Trump stopped from ‘accessing nuclear codes' in furious row The President's erratic behaviour, posts online and attitude towards the war in Iran have become an issue his closest allies can no longer ignore.

metro.co.uk/2026/04/21/t...

It's TACO time! 🤪🤪🤪

I'm sure that Olly Robbins stated that subjects don't *fail* vetting, rather the vetting reveals recommendations to eventual departments that various actions may be necessary to mitigate the risk of appointing that candidate.

Will Ms. Mouskouri be flattered at the prospect of a hurricane named after her?

Apparently so. Nothing like impartiality in reporting… and its is nothing like it.

Wtf was the excitable little Sam Coates watching, that he has concluded that Sir Olly Robbins' testimony has rotted away at the core of Starmer's premiership?

I'm really disappointed. @news.sky.com has shared the 'wisdom' (Meh!) of #SemiBadenough, but I've yet to see its coverage of a statement from RefUK Party Ltd.

Please allow me to qualify further:

'assuming you could find one that worked and didn't smell like a public urinal.

These observations would form a good basis for a question to Starmer in his evidence to the Liaison Committee.

Starmer: 'I'll need to write to you with a response on that'.
🙄

Very true!

Oh FFS! Edit: "…appearance of Sir Olly Robbins in front of …".

Read before posting… eejit! 🙄

that Mandelson had 'failed' the vetting process, despite the fact that subjects do no not 'fail', as indicated by Sir Olly Robbins.

I don't know what will be next for Starmer, but at least Little Sam no doubt has a glittering career ahead of him at GBeebies.

Two people do not emerge from the appearance of Sir Olly Robbins' apparance in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee:
• One obviously is Starmer for the obvious cock-up in appointing Mandelson despite his history and the
• second is the excitable little @samcoatessky.bsky.social for declaring…

Nothing pisses me off quite as much as politicians attempting to throw civil servants under the bus for their own blunders, and the blunders of their moronic, over-confident and inevitably rude political staffers.

I can just imagine that Sky will roll out the same old chestnut in analysis of Sir Olly Robbins, such is its penchant for gimmickry.

Fortunately, I'm watching Sir Olly Robbins' evidence on the Parliament channel, rather than @news.sky.com, but recalling Jeremy Thompson's interview with the Sowham murderer and the subsequent analysis by a body language expert of Huntley's answers…

Don't you just love it when former Murdoch hacks, now in the employment of @news.sky.com, excitedly appear on television proclaiming an exclusive story about Mandelson having 'failed' his security vetting, only to learn from Sir Olly Robbins that subjects do not *fail* the process.

Absolutely! He's as odious as I regard Bill Cash.

It might just be me but, I can't help but note certain ironies about John Whittingdale probing into the rights and wrongs about the security vetting of Mandelson, given his own proclivities of ~10 years ago. 🙄

Begs the question of the 🍊shit-gibbon as to why he fawned over Mandelson and made such a big deal about his accent?
How many people in Trump's circle could be described as 'really bad picks'?
Bessent, Hassett, Nutlick… oh bugger – all of them.

Yeah… The Good Old Days with Leonard Sachs as MC.
I didn't realise Barry Cryer and Bernard Cribbins appeared on that.

Absolutely! I still have have DVDs of the various series of Alias Smith & Jones because I couldn't find them on any streaming service. Great programme.

Nigel Farage Has Personally Accepted £675,000 from Foreign Sources Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has accepted more than half a million pounds from foreign companies, governments, and donors while serving as an MP, DeSmog can reveal. Since July 2024, when he was elect...

“Farage rarely turns up to do his actual job. Yet he finds time to jet off around the world on his donor’s private plane and trouser half a million quid while families struggle. Reform are not on your side. They’re just in it for themselves”

It’s so obvious, it hurts.
www.desmog.com/2026/04/18/n...

Britain sidelined in talks on Carney-backed defense bank The U.K. Treasury has expressed little enthusiasm for an initiative to provide lower cost loans to finance the armed forces.

Further evidence of a lack of deep thinking in government about the reality of the world. Or even waist-high thinking.

www.politico.eu/article/keir...

This is entirely true, but goes further. The mistakes came before the 2024 GE and the statement of the red lines and no personal tax increases. Starmer never should have been swayed by Glasman and McSweeney, either.

Starmer comes across as an unremarkable, non-empathetic opportunist who can’t read the room and clearly lacks any real vision or political direction. It’s no surprise he struggles to take apart an opposition that weak.

Personally, I doubt he can change for the better.

The Case for Replacing Keir Starmer If Labour MPs don't act soon then they risk losing their century-long position as the dominant party on the left of British politics

Reform really should be an absolute gift to a sitting government. Deeply target-rich opposition leader who is badly tainted by Trump. Back rank of even more unlikeable characters. Real nervousness among voters about them.

That Labour is still doing so badly shows exactly why Starmer needs to go

This alone shows the Toraidh are unfit for office. Who pays? Well they'll cut £46bn from the "welfare state." Pensions, NHS, Military etc is where the cuts will fall, having already spent 14yrs misgoclverning, cutting and handing tax breaks to their "VIP" donors.

Ye gods! #SemiBadenough is fucking clueless.
"Take back the streets from whom?"
As for "Get Britain Drilling" as so much data (including UKG's own) show, the amount available will barely make a dent in the nation's demand and will *not* cut consumer bills significantly.
bsky.app/profile/squi...

You have my commiserations.