to 'I, Claudius', continue to shape our understanding of antiquity.

A guide to screening the Ancient World - Engelsberg ideas
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/a-g...

06.03.2026 18:07 👍 9 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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End Ex-PM Benefits For Boris Johnson Following Covid Inquiry Verdict Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?

c.org/n5bwZRJG2Y

06.03.2026 20:19 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Board game that pre-dates chess discovered in ancient burial mound Archaeologists working in southern Russia have identified the remains of an ancient board game believed to be a distant precursor to chess, shedding new light on cultural connections between Mesopotam...

Board game that pre-dates chess discovered in ancient burial mound
www.heritagedaily.com/2026/03/boar...

06.03.2026 18:39 👍 9 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1
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Cambridge psychiatrists back gender clinic study The study aims to link data from the now closed Tavistock gender clinic with those of adult gender services

“There will be a long wait to see how children treated with puberty blockers in a new trial are doing as young adults. We would be waiting 10-15 years. The data on people now in their 20s who were treated at the Tavistock are available now.”

06.03.2026 15:53 👍 112 🔁 30 💬 9 📌 4
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Wow did something happen in the US in January 2025?

06.03.2026 13:59 👍 3541 🔁 1268 💬 201 📌 73
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What are the chances that the intelligence about the US military that Russia is providing to Iran was initially provided to Russia by its obedient lapdog, Donald J. Trump?

06.03.2026 20:22 👍 1926 🔁 565 💬 180 📌 47
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Report UKLFI to the Charity Commission Dear Charity Commission,

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which runs campaigns steeped in anti-Palestinian racism, has an organisational arm that is regulated by the Charity Commission, that is already being investigated.
Use @pscupdates.bsky.social‘s tool to report them today: palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/uklfi-charit...

06.03.2026 20:22 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Former 'South Park' Writer Leads Charge To Send Barron Trump To Fight In Iran With New Website

He probably has hereditary bone spurs.

06.03.2026 20:22 👍 2049 🔁 349 💬 135 📌 22
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Impeachment, conviction, and removal only work when Congress has a spine.

05.03.2026 17:29 👍 10742 🔁 2210 💬 578 📌 175

Wes Streeting to don an "adult human male" badge and Shabana Mahmood to appoint Tommy Robinson as Labour's immigration Tsar.

06.03.2026 18:50 👍 173 🔁 32 💬 8 📌 1

But also more profiteering?

06.03.2026 20:16 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

They think, or at least pretend to think, that this doesn’t sound like obvious cope to everyone in the world

It’s an entire White House comms shop built on the premise of “my hot girlfriend lives in Canada” being believed by normal people

06.03.2026 18:42 👍 2206 🔁 346 💬 95 📌 14
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People Are Calling Meta Ray-Bans "Pervert Glasses" On Bluesky, users quickly embraced the term "pervert glasses" to refer to Meta's Ray Ban smart glasses, following a shocking investigation.

Make it stick.

06.03.2026 18:25 👍 7970 🔁 2343 💬 135 📌 275
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Capitol rioter pardoned by Trump given life sentence for molesting two children — Guardian US Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, of Florida among several January 6 defendants charged with new crimes

🤬 trump

06.03.2026 02:53 👍 4060 🔁 1643 💬 355 📌 174

I've been the UK explaining-the-madness correspondent for Late Night Live for eight years. This week, for the first time, I went into the studio. It was oddly moving. It's been such a privilege being a small part of this great show.

06.03.2026 09:43 👍 303 🔁 41 💬 29 📌 2