Peter Walker

Sport radio is on its latest bout of, “One more managerial change will turn around Manchester United”, when the whole enterprise remains fundamentally, perpetually cursed by a takeover expressly designed to bleed dry a club and enrich a family - cheerily waved through by a certain Alex Ferguson.

That’s enough football punditry from me.

Worth noting that the Glazers have supposedly extracted about £1.2bn from United - around £300m than the alleged unfair overspend by Manchester City.

You want a villain, United fans? It’s not Michael Carrick. Or even Jim Ratcliffe, however inept and unsavoury he is. Perhaps look at the self-proclaimed socialist who had the influence to block a plan which was the very worst form of predatory leveraged takeover capitalism, but decided not to.

Why "Colin"? Ah. Lovely detail in this Telegraph obituary.

telegraph.co.uktelegraph.co.uk

If you have a Telegraph login, it's quite an extraordinary life - he volunteered as a police CCTV operator aged 96, and lived independently until a month before he died aged 107. www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...

For a party that supposedly believed lawyers have too much influence, Reform don’t half create a lot of easy and well-paid work for some of them.

theguardian.comEx-Greens co-leader urges council groups to reject Zionism policyExclusive: Adrian Ramsay calls conference motion a distraction and says councillors should maintain coalitions where possible

Adrian Ramsay, the former co-leader of the Greens, has urged his party’s councillors to reject the newly adopted “Zionism is racism” motion if it will help them stay in power in local government, in a fresh sign of internal dissent over the policy. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My personal view is that anyone found using "holibobs" should be immediately stripped of their UK nationality and made stateless.

YouGov@yougov.co.uk

While The Telegraph has deemed 'picky bits' "the most revolting phrase in the English language", more Britons have a positive view of the term (43%) than a negative one (25%), with 31% neutral yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

One of the side-lessons of the French riots is that, for the most part, modern British police forces are generally quite skilled at dealing with disorder.

Worth remembering whenever politicians start calling for mass stop and search/zero tolerance/"why don't we just arrest them all?" etc.

I see the "nanny state" headlines are back. Whatever the competing arguments of cost of living vs public health, these are not especially healthy breakfasts. Flavoured pre-made porridge sachets can be up to 25% sugar. Even Bran Flakes are nearly 15%.

Fairly open racism and far right talking points from someone who is, last time I checked, a Conservative peer.

theguardian.comTwo 1960s London housing estates saved from demolition after decade-long battleChange of council leadership hands reprieve to residents of architecturally celebrated developments in Lambeth

In other news: two architecturally celebrated council estates in south London that have been under threat of demolition for more than a decade, Cressingham Gardens and Central Hill, have been saved. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Not a surprise in that the plan was in place under Labour, vehemently opposed by the Greens, and the Greens now run Lambeth council. But it ends more than a decade of limbo for residents (and will please fans of 1960s low-rise/high density, human-scaled housing).

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to the Greens to seek more information about the 'Zionism is racism' motion "and assess its practical implications and potential impact".

Peter Walker reposted

Tom Flood

@tomflood.bsky.social

Toronto is not having it.

Ultimatum from Labour to local Greens: formally disown the 'Zionism is racism' motion and call for it to be overturned, or we will end any deals with have in co-running councils.

It's not the biggest ask in the sense that the Greens are so localised that disagreeing with or even disowning official party policy is not rare and brings no real repercussions. Greens in Southwark, S London, who are in coalition with Lib Dems, have already disowned the motion.

Peter Walker reposted

Tom Flood

@tomflood.bsky.social

it's currently being taken down. this is devastating. i swear to god, we will take not just the lane but the whole fucking road.

Tom Flood@tomflood.bsky.social

Fuck. MTO vioalting construction permit by doing this now and not post 6pm.

Honour guard at Downing Street ahead of Zelenskyy’s arrival.

And here he is.

A hug for Zelenskyy from Burnham as well as the honour guard.

Honour guard at Downing Street ahead of Zelenskyy’s arrival.

And here he is.

A hug for Zelenskyy from Burnham as well as the honour guard.

Honour guard at Downing Street ahead of Zelenskyy’s arrival.

Meeting UK PMs is not out of the ordinary for Zelesnkyy. Burnham is the fourth he has met* and this is their third in-person talks since Burnham took office. *As far as I can tell he only talked to Truss on the phone when she was PM.

