Graham Jeffery

My feeling is that Starmer's resolve to remain outside the US attack on Iran is informed by UK intelligence services, who have concluded such involvement would be a security disaster for the UK

Had he also consulted the military, they would have told him the war will almost certainly fail

It’s being said a lot that the shadow of Iraq is hanging over Keir Starmer and the Labour Party during this Iran crisis.

It absolutely should. What’s remarkable is how little much of the British media and the rest of politics seem to be thinking about it at all, or learning its lessons.

Wow. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem tells Americans they’re on their own.

imagine if we just had the based surge in renewable supply and not the cursed surge in data centers' energy demand

No one can take Dubai seriously when Andrew Tate is its voice

🚨Following the escalation of conflict in the Middle East, gas-fired electricity prices in the EU rose by 51% – highlighting the risks of relying on fossil imports.

The longer the conflict goes on, the greater the impact for countries with the heaviest gas reliance.

Lol, just heard from a German friend who is calling the backup in the Straight of Hormuz right now the "fossil fuel dunkelflaute."

Niche humor.

Joani Reid MP @JoaniReid Proud to meet four heroes in Parliament today. Sandie Peggie, the Darlington Nurses and Jennifer Melle. They have shown tremendous courage and bravery in challenging a warped ideology and a culture of virtue signalling that rewards institutional cowardice. Thankfully, the tide is

Joani Reid MP @JoaniReid Our Home Affairs Select Committee report on the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban has been published. An extraordinary and unjustified decision that exposed serious failures within West Midlands Police.

Joani Reid MP @JoaniReid My column in the Herald on Sunday: the Scottish grooming gangs inquiry is welcome. We must also confront how our third sector has become institutionally corrupted to the point where it sides with SNP ministers instead of standing with women and girls

Joani Reid MP @JoaniReid Follow The SNP are taking the biscuit. They chose to turn Glasgow into sanctuary for asylum seekers through their own virtue-signalling policies, and now they want the Home Office to bail them out.

for anyone wondering why there’s so much unbridled joy on ScotPol Bluesky about the arrest of a Scottish Labour MP’s husband for spying for China, take your pick

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The New Statesman * @NewStatesman BRITAIN HAS AN AMERICA PROBLEM by @b_judah The year I would spend in the Foreign Office, as special adviser to David Lammy when he was foreign secretary, was to watch from the headquarters of British diplomacy as the rules-based order began to collapse. Being in politics means living various lies. Dutifully, I found myself ticking lines to approve sent by the embassy: we were the US's "day-one, night-one partner" for interventions, or "America's closest ally" - but we were just living in a different age from the one those slogans came from. It was painfully clear to me under both presidents whose teams I met that their real special relationship was with Israel.

I will not easily forget, sitting in the Foreign Office, how a Trump delegate explained why we needed to accept his 10 per cent tariffs and not overplay our hand in negotiations. "You've got to remember," he grinned, "it's like being at school. America's the big kid and it's coming for your lunch money." What Britain really has is an America problem. That's why, brutally, our grand strategy no longer makes sense. The superpower we have built our security around has become erratic, unpredictable and unmoored from its old alliances. We have a Europe problem too. The current situation is one we've all been happy to accept so long as it was economically beneficial. Shall we let the Americans lead on owning that super-sensitive defence infrastructure, with us getting to use it, or shall we make voters pay for it in tax rises? We all know how Europeans will answer that question, as long as they can get away with it.

Welcome as it is to see people wising up and admitting they’ve fucked it - more of this, please - I note that any vaguely left wing public figure would’ve been booted to death on live television for saying this, as recently as one year ago. Ben would’ve helped.

Submissions for Are.na Annual vol. 8: score | Notion Hosted by Notion Sites — The easiest way to get a website up and running.

@are.na invites pitches for its forthcoming annual anthology on the theme of "score" (of course, being sports-indifferent, I think of event scores, experimental composition, @yblent.bsky.social's wonderful project: www.getty.edu/publications... :)

@lewisgoodall.com What they're basically saying is that Starmer and the UK isn't allowed to operate an even moderately independent foreign policy outside of the United States. That is both ahistoric, wrong and weird for people who constantly tell us how sovereignty is what matters most.

