Really intrigued as to how the politics of 'everything is more expensive, I really hate the PM, but I look over and the leader of the opposition is going "we shoulda bombed them, this war is great"' play out, but I wish we were conducting this experiment when I were, say, 80.
If the main US and Israeli war aim is simply to destroy the Iranian state and economy then that's more achievable than many on this site think
Just fascinating to see Blair, a man whose reputation was ruined by the Iraq war, advocate joining a war that is exponentially stupider and more chaotic. How is it possible to learn nothing from the worst mistake of your life?
What a horrendous age when 'human-rights obsessed' is understood by some as a sort of insult rather than the standard by which we should seek to operate ...
Despite all the screeching and Trump-grovelling of the British right, support for the US action against Iran has *dropped* to 22%
When anyone who is a member of the Reform party or supports them bemoans the loss of British culture, show them this.
At yesterday's Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, I pressed Prof Michele Dougherty STFC Executive Chair to explain how the £162m financial shortfall threatening our physics, astronomy, and nuclear research base had come about and why early career researchers were paying for it.
It’s already happening. Iran attacked a desalination plant in Bahrain.
This war has to end immediately. If it turns into a water war we will be dealing with a whole different level of a humanitarian catastrophe across the region.
aje.news/64yl8m?updat...
I'm not suggesting this is an open secret within the climate science community, but it's remarkable how little impact this sort of research is generating. Because if the rate of warming really has *doubled* then you can kiss goodbye to 2°C. www.carbonbrief.org/pace-of-glob...
His caution over Iran is of a piece with this record. In contrast, the least electable thing about the otherwise improving Conservative leader remains her foreign posture. It is worth dwelling on something that Kemi Badenoch said this week. “Across the UK there are groups whose political loyalties when it comes to conflicts in the Middle East do not align with British national interests. These are people who Labour sees as their voters because without them, they cannot stay in power.” Badenoch’s most impressive trait is plain-speaking, born of clear thinking. Here, she is all coyness and innuendo. If she means Muslim voters, she should spell it out. A couple of rebuttals could then be put forward in the open. First, opposition to this war is not confined to Muslims, as she might find out in the coming weeks. Second, her party has for decades been sensationally bad at construing the British “interest”. Examples include its support for the Iraq war and a Brexit that most voters regard as a mistake. Those who impugn the patriotism of fellow citizens should not mind if the discourtesy is returned. The British right’s desire to live vicariously through the US is even more pronounced than when the Brexit vote happened a decade ago. Most of the time, it is merely unbecoming. When the issue is war, it is rather worse than that. The fatal jingoism that Wilfred Owen wrote about with such controlled anger in “Dulce et Decorum est” was, at least, on behalf of one’s own country.
Keep thinking about this terrific peroration by Janan Ganesh: www.ft.com/content/eaee...
Didn’t read the article, because I just know that Tickell is one of the absolute worst in academia.
It’s clearly a dig at middle class professionals, but I’m interested that women are more likely to wear lanyards where I work, as they don’t always have pockets for the cards that get them into buildings/rooms.
Again, firm agree.
UK 16-18 education has been much too focussed on getting kids into a certain sort of university degree. Ironically, many seem to think this is the problem of universities.
I dropped out of high school, gained a huge amount of often difficult life experience, then went to community college, and now I'm a professor in a prestigious university. There HAS TO BE A PLACE for non-traditional students. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
A niche indicator of growing inequality in the UK is the ever increasing numbers of 'private chefs' on Masterchef The Professionals.
Any voting irregularities should be investigated. It’s a really important issue
But the idea that 4k+ votes were ‘stolen’ is Trump level nonsense
V worried British media could end up in same place as US, legitimating ‘stolen votes’ claims by parroting BS lines from Farage and Co
He's obviously right. The Tory position on this is nuts. Why on earth would you want to tie yourself to a President who is clearly not capable of rational decision making and has no idea what he's doing?
It's already not a popular conflict + it's only going to get less popular if it drags on.
"The sprint to clean energy is the only way to get off the volatile international fossil fuels markets, cut bills & deliver energy security"
Fair play to Starmer - this is exactly right. Meanwhile, Badenoch & Farage would have us hooked on more fossil fuels
www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Worth noting that despite frothing at the mouth of various right-wing media outlets in UK, the decision by Ed Miliband to go ahead with over 8GW of offshore wind in the recent renewables auction now looks a sensible bet
One of few ways UK can reduce economic risk from instability in Middle East
![[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.]
From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes:
NEWSREADER:
Extraordinary images here
of an expat in Dubai
[The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly]
…Having their first ever geopolitical thought.
[CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones].
CLIVE MYRIE:
To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent
DAVID JONES:
Clive, this is momentous
It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’.
[Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same]
You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self.
It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts.
CLIVE MYRIE:
Which are…?
DAVID JONES:
You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes,
I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa.
CLIVE MYRIE:
And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days?
DAVID JONES:
I think we can expect to see:
“I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To”
CLIVE MYRIE:
Mmm.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreibu6vuc7ofetq5hla3gfcknocotbfl3yk2ajczk6qfd2hnjxrav6q)
[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.] From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes: NEWSREADER: Extraordinary images here of an expat in Dubai [The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly] …Having their first ever geopolitical thought. [CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones]. CLIVE MYRIE: To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent DAVID JONES: Clive, this is momentous It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’. [Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same] You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self. It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts. CLIVE MYRIE: Which are…? DAVID JONES: You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes, I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa. CLIVE MYRIE: And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days? DAVID JONES: I think we can expect to see: “I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To” CLIVE MYRIE: Mmm. [Ends]
In war, civilians suffer, while the rich line their pockets.
Oil profits are up. Weapons companies are booming.
Meanwhile, schools and hospitals get bombed, and thousands die.
War makes billionaires and their corporations even richer. It’s just another business model for them.
“Legitimate concerns”.
Personally, I'd have gone with the fact that "one in five (22%) also supported it for non-white citizens whose parents were born in the UK" for the headline. 😱
Huh, it’s almost like the UK’s closest ally is France …
this policy is cruel and will make minimal difference to immigration numbers (as refugees are only a small % of overall immigrants, and most of them come from countries that aren't going to be safe any time soon [e.g. eritrea;afghanistan]).
It will actively harm integration and finding work.
Author's own graph of the Gorton and Denton parliamentary election results in 2019, 2024, and 2026. It compares the progressive votes of Lib Dem, Labour, and Green with the right-wing votes of Conservatives and Reform. In 2024 it has a separate column for the Workers' Party. It highlights that the progressive vote has always been significantly higher than the right-wing vote.
Yes, the Greens had a historic win - but largely because they switched from Labour.
Reform consolidated the Right Wing vote and clearly managed to pick up some new voters
So it's weird to see how adamant they are that they only lost because of some form of "cheating"
Has it occurred to anybody that Trumps Iranian war ploy greatly benefits his friends in the domestic US oil and gas production industry? Fracked oil and gas requires high prices to be economic, and at current prices it's barely profitable, if that.
Well, no, they’re not just as wrong. The bigger error is not seeing that “trying to win over voters from a party on the opposite end of the spectrum, whose values your core voters oppose” is not same as “chasing voters from party on same side ideologically whose values your core voters like.”
interesting that new Green MP Hannah Spencer talks almost entirely about public services, cost of living, NHS, the grind of making ends meet....
and hardly ever mentions ecological/environmental issues....
this is the pivot that scares Labour the most
The problem with MPs spending all their time on X is they start thinking people care more about who gets to use what bathroom than cost of living, housing, and public services
