The vetting was not the only reason the appointment of Mandelson was wrong. It wasn't even the main reason.

I'm pretty sure Kezia comes from a well-intentioned place. And I'm all for good faith engagement with people whose minds have been poisoned against trans people. But this is madness: JK Rowling is a toxic sewer of hate, aligned with fascists, and it's unforgivable for Stonewall to praise her.

Report on Mandelson mentioning “The Telegraph reported on these links extensively in January 2024”

It’s striking how the press pack hive mind instantly recalled a Polanski interview from 2013 as soon as it was relevant, and instantly forgot “extensive” 2024 Telegraph reporting on Mandelson’s friendship with a child sex trafficker when that became inconvenient.

The reality behind the Home Office's latest announcement on asylum work and study visas The Home Office has made another announcement ahead of tomorrow’s statement of changes.

I have written up some context and analysis of the latest Home Office nonsense

open.substack.com/pub/thoughts...

"I am absolutely sick of this government going out of its way to be understanding to bigots, while treating anyone with progressive views as some mixture of irrational irritant and naughty child." This hits even harder with the govt's "Muslim student ban" announced yesterday

2026 is turning on the news and hearing
"The United States has attacked Caracas and kidnapped the Venezuelan president"
Why?
"The United States Navy has bombed an Iranian school and sunk an Iranian warship"
Why?

Absolutely wild denialism from Starmer here. Greens won 41%, a swing of +28%, almost matched by the Labour vote collapsing by -25%. They absolutely smashed Labour – and in particular, they smashed Starmer's horrible nasty rightwing Labour party

Labour MP Clive Lewis doesn’t hold back on the Gorton and Denton result in this interview with ITV

sex matters trustee charlotte cadden

gorton and denton by-election result: she gets 706 votes, 1.9% of the total

underappreciated but very funny gorton and denton sideplot: the conservatives nominating literal sex matters (uk terf group) trustee charlotte cadden, only for her to get the worst result for the conservatives in by-election history and lose her deposit

Screenshot from Citymapper showing their new AI option called "BEST": A sparkle emoji with the title "Good alternative", the text says (in identical formatting with the dash) "Take the 185 and 158 buses all the way—no underground needed." The M-dash is a classic, clichéd giveaway that AI has written the text and no human has edited or checked it.

So Citymapper the latest company to shove unwanted AI in their product that no-one asked for. Usual criticisms apply – and it doesn't even do anything useful! But the cherry on top for me is the M dash. Just incredible in 2026. Chef's kiss bullshit right there.

Dunno man, Adam Liptak is employed by the NYT... We would be grateful for a bar higher than 6ft below the toilet

LOL just literally comparing the OG article to the current one. It's so pathetic. The famous NYT, supposedly the lefty liberal defender of lefty liberal things, doesn't care about reporting of basic facts. Doing more harm than good at this point

Screenshot of a New York Times article basically highlighting that they changed the article because they either lied or literally didn't know the first fucking thing about what they were reporting on

Oh ho ho, what's this, a sly correction? A subtle, quiet, sly correction? I heard the NYT fucking loves a subtle quiet sly correction
@nytimespr.bsky.social @nytpitchbot.bsky.social

Yeah but the NYT is fundamentally not concerned with accuracy. That assumption is a mistake

Very informative thread, but the most important takeaway is that if you see Paul "white nationalist" Embery say he likes something, it's probably Very Bad

And STILL nothing happened to them

No one abused them or attacked them

They just asked the police how it was OK for these men to stand there and be so offensive

And the police said it was freedom of expression.

9/

It turns out it wasn’t one preacher.

It was a group of 5 white AMERICAN Christians (and 2 small children who looked incredibly uncomfortable) who set themselves up on a corner near a mosque with a loudspeaker

The police confirmed they had been there every day for several days

5/

Whether it's Donald Trump spending years ordering the DOJ to indict Democrats who have broken no laws or it's Bill Clinton chatting with Loretta Lynch on the tarmac for a few minutes, both men have corrupted the Department of Justice.

I keep checking The Times homepage, knowing how red hot it was on AS under Corbyn, and… amid plenty of Reform coverage, this story's conspicuously absent.

ah greg, you need to understand that this is just the work of an energetic executive! as john roberts so patiently explained to us, the president needs to be able to dirext the activities of the DOJ to preserve executive authority and separation of powers!

Predator: PREY, an excellent film about colonialism.
Predator: Badlands, a delightfully wholesome film about chosen family.
Different vibes but recommend both.

Gig flyer for Mon 16th Feb 2026 at New Cross Inn, featuring Death Café + Dec Ramsay + Jez Kemp. The pic is a grainy photo of an old American gas station in the desert.

🚨GIG ALERT!🚨 Back at New Cross Inn on Mon 16th Feb with my amazing Aotearoa buddy Dec!! Smash the February blues with us 🤘🦖🎉 Tix £7 adv, get down nice and early and see you down the front for singalong rock bangers 🦖🤘🎸
pit.live/events/death...
#londonmusic #livemusic #southlondon #London

richard bacon @richardpbacon - Follow Graham Linehan is such a wild raging hypocrite he takes my breath away now. He isn't fighting for women. All he wants to do is win an argument and prove himself "right". His raging trans arguments are not about women they're about himself.

Richard Bacon's pretty sound but he's not some radical lefty...he seems like an average centrist. My point is that the Glinners have been so bananas about trans people that they've turned someone who could have gone either way on the issue in to a full ally. Oh TERFs, you silly sausages.

A promotional image of the character Pob. He's (they are?) a humanoid puppet with a pink and yellow striped jumper, very short pink hair, and permanently puffed out cheeks

Stephen's face on the Traitors has been MVP of the series. Absolutely brilliant

banning X is a national security issue for every country, plain and simple

its explicit goal is to amplify and empower the largest Nazi-adjacent party in every country in which it operates

it is also the largest deepfake porn generator in the world

this is not a difficult call to make

Ezra Furman going on BBC 6 Music to talk about David Bowie and listing all the Bowie songs she absolutely hates. Absolutely brilliant

Phew! Great to see

You had us at his name

Oh wow that is optimistic. Some points I hadn't considered so thanks for those. I'm a bit (bit) more reassured now; here's hoping you're right and thanks for replying