And now Mr #Starmer has decided his popularity isn't low enough - he's pressing forward with proposals to ban phones in schools to alienate young people. Short of shooting David Attenborough I can't see much more he can do to hit rock bottom polling in May. It's a government with a death wish.
I wished the government well when elected but, gosh, do they try your patience!
How can you personally as #KeirStarmer in your role as PM suggest #Mandelson (!!) for Ambassador KNOWING he'll be vetted and then NOT ASK ABOUT THE RESULT OF THE S***ING VETTING?!?
It. Makes. No. Sense!
'The decision [by the FCDO] was that I wasn't to know and nobody else was to know' say Keir #Starmer. In what world does *any* of this make sense? Why would civil servants decide NOT to tell the PM about failed vetting unless the PM was being protected from knowing but approving of Mandelson?
I don't know what to make of Mr #Starmer. It's almost as if every week he looks at polling data and says 'How can I make @labouruk.bsky.social 's poll ratings *worse* today? There's a total lack of even the vaguest political nous. That or he's listening to the world's worst political advisers.
Can't quite get over the excitement they show for something from 1970 - an age, apparently, of 'fantastic style'. Didn't seem like that at the time!
The BBC is showing old #AntiquesRoadshow episodes from 25 years ago.
Old AR: 'Look at the sweep of the cabriole legs on this 1780 mahogany neoclassical Secretaire.'
New AR: 'So you were actually at this Swelled Puffins gig all the way back in 1988 and Zigg signed it?'
Dumbed down. Totally.
I give you the *hopeless* #RAC. My wife - lone female, car failing to start, stuck in a remote location, called RAC for assistance at 1030 this morning.
ETA for the superdeluxe service from this bunch of charlatans? 1130 this evening.
'Complete peace of mind' is their registered mark. Idiots!
Can we all - among the public and in 'political circles' - agree that Mr #Mandelson should never, ever again be anywhere near places of power and influence? Never, and no 'fourth chance'.
Staggering, given the #Mandelson past, you didn't check!!
'And she'll never spend her salary in the shops, or pay someone to fix the plumbing, so that the rest of the economy vanishes, the Tech Bros end up with all the cash and the underclass embraces 90% of the population. Good times, eh?'
An advert promoting an AI company at Bristol Airport has been pulled after backlash.
The advert showed a female AI worker who will 'never ask for a raise'.
When I saw this first I thought maybe his next move to deflect from #Epstein was to come out as gay.
Para 216 of volume 2 has a stinging reproach for the killers' parents. Sir Adrian blames them for 'a total avoidance of responsibility...[so that] they bear a very considerable degree of responsibility for the appalling events of 29 July 2024.'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Amazed at US #media: you give the most inveterate liar a break every time. #Trump says something, you find evidence it is untrue, then he denies saying it, you report that, then watch him move onto another lie.
For goodness sake, do your job. Show lies where they are!
Hey #MAGA, how's that swamp draining going?
www.citizensforethics.org/reports-inve....
So #Hegseth's #Pentagon drunk with power has now threatened the Scouts and the #Pope.
Who next? Flower arrangers? Hikers? The under fives?
What an insane #America now stalks the world like a playground bully.
A number of BBC website reports about Reform UK is shown.
Thinking of voting #ReformUK? Here are just a few recent BBC stories about them - not opinions but reports of their own behavior.
They're evidently grifting, incompetent, bigoted, loudmouths you'd want nowhere near your council services - and your council tax money.
Can we all just remember, as this weird man-baby threatens NATO again, that his tantrum over #Iran had no basis in law, there was no evidence of an attack upon a NATO member, and that it was conducted as negotiations were in train?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
#Lecce - so unwelcoming the churches have bouncers kitted out like riot police.
Top: me, gin and tonic in hand in #Lecce, #Puglia.
Bottom: Thomas Jones (1742-1803) in #Naples.
I suspect Thomas was G&T-less.
An awful decision. The King's Captain-General of the Royal Marines which served in Afghanistan alongside US troops. 60 were killed, 78 seriously injured. Something that Trump denies ever happened.
That excrescence you call a President, #America, brings you deep shame.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Recalling all of those Sunday morning 'Letter from America' episodes (before my hearing made it difficult to hear that affable voice) it was a delight to get closer to #AlistairCooke through this. You should too.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Would it not just be cheaper, more productive and economically advantageous to #UAE, #Oman and the #US to create a 'Panama Canal of the Gulf', cut out #Iran from control of shipping and reduce the threat of other piracy? Happy to be told I'm talking nonsense and it's impossible.
Hey, western nations - we can do better than 'recession' for #Russia if we try. Full on sanctions now and you can tip it into a depression.
www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/a...
The #NHS today: Routine blood test in January. Text from doctor: 'Worrying X, retest in Feb.' Test in Feb, text from doctor: 'Forget X, Y's too high, retest in March.' March test. Text from doctor: 'Z's too low, here's a prescription.'
Test, test, test. Prescription. NO appointment, NO diagnosis.
Trump in a beekeeper's suit is attacking a beehive while other world leaders are standing in shorts and tee-shirts stand by. As angry bees fly around he tells them they have to put the bees back in the hive.
When I was small the year was Gloom > Easter break > Birthday > Exams > Summer break > Gloom > Christmas.
Now it is Snowdrops > Crocuses > Forsythia > Grass cutting > Rhododendrons > Borders/tubs >...
A film poster showing an elderly man (right) and his daughter (left).
Watching this through tears. My parents both died *without* passing through #dementia. It must be so, so hard to watch your father or mother changed by it.
If you are coping with this today, my heart goes out to you.💔
#Trumpflation hits Britain.
BBC News - Faisal Islam: Iran war is having a dramatic effect on the UK economy - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
