From Flickr: President Donald J. Trump accepts a DoorDash delivery from Sharon Simmons outside of the Oval Office, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
The official White House photographer will post black and white photos sometimes and they almost always just make everything look like a horror movie
How to endear yourself to your soon-to-be colleagues:
Please don't encourage him we've already had to endure this abomination today bsky.app/profile/gene...
New reality show in which Olly Robbins has to appear supportive about contestants' terrible new boyfriends while dropping increasingly less subtle hints they're awful.
Delete your account!
Yes, this is one of the most pervasive myths of the whole business, that it was to appease Trump. Total bollocks.
A chart showing how regular wages are growing after taking account of inflation. The first few months of the period starting September 2023 showed relatively slow growth, but there was consistent growth between February 2024 and September 2024, meaning wages grew by 2.4% over the year. This latter period is in contrast to the period starting September 2024, where growth has hovered around zero, ending up as an increase of just 0.3% over 17 months to February 2026.
See a resurrected JRF chart showing how disappointing real wage growth has been since September 2024, compared to the year before then. And this is before any impacts from the Iran conflict. Earnings up £1.40/wk over last 17 months, compared to £11.60/wk up in the prev 12 months.
In, Twist, Out, as they say in bayonet drill.
There are different types of lies - Boris Johnson style: say an untruth about past events which you know to be false. But it’s also a lie, albeit v hard to prove, if you say “I would never have done x if I’d known y” when in fact if you’d known y, you would’ve said “just get it done”.
2/2
You’re saying he should never have been appointed and I agree with you,” Miliband told Sky News. “I steered well clear of Peter Mandelson when I became Labour leader in 2010.” Asked what he thought about Mandelson’s initial appointment, he said: “That it could blow up, that it could go wrong … I had a conversation with David Lammy about it before the appointment, and I said I was worried about it … I think he was worried about it too.” But Miliband said he was not asked directly what his views were of the appointment. “Maybe I wasn’t the person that people would necessarily ask. I think people knew my view on Peter Mandelson,” he added. Miliband said he did not think it was a resigning matter for the prime minister. “No, I don’t think he should. Because I think if every time a prime minister made a mistake they resigned, we would shuttle through prime ministers like nobody’s business.
something deeply relatable at the undisguised tone of I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO pervading these statements
24hrs (ish) to apply to join the team👇
PS NOTE: Ailsa Terry and Nin Pandit DATE 11/11/2024 You asked for advice regarding the options for filling HMA Washington. The attached note from the Cabinet Secretary sets out the two main options: either an official or a political appointment. An official appointment gives you someone tried and tested, expert in diplomatic tradecraft and the US system. It also demonstrates confidence in our own system to the incoming Trump administration. If anything goes wrong (e.g. the leaks of UK diplomatic telegrams written by Kim Darroch leading to a strong reaction from Trump and Darroch's resignation) then it is arguably less destabilising for the Government to change an official Ambassador if this is required. But given how it may operate, an official may not be able to influence in the same way as a political appointee, although the current HMA Washington has made good inroads into the Trump team. A political appointment will ensure a strong connection with the PM and political priorities, and your recently appointed NSA. It will enable the Ambassador to operate at a more political level and engage differently across the US system. The individual concerned will need to operate as an Ambassador for the first time while also navigating a new US administration. If anything goes wrong. you could be more exposed as the individual is more connected to you personally.
imagine reading this note on political appt peril then installing Peter Mandelson as Ambassador given his history of convicted sex-trafficker affiliation + "financial irregularities" resignations
"If anything goes wrong you could be more exposed as the individual is more connected to you personally"
very perceptive point from @barrygardiner.bsky.social on Olly Robbins. Ministers want solutions not problems. I think Robbins thought he had found an acceptable way to achieve PM goal of appointing Mandelson while managing risks
Reports of a third attempted arson attack on Jewish targets in North London this week. It's getting really scary and more people need to start taking it seriously.
"I loath Olly - he is arrogant to colleagues and condescending to ministerial authority - but it isn't fair for him to be sacked just for doing what the prime minister wanted to happen," said one.
If something bad happens to any of us let’s hope our enemies come out batting for us like this civil servant has for Olly Robbins
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
On Thursday, we received the solemn news that the Queen had died peacefully at Balmoral. To be told this on only my second full day as Prime Minister felt utterly unreal. In a state of shock, I found myself thinking: 'Why me? Why now?'
Two years ago, the first extracts from Liz Truss’ book began to emerge.
Maxmaxxing
If you step back, it is truly extraordinary that so many people went to such great lengths and broke so many conventions and risked their political careers and the only outcome of all these efforts and risks was appointing a washed-up old spinner to an ambassadorial post
Yeah, if the Robbins story is correct - particularly given the No.10 when the scandal broke - I think its the political embodyment of this meme
NEW: Foreign Affairs committee intends to summon Robbins over previous evidence on vetting process.
Emily Thornberry, committee chair, says: "Looking at the evidence given & the letters written, to be charitable there are glaring holes. It really is a question of whether we were knowingly misled."
Beginning to look terminal for Starmer. Not sure which is worse - that he knew and went ahead anyway or that he simply didn’t have a clue what was going on.
"you never know what worse institutions your bad institutions have saved you from" is the story of our age
Why
IMF's Managing Director Georgieva: I caution central banks against moving fast like in 2022.
IMF'S GEORGIEVA: SHOULD CONDITIONS WORSEN, WILL LOOK AT DOING MORE, IMPACT FROM WAR IS SEVERE
Their signoff is: "we remain committed to upholding the rules based international system." Feels much more blunt than anyone was prepared to be in Washington even six months ago at the last IMF meetings - we're going to keep doing multilateralism, even if you're out.
