Here in the UK, the appeasement of the extremists and populists has allowed people to get away with conduct that I thought we'd stamped out in the late 1990s.
The current popular disguise for their blatant racism is "legitimate concerns". No, you don't have legitimate concerns, you're a racist...
Reading the news today that Reform are predicted to win Suffolk county council in the coming council elections.
I don't get it. What do people think Reform will do for them at a council level? Suffolk is an affluent area with a quite functional council and zero need for anything Reform can promise.
March was especially “fun” this year. So many contract changes as well as the busyness made it an easy decision to just use leave time.
In my week off, I’m watching Star Trek Andor again. By far the best sci-fi telly of this decade so far.
That’s it for me. Right there. Everything else he says is distraction and blame transference.
My wife has got straight into it. She’s still sound asleep. Ah well. Time to fire up the computer for some quality gaming time.
An example on that: Talking with a mate in Scotland yesterday, he’s voting SNP. He doesn’t like the SNP, he’s pro-union, and thinks they’re at least one election past their sell by date.
But… just look at the alternatives.
About a decade ago I did this, then realised that a good amount of the books were just ornaments now.
After a chat with my local library I did a cull. My rule was “am I ever going to read it again?” If no, it went.
The library were happy to get a number of big boxes full of books in good shape.
I'm not joking when I say mRNA technology is more important than "AI" and it's a tragedy we're throwing billions into one while our government is aggressively defunding the other.
I’m off this week. Not doing a lot beyond relaxing after a massively busy winter then contracting round.
Of course my body woke me up at the normal work time and got unhappy with me thinking about sneaking an extra hour of sleep.
I wonder if there’s a national newspaper who hasn’t submitted an urgent FoI to the government asking the simple question around how many senior officials are in position with an overturned failed vetting.
There’s no answer to that that anyone would like in Number 10.
Since the election, Starmer has abandoned his principles in the chase for populism.
He appointed Mandelson because he thought Trump would like it, and damn the historical stench around him. Now he’s trying to get us to believe he didn’t know.
And for that alone, he does not deserve to lead.
3/3
I rejoined Labour to ensure Corbyn wasn’t re-elected as Leader, I voted for Starmer to restore credibility to Labour and be a clear difference against other parties’ leaders.
Is he the most most exciting candidate? No, but he was a safe pair of hands after a decade of awful national politics.
2/3
On the Mandelson case for and against Starmer, for me the terminal blow is the apparent dishonesty.
It’s beyond belief that Starmer did not know that Mandelson was a wrong ‘un. I can’t believe that anyone could or can believe that Mandelson could pass developed vetting. His conflicts alone…
1/3
His Plan F defence is that no-one told him that the ball was covered in excrement.
The smell and big lumps of excrement on the ball that had been repeatedly noticed by everyone else who’d ever heard about the ball were a complete surprise and it’s clearly not his fault that he’s now covered in it.
Extremely normal and fine for a company to put this in a public statement
You also get James VI of Scotland as James I of England and Wales.
And if you really want to annoy English historians, you could make an argument that the Scottish monarchy annexed the English one at the time. It's amusing anyway, especially because it's more than a bit wobbly as an argument.
Especially when you just open BNF and see how much the NHS pays for insulin compared to what the US people have to pay.
I don’t care what the final score was in the Scotland v England game yesterday, this try would have deserved to win any game.
www.instagram.com/reel/DXRkH0d...
That’s why a good relish does it for me. You get it all in one.
Outside the NHS, I worked in a few places where you couldn’t just close the doors to do away trips but they still managed it. The most common way was to split it in half. Half go while the other half cover the work, then swap around.
Can be hugely valuable when planned well.
If only the governments from 2010 to 2024 hadn’t systematically undermined our country’s resilience by selling big bits off or them it to give money to folk who already have far more than enough.
If only.
The crunchiest lettuce you can find for texture.
A tomato relish.
Brioche bun. But only if the relish isn’t too sweet.
And that’s it. Let the meat speak for itself without drowning it with other stuff.
It began with coal and steel. But from the very start, our Union was always meant to be much more.
75 years ago, in Paris, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Europe chose a different path.
One of unity over division, of peace over war.
Almost all of the "peace dividend" since the Cold War and the Good Friday Agreement has allowed governments to cut taxes for the wealthiest and to get good press coverage as tax-cutters.
All of "austerity" since 2010 has been aimed at the poorest.
Maybe time those with too much do their bit.
She doesn't want to raise tax, but if you cut govt expenditure for the poorest to fund defence, you're effectively taxing them instead.
I am a strong believer that we really must increase our military staffing and capability, but that must not come at the cost of those in the most need.
This really is a red-flag test for Starmer's credibility.
1. If he thought Mandelson WOULD pass DV, he's terminally naive.
2. If he had any doubts but then he didn't double check the actual outcome, he's terminally blinkered.
Neither scenario has a long career as PM in sight for him.
So no, he wasn't struck off for asking a Muslim woman to remove her veil.
He was struck off for multiple counts of serious misconduct, including lying during an official investigation, followed by working 17 times while suspended, and THEN refusing to engage with the GMC about returning to work
“from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.” Ahab 135
