This BBC advertising for Dracula is genius. A series of bloody stakes protruding from a billboard. Seemingly random, until darkness falls and they begin to cast a shadow. Fabulous.
In summary: ten years ago bankers gambled with all our money, lost most of it, caused a global financial crisis, which resulted in austerity, that was manipulated into anti-migrant rage by billionaire tax-exile press-barons, revitalised the far right and brought Trump and Brexit.
Let’s make sure every Brexiter windbag out there sees what someone who *actually* fought in the war thinks:
“Brexit worries me. What we went to so much trouble to do, to collect all the European big nations together, to break it all up now, would be a crying shame, I feel.”
Tory HQ was reportedly instrumental at pulling the plug on the remaining leadership debate.
Initially, the thinking had been that the country should get to know the candidates. Later, the worry became that the country would get to know the candidates
This, by Spanish Foreign minister
@AranchaGlezLaya
, is absolutely superb. The clearest expression of the problem I've heard. The UK is trying to use a trade deal to do something it's not designed to do. This, fundamentally, is why negotiations have failed.
Well worth sharing.
Thirty-three London bus drivers have died from
#Covid19
. It may seem an acceptable risk to you to extend that to teachers, but it‘s their life. You have no right to demand death-defying heroism of them. It’s not part of their job. And their union has every right to protect them.
There is one angle of
#Partygate
that is not being discussed. I have heard not a single journalist ask questions about it so far. And it is, in my view, one of the most important - if not the most important, in terms of learning lessons. THREAD 1/
Two pieces Daily Mail columnists can have ready to go right now:
1. Why Meghan Markle’s presence at the funeral is an insult, designed to overshadow a somber occasion.
2. Why Meghan Markle’s absence from the funeral, is an insult, designed to overshadow a somber occasion.
I’m not a royalist. But I have empathy. The Queen is loved by and a great comfort to millions. In such a fractious, uncertain era, I wouldn’t deny anyone the need for whatever emotional constants soothe them or deny their real worry or grief.
Kindness is always the right choice.
Here how
@MattHancock
responds to
@DrRosena
, an ACTUAL front-line NHS worker, telling him many colleagues feel let down by the gov't testing strategy.
He tells her it's not true and to watch her tone.
It's easy to forget, because of how useless he is, just how nasty he can get.
Priti Patel: "And that's not all. We have finally ended free movement."
Rapturous applause from an audience who has to queue at petrol stations and borders because of it. Who said turkeys don't vote for Christmas. In this country they will happily trim and stuff themselves.
Wow. Johnson just said the problem with the UK justice system is that it has been captured by "leftie human rights lawyers and other do-gooders".
Yeah. Bloody human rights. Bloody doing good. We've had enough of that.
It's like a dystopian novel unravelling in real time.
The Sun continues with its serialised fictional reimagining of Johnson's character. Today, he talks about how the thought of never seeing his baby son kept him alive.
So touching. *dabs eye*
This is the same man who had to be forced, by a court, to recognise his baby daughter.
Look forward to:
- Absolutely no porn was watched.
- There was porn, but I was ambushed by it.
- I'm furious that nobody advised me it was porn.
- Who doesn't watch porn at work, really.
- It would be wrong to preempt the porn inquiry.
- MOVE ON, YOU PRUDES. THERE'S A WAR ON!
Just saw a British couple who have lived in France for several years, on BBC Two, who are now applying for French citizenship in order to stay there. They got a vote. I, who have lived and paid tax in the UK since September 1990, did not. They voted to Leave. Democracy, my arse.
Police estimate TWO MILLION marched today, asking the gov’t to put this shambles back to the people, with no incident of violence or damage. Those who oppose us send death threats to elected representatives.
We know who we are and we know who you are.
Here is a simple experiment for Brexiters:
Think of a destination.
Get in a taxi.
Scream "LEAVE" at the driver.
When asked "where to?" respond "JUST GET IT DONE".
Let me know where you end up.
RESULT: Conservatives, Labour and Ukip battered. Liberal Democrats, Greens and Independents big winners.
INTERPRETATION: People just want us to get on with Brexit.
Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you, people?
What REALLY BUGS ME, is the implicit assumption that migrants lead flat, linear, forever-waiters or forever-delivery-drivers lives.