The Conservatives have finally given an explanation for how they over-stated the supposed cost of net zero by nearly £500bn in Kemi Badenoch’s flagship policy document. It was a “source error”, her spokesman says, which I think means it was copied from the IEA/Spectator and not checked.

theguardian.comTories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet errorExclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data

This is the original story - www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Badenoch's spokesman also said: “Quite frankly, the people who want to get upset about this should be upset more about the fact that the net zero is costing us £500bn." This is also incorrect. The £487bn CCC estimate was from 2020. Its most recent estimate for net zero puts the total at £110bn.

Andy Burnham suggests Labour could not do a deal with the Greens in the wake of their 'Zionism is racism' policy motion, telling Tory MP Harriet Baldwin: "We cannot support a partnership with a party that holds [the] position that has recently been adopted."

Slightly quixotic subject choice for Kemi Badenoch at the first PMQs for weeks - several questions on the precise meaning of Andy Burnham's comments about Russian attempts to interfere in the Brexit referendum, a subject of great interest to the Conservative party but, I would guess, few voters.

It subsequently goes a bit varied - Rosebank and Jackdaw, social security, defence. Not sure what, if anything, is landing.

Decent riposte from Burnham re defence, quoting Badenoch's comment to LBC about how the Conservatives' "iron dome" (not an iron dome) missile defence system works: "You've got to speak to a defence expert about exactly how it will work."

theguardian.comNigel Farage says charities that help asylum seekers get to UK should be prosecutedReform leader did not say who should be targeted but party figures have been critical of small boat rescues by RNLI

NEW: Charities and volunteers who help asylum seekers get to the UK should face potential criminal prosecution, Nigel Farage has said in an interview with a rightwing US podcaster. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Pretty extraordinary for the Jewish Chronicle to run an op ed & news story about Nigel Farage warning of antisemitism in the Greens without mentioning that he is the only serving major party leader to have been criticised by Jewish groups for using tropes linked to antisemitic conspiracy theories.

theguardian.comNigel Farage under fire over 'antisemitic tropes' on far-right US talkshowBrexit party leader referred to ‘new world order’ in interviews with Alex Jones

Yes, it's a while back, but Farage has still never explained or apologised for what he said, despite condemnation from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the Community Security Trust. www.theguardian.com/politics/201...

From what I hear there is almost no chance of Ed Davey facing any kind of no confidence vote at tonight's meeting of the Lib Dem parliamentary party. Some MPs are dissatisfied with him, even if it's hard to gauge how many. But there seems a willingness to listen to what he has to say.

Two other reasons why anything dramatic feels unlikely: • There is no consensus among the malcontents - or anyone else – about who they might want to replace Davey. • The Lib Dems aren't generally very good at this sort of thing.

I tried a couple of Voi bikes yesterday after someone recommended them. Less ubiquitous near me than Lime, but a new fleet, so smoother and less... grimy and sticky. Comfortable to ride and while the brakes are a bit spongy, at least you don't need orangutan-span hands to use them.

I also like the in-built digital speedometer, in part as it proves you *can* get to 20mph on such machines, albeit at some effort.

Confirmation that a Reform UK government would mean Ice-style mass roundups and deportations. In fact, in one way the Reform plan would go further than Trump, in retrospectively stripping rights from people granted asylum as long as five years ago and tracking them down for removal.

Two things which stand out from the full Reform policy document on ending asylum. 1. It would be a hostile environment on steroids. There would be migration checks everywhere. This would, inevitably, be vast numbers of other people caught up in it.

2. Ukrainian and Hong Kongers would only ever be in the UK on a temporary basis. Would be interesting to learn how and when Reform think Hong Kong might become safe for dissidents to return to.

It's another policy which feels most likely to appeal solely to the 20% or so Reform core vote, and also to harden other voters' resolve to vote however is needed to keep out a Reform government - as do many of their recent announcements.

A "printing error", you say?

Peter Walker@peterwalker99.bsky.social

NEW: Kemi Badenoch’s flagship party conference policy document, The Right Way, overestimated the cost of net zero by nearly £500bn, seemingly after someone accidentally double-counted figures on a spreadsheet. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The document said a 2020 Climate Change Committee report said net zero would cost £957bn, rather than £487bn. CCC spokesperson: “We don’t recognise this number. The committee has previously offered to meet with Ms Badenoch and talk her through our advice. That offer is, of course, still open.”

A "slight printing error", apparently.