Épée :) I fenced in my teens for a while, then moved on to kickboxing in my 20s (I've always loved combat sports of all kinds).

I did have a look in my local area for adult fencing clubs recently, but I couldn't find anything obvious.

This is incredibly cool tech!

It makes me want to break out my sword again, I haven't fenced in years, but maybe it's time...

Well that was draining. Starmer came across poorly, and Labour MPs are clearly deeply unhappy with him.

But we still don't really understand what happened with Mandelson's appointment, and I doubt this is the end of the story.

@sorchaeastwood.bsky.social makes an excellent and impassioned contribution about just how damaging this affair has been to trust in politics in general and Parliament in particular.

Zarah Sultana has been suspended from the House for calling Kier Starmer a liar and then not leaving when asked by the Speaker.

Christine Jardine had a brilliant question earlier that focused on Epstein's victims, people that are important to remember amongst all this political turmoil.

First dud anti-Starmer intervention is from Robert Jenrick, who chooses to use the opportunity to grandstand about small boat crossings.

It went down poorly in the Commons.

After Ellie Chowns, I make that three parties (Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens) that have called on Starmer to resign, including both of the other two 'Left Bloc' UK-wide parties.

That basically leaves any possibility of Labour under Starmer leading the Left Bloc in tatters.

Aww that is incredible! A rare genuinely lovely story in British politics.

Thank you, I was surprised but that makes total sense.

Wait is there a dog in the House? Since when?

God Lammy looks like he's given up, and Reeves looks utterly miserable.

This is actually a big deal, in that Davey and Starmer had a publicly cordial relationship until very recently.

It suggests Davey thinks Starmer is done, and Starmer himself seemed shaken after Davey asked him to resign. I don't think he saw that coming.

This makes our right wing fringe really weird, because they have to come up with a way of appealing to a civic sense of nationalism if they want to be competitive across the UK (As Reform currently are in Eng/Wal/Scot).

Restore is too america-brained and online to understand this.

I've mentioned this before, but the UK really doesn't have an 'ethnic' concept of nationhood in the way some European countries do.

You do get more of that kind of thing within the nationalisms of the constituent nations, but even then its a lot less than you'd fine in e.g. Germany.

I think this is right, and also an underplayed reason for his success.

For all his gestures to the far right, Farage remains a creature of 90s Euroscepticism, just about able to cling to old Tory traditions and remain within the accepted bounds of British political culture. Restore...isn't that.

The institutional hollowing out of the old Liberals was one reason why they collapsed in the 20s.

Yes the Tories still have money, but they a) you do need active campaigning and b) they may not have that money for much longer.

An underdiscussed variable in all of this is that the Tories may just literally die as an institutional party in much of the country.

With essentially no voters under 50, they are ever more reliant on a dwindling councillor base for their campaigning strength, which is about to take another hit.

@residentadviser.bsky.social made the following point in his recent substack, and I think he's right on this.

The current situation is lose-lose for the right, they can't unify because it will push a good number of their voters away, but equally a divided right limited their electoral potential.

Reform under Tice is a good example of this, consistantly polling 10-12% but not getting any higher over time.

I think that really would depend on who Farage's replacement is as leader.

I can't see him being leader past 2034 at the latest, and the longer he is leader the harder it would be for any successor.

Reform and the voters it represents aren't going away, but without Farage their appeal is limited.

The question then of course being whether the Tories would be willing (or able) to go into coalition with Reform.

If they did it would be suicide for them, but maybe they could convince themselves otherwise. Tho I'm not convinced a Ref-Tory coalition would actually finish a full parliamentary term.

It is interesting that more people are turning bearish on Reform *before the locals*, personally I'm waiting until then to see whether my assumptions about their ceiling is correct.

My position for now remains that i can see them as the largest party in hung parliament, but not having a majority.

My god, that's horrendous. I hope you're able to find peace soon.

Yeah a second referendum on Indy would be more existential for a Yes vote than in 2014 IMO.

You only have to look at Quebec to see how a second failed independence vote could derail the entire project for a long time.

Sword & Sorcery readers be like:

As someone who loves weird/pulp fiction...I could go on for a long time lol.

But just off the top of my head

The Great God Pan - Machen
The Three Imposters - Machen
The Call of Cthulhu - Lovecraft
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath - Lovecraft
Red Nails - Howard
The Shadow Kingdom - Howard

think it’s fair to say that there are still some details that may need to be ironed out

Making giant chalk figures out of solar panels is exactly the kind of 'modernity 🤝 tradition' thing people love in the UK, like how the public prefers high speed railway designs that look like Victorian red-brick.

It could also help give a boost to local tourism, and even local identity.

I think this is true for cities in general, but especially true for London given the fact that was never really 'designed' in the way New York or even Paris was.