When I came to the UK, I worked reception to improve my English, waited tables to put myself through uni, then went on to better-paid jobs. THREAD
I know we roll our eyes and try to ignore it, but the way the Mail has contorted itself to attack Starmer and Rayner over nonsense, while simultaneously pretending the PM breaking the law IN NO 10 is nothing-to-see, is corruption plain and simple. No attempt to even disguise it.
What an utterly bizarre press conference.
A Prime Minister who HOPES people stop going to pubs, but won’t close them, HOPES ailing firms don’t sack people, but won’t help them, HOPES businesses don’t profiteer, but won’t stop them.
A complete vacuum of leadership.
You need to note this moment in your history. This moment when your gov’t asked families to pay £40 for kids born in the UK to apply to stay, based purely on the ethnicity of the parents - citizens legally here. Not even register. Apply. You need to note the date and time. Shame.
The Home Secretary wants only the most 'extraordinary' people to immigrate to the UK. Well, money, prizes, titles, and accolades can be 'extraordinary', but I would argue that so is making it to Kent from South Sudan, on foot and by dinghy. Utterly extraordinary.
If more people had the courage and clarity of
@NicolaSturgeon
on the issue of immigration, the country would not be in this utter
#Brexit
shambles to start with. Whatever my politics, whatever caveats, whatever subjects I disagree with her on, this is what leadership looks like.
Voter: “The NHS is being destroyed, it’s being destroyed and you come here for a press opportunity?”
Johnson: “There’s no press here.”
Voter: (points to cameras) “What do you mean there’s no press here?”
#PleaseLeaveMyTown
And up pops fucking Farage, regular as clockwork, to tell the government what it needs to do next. Like a homeopath at the funeral of the patient he misled, criticising the mortician on the corpse’s makeup.
It’s very interesting indeed. Not only do they all have the same friend. They all have the same person writing their tweets. Tories in full sock-puppet account mode. Shame on you
@CCHQPress
.
IT’S THE MESS WE INHERITED
IT’S THE AGING POPULATION
IT’S THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
IT’S BED BLOCKERS
IT’S THE PANDEMIC
IT’S THE WAR IN UKRAINE
IT’S THE UNIONS
Is it though.
It seems to me, much the simpler solution would have been to get Laura Kuenssberg to babysit the source’s child. Would have avoided a lot of grief for everyone involved.
All you need to know about Farage: When he thought the BxP won Peterborough he showed up at the count. Once he realised they hadn’t, he hid in the loo from reporters, then left by a side door before result was announced, instead of supporting his candidate or answering questions.
Good on
@KayBurley
for exposing Conservative Party chairman
@JamesCleverly
for pulling out of her programme in a panic, and asking every single question she was going to ask him, while the camera shows an empty chair and he cowers, apparently, fifteen feet away. Classic Dom.
To those STILL asking what's the fuss over a bit of cake? Watch this.
Listen to a father, who had to bury his son observing 'the rule of six' and distancing; who has to hang up because he cannot contain his grief and rage.
Then tell me Johnson breaking the rules doesn't matter.
The wonderful thing is that this is an overtly progressive, inclusive, diverse, political England team, patriotic without being nativist, proud yet respectful, strong but never cocky. Must be doing far right nationalists’ heads in to not be able to claim it. Truly the best of us.
For a second day this week, Greece has zero
#Covid19
hospital deaths. Total remains at 130. Overall increase in mortality rate (so incl care home/community deaths) is so small as to not be statistically significant. So, go ahead and tell me how early, strict lockdowns don’t work.
What a choice of words. Ireland will, apparently, “enjoy the best of both worlds: access to the EU single market and at the same time unfettered access to the rest of the UK market.”
Wait! Isn’t that what WE ALL had, before you decided to set it on fire?
💥Absolutely INCREDIBLE moment.💥
New Environment Secretary Claire Coutinho, caught red-handed by
@SophyRidgeSky
making stuff up, just tries to blag through it.
Ends up basically suggesting that, since "Starmer won't tell us what he really thinks", it's okay to make stuff up.😮
While his wife of 26 years and mother of four of his kids was having multiple operations and treatment for cancer, Johnson was trying to appoint his mistress as his £100k pa, Chief of Staff.
