“Meep meep!”

"The Commissioner made country-specific interventions (around LGBTI rights) in relation
to legislative developments in Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovak Republic and United Kingdom."

White House staffer Margo Martin tweets "Congratulations, Georgia Women's Tennis" with a photo of Trump and a bunch of dudes and some female heads way in the back

i had to triple check that this wasn't from a parody account

On the subject of “Starmer being a shit PM”, you’d think that the lowest of low bars for delivering ‘change’ would be “the UK no longer getting named and shamed by international treaty bodies for their shitty treatment of trans people”.

But it’s a low bar Starmer cannot clear.

In the midst of a "change of era," Council of Europe Commissioner urges action to reclaim the treasure of human rights that we risk losing - Commissioner for Human Rights - www.coe.int Strasbourg 22 April 2026

Presenting my #AnnualReport2025 @coe.int @pace.coe.int, I warn that we risk losing our invaluable treasure of #HumanRights. In part, their survival depends on how we support #Ukraine 's people, manage migration, and protect civil society & marginalised groups👇
#AI #Equality #RomaRights #Climate

This is bonkers.

If you don't understand that someone - anyone - in No. 10 saying to a department, 'the PM is really keen on X' is a source of significant pressure then you really have no business at all being PM.

Or boss of any large organisation, for that matter.

"No pressure existed whatsoever" on the FCDO to appoint Mandelson, Keir Starmer tells the House of the Commons. And that, I think, is gonna be a big big hostage to fortune.

Lib Dem leader signals party could back Sarwar as first minister Alex Cole-Hamilton says he would have an

A vote for the Lib Dems could deliver the most transphobic government in Scotland's history.

If you claim Starmer is an OK Prime Minister, not gonna lie, I’m going to assume you sing glorious songs to yourself about how he purged the trans community from civil society organisations….

Push for EU membership to galvanise progressive support, report argues A new report by Best for Britain shows that a push for UK membership of the European Union would galvanise support among progressive voters. The report highlights that a pro-membership position offers...

🚨🚨New @bestforbritain.org report argues I think convincingly that a push for UK membership of the EU would galvanise support among progressive voters, recognising that other halfway options such as customs union or EEA are would offer to limited benefits. 🧵 www.bestforbritain.org/push_for_eu_...

Anger remains white hot in Whitehall over Olly Robbins sacking Keir Starmer’s decision to oust senior official may have knock-on effect for No 10’s relationship with civil service

"Even under the Conservatives there was more respect for the civil service and even Liz Truss getting rid of Tom Scholar was more of a ‘new broom’ approach and about wanting her own staff, rather than this sort of public humiliation towards one of his own appointments": former senior No 10 official.

Shabana Mahmood swears at ‘white liberal’ hecklers over Reform remarks Home secretary accuses protesters of trying to ‘delegitimise’ concerns people have over immigration

Could we please start acknowledging that Labour is doing a piss-poor job with immigration - and is handling the whole conversation in a very non-Social Democratic way?

Well let's see how this strategy of telling "white liberals" to "fuck right off" works out in the local elections

This time Labour hasn't been stitched up by the right-wing press. Every scandal of this shambolic Starmer government is entirely of their own making.
This is Tory-level idiocy, corruption, incompetence, grift and bigotry. The very stuff of which voters were so utterly sick.

The Olympics’ trans policy polices womanhood | Moira Donegan Sports bans have humiliated trans women and girls across America. Now, the Olympics joins in

The requirement that women–not men–have their sex monitored, tested &proven legitimizes the distorted fantasy that men are trying to pass as women to win women’s sports competitions(why would they when women athletes are paid much less?) @moiradonegan.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Olympics’ trans policy polices womanhood | Moira Donegan Sports bans have humiliated trans women and girls across America. Now, the Olympics joins in

I wrote about the Olympics’ ban on trans women competing, and the stakes of the new women’s sex-testing regime for female athletes, trans and cis alike. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'Shabana Mahmood told “white liberal” hecklers to “fuck right off”'

#Labour sound indistinguishable from #Reform, don't they. Not just the policies. The abuse & total lack of respect for the voters.

Just for perspective, while I think on. Based on my reckoning, there have been seven Labour Prime Ministers and three have had to deal with questions about Mandelson. You know, if we are playing the "how could Starmer have known he was unsuitable" game.

We’re in the truly weird position where McSweeney had to go for giving the PM the advice to appoint Mandelson and Robbins had to go for not stopping him.

really is stunning how Labour are just on team bad guy now

Of course many more people would be rallying to Starmer's defence if he hadn't been such a godawful PM so far.

Imagine having the literal power to gift your cronies life seats in the legislature and thinking “no, that’s not enough, we need to give him a diplomatic posting”.

The upshot of this is it’ll be very difficult for the UK to build closer links with the EU single market without revisiting the FWS judgement.

Also keep an eye out for what the UK Supreme Court ends up saying in Dillon on direct effect of EU law in Northern Ireland…

Press release, full text in the link

CJEU, human rights/LGBT rights

New judgment: Hungary's restrictions on LGBT materials breached EU free movement law, EU Charter, GDPR and values of the EU curia.europa.eu/site/jcms/d2...

The court also finds that the restrictions in Hungary violate the e-commerce directive, the services directive, and the audiovisual media services directive.

The CJEU essentially finds that LGBT rights are part of the fundamental EU legal order, protected by Article 2 TEU and the charter of fundamental rights.

Europe’s highest court has ruled Hungary’s anti LGBTI law violates EU law and values.

Péter Magyar’s pro EU stance now faces a clear test: commit to withdrawing the law and reversing the Pride ban.

No action means no credibility.

Keir Starmer ‘pressured Foreign Office into Mandelson appointment’ Sir Olly Robbins will use his appearance before the foreign affairs select committee on Tuesday to hit back at the prime minister after he was sacked

Every development in this scandal is just so tedious and predictable:

🚨 NEW: Olly Robbins will tomorrow accuse Keir Starmer of pressuring the Foreign Office into approving Peter Mandelson's appointment

A Whitehall source says he "won’t hold back" and that his appearance will be "box office"