James Cooper

Still amazes how they managed to pull off such a perfect adaptation. Almost everything about it is right, down to the smallest details. And it works so well as a film whilst also being so close to the book.

And I don’t think it has really aged at all. There aren’t any moments that look like bad CGI

ECtHR 'more necessary and relevant' now, says outgoing UK judge Leading silk says he 'hardly recognises' the good work of the ECHR from recent criticism of Strasbourg court.

“Over the last 70 years, the #ECHR has repeatedly stepped in when domestic courts were unable to provide the protection we now take for granted and cherish,” says the UK’s outgoing judge at the European Court of Human Rights👇

🔗 www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/ecthr-m... via @lawsocietygazette.bsky.social

The obvious danger being the left/liberal & centre vote is split so Reform are elected under FPTP on a tiny percentage after hoovering up chunks of Tory/Labour votes

I admire what the Greens seem to be achieving (early days yet) but the absolute priority for the next election is keeping Reform out

That is the problem with making ‘growth’ the primary objective.

It doesn’t really mean anything for ordinary people. It just means the rich will get a bit richer. Some of them might even deign to pay their workers a bit more, most will probably keep the extra for themselves.

Ever since I finished Question Time, Reform have massively been on the attack.

Including a rant from Richard Tice entirely designed to distract from Reform and Russia.

Everyone should know about Nathan Gill, the bribes from Russia and the link to Reform.

It’s still funny that they called the referendum to heal the Tory split

The results have been terrifying and just keep getting worse

But in itself the fact that they were in such a strong position and chose this path to oblivion is still funny

May should have kicked Brexit into the long grass

I don’t think we’re going to get a moment where we undo Brexit and rejoin in one fell swoop (much as I would like to). It would just give another rallying point for the far right

What I think is more realistic and achievable is the de facto death of Brexit by a thousand compromises and exceptions

I have no idea, but the original post implies that what he has said in this post is unfair, wrong or propaganda

That’s just not the case. He might have left important things unsaid, or he might have said them elsewhere for all I know, but what he actually says here isn’t problematic in itself

I don’t understand the problem here. He’s acknowledging the trauma that has befallen ordinary people on both sides

He can say that and it still be true that the Palestinians have by far the worst of it and the Israeli government’s actions go so far beyond proportionate that it amounts to genocide

They have a serious communications problem. Every senior figure sounds so very media trained, vanilla and bland

Labour too often seem to consider it a success if no-one notices their interviews. The insurgent parties only consider it a success if people do. The former just no longer cuts it in the attention economy.

I do wonder if Labour might look at the sorts of people dominating the discourse and dominating the content wars and maybe, just maybe, rethink the sorts of grey figures they routinely put up for interviews, instructed at that to be as cautious as possible. Things have changed. Their comms hasn’t.

I support the right of any human being to live the life they themselves choose to live. I believe that very strongly

But if you think minorities are under attack now, just you wait for a Reform gov

Honestly it’s just plain distorted to say Labour are anywhere near as bad for minorities as Reform

I want Labour to be much better than they are at the moment - but even if that doesn’t happen I would take this Labour government over any iteration of Farage’s party in a heartbeat

I would take Johnson’s gov back over Reform, even with all the corruption and scandal - and that’s saying something

To be fair, this is probably because Labour are in government and have to temper their policies with realism.

Whereas the Greens can promise whatever they like and it won’t be tested by reality

Labour should be much better than they are, but the Greens have a free pass to promise the world

They know exactly what they’re doing - they just don’t care. They just see a way of exploiting the unevolved side of human nature to manipulate their way into power, and they’re don’t care how much damage is done on the way

That’s why I say they need to get their act together. Pandering to that vote has got them nowhere except down in the polls

They need to start acting like the grown ups in the room and set the narrative instead of chasing it

But they need to be effective communicators, and they’re just not

Labour have got four years to get their act together

Fingers crossed that their communications and public messaging improves, and that they wake up and realise the fight they’re in for - and they can counter the huge volumes of viral anti-progressive content pushed onto people’s social media feeds

It’s the same point about his age and cognitive decline. Couldn’t move for headlines about Biden being too old but not seen a single article about the same (if not worse) symptoms in Trump

It was very satisfying to see the Cons implode so completely at the last election after years of incompetence, self-enrichment and gaslighting

But now their further lurches to the right are doing nothing but solidify an ‘anti-woke’ vote that won’t vote for someone who isn’t white

Makes no sense

I think this is flimsy

The issue with deprived towns isn’t shabby streets - it’s that people are trapped with an ever-decreasing quality of life whilst their phones tell them we have record millionaires and profit. Even if they get a job, they work and can’t afford anything

This doesn’t fix that

I guess I just have a hard time believing that anyone thinks that conservatives of any nationality are remotely interested in improving the lives of normal people.

They were all around for the first 4 years. Were they really gullible enough to believe the Republicans want to lower prices

I don’t understand who the people are that have changed their opinion of him. Who had a favourable opinion who now doesn’t? Americans knew who they were voting for this time around. Who voted for him initially but then has been disappointed by what he’s done so far? We all knew what would happen

Yet when actual millions demonstrated against Brexit the media just pretended it wasn’t happening

Yes fair enough. I’m disappointed they haven’t been bolder in undoing decades of wealth hoarding

Trans people should be able to live the life they choose, fully and without barriers. And arms sales to Israel should not be happening.

But I would maintain the right are more culpable on the whole

I think they do. The tories don’t stand up there and say ‘vote for us so we can make ourselves richer at your expense’. They dress it up as ‘trickle down economics’ and the like

I totally understand the resentment towards Starmer and a lot of it is justified. But the focus seems to only be on that

Not at all, I think the criticism of the centre is fully justified

I don’t understand why is isn’t directed as vehemently at the actual right themselves who are far more deserving of it

If you’re on the left why would the middle annoy you more than the right? To me it’s not logical

Would you not agree that with Johnson, Sunak, Farage etc their intention is for them to get into power to satisfy their egos and to use the system to enrich themselves and their friends

Whereas with the current Labour gov the intention is to govern competently, even if the approach is questionable?

Yeah I get that and that’s absolutely right

What I don’t understand is that almost all the criticism is directed towards the centre while the actual right itself gets off pretty lightly

Like, Starmer gets far more hate and vitriol from the left than, say, Johnson who ran a far more harmful gov?

I don’t understand why a lot on the left get more annoyed with others on the left and in the centre than they do with those on the right who are causing the problems

Not having a go - I genuinely just don’t get it