Ambitious projects are routinely blocked; to take just one example, a plan by the developers of the Las Vegas Sphere to build a similar project in East London — a 300-foot-tall orb which could have been Europe’s most spectacular concert venue — was killed off by Khan, largely on the grounds that its flashy facade might spoil the tranquility of the capital’s evening

The article is good reminder of all the good things Khan has done. Eg…

The usual robotic ‘our no1 priority is growth’; with none of the customary platitudes about ‘raising human rights concerns’

We’re being sold out cheaply: GDP impact £1.6bn (0.06%) or £23 per head to look away.

Their real no1 priority is signalling to their handlers that they’ll do what it takes.

Because the incentive structures are already ridiculously skewed towards low density car-dependent urban sprawl, which is ruinous to the environment and people’s wellbeing

They wouldn’t actually deport that many people; their goal is to create a ‘slave class’ by using the threat of arbitrary deportation to block access to labour rights and political participation.

I’m sure she’s well aware he won’t suddenly come clean. She’s pointing out the bad faith behind his protestations of innocence. Scandalous that this task is left to the victims and not those with real power to make him come clean.

Particularly important to specify as it would be entirely in character for the UK government to be the ones banning them.

But abandoning the passive voice would make Isreal look bad and the both-sidesing required to smooth that over won’t fit in a boilerplate statement. What to do?

I think the key to understanding Britain is that JK Rowling’s oddball fantasy about an elite class of special people - far apart from the scum mass of regular humans - being trained by mad, cruel bastards to be weird, unpleasant, superior judgy wankers, is more or less accurate.

playing D&D for the first time and I have been discouraged from naming my character Captain Tom

Even on Trumps’ side Khan is just a proxy in a feud with Mamdani - “[lies] happen when you elect a muslim mayor”.

The audience for that is his base - to justify future constitutional outrages when Mamdani wins. Doubt he has any particular animosity towards Khan.

Also bread machines that go straight to ‘rest’ mode after you press the start button

Thanks, some striking similarities to the Lisbon Maru tragedy just a few weeks later

Dead right - they’ll use rule of law arguments where it suits them as part of a strategy to break rule of law. Commentary that omits this context just helps them lean on the scale when their own side is attacked. Living in the past just hands them more victory

She’d prefer if they didn’t have a the right to a jury, or even a trial… mind-bending that she sees their acquittal as so self-evidently unjust. The case neatly demonstrates her prioritisation of property rights (the statue itself and the slavery it represents) over human rights

Have you tried graffitiing ‘tax evaders’ on the shops? No doubt would bring the UK media out in force to hound them into submission

Simply abhorrent

“To those who run Norway’s sovereign wealth fund: if you cannot do business with Caterpillar because Israel uses their products, maybe it’s time you’re made aware that doing business or visiting America is a privilege, not a right,”

What a privilege, what a time to be alive

… through actions that couldn’t possibly begin to scratch the surface of the systemic issue.

I’ve yet to see a better illustration of the ‘individual action’ fallacy

Depressing but we already knew there’s been massive message failure - as evidenced by everyone’s actions. This at least helps understand which mental crutch they’re leaning on and focus efforts on tackling that specific fallacy

Yes, she’s normally reliably objective, which made it all the more grating

Disgusting bothsidesing on Gaza aid distribution by Lyse Doucet on BBC News at 10; ‘Israel would say this was brought on by Hamas’ well that would be collective punishment, a war crime, which you’re providing cover for by not pointing out.

I don’t think illegal protest is the only way to show opposition and never said that.

UK govt is not constrained to merely ‘protesting’ like individual citizens. It has a vast array of more effective options which it choses not to deploy. In that context any ‘protest’ it makes is meaningless

I’m afraid you’re going to have to spell it out to me … I’m not seeing how any of my comments could be taken to imply that those protesting legally are supporting genocide

Their aim was to help Palestinians by highlighting the gap between the UK government’s words and their actions when it comes to supporting genocide.

No I’m not arguing against legal protest, unlike the government which is doing all it can to shut it down.

Which puts us at greater risk? Red paint on a plane or undermining international law by participating in genocide?

Not just the media unfortunately, most people are aware but want to shut it out

*customers drive to their warehouses on publicly built roads that wouldn’t otherwise be needed - we’ve allowed retail distribution to be nationalised as a public burden

Ironically they are a monument to our national culture of pompous entitlement and hypocrisy

The scientists quoted have tried to use this to mobilise public concern but the result is counterproductive. The report is explicitly backward-looking so doesn’t help people project forward unless they already know things can get exponentially worse.

Important to note that the quid pro quo here isn’t ‘salary for bribe’. It’s far worse - he’s appointing someone to make his job easier by soothing FF interests at the expense of everyone else (and life on earth). The £5,000 is just compensation for the (minimal) risk it gets public attention

Steven Toast saying ‘you can fuck that sky-high’

The big difference for me is:

Threatening an actual army is clearly not a viable or realistic threat. A terrorist act on a music festival clearly is.

Appalling.