Wry Origin

Turns out the forecast is down by 0.1 percentage points next year (in line with other countries and hardly significant) but up by 0.2 this year (for domestic reasons). Such a poor and misleading headline from the BBC. This should be a good news story on UK resilience. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Betteridge's law of headlines.

Best thing about the World Cup half-time entertainment was that Romesh BBC propaganda piece.

One of BBC's best articles... and written by their 'Football tactics correspondent'. Now there's a job title. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Imagine a UK political party were funded over £22 million by foreign resident Chakrit Sakunkrit, while claiming to be patriotic. Imagine their key spokesman is Muhammad Yusuf, while portraying Islam as a threat. Reform UK, everyone.

If the alphabet can interfere with our democracy, imagine what a foreign donor with a few million could do? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Has it got to the point yet where we can just set Trump up in a room with a Fox News broadcast and access to Truth Social under the pretence that he is President and let him make his deranged pronouncements into the abyss?

The world is suffering from Trumpflation (i.e. price rises directly attributable to the actions of a leader whose actions are based on lies and a lack of reality).

According to the BBC: US President Donald Trump says the "short term" price increase is a "a very small price to pay" for world peace. Someone needs to ask Farage (and Badenoch) if they support this ridiculous comment - and if not, why should we support the war?

Newsflash: Reform are not very popular among young men. yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

Some good news. The sky is blue. youtube.com/shorts/vJ8z1...

The pen is mightier than the sword. Now we have a new idiom. The phone is powerfuller than the gun.

The slippery slope of lying... One day you go along with some silly lies about crowd sizes at a presidential inauguration. A decade later, you're covering up the murders of innocent people shot dead in the streets. It's why truth is so important. Without it, the world is lawless.

One reason Traitors is compelling is because it highlights the fragility of human psychology. Trump, Farage... these are the Traitors to their countries trying to lie and deceive their way into power and it is so frustating watching other Faithfuls stubbonly fall for their tricks.

Trump is presented with three boxes: 1. world peace, 2. an end to poverty or 3. unlimited power. He can have only one. What would he pick?... He would, of course, spend days bragging that with unlimited power he will bring world peace and put an end to poverty. That is who he is.

This chart explains a lot. There are two different narratives. Is there a chance in the next two years that some of the over 50s either realise or experience an improved economy and what would this mean?

Nothing bad has happened for five minutes. Trump must have fallen asleep.

Thought for the day: If ordinary people got as angry about the lies being spewed as the people spewing lies are about everything else, the world would be a much better place.

While Labour are not exactly 'tearing it up' when it comes to displaying competent and effective governnment (yet), they are not tearing it all down either. Hopefully 2026 will start to show tangible improvements in people's lives so that less think political anarchy is the way forward.

I've just finished re-reading 'Animal Farm'. I must say, Squealer does a great impression of Karoline Leavitt

Trump again acting as a playground bully, threatening to steal all the sweets from the BBC, provided by UK Taxpayers. Trump has the flimsiest of legal arguments. Rather, as usual, he is hoping to prolificate a false narrative. If the BBC were to cowardly hand over any money, that would be a bonus.

This article might appear to be fun, or even helpful, but at its core, it's saying that to succeed in business, women meed to be more like men. The last thing we need now is less friendly, meaner and harsher. And I do understand the irony that this is written by a woman.

Politics is absolutely wild, but despite that, this is possibly the most controversial statement you are likely to hear this year... [whispered voice] I thought the budget was okay.

What is the biggest issue in politics today? Inflation? Immigration? Healthcare? Climate action? Misinformation. If media companies were truly held accountable for spreading / platforming misinformation, everything would shift. Too many policies are built on lies. Bring back effective governance.

Farage and The Telegraph playing tennis with lies.

It won't happen but certain 'British patriots' would love it if Trump managed to steal billions from UK taxpayers via the BBC saga.

Rather than agree never to air the Panorama episode again, the BBC should have corrected the controversial edit (by adding a caption and a transition break) and then reaired the whole episode in the interests of correcting the record. Of course, this changes none of the conclusions.

Trump threatening to sue the BBC is just another obvious piece of evidence. MAGA will not act in the interests of Britain -> anyone that supports MAGA are the opposite of patriotic. Trump is bad news, Vance is bad news, Musk is bad news, Farage is bad news, Reform are bad news, GBNews are bad.

Ridiculous headline leading the BBC News. Assuming they can overcome all the legalities, they then have to find the 600,000 small boat migrants over 5 years. (Note: we've had less than a third of this over the last five years). It's akin to me saying I want to play football for England. But how?

How were these decided? 1. Pick a country out of the hat: Madagascar 2. Spin the wheel: 47%. #Tarrifs

To be replaced by the Ministry of Truth? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Here's an idea... all social media statements should begin with the words "I might be wrong but..." I think it could improve public discourse. For example: "I might be wrong but I think an army of giant mice are currently plotting the downfall of humanity from their secret base in Namibia."

From the moment of The Seer twist, Leanne and Jake were always the favourites to win because they were the only two left in the game that had a mutual trust in each other. #TraitorsUK

I'm sorry to say this, but for a great deal of Americans, they were first captivated by charisma, then they were deluded by deception, and now they are enchanted by evil.

Things that shouldn't need to be said but... These attacks on Jess Phillips are remarkable. I can't think of a politician that has done more to stand up for victims of abuse. It's like accusing Usain Bolt of lacking speed or David Attenborough of being anti-nature.

Just wondered if there is any polling of Radio 3 listeners? Turned it on accidentally and got curious.

Man of a certain age gets angry because his behaviour has been called out by multiple people.

No coincidence the world is experimenting with 'unconventional' rulers just as The Silent Generation are dying out. Turns out you only learn the lessons of history by experiencing it directly and so is doomed to repeat. On the upside, it's nearly Christmas.

I'm not a fan of boxing or celebrity YouTubers, so didn't watch, but by all accounts, the so-called fight has rewarded mediocrity. All hype and no substance.

The sky is blue. That's it. That's the tweet (or whatever they call it here).