It's extra ironic since the hosts would actively ridicule people who said stuff like this, repeatedly

One of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had was facing down a determined Jamaican chef whose response to me asking for scotch bonnet sauce was 'no, it's too hot for you'. What followed was a complex negotiation only resolved by me revealing that I was 1/4 Armenian, which somehow made it fine.

You took an oath!

I mean this is pretty extraordinary right, even for the Times? Papers trying to softsoap someone a few months after a big scandal - very normal british press stuff. But trying to rehabilitate someone WHILE the scandal is breaking and seemingly getting worse every day? What is going on at the Times?

Sorry, deepcut joke, that's how Luke would reply to anyone on twitter who even mildly criticised him and he suspected may be a Labour member!

Name and CLP?

Nice 'shot, chaser' to be had with Ovenden's article on frustrations on how government has become beholden and outsourced to regulators and then this where the moment the government is under pressure to do something politically difficult they go 'uh, well, that's the regulator's job'.

lovely little logic loop here. the left have accurately described reality, but i still think they're wrong, so what if it was somehow in fact the left's describing of reality that perverted history to make them right. quantum politics. no fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!

It's also just extremely lazy. This is the exact same response that radical centrist democrats made to Harris losing. It's not even an original (wrong) argument!

Unfollowed, unsubbed, internet history wiped.

It's certainly reassuring that we can confidently say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this kind of thing definitely does not happen anymore!

It's also funny because this is very similar to what happened to Biden, who apparently they were studying very closely. So they have managed to walk into almost every rake that both the Sunak and Biden governments managed to walk into, at the same time. Which is impressive!

I am so glad that Chaminda is repeatedly saying this because listening to political podcasts and reading the British press can make you think you are going insane sometimes. When you cut spending, the need that spending was previously servicing does not, surprisingly, evaporate into thin air!

This is what is so maddening about this stuff. It's been tried! Very recently! The results were extremely bad and extensively researched! But there is zero interrogation of that either by the think tanks that produce these policies or the journalists writing them up.

You may be thinking of Child Benefit (which does have a high income threshold incidentally). The Two Child Limit restricts support for children through Universal Credit, which is income based.

What’s happening in Gaza is a genocide.

The Far-right aim to stoke fear & divide our diverse communities by spreading hate but they will fail.

By standing together & celebrating diversity we send a clear message of unity. Leaders must recognise this & use their words, positions & platforms to pull communities together not apart

Love the suggestion that this guy will never work in politics again and his career is effectively over. Let's see how that prediction works out eh.

This is like saying 'I miss Bill Hicks. There are those on the left who think American imperialism is ultimately to blame for conflicts in the Middle East'. Has he ever watched Norm Macdonald?

I'm always really happy to see you're on, it's always a great ep

‘These People Can’t Stand What London Represents… It Makes a Mockery of their Entire Worldview’ Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, addresses the increasing number of claims by those in the media and politics of the capital city’s apparent decline

Some politicians and political commentators try to talk down and denigrate our capital. I wrote for @bylinetimes.bsky.social on why the false image they peddle is not the London I know and millions love:

‘I’ve been spat on’: gender non-conforming women tell of toilet abuse in aftermath of supreme court ruling Support groups report that women and non-binary people are increasingly being challenged in toilets and changing facilities – but others call it scaremongering

Who could possibly have seen this coming?

It's akin to the M&S 'trans' employee complaint, entirely predicated on the complainant's belief that because the employee was tall they must be trans.

Yes, Prime Minister - Foreign Office Crisis Management - the four stages YouTube video by John Doe

Feels like with the UK's response to the genocide in Gaza we are moving into stage 3 of the 4 stage strategy.

Landmark Devolution Bill brings new dawn of regional power English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill delivers on manifesto commitment to de-centralise power and ignite regional growth with powers for mayors.

I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister ushering in a new era of devolution ⬇️

I think any evaluation of them as a programme would be tricky as boroughs all use them in very different ways, even within London there's a lot of variation. Would probably have to be borough by borough, or looking at different 'models' of how to use them.

Always nice to see an article which has started with the Principal Skinner 'am I out of touch?' meme as a first draft and just gone from there.

These things do annoy me because just putting responses next to each other like this tells you exactly nothing. The key question is 'how many people said they wanted defence spending to go up, but didn't want taxes or cuts to pay for it'. Suspect it's quite a bit lower than this implies.

The screenshot in the post you are replying to...

This guidance literally tells them who can and cannot be in their groups, that's the problem.