This is why people on the left who claim to care about the global south should regulate their enthusiasm for universal household bailouts in rich countries.

Who could have guessed that decapitating Iran's existing leaders would create uncertainty about who on their side is actually empowered to negotiate?

Everyone.

Everyone could have guessed that.

I did not ask for this gift of prophecy, and in this case I did not need it.

Short mohair plush fully jointed teddy bear with felt paw pads. The eyes are small boot or shoe button and the nose, mouth and claws are stitched with black wool. The stuffing is wood wool. There is the trademark button attched to the left ear. He looks really annoyed.

An extremely grumpy teddy bear, manufactured in Germany ca. 1920.
She looks as though she's about to write an absolutely scathing letter to the editor.
Ref MISC.107-1978, Young V & A Collection.

This is good. Read it, especially but not only if you are a government minister. It comes from a reflective place of praxis. Unlike much of what has been said on this topic, this is not slop.

Bad incentives in politics In politics, nobody has an incentive to promote the public good.

"The Labour right is behaving as if its incentives are not to win the next election but to get cushy jobs outside politics after it." I wrote that a few weeks ago: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/bad-incent... It'd be nice if they at least tried to prove me wrong.

I just think if the government was to become this unpopular this quickly, they might as well have done it by increasing taxes on median+ earners.

And we will bow down to it, crying "Ed!, Ed!"

Yes, are the Whips insane?? How are any of these lines to take, especially that one, going to help Starmer?

Maybe, but I can't help thinking it's in the interest of all MPs from parties that are or could form a govt to pass some kind of legislation to this effect

And the rules should be different if you're choosing a PM rather than a LOTO, for both this reason - it takes too long now - but also PMs should be chosen by MPs only, as at least they answer to their electorates, rather than chosen by party members, who have no mandate from anyone

It is possible to think that this whole undignified Mandelson vetting debacle does not reflect well on the PM at all, while also thinking that another leadership contest is literally the last thing anybody needs right now.

This is simply not true. Labour didn’t have to go right. They *chose* to go right. The big majority was a chance to reset everything back to sanity. Starmer chose the mad, bigoted, ignorant and dishonest route instead.

let's make a cultural value judgment: palantir are a bunch of execrable fascist shitheads and their ideas go against the basis of every civilized country on earth, from which they should be extirpated like the intellectual cancer they are

they're going to do genocide in a responsible manner

Yes, excellent if depressing piece by @jim.londoncentric.media, but you write 'incredibly solvable' - How? I'm failing to see a simple solution

Peter mandelsons entire career is like a cursed pharaohs amulet that kills everyone that tries to use its power and every other week some Labour party idiot picks up and goes have we tried using the pharaohs amulet

Apparently less thought goes into appointing actual ambassadors than fictional spies.

Revealing that the Guardian apparently couldn't actually find any examples of the ruling having "changed lives" positively. Those quoted in support simply express political agreement with it rather than being able to point to any tangible life benefit, in contrast to those quoted in opposition.

Ballroom blitz… Our Dancing Daughters (1928)

More from the Kennington Bioscope with last week's screening of Joan Crawford's break-out success and a fabulous film about Jack Hylton's cabaret at the Piccadilly Hotel back in the British Jazz Age!

ithankyouarthur.blogspot.com/2026/04/ball...

Spring Silence... Kennington Bioscope 9th Annual Silent Weekend Day Two This is Part Three of the Cinema Museum Silent Spring long weekend, I’m putting my hot takes out in reverse order because… why not!? A b...

Day Two of the 9th Kennington Bioscope Silent Film Weekend.

From the Great War to high couture via cod fishing and shoe-shop slapstick, another high content day down Lambeth way.

ithankyouarthur.blogspot.com/2026/04/spin...

Reform, in theory, could have been a gift to Labour: they divided the Right-wing vote. All Labour had to do was govern in a way that held their Center-Left coalition together

Instead, they chose to act foolishly and blow up their own coalition in pursuit of a voting base with no interest in them

Unfortunately for British political parties it appears to be magic beans all the way down

bsky.app/profile/thea...

The most important of Tony Benn’s questions for democracy: How do we get rid of you?

Delighted to be going today to the British Silent Film Festival Symposium at the wonderful Cinema Museum to talk about... television.

cinemamuseum.org.uk/scheduled/br...

You know what doesn't get its support unceremoniously pulled by a tech company? Fuckin' books, brother

The Telegraph Ed Miliband has approved Britain's biggest solar farm despite objections from nearby residents who likened it to Chernobyl. It will cover seven square miles of farmland in solar panels, an area 10 times greater than London's Hyde Park.

Like Chernobyl 🤦

Four headlines in which Marjorite Taylor Greene, Tucker Carolson, Piers Morgan, and Alex Jones condemn Trump for his genocidal threats to Iran.

Imagine being a moderate Republican and getting outflanked on decency, morality, and basic humanity by these four nutters

You see the darnedest things on the tube.

An SNCF express train sweeps round curves at Chamarande south of Paris.

"The station was crowded by the time the express pulled up. I felt then, as I do now, that there is no joy like the arrival of a train [...] particularly a European train that will carry you south."

Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian