Oxbridge hack amused at the idea of working class British kids being canon fodder #bbcpm

'Whitey on the Moon' eh, #r4today?

He's a disgrace.

Trumpy Webb desperately looking for a silver lining for his hero #r4today.

Jeremy Hunt? Do us a favour #r4today.

John Knight obituary Disability campaigner at Leonard Cheshire whose mischievous personality brought a fresh perspective to the charity

Inspirational disability campaigner John Knight - insightful obituary by @brindled.bsky.social….
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Johnson. Please.

Indeed. Ed Davey. A man who collaborated with the Tories to give us austerity & Brexit.

Indeed; for 'local government' in England, now read 'local administration'. As for Thatcher, all roads lead to her-& those who enabled & feted her. Including Heseltine, Clarke etc.

£5bn council SEND debts to be paid off by government It comes days after the Local Government Association warned that eight in 10 English councils would face bankruptcy, if they had to honour deficits.

Thatcher began the erosion of local councils. Now they struggle to be little more than supplicants of the Treasury… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Indeed. A colleague & friend of unwavering integrity, loyalty & kindness. The world is a poorer place without Jim.

Jim Thomas obituary Other lives: Health and social care consultant with a deep suspicion of rules for the sake of rules

One of the good guys …

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

North East housing lists top 44,000 as councils struggle with soaring demand EMBARGO NOTE

5m council houses were built between 1946 and 1981. Thatcher put an end to it and no government has restored it… www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/2573353...

The damage wreaked by Thatcher is incalculable. Here’s one of the worst examples 👇

Most probably don’t realise that before Thatcher 42% of people lived in council housing - now it’s only 6%. There is a housing crisis and over 300,000 are homeless as a result of her policies. The damage she did to this country is immense and irreversible yet she is viewed by so many as an icon.

Thatcher.

...or 46% of voters in the UK want the place run by them. Is it any surprise it increasingly resembles a toxic crumbling museum?

Also the Romans literally had a welfare system that included cash transfers for poor children. (And subsidised grain for low income workers...).

Thatcher.

We’ve moved from ‘social security’ to ‘welfare’; from minimum entitlements to food banks; and now reducing child poverty is rebadged as a ‘benefit street’ budget. What have we become?

Indeed. And #r4today has long since lost any claim to be a so called 'flagship current affairs programme'. It's a self regarding anachronism. Not unlike the UK itself.

The antidote to Radio 3, now a pale imitation of Classic FM, is birdsong.

Indeed. No plan
& no sense that the core principles & requirements of effective public administration are understood.

Malcolm Dean obituary Founder of the Guardian’s Society section who stood for the SDP/Liberal Alliance in the 1983 and 1987 general elections

Tremendous tribute by John Carvel to my late Guardian colleague Malcom Dean

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...

Run, my son. Run.

I Can't Stand My Baby YouTube video by The Rezillos - Topic

Bad Friday.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld8z...

Sign: IS THIS THE REAL LIFE? Books include: Erasing History, Autocracy, Inc, Fascism: A Warning, How Democracies Die

Sign: IS THIS JUST FANTASY? Books include; It Can’t Happen Here, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid’s Tale

Barnes & Noble in Georgetown with a stark “Bohemian Rhapsody”-referencing book display this weekend.

Italy is what it feels like to be in love.

You know there is a god when the radio in a cafe in Puglia gives you Young Americans.

We are the Mods.