[..the government eventually said the right things about the Tories/Reform proposals on ILR. And I suspect they will, eventually, do the same here.
But it tells you something about the culture in *parts* of govt/Labour/Home Office that their knee-jerk reaction is this.]
A Labour Party spokesperson blamed the previous Conservative governments, adding Labour was "finally bringing down" immigration numbers. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had taken "decisive action" to cut small boat crossings and "restore control of our borders after the Tories' failed open borders experiment", they said. "We have already stopped over 42,000 illegal migrants attempting to cross the Channel since the general election," they added. "We have removed or deported nearly 60,000 people with no right to be here."
Obviously Reform's proposals is simultaneously racist, economically and socially damaging and impractical.
But, yet again, instead of saying so, Labour/the government's response is tin-eared me-tooism.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
everyone with real American manliness and a basic knowledge of military history knows that serious war efforts have never been derailed by such trifling matters as "communicable diseases"
EU ‘right to repair’ law
The EU will soon require smartphone manufacturers to let users replace their batteries.
The tough new rules - endorsed by the European Parliament this week - could save millions of phones from landfill.
www.euronews.com/2023/06/22/n...
Thing is, Home Secretary, if you tell people like me to fuck right off, who supported the Labour Party precisely because it has historically been an anti-racist party (amongst other principles you have also jettisoned), we might just do that. And I don't think Labour can afford to lose our votes.
Expressionist painting of a tall man in a suit with his arm held stiffly in front of him, at an angle.
Here’s the German Expressionist Erich Heckel's 1917 painting Roquairol. Iggy Pop’s pose is a close copy. The painting is also referenced in the cover photo for David Bowie’s 1977 album Heroes.
Album cover on the Now Playing stand Iggy Pop in a grey outfit, gesturing to the camera
On Iggy Pop’s birthday I’m listening to his 1977 album The Idiot, produced by David Bowie.
The cover photo is by Andy Kent. Iggy’s pose is based on Erich Heckel's painting Roquairol.
album.link/y/OLAK5uy_lV...
Black & white photo of the singer with his hair in his eyes
Happy birthday Iggy Pop
📷 Dustin Rabin, Toronto, 2013
“All I really have on my mind before I go out there is: I’m going to try to kill them. What some people would call antics, I would just call a good show.”
Good. It’s easy to forget that climate change denial & shilling for fossil fuel companies provided a template for Tufton Street, Brexit & pretty much every egregious example of persuading populations to vote against their own interests. The story of Don Pearlman should be taught in kindergartens…
Palantir in the NHS is linked to Mandelson
Mandelson is linked to Wes Streeting
Wes Streeting is defending Palantir’s involvement in the #NHS
Nothing to see or everything to see
Palantir must be removed from the NHS
“I do think there is that element of it which is: ‘How dare you, a brown woman, say a thing that we white liberals think you’re not allowed to say?’
No Shabana Mahmood, it's more like "How dare you, a Labour MP, spout far-right white nationalist talking points and remove rights from refugees"
Former Odeon Cinema, Morecambe - William Calder Robson for Harry Weedon and Partners, 1937 Image © Philip Butler
Odeon Cinema, Morecambe - William Calder Robson for Harry Weedon and Partners, 1937 Image © John Maltby
NEWS: The former Odeon Cinema in Morecambe (1937), now a hardware and bathroom supply shop, has been Grade II listed following support from C20 Society.
The Streamlined Moderne style cinema was one of 7 designed for Odeon by architect William Calder Robson; 3 of which survive, all are now listed.
Today's winner of the Internet. Congratulations!
More Brexit benefits... #RejoinEU
Cabinet Office believed there was no need to vet Lord Mandelson, Sir Olly Robbins said:
“A position taken from the Cabinet Office was that there was no need to vet Mandelson, he was a member of the House of Lords, he was a privy councillor, the risks...were well known"
www.ft.com/content/0699...
Sir Olly Robbins says there was an "atmosphere of pressure" to push through the Mandelson appointment:
"as I arrived at post..I felt a generally dismissive attitude to his vetting clearance, the focus was on getting Manadelson out to Washington quickly"
Sir Olly Robbins says that when he became FCDO permanent secretary he wasn't "walking into a vacuum":
- due diligence already done on Mandelson
- PM had taken advice on his fitness for office
- name had been given to King
- PM announced the job
- he had access to building and sensitive briefings
Him: What would be your dream job
Me: Oh that's easy. Sitting on the back of a motorbike on the Tour de France pushing idiots into the ditch
Him: Oh come off it there's no such job
Me:
Robbins said there was an “atmosphere of pressure” surrounding Mandelson’s appointment, with regular phone calls from the No.10 private office to chase up the process
www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article...
Many former Labour voters will be taking the Home Secretary's advice and fucking off, though not all of us are white.
Ukrainian drone "sanctions" on Ru oil continue to achieve success. This is Ukraine's path to victory.
NEW | On an odd choice…
WHY DID BBC BREAKFAST GIVE REFORM UK A SPECIAL GRAPHIC?
A small detail in a brief report sparks some big questions about what the national broadcaster is doing during the run up to local and national elections.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/why-did-bb...
These two widely shared images claiming to show the IDF restoring a statue of Jesus that was previously damaged by an Israeli soldier near Debl, Lebanon, are AI-generated and fake.
A Google SynthID check finds watermarks that suggest both images were made with Google AI.
Y'all I'm IN THIS STUDY!!!
Really I'm in it! I haven't been unblinded and I still don't know what I got but there's ME! Just a tiny little data point.
www.sciencenews.org/article/lyme...
"Ukrainian clinicians enjoy ‘valuable’ learning during visit"
"Two Ukrainian clinicians have reflected on their time at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) ... primarily within the Trauma Service at the John Radcliffe Hospital"
🚨Clarion short read🚨
Ever commented on a planning application? Full marks for being an engaged citizen. But did you realise your name and address would be visible to the world? We look at a privacy leak in local democracy… and ask why it’s one rule for the public, another for councillors.
Step this way for your Oxfordshire news - Tuesday's Clarion is out! This week includes...
🐼MPs with pandas
🚴‘Quarry Roubaix’
🪳Tiny bugs
🎼A 10-hour choral marathon
🚆More trains
🚨A long read on potholes (!), and another on planning..
Read online, or in your inbox, and if you like it, do share!
One very helpful thing about working with @pollysmythe.bsky.social, an ex-industrial reporter who actually understands union politics and union rivalries, is you can get a clear-eyed understanding of what the tube strike is actually about. www.londoncentric.media/p/london-loc...
This is exactly the kind of policy that should be left to headteachers, who know what will work best for their own school (and almost all have strict curbs on phones anyway). But the government wants the headline.
