Andrew

This is quite extraordinary. I don't think I have heard a more coherent, articulate and accurate deconstruction & demolition of Nigel Farage's ReformUK, Tory & Restore policy than this. In under 85 seconds! @rafaelbehr.bsky.social is on here folks and worth a follow.

Brilliant interview with someone who has experienced the reality of Putinism and come home to tell the tale.

In the docky-wock.

“I felt a pull to go back.” Evan Gershkovich had a loving family and supportive colleagues after his release, but returning to normal life from Russian prison still felt like “coming down from the international space station”. @dorianlynskey.bsky.social  ➡️  https://linktr.ee/bunker_pod

And as for the paedophilia-tinged sexist stuff about a female Reform candidate (“if she was my daughter, it would still be bath night on a Thursday” etc.), words fail.

It would seem the Home Office has now acquired the ability to impose, without visibility or accountability, shadow bans on students coming to British universities from particular countries. How? Because of the interaction between indiv visa decisions (made by HO alone) and visa rules for unis 1/?

Just in case this history is useful in light of the current discourse podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/z...

This was a two act play by the Russians. It’s both a tragedy and a comedy.

Bonnie Greer, "What can we learn from Donald Trump? Nothing" Fiona Bruce interrupts, "Bonnie, I just want to point out that maybe half of the audience are applauding" Bonnie Greer, "If I can just carry on" Fiona Bruce, "Of course" #BBCQT

My god this woman's simple truth telling and refusal to be silenced for it should shame the current leadership of Labour. Total respect for her.

It’s also (sort of) the 939th anniversary of William ‘Conqueror’ I dying because the king of France called him fat. Well, according to Chambers’ Book of Days it was the 10th, even though pretty much every other source says 9th (but we were busy yesterday with Mary Whitehouse)

Today, the anniversary (one way or another) of three deaths: one that wasn’t supposed to happen, because Henry II, Count of Champagne and King of Jerusalem, was only 31, but on this day in 1197 had a slight mishap with a window...

Oh yes ! And a wife beater, and a kidnapper, with an interesting approach to grooming gang victims…

New episode out today – Live at Union Chapel. @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social discuss how the Daily Telegraph’s deterioration from grey citadel of High Toryism to feral troll farm mirrors the cognitive decline of conservatism in Britain. Listen now ➡️ linktr.ee/originstoryp...

If you couldn't come to the show, you can listen to it now. This time we take on a classic narrative topic but on stage with a brilliant crowd

Wait, so James Orr being given Google Scholar credit / clout for the work of a different James Orr, 1844-1913?

If the argument is that Israel's global reputation is directly correlated to the safety of the Jewish diaspora then surely no one has a bigger responsibility to safeguard that reputation than Israel's Prime Minister. ... and he doesn't appear to give a shit.

Chatting just now with local Kent winegrower at farmer's market. This year's grapes are "smaller than peas" - not going to bother to harvest. What did he think of politicians saying 'hey enjoy your English sparkling wine thanks to climate change'? "Fucking morons."

If no other picture survives Reform UK conference this year, let it be this one. It is a teachable moment. #ReformAssault #Fascism

Prison?

"We've done nothing wrong but the people who did it have been sacked for (not) doing it," is quite the defence. And is it just me or Does. Farage. Get. Even. More. Comically. Staccato when he's straining his own enormous capacity for lying?

This bit from The Times’ story on the killing of Bradley Townsend, a fisherman from Barnsley who volunteered for the Russian Army, leaves quite a lot out. Aiden Minnis is a former member of the National Front who was jailed for four years for a racist attack. "Another Briton”, indeed.

One of the things us an industry need to stop doing is perpetuating the 'they say this on social media, but they're a sweetheart in real life' about awful people I've had other journos say this to me about some of the most pernicious grifters over the years, some of who crossed many lines this week

lol

My friend and colleague @calroscow.bsky.social has launched a magazine for people who refuse to accept that life can't be a bit nicer. Sharp writing on world affairs, culture, travel & design for the "nerdy-but-epicurean." His opening letter is a lovely read 👇 www.paperweightmag.com/letter-from-...

They were warned.

I feared this would happen. His story was troubling but the wave of hatred and obsession in the media when he was clearly someone who was vulnerable - whatever you thought of him - was entirely disproportionate and in my view fuelled by racists. My thoughts are with his loved ones tonight.

Cambridge University should have known better, Fleet Street should have known better, the people hungrily absorbing every bit of news about it, making newsrooms feel like they had to keep going with it as a story, should have known better, horrible horrible horrible

Jason Arday being found dead is a horrendous way for the story to end. Elements of the press and wider media are who were relentless in their pursuit won’t stop for a moment to consider how brutal that attention was.

Lest we forget how gleefully foul he was. This passes for comedy in certain circles

Watched Dirty Dancing with my daughter and her friend. It’s a movie way ahead of its time in that one of the worst characters in it is a massive Ayn Rand fan.

Senator Bernie Morano was a big tough guy today, hurling F-bombs and swearing attacks on Dr. Fauci. I would've been more impressed if Moreno had spoken out, even once, about his daughter being beaten and abused and his granddaughter's collar bone being broken by Rep. Max Miller.

Musk just has a hard time wrapping his head around a story where a man’s wife and child care if he comes home

Andy Burnham is currently being given the access codes for the national computer. It was designed by Charles Babbage inn 1867, is made out of zinc, crystal, and the heart of Lord Nelson, and is located seven miles below the crypt of Westminster Abbey.

He’s gone to a (much) warmer place.

Thinking about this, it is quite striking that we’ve suddenly decided taking extremely dubious undeclared bungs from millionaires is utterly intolerable and anyone who does it is a crook, what, two weeks after Keir Starmer announced he was resigning.

Katie Hopkins kicked out of pub in East London during England Croatia match on Wednesday. Seems to take it well... youtube.com/shorts/9QBke...

If you're just waking up: lol. Also: ha. Good times out here. Make some coffee and take it all in

the BBC, like Labour, is run by people who are embarrassed at being liked by those who like it, and crave the approval of those who hate it

"We hear little of these other incidents because their white perpetrators do not fit the narrative — or the political business model — of the populist right." - terrific column by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social:

Shocking interview w/ DUP’s Carla Lockhart on BBC Radio 4 rnow Refuses to describe the violence in Belfast as thuggery, then attacks media for being asked about why she was standing next to masked loyalists the other day. Ends by whipping everything up some more No wonder we’re in such a mess

Can anyone else remember UKIP’s position on whether Jo Cox’s murder was a proper matter for politicians to debate in the context of the Brexit referendum?

NEW | A look at Simon Heffer’s new publisher. Spoiler: it ♥️ ‘race science’ guys and antisemites… BARON BLACKWATER’S VERY BAD BOOK CLUB He’s promoting his Enoch Powell book in The Telegraph and Spectator. His chosen publisher is a far-right cesspit. brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/baron-blac...

it’s such shibboleth of modern politics to blame politicians for failing town centres when the primary driver is - surely - all of us buying more and more stuff online

Much as people complain about being an adult, you can just make yourself a whole pile of roast potatoes at 3am and nobody can stop you.

Reform's Ricky Hodges urged "veterans" to put the city's mayor, Sadiq Khan, "in a coma for a long time". Previously said he wanted to shoot people "in the face", and that he would "love to come up against" a group of Labour activists to "take their... limbs off". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...