Well let's see how this strategy of telling "white liberals" to "fuck right off" works out in the local elections

Cabinet Office suggested Mandelson did not need security vetting, says Robbins as he describes ‘constant pressure’ from No 10 – live Olly Robbins was sacked as Foreign Office permanent secretary over the Peter Mandelson security vetting revelations in the Guardian

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

It is also stated in the Guardian, "it is because due process was being follow that Morgan McSweeney was constantly on the phone telling the Foreign Office to speed it all up. " McSweeney looks culpable. Does not excuse Starmer from going along with a howlingly bad choice in Mandelson.

Robbins: "We do know that.. McSweeney was a protege of Peter Mandelson, and we know that he was very keen on Peter Mandelson getting the job, and we know that he resigned, saying that it was all his fault and that he had advised the prime minister to appoint Peter Mandelson and took it on the chin.

I wish he could meet some of the Somalian students and academic fellows at the University of Oxford.

Making a splash: demand for raw and ‘brewed’ milk growing in UK Farmers and delivery firms launch new options for those seeking alternative to traditionally pasteurised product

Apparently Raw milk sales not only increasing in the States but also the UK as the Guardian reports. This is unpasteurised milk with the ‘goodness’ of Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus, Yersinia, & tuberculosis bacteria left in. Yet the Guardian didn’t say this…

The FCO where the Mandelson saga went sour, consider themselves to be the elite of the civil service & recruit the usual clutch of public schoolboys, but also top level graduates from 'Ox-Bridge'. This kind of atmospshere engenders, a 'We know best' attitude & can produce the cock-up we see now.

I don’t think we talk nearly enough about the fact that corporations like Amazon, don’t pay a single cent to maintain the roads they use, the transportation system they use, the courts they use, they pay nothing for the infrastructure that is absolutely critical to their business.

WE Pay for

Well, everyone will have their own view, and perhaps Olly Robbins testimony tomorrow will change the narrative again. But, listening to HoC debate, imo Starmer’s put up a plausible defense - and by admitting upfront the misjudgment in appointing Mandelson, partly neutralized that line of attack.

Trump is too deranged to continue in office Republicans can no longer deny the depth of the president’s cognitive decline and should act for the good of the party

Even The Times is willing to state the obvious (Matthew Parris). It is paywalled.

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Starmer had a very successful career outside politics and is surely unique in rising to the top in two different professions. Love him or loathe him that takes talent and hard work. What a shame our media seem to hate him for it or is it because he won't play their games or let them set his agenda.

@ottoenglish.bsky.social 😆

Israeli forces beat a young man who tried to stop settlers from stealing his sheep and land in Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.

Clashes erupted in Al-Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah, as Israeli militias—backed by the army—raided the village and stole 200 sheep.

As Foreign Secretary, Johnson would not have been subject to vetting - but Cummings should have been, yet visited restricted establishments without it. And very likely also had access to papers which were restricted.

Utterly bizarre attempt by the Green Party to find favour with the types of voters who won't give a fig. Labour should keep well clear of this apology for a "sport".

I doubt very much that Starmer has lied. He'll need to sort out what the Foreign Office thought they were doing and who was responsible. The feeding frenzy and confected uproar never happened for Boris Johnson's blatant proven lies and activities. Starmer will definitely survive this. And he should.

Why is France’s bill against ‘new forms of anti-Semitism’ sparking controversy? The French government is backing a draft law based on the idea that "hatred" of Israel is inseparable from hatred of the Jewish people. Critics of the “Yadan law” warn the new legislation will not jus...

www.france24.com/en/france/20...

Donald Trump launches extraordinary attack on Pope Leo calling him ‘weak’ and ‘terrible’ President says US-born pope is ‘not doing a very good job’ and is ‘a very liberal person’ in unprecedented assault on leader of Catholic church

Pope Leo has unsettled Trump. Trump is saying all the wrong things to try to counter the Pope's condemnation of his disregard for morality and norms of civilised behaviour. A widely admired religious leader making a scathing judgement is poison to Trump.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Ex-CIA director calls for ousting Trump: ‘25th amendment was written with him in mind’ John Brennan says president who made volatile remarks about destroying Iranian civilization ‘is clearly unhinged’

Ex-CIA director calls for ousting Trump: ‘25th amendment was written with him in mind’

•China is set to benefit from Trump’s war, and will take over providing support to the Middle East sheik dictatorships.

•Israel will lose. It has lost support amongst the US public and even more so in Europe. It supported its own dictator and backed a US fool.

#Trump threatened to blow up the whole country of #Iran

This is Iran……

#SheShed

The President of the United States is threatening to commit war crimes and wipe out a "whole civilization" — all because he started a disastrous war of his own making and had no plan and no strategy for how to end it.

This is abhorrent, and the American people do not support this.

Screenshot of a tweet by Rep. Ted Lieu stating that U.S. military law prohibits war crimes, including strikes on civilian infrastructure that cause disproportionate harm. The tweet warns that service members must disobey illegal orders and could face prosecution by a future administration if they commit war crimes.

Rep. Ted Lieu isn't backing down.

I have a father and mother in law in Iran. I have a sister in law. A niece. She's 14. She likes silly pink headbands and purses and dresses, just like kids her age all over the world. There are 93 million people like her in Iran. People who do all the normal mundane life things as the rest of us.

BREAKING: Extraordinary scenes as Iranian citizens start forming human chains outside key infrastructure sites.

This is Kazerun Power Plant in Fars province, southern Iran

(🎥 i24 News)

In an age of creeping relativism, a universal moral law still exists.

Threatening to end an entire civilization of 90 million people in order to bend a nation’s conduct to your will is grossly morally wrong. It is evil. And we should say this loudly.

Want to know capitalism’s endgame? Just look at private equity – it has captured our everyday lives | Hettie O'Brien These companies now own everything from nurseries to care homes, squeezing vital services for profit while we foot the bill, says Hettie O’Brien, author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned C...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The great care home cash grab: how private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs When did care homes come to be seen as recession-proof investments? And who pays the price?

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

When I get abused just for dancing, it shows how far hatred of politicians has gone | Stella Creasy Concern over MPs’ competence is one thing, but this is silencing opponents’ voices by character assassination, says Labour MP Stella Creasy

The manipulators (largely of the Far Right) dredge up the worst instincts of people to foster division and encourage them to envy, ridicule, loathe, etc their fellow human beings.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...