The guy DRIPS WITH ETHICS. Of course he doesn't need an adviser.
THIS RIGHT HERE is what I'm talking about. A Health Sec opening a new facility for 1000s battling for their lives and NOBODY behind him observing social distancing rules. Even if they're all tested health workers (they're not), the image is SO CASUAL and the message so confused.
Sue Gray story in summary:
- Powerful working class woman gets passed over for promotion by public school Oxbridge boys.
- She outwits them, finding a better route to power that will likely make her their superior next year
- Public school Oxbridge boys lose their shit
THE END
PS. A current context: The first thing the Zelenskyy gov't did when attacked was separate the PM, deputy PM, head of armed forces and his second in command. They are never together. Our gov't in contrast kept using war analogies, but acting as if it were on Spring Break.
TWO EXAMPLES of why
@Keir_Starmer
's
#PMQs
made me very happy.
1. Instead of ploughing on with a prepared set, watch how he listens to the evasive answer given by
@DominicRaab
and turns it into an even more devastating point.
Comparing the gov’t Covid19 maps for end of September and start of October, it looks as if things are getting better.
UNTIL you notice they’ve changed the numbers corresponding to each colour. Had they used the same ones, most of the country would be red or dark red.
#BitSneaky
THREAD. Just finished Friday zoom with my Brussels group. Much to report.
First, a framing point: The summit went all day and all night. All was agreed: budget, environmental goals, Covid19 response. Brexit was discussed for ten minutes. All agreed the mandate is unchanged. 1/
Johnson keeps saying Leavers and Remainers just want Brexit done.
I want it on record
@BorisJohnson
: I do not want Brexit done especially by you. I don't trust you. I trust Parliament. I elected my MP to hold you to account. I want you to obey the law. And I want a
#PeoplesVote
.
So many people are sharing this completely brilliant cartoon, so I thought you might like to know that it was created by Bruce MacKinnon
@CH_Cartoon
, for Canada's Halifax Chronicle Herald and show him some love. x
Tusk didn’t insult our country. If anything, he expressed sympathy for our predicament. He insulted YOU, the clueless leaders of the Leave campaign, who sold the voters pain-free easy deals, magical cake and rainbows and are now saying the pain will be worth it in fifty years.
If you ever needed a neat summary of this government's character, here it is:
The Secretary of State, responsible for enforcing the rules that govern us, broke the rules. She kept her job. The person she bullied AND the person who found she broke the rules, have lost their jobs.
So, I've collated the Conservatives' advice on the cost of living crisis and so far I have:
1. Buy value brands
2. Budget better
3. Cook meals from scratch
4. Get a job that pays more money
Has any administration ever been more out of its depth?
Isn’t it funny how a few thousand people spoiling their ballots is presented as some sort of seismic event by Brexiter MPs, but six million petitioning Parliament and a million people actually coming to London to march on Westminster is dismissed as an irrelevance.
In summary, a government that pushed millions of kids into poverty, is paying its mates £30 a pop to send those kids 1/3rd of a tin of tuna in a ziplock bag, while tons of lobster, langoustine and scallop rot on the docks, because of its wretched Brexit. Did I miss anything?
I keep returning to this simple truth, in Thursday's
@thetimes
by sports writer Martin Samuel:
"If your new immigration strategy is so artfully constructed it needs protecting from a tweet by the bloke who presents Match of the Day, it might not be as clever as you think."
Crispin Odey, Brexit backer and Johnson donor, bets £300m in short positions against UK firms. Same man made £200m betting against sterling in 2016. And Johnson has the f’kin nerve to make speeches about Remainers “betting against Britain”. Should be on the front of every paper.
Oh Lord
Grant me the confidence of a wealthy straight white mediocre male, to criticise the book of a UCL economics professor, without even having read it.
@MazzucatoM
: “That’s not what this book is about. You haven’t read it.”
@toadmeister
: “I read the press release.”
😱
Scruffy man, sacked often for lying, serial cheat, seven PLUS kids with many women, taken to court for child support, police called out because of rows, currently living off the state...
The working class version, we boo on chatshows. The posh version, we made Prime Minister.
Farage accuses MPs of being "classic career politicians" who go into it in their 20s and love the EU as "a wonderful safety net for people who fail in national politics".
