At the most basic level of 'have some self-respect', Conservative MPs should not put forward someone who visibly is not intellectually equipped to be prime minister as their candidate to be prime minister.
A photograph of Roger Daltrey, on his 54,000 acre estate in the Home Counties.
OMG I just love horses so so much.
Britain is in a deep structural economic hole thanks to austerity, Brexit and global shocks that is nearly impossible to get out of. It is rather unfair to expect government to reverse those long-term drags on national prosperity, but it needs to start explaining to voters why we are where we are.
Starmer’s position is entirely consistent with what he wrote about Iraq in 2003, a fact of enormous inconvenience to just about everybody currently criticising it. Happily for them, just like the entire bloody Chilcot Inquiry it is apparently very easy to ignore.
want to follow the news but can't bear thinking about ordinary Iranians, who've been stuck under such an oppressive regime for so long, who maybe got a flicker of hope, briefly, a few months ago, then watched in horror as their friends and relatives got killed by the state, and now this, unspeakable
Kind of epic how British tabloids still haven't noticed that their pro-war position to play to an American audience isn't even popular with most Americans
PUPDATE:
Baloo has discovered ball chasing…
A widespread affliction (see @roberthutton.co.uk : thecritic.co.uk/the-dumb-dum...).
"Sheep Are Crapping On My Grandad's Grave" rages furious local resident..
I think tomorrow i might... finish this? for the first of about nine definitions of "finish this". only half a chapter left to write, then it's just a million edits before working out a conclusion of some sort
"Did you not hear me? Get yourselves over to Tehran and make the country proud"
Great read on the 2016 referendum, its aftermath and where it all went wrong.
"Once again, Starmer seems to be stuck in the middle, neither on one side nor the other. The difference is that this time, he may well actually be exactly where the British public are on this issue – for once, it might be the parties with the apparently clearer positions who are out of touch."
I've just read a precis of the plot of Atlas Shrugged for the first time. Omg has anyone ever seen such garbage?
Also read that it was once voted the second most influential book in the USA and it's suddenly like *everything* has been explained
Three cheers for @robertshrimsley.bsky.social. Am reading and listening to too many self-styled fans of liberal democracy saying, in effect, 'let's park international law for the moment and talk about....'
On the one hand, a clearly deranged lunatic in the White House starting a dangerous illegal war on Iran with already-serious repercussions for the region and world...
Or having a pop at Keir Starmer.
You just knew which side the Right would come down on.
FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?
Polly Clark, a writer from Argyll, says a glowing review of her work was removed by Gutter magazine because of her social media posts
We done a pod innit
Me + @robarmstrong.bsky.social + FT oil nerd @jamiesmythft.bsky.social on The Obvious featuring:
-oil 📈
-Gas 🚀
-anyone fancy piloting a ship through the Strait of Hormuz? Anyone? 🚢
-markets 🤮
-sausage rolls 🥧
-2026 is going *just great* 👍🏻
open.spotify.com/episode/3h5w...
The advice is correct. See from ten years ago.
spinninghugo.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/d...
I admit it. Those are my views. And I think the Government are in the right place, even though it’s uncomfortable.
New post from @ldfreedman.bsky.social
"The US and Israel Attack Iran: Round 2"
Is regime change a serious possibility?
Can Iran foment a regional conflict and damage America economically to get Trump to back off?
We're in dangerous territory.
(£/free trial)
samf.substack.com/p/the-us-and...
Baloo bear with his chew toy puppy
PUPDATE:
He’s tired, I’m tired, we’re all tired 🤪
Osborne seems totally untouchable, Teflon, within the UK elite classes, where accountability is concerned
he'll be appointed part-time Duke of York next
British far-right activist Tommy Robinson was hosted at the US state department on Wednesday, as the Trump administration seeks to cultivate closer ties with conservative and far-right groups across Europe
www.ft.com/content/032d...
London hellhole update
New Substack post: 'The Good Old Days'.
open.substack.com/pub/rolandmc...
Baloo beat sleeping
Picture of me as a student
My cat Roscoe (aka the infamous Britpop celebrity and ahead-of-her time influencer Philippa Islington-Smythe), leaning a bit too nonchalantly on a fence, a few summers ago.
A sure sign that my cat has been up to no good is when she spots me coming towards her and immediately tries a bit too hard to act casual.
www.tom-cox.com/at-home-with...
