I don't even bother with extreme shouty people now. Blockity-block.

Trying to count the number of reviews into Mandelson’s appointment

1-‘Due diligence’
2-UKSV vetting
3-FCDO decision
4-Wormald review
5-Humble address process
6-Romeo/Little paperwork review
7-Mandelson security threat review

This might be important. But there are other, more important issues.

Exactly. Look after you... and Bluesky has been designed to easily do that.

**waves and grins at you**

OMFG I had to go and check that this ACTUALLY happened.

Since when does the BBC ever do chyrons with a political party's branding, rather than their own? Not to mention this is during a pre-election campaign purdah.

(h/t @iainsol.bsky.social)

Welcome.
It's a much, much better and friendly pond to swim in.. follow people with interesting posts to get interesting feeds. Check out the extra feeds to pin.. and if anyone is vile, just block, and it cuts them out of your space completely. Much better.

Anyone know whether today is a ‘ceasefire’ day or a ‘destroy your civilisation’ day yet?

It’s so important to know your bollard history.
#WorldBollardAssociaton

I'm with you on this third option... I'd refine it slightly - he's micro managing too much, he's in a storm of info, and missing the key decisions.
He needs to drop the detail in small stuff and spot the important decisions.

Don't think he's got that right even now.

Oh please let them be completely embarrassed at the local elections!

What the actual fuck….

Voicing a similar view, I got a pile on from Starmer haters... **sigh**

Blocked.

Wow. We fundementally disagree..
And I don't want a shouting match.
Life is too short.
Blocked.

Good thread, and replies, too.

IMO Starmer was not told, and although risk was there, he's an honourable, hard working PM, and I am getting ticked off at all the attack he's receiving.

Let him get on with the job. He's doing OK. Sure, mistakes happen, but they are nothing like the Johnson era.

That said, I’m not in favour of having politically appointed Ambassadors. As we see, they often turn out to be more trouble than they’re worth. Also, maintaining a professional diplomatic service is an important national interest in my view. End/

My sympathies on this are with Starmer, for a change. This was a political appointment for which he was ultimately responsible. He really should have had all the information made available to him. But Robbins wanted to retain as many of his prerogatives as possible over diplomatic appointments. 2/

Pure speculation on my part, but if I were Olly Robbins looking to override the vetting process, I’d be WhatsApping Morgan McSweeney.

Not for a green light, but an imperceptible nod.

ENDS

The live Europa Q&A with archaeologist @aalekas.bsky.social.

And what a corker it was! We went from immigration policy, operatic deaths, and immaculate conception, to ancient tax havens, property theft, and flying penises.

🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/2W8X...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Donald J. Trump * @realDonald Trump + The U.S.A. is the "HOTTEST" Country in the World right now. Just a short time ago, under Sleepy Joe Biden, IT WAS DEAD, LAUGHED AT ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! But not anymore - Nobody's laughing!!! President DJT

Oddly, I couldn’t stop laughing at this.

They Not Pious YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Snigger. A pope rap…

youtu.be/aNriuGm0zZI

"Millions of Americans are wondering if this president is delusional and thinks he's Jesus Christ" -- Brilliant line of questioning here from Rep. Takano to RFK Jr about Trump's nutso social media posts and what it says about his mental health

I've been looking into the Mandelson vetting kerfuffle and think I've identified what went wrong.

So, when a potential US ambassador fails his / her security check there are 2 options -

(a) tell the PM
(b) don't tell the PM

I think they went for b instead of a. Case Closed.

Great thread!

My favourite is the holy hand grenade.. 5 is right out.

It's in there

Gent in gray slams Reform UK #BBCQT

"Deform UK talk of fantastic gain but I wouldn't trust them with a knife and fork, frankly"

"They can't run a council in Kent without arguing with each other"

"Their leader has just become our top crypto currency sales person this week"

Resolved: Systems currently operational. The team is continuing to improve reliability.

status.bsky.app

Our team received a report of intermittent app outages at about 11:40pm PDT on April 15, 2026. They worked through the night to mitigate a sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which intensified throughout the day.

I think this is now beyond 'Jesus wept'.

We are living through dangerous times...

TRUMP, throwing insults at Pope Leo:
“weak on crime”
“terrible for foreign policy”
“catering to the Radical Left”
“owes his position to me”
“sit down and mind your own business”

POPE LEO, unbothered:
“We are called to love.”

Block, stock and 2million smoking barrels Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 16 April · 1hr 23min

🆕 Block, stock, and 2million smoking barrels 🛢️

BUMPER DOUBLE EPISODE

⛴️ The blockade of the blockade
🇻🇦 Popesplaining
🛡️ Indefensible defence spending
🇭🇺 Hungarian election 🗳️ expert deep-dive
🌲 Pee pee pines
🌀 Woke weather

🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/66Zw...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...

I will be working on my Gin deficit later... Starting from a stock of around 8 different bottles.
Planning in at least 1 of them dry later.