NARRATOR: Nigel started UKIP age 29. He's failed to be elected as an MP 7 times. He's been an MEP for 20yrs.
Not only can John Redwood not provide any factual basis for his claim that “polls show a majority now want to leave with no deal”, he accuses
@Channel4News
of being biased for asking him. So he is chucked off the programme by
@krishgm
. Why isn’t EVERY news programme doing this?
WOW. So, at Midday, the gov't offered Manchester £60m. That figure has now been reduced back down to their initial offer of £22m.
This is an blatantly explicit punishment beating. It'll cost lives, because it will affect compliance.
What a vindictive, irresponsible, evil bunch.
We merely advise people should wear face masks on public transport, but we don’t need to make it a detailed rule, because we can rely on that world renowned British common sen-FOR THE LOVE OF JAMMY DODGERS WHAT ARE YOU DOING WOMAN?
"I care far more about about Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis, than this motion. But they're not alternatives",
@RhonddaBryant
tells Commons. "At a moment of national and international crisis, you need a leader of unimpeachable moral authority. I don't think we have that."
Matt Hancock will be getting out of bed, asking himself, as he claims he does every morning: "What can I do today to protect life?"
I wonder if it will ever occur to him that the answer is simply: "Resign."
The two most sustained and vociferous rounds of applause for Priti Patel's speech were around her promises to be much tougher on asylum seekers and environmental protesters.
This is all you need to know.
Beyond the "I'm the rebel" quote, the clip of Ken Clarke went on to say in his splendid speech is the best summary of the con that was pulled -and continues to be pulled- on the British public by the
#Brexit
extremists. A vital two minutes, absolutely worth your time and your RT.
Words are cheap,
@BorisJohnson
.
If you really are grateful to Jenny from New Zealand, for saving your life, end your government’s hostile environment, that makes her - and all migrants’ - every encounter with the Home Office a stressful, ghastly, demeaning experience.
1/4
Dear journalists. Framing is important. If you go up to a bunch of people and ask ‘are you concerned about the PM’s curtains?’ as opposed to ‘does it bother the PM may be taking bungs and not declaring them?’, you may just get very different answers.
I love that the Express didn’t notice they were using a satirical photo of a blue passport. God bless you,
@localnotail
, for spotting this.
“Your mother was a hamster”
“Your father smelt of elderberries”
😂
Important thing is Cummings isolated. In Downing St, his London home, the car, a Durham cottage, some woods, some other woods, Barnard Castle, a riverside, an A1 petrol station and London again. It was VERY responsible and deffo within the rules that said YOU MUST STAY AT HOME.
Having first said he didn’t receive £450k of support, after Banks confirms it, Farage pivots to “it’s my own personal business”. Only problem, Farage is an MEP. Under Code of Conduct he must declare support for political activity (ART4) or gifts above €150 (ART5) within 30 days.
It’s a personal matter that I, a politician, was funded half a million pounds from a man under criminal investigation for dodgy funding of political campaigns.
Here is some of that Widdecombe interview. She believes Brexit Party “have the moral authority“ to negotiate on behalf of the UK now. She can’t tell us with whom or when she’ll negotiate. And anyway she refuses to negotiate.
Usually “swivel-eyed loon” is just an expression.
WE WANT A HIGH WAGE ECONOMY!
No, not you, rail worker.
No, not you, nurse.
No, not you, teacher.
No, not you, legal aid criminal barrister.
No, not you, gig worker.
No, not you, police officer.
No, not you, zero-hours warehouse staff.
No, not you, postal worker.
etc.
My little island, Mykonos, is now under EVEN STRICTER measures. Curfew 8pm-8am. No exit to exercise or walk a dog. No exemption to help elderly relative. Why? Because SOME ARSEHOLE PRIEST decided to do secret religious services for his “flock” and now we have a cluster of cases.
Extraordinary response from Gisela Stuart to the fact Vote Leave broke the law and why they couldn’t prove their innocence: “The problem for us is that we destroyed all our data.”
As all innocent parties do.
#Marr
I love how quietly this immense slapdown is delivered to
@ABridgen
and what a supremely important point it is. “You can’t have what you want” is the one concept Brexiters cannot seems to grasp. Give that woman a big hug
@joannaccherry
.