My advise would be to plan your Summer staycations.

Yes, Prime Minister - The need to know YouTube video by 1w3rpass

There’s just always a suitable Yes Minister or Yes Minister clip.

youtu.be/NX45hc0aZt0?...

This is a very good thread.

Sue Beckingham presenting at the ANTF Symposium

Looking forward to presenting at the Association of National Teaching Fellows Symposium in May in Newcastle! @ntfellows.bsky.social
This event is open to all so do take a look at the website for more details. #ANTF2026
ntf-association.com/annual-sympo...

Maybe, we’ll see.

Heartbreaking and terrifying 😔

Agree, but all too late. Now, the hounds can’t just smell blood they can taste it and will have him.

Covid-19 Inquiry: UK's vaccine development and rollout was 'extraordinary feat' - live updates An estimated 475,000 lives were saved in England and Scotland, but the inquiry says a lower vaccine uptake among some groups should've been predicted.

The Covid 19 vaccine roll out was an extraordinary feat which may have saved upwards of 475,000 lives.

In the face of a deadly virus dedicated professionals worked hard to make it happen and millions did the right thing and took the jabs.

That's to be celebrated.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg...

With 3 weeks to go until Welsh and Scottish elections, we @instituteforgovernment.org.uk have been looking at what new ministers and current civil servants can learn from the 2024 experience. And Megan and Dan have translated it into Welsh for us!

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/new-...

a red dragon on a green and white flag ALT: a red dragon on a green and white flag

In a first for the IfG, @meganbryer.bsky.social and I have translated two pieces about the upcoming Welsh and Scottish elections into Cymraeg! 1/🧵

This ⤵️

So depressed to hear Justin Webb quoting Reform at minister Peter Kyle on Today: "Reform are saying this morning it should be a criminal offence etc etc...."

BBC constantly references Reform as if they are the Opposition. They have 8 MPs. Lib Dems have 72. Tories are official Opposition.

Trying to explain St Augustine to the pope, the former head of the Augustinian order, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Augustine, on his way back from celebrating mass at the Basilica of St Augustine in Annaba, Algeria, overlooking the site where Augustine lived is peak Adult Catholic Convert.

Rehabilitation of the Dandelion!
No other plant in the Netherlands attracts as many bee species: 107. In early spring, when nothing else is blooming, it is simply there. Meadow bird chicks that have just hatched depend on the insects that are drawn to dandelions. No dandelion, no insect, no chick.

The Brexit delusion is dead – so now Keir Starmer doesn’t need to pretend any more | Rafael Behr To rebuild relations with Europe in a dangerous world, the prime minister needs to win big arguments, not hide behind outdated red lines, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

"To rebuild relations with Europe in a dangerous world, the prime minister needs to win big arguments, not hide behind outdated red lines."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I did not have the considerations of St Augustine on ‘a just war’ on my bingo card this week! Every day’s a school day, obvs!

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

Prof Portes exposes once again the holes in the government's supposed savings of "earned settlement"

There’s no justification for these reforms, they should be scrapped.

Our public services won’t become better by making the lives of migrants more miserable and difficult than they already are.

The Strategic Defence Review, which Robertson spearheaded, came out in September 2025, as I was writing the last chapter of my book, which is focused on foreign policy and strategy. I read that entire document and interviewed a number of experts about it. A few thoughts. 🧵

Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too.

How did Magyar win? A long running grassroots campaign in rural and small town Hungary; a refusal to be distracted by government propaganda; a focus on economic issues and corruption; a central promise to bring back democracy and the rule of law

Great thread. Thanks!

The late Tony Benn set out five questions about power. In his final speech to the House of Commons he said that on meeting any powerful person, one should always ask: What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?

"How can we get rid of you?"

The immense significance of the defeat of Orbán's illiberal political machine and methodology

By me at the Empty City substack

emptycity.substack.com/p/how-can-we...

Wow! 👏

Meetings take up more than a quarter of the week — are they pointless? Harry Wallop visits the firms that have found better ways of working

According to a Canadian company that analysed 50,000 office workers’ calendars, the average worker attends 13.6 meetings a week, up from 7.5 in 2019, before Covid struck. Typically, workers spend more than a quarter (27%) of their working week in some form of meeting
www.thetimes.com/life-style/w...

They make EVERYTHING worse. Ban, tax, whatever, but acknowledge it already

Diddorol iawn!

This by-election was called due to the sitting Reform UK councillor being convicted and imprisoned for coercive control...

How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran

This is quite the read. Almost everyone in Trump's inner circle, including Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised Trump against launching a war on Iran. He did it anyway.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/u...

I’ve just seen what happened with Luka. So sorry! Hope the hospital procedures go well!

Europe including the UK needs to decouple from Netanyahu's Israel in the same way that it's decoupling from MAGA America.

Both Israel & MAGA America are lawless, irresponsible, morally bankrupt rogue states who believe themselves to be above accountability #Lebanon #IranWar
bsky.app/profile/ones...