Yeah, so, about that

[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.] JANET: Ugh... LIZ: What's up? JANET: I am so bored of cooking peas! LIZ: Have you tried... AI peas? JANET: AI peas? LIZ: They're peas with AI! [Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI]. LIZ: Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas JANET: What LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines] Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas? [Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it] LIZ: Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine [Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas] LIZ: With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas! JANET: What LIZ: Shut up LIZ: Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow From opening the bag of peas to boiling the peas to eating the peas To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means. JANET: Is it really necessary to- LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]: THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET [Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan: AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas. [Ends]

Every ad now

Military Commander Tells Troops Bombing Iran Is ‘Part Of God’s Divine Plan’ One commander had a “big grin” on his face while saying Donald Trump “has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran," a service member said.

Some U.S. military commanders have reportedly been accused of telling their troops the Iran war is part of a biblical plan to trigger the end times

We're dealing with a rogue state which far from abiding to the rules based order, is flaunting the fact it is willing to break international borders and sovereignty to get what it wants.

European states, like the UK, may be regretting showing any sign of support- even just for defensive purposes.

Mark Kelly to Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby: "I'm trying to understand whether you believe Iran can be primarily contained by our regional partners, which is what you wrote a few weeks ago, or is it imminent threat to the US as President Trump just told the American people? Can't be both"

YouGov polling shows UK public support for US attacks on Iran at 28% - with 49% opposed. Among Labour supporters that falls to 18% support and 63% oppose.

Only 32% of the UK public think UK bases should be used, with 50% opposed. Among Labour supporters that falls to 24% support with 59% opposed.

Global economy must stop pandering to ‘frivolous desires of ultra-rich’, says UN expert Olivier De Schutter says new economic agenda needed to tackle crises of rising inequality and ecological collapse

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

JD VANCE: "There's just no way Trump is gonna about this country to get into a multiyear conflict with no end in sight"

TRUMP HOURS LATER: "Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully"

Another reason to get off of fossil fuels and get behind public transit, cycling, walkable communities and more.

Global economy must stop pandering to ‘frivolous desires of ultra-rich’, says UN expert Olivier De Schutter says new economic agenda needed to tackle crises of rising inequality and ecological collapse

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Global economy must stop pandering to ‘frivolous desires of ultra-rich’, says UN expert Olivier De Schutter says new economic agenda needed to tackle crises of rising inequality and ecological collapse

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Former Middle East adviser at the US Department of Defense, Jasmine El-Gamal, has it exactly right.

What the visa data shows about net migration in 2025 - about 160,000. Falling towards net zero in 2026.

Net migration seem unlikely to rise to 290k on current policies - but the Treasury needs the higher OBR projected numbers for now, despite government immigration policy

bsky.app/profile/sund...

Notable that Reeves denounced Brexit for “cutting us off from our closest trading partners” – political and economic logic points to European integration.

Andrew ‘Sid’ Siddall obituary Other lives: Performance theatre enthusiast whose work focused on bringing stage productions closer to local communities

Obituary for great collaborator and friend Andrew 'Sid' Siddall - had a huge impact on everyone that worked with him and sorely missed - www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/m...

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

EXCLUSIVE: At more than 30 installations, U.S. commanders told troops the war on Iran is a Christian war.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been “inundated” with more than 110 complaints.

One NCO said they were told the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus…

ESG bonuses removed from paychecks of Apple executives Apparently, Apple removed an 'ESG modifier' from its top executives' pay packages last year - joining other big brands like Procter & Gamble and Starbucks in a trend thought to reflect a decreasin...

ESG bonuses removed from paychecks of Apple executives.

Pretence of concerns about the environment, sustainability, ethics, good governance dumped by companies, to appease Trump.

We are light years away from Quaker capitalism. Public backlash overdue. Don't buy their products.

Tough on Labour councillors, tough on the causes of Labour councillors.

Starmer's ability to find the exact sweetspot which pisses off everyone is extraordinary. He's a savant.