Luke Holland

Andy Burnham: If I was an MP now, I would be saying I'm not happy® The mayor of Greater Manchester is challenging the prime minister over welfare, education and the mental health crisis, but says he no longer yearns for the job

Andy Burnham gives the most Andy Burnham interview ever, despite it being identical to the last Andy Burnham interview. And the one before that. And every other Andy Burnham interview. It’s hitting peak Andy Burnham interview through sheer force of doing the same Andy Burnham interview. Always.

Photo opp of Britain’s delegation to the Oval Office in which the PMs chief of staff has made unconscionable trouser, sock and lace choices.

Zoom of Photo opp of Britain’s delegation to the Oval Office in which the PMs chief of staff has made unconscionable trouser, sock and lace choices.

Further zoom of Photo opp of Britain’s delegation to the Oval Office in which the PMs chief of staff has made unconscionable trouser, sock and lace choices.

SOCK LACE CLOSE UP

This trouser, sock and and lace combo is fully deserving of 25% tariffs on its own.

Ukraine War: The New Trump & Putin Axis Explained YouTube video by The News Agents

Lie after lie has been told this week about how the Ukraine war started, from the Kremlin and the White House.

Here's our News Agents video essay which explains the truth, and spells out why Trump clings so close to Putin and lives in his warped reality.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cufM...

I know this is a tired, cliched gripe these days, but if Biden had said something as remotely dumbass there would've been days upon days of stories about how he's too old and feeble to be in office.

Whether it's Hillary Clinton sharing risotto tips on a private email server or Elon Musk giving full access to all government information to a nineteen-year old named Big Balls with ties to a child pornography collective known for its extortion techniques, both sides have played loose with security.

Screenshot from the FT : The prime minister admitted his administration had been too slow, too cautious and risked being left behind by world events, telling ministers at a special meeting on Friday in Lancaster House: "We can either be the disrupters or the disrupted."

I have never met an actual human who speaks like this. Also, I have no idea what it means, other than a general feeling that being a disruptor and being disrupted both sound a bit rubbish.

A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.

Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers.

This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.

Auschwitz took time.

A Daily Telegraph UK news alert screen shot that says “How I became a Labour school-fee exile in Dubai” by Isabel Oakeshott

I will never, ever read this article. But I am quietly delighted it exists.

From the Guardian, a Keir Starmer quote: “But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. In a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.”

I find the framing here both peculiar and a bit troubling. The vibe is very much “the only way to benefit from AI is to give the predatory owners anything they want”. It reminds me (weirdly) of the insane rush to give the gambling firms the earth back in the day. And we all know how that ended.

A photograph of a television showing a programme with young(er) Rob Brydon and a strange child dressed as a detective (me) from the early 1990s.

I know some now have Gavin & Stacey fatigue, but I’ve loved speaking to so many people here in Aus who (re)discovered the show at Christmas. Here’s a pic of me with a pre-fame Rob Brydon filming for BBC Daytime Live early 1990s. Fair to say one of us was more of a natural than the other…

A Telegraph (UK) news alert for an article by Tim Stanley titled “Forget the $100m - Farage's rupture with Musk is his smartest move yet”

Imagine being paid to write this tripe.

Chas and Dave are the only people in the history of the world who put their heads through a seaside photo comedic stand and look exactly the same as they did beforehand.

On the left, my image. On the right, the Al image that was clearly trained on, and designed to plagiarize, my image.

All Al generated imagery is inherently theft. It's unethical, environmentally disastrous, and does irreparable harm to both artists and society.

“You will be visited by three spirits.”

The three spirits

“You will be visited by three spirits.”

The three spirits

Finely detailed illustration looking through winter trees towards a valley and the lovely, subtle colours of sunrise. In the mid-ground, a small group of deer roam past.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
The last window
‘Winter Sunrise’
Artist: SR Badmin

A screen shot of a UK Daily telegraph news alert which reads “Labour split on Mandelson working with Farage to woo Trump”

It’s CHRIIIIIIIISSSTMAAAAAAAASSSS!

A Christmas scene of a very busy Victoria Market food hall on Christmas Eve

Just bagged some Black Pudding from Vic Market for breakfast tomorrow and I swear to god I’ve not been this happy since I beat David Barrel in the sack race in J2 sports day.

Recently took a peek at Twitter and the disinformation is getting substantially more dangerous. Someone could get killed.

The tactics of constantly repeating outright lies, targeting specific people, repurposing years-old footage and presenting them as new is getting to another level. It’s scary.

I had one and “cooked” it once. Genuinely terrifying.

Sale of the Observer to Tortoise Media agreed in principle Scott Trust will become a key shareholder and take a seat on both the editorial and commercial boards of the company

Not a single dissenting voice. “Fearless journalism” my arse.

www.theguardian.com/media/2024/d...

Dutton to claim nuclear rollout will end up cheaper than renewables The opposition leader will reveal his costings for seven nuclear plants as soon as next week.

Weird to see a masthead like The Age carrying these costings from Dutton as if they could conceivably be true. They’re an obvious fiction - created by an actual Liberal lobbyist. The most cursory glance at any international comparators show them to be utter balls.
www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

Reading the pardon coverage...I don't think the significance of the Gaetz/Patel/Bondi nominations has sunk in. People still aren't getting what a politicized DOJ and FBI, with the power to arrest/bug/harass anyone for any reason, would be able to do.

Paid ad from NME promoting ticket scalping ahit head company Viagogo.

NME doing a sponsored campaign with Viagogo is quite a flex. And turning off comments, obvs.

think everyone who took this post at face value should no longer be allowed to vote

Choose your fighter

There’s a very good case to be made for a fairer, equitable system that ends the divisive and dangerous nonsense of the past decade and a half. Hope they decide to make it soon.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are already delivering on our plan to ramp up removal of those with no right to be in the UK, with removals of foreign offenders and failed asylum seekers at their highest level in half a decade … “This will reduce our reliance on hotels and costs of accommodation, saving an estimated £4bn over the next two years.”

No mention of the deportation of hundreds of settled kids in this UK Home Office statement, which reads like a mid-00’s UK Labour by-election leaflet. Which is, objectively, not a good thing.
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Twenty years of spinning and they put you in a starter pack.