“I spent 10 years working in China, I don’t think I’ve seen anything as grotesque as this. You don’t need this much money to make a documentary.” #Melania

The wonderful Norman font of St. Mary’s Church at Kirkburn in East Yorkshire. 📸 My own. #FontsOnFriday #Kirkburn #Yorkshire

Yep. All the supermarkets here are installing panels on massive canopies. It also means (we're in the South) you can park your car in Summer without it turning into an oven on wheels. Everybody wins!

Yes is winning on 58%

Mail is running a poll on whether the UK should rejoin the EU.

Takes seconds to vote and it's going hilariously well...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

One foundation, Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) was handed $1.7 billion in government money and asset to train conservatives and create programming for primary and secondary education. Even if Orban loses elections, his loyalists will remain. Advisory board members appointed by Orban were given lifetime positions, and they are the only ones who can select new members. This is a basic form of cronyism, a bribe to retain power. Orban appointed Balazs Orban (no relation), to lead the MCC even as he served as state secretary in the prime minister’s office. The Lesser Orban serves as an ambassador to far-right academics and think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation.

If Orban loses, curious how much the Hungarian gravy train for right-wing academics and think-tankers will dry up. This was the means by which Orban helped to build his stature in the West. He tried to insulate these institutions from election losses. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/make-ameri...

The state of them.

It's not just that Orbán losing inspires hope in other competitive-autocratic countries ruled by right-wing nationalist authoritarians. It's that his loss materially changes things in those other countries, because he's been operating as a headquarters and funding source...

If you have not seen anything about the Iran war, then watch this 👇

It’s a fantastic - and pretty accurate - sum up😂😂😂😂😂

@davecolumbo.bsky.social #Iran

I think you know the answer to that...

Petition: Government to advise monarch to refuse/cancel state visits with hostile powers The Government should advise the Monarch against facilitating a ceremonial head of state visit where a foreign state is engaged in hostile activity - whether economic, diplomatic, military or otherwis...

Shocking. Appalling. Even for Trump. Sheer madness to go ahead with state visit by King Charles! Bin it NOW!

Obituary: Glen Baxter, cult cartoonist | The Observer A master of the absurd and a mainstay of the New Yorker, the UK artist won global fame with his surreal greetings cards

Obituary: Glen Baxter, cult cartoonist bit.ly/4spE5Ti

Should read 'here's the cover'

Front & Back cover of Methuen edition of Astell & Woolf

New play hits the stage May 19th ( previews fom May 14th) Live Theatre, Newcastle. Here's the of Methuen's playtext

'They're a bunch opf arrogant, unaccountable, useless people.' Every accusation a confession.

I've just been told Tim Shipman is only 46. Mind blowing. He has the mindset of someone who was young during the Boer War. And looks like someone pushing 60.

Was he always this mad?

I love that they're outside a shop selling yachts

Bluesky blocking can be so useful.

It's generelly considered to be IN Whitley Bay. ( I know, it's where I come from)

Have a huge like. ( That sentence looks weird, doesn't it? Like old Norse)

Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi's reaction as Trump says "Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Habour?"

Undoubtedly the worst American diplomatic gaffe in post-war US-Japan history.

God, what a repulsive woman.

He looks absolutely deranged.

My cat sleeps all day and then keeps me awake all night so this gave me a good laugh.
Credit - @dagnylill on Instagram

Daily Mail Headline: Pupils' drawings could be blasphemous under Islamic law, Labour councils tell schools - while music and dance classes may go against the teachings of Islam

Oh boy! What a headline...

Ask yourself:

"What am I being asked to believe?"

"Who am I being told to blame?"

Take a few seconds to imagine what the Daily Mail (And Telegraph, GB News and Express) WANT you to think is going on.

Let's see what's ACTUALLY happening...🧵

1/21

Quite the thread.

They're also killing many many Iranian civilians, who deserve as much sympathy as 'a whole bunch of Americans'. They're innocent victims here, murdered in droves by their own regime, and now by Trump.

hello I'm mental

A people who demonstrated the most extraordinary courage in the face of the savagery of the Iranian regime, now “disappointing” the armchair warriors in America because they won’t sacrifice themselves in accordance with America’s timetable and to satisfy America’s needs.