Tom Ewing

One problem is the way politics is arranged people think “oh the right of a left wing party - that must be the more centrist bit” and that is not what the Labour Right is

Most European countries have some kind of PR and we don’t but yeah this is a long term shift - the Labour/Tory combined share of the vote has been dropping for decades (with the huge but freak exception of 2017) and it’s finally reached the point where the established system breaks

I am broadly pro Look At Me - it was a big swing and she had 3 number ones afterwards so it didn’t fuck her career, the fact those three number ones were boring and the US pop revolution was crowding her out were bigger problems

I’ve seen people say a reset under a new leader could still save them and technically I think that‘s true but it would mean the people who’ve worked extremely hard to control all the levers of party decision making going “we tried it our way and it sucked“

She was pitching for ‘female Robbie‘ but the problem was he had Angels before he did Let Me Entertain You

It’s also a peril of the kind of “Labour family” tribal loyalty they‘ve always relied on - a fearsome phalanx at 35-40% becomes an inflexible dug in position at 18%, the remaining die hards are the ones who *really* can’t see other voters as legitimate

Yeah their entire publically discussed strategy for 2029 was “when it’s us or Reform people will come back” and if they can’t be the Stop Reform guys in their sixth safest seat…

There’s never been a medium so effective at turning things you‘re interested in into things you wouldn‘t listen to at gunpoint

Yeah the most important fact about the 2024 election turns out to be “Labour hugely underperformed its polling” not “Look at our big majority”

Hydrephos by Pambikallio - a coloured drawing of two youths riding on a winged horse who may in fact be a mer horse

Feb 25 - PAMBIKALLIO - Hydrephos (2026)

Back to the haunted lands of Finnish Indie for an album of dreamy synth pop with a Dance Element To Its Music (bits sound pleasingly like Saint Etienne). I was beguiled, so worth checking out if that sounds like your area

True but you could also say “as soon as the polling showed 28-28-27 voters broke for the greens in droves”, there’s a huge Stop Farage element but also an “if we can possibly avoid voting for Labour we will” one

The secret hero of Moore's Swamp Thing run.

And a lot of ”Burnham would have won it” cope, can’t disagree, I think it’s true that a lot of the ”I can’t stand Starmer” voters would indeed have voted for the “I want Starmer’s job” guy

There are a few who are adopting the “Extremists on the left and the right, I despair” talking point but I don’t think their heart’s truly in it

Chasing the dwindling dopamine high through comments on political threads (I know, I know), I see the line from Starmer fans is still ”Labour voters lent votes to the Greens, what a shame their supporters are being so mean and ungrateful”

I was very late, certainly post Labubu

My nostalgia for Real Charts is pandered to by Harry going straight in at No 1 for a week then zooming down the chart every week after

#TheTenX5 INTERLUDE 3/5

HM3: SHAMIR - “On The Regular”

Been busy with SCHADENFREUDE so it’s one HM today and two tomorrow, like all right thinking people I adore and am picking Shamir’s addictively sassy bop

youtu.be/Lp9GgdCgMXk?...

The if it suck’s hit da bricks meme - a purposeful skeleton striding away - with labour core vote added to the list of things that you can just leave

bsky.app/profile/tgan...

Oh wait does he actually get to Sydney at the end of Flight 714?

The one continent he never visited! Coincidence… or something more 🤔

Labour fails to win a Tory seat by 500 votes in Uxbridge: ring the alarm, green policies will doom us

Labour loses a Labour seat by 5000 votes in Manchester: fucking extremists at it again

Andrew can you reassure your listeners that your new supply of free crack and heroin will not slow down podcast production?

matt goodwin tweet from late last night saying: "Matt Goodwin @GoodwinMJ.1d X They said I criticised Manchester This was a lie They said I have no local roots This was a lie They said I committed fraud This was a lie They said I am paid by Russia This was a lie They said I am "racist" This was a lie They said I am "sexist" This was a lie They said my research was dodgy This was a lie"

Caught me on the counter (It wasn't me)
Saw me bangin' on the sofa (It wasn't me)
Even had her in the shower (It wasn't me)
Even caught me on camera (It wasn't me)
Saw the marks on my shoulder (It wasn't me)
Heard the words that I told her (It wasn't me)

Hannah Spencer walking into Westminster, sucking her teeth, tutting, and muttering "tell you what, you've had some cowboys in here."

The if it suck’s hit da bricks meme - a purposeful skeleton striding away - with labour core vote added to the list of things that you can just leave

My wife is delighted for the Greens and I will be too but she just has to allow me another few hours (maybe days) of gloating about Matt Goodwin

tweet by the late Dawn Foster from Sep 4th 2020 "Matt Goodwin once emailed me to accuse him of being racist when I called him a “racist whisperer” and I had to explain to him that horse whisperers aren’t horses."

RIP to a real one

12% behind! Truly furious that my brain was so happy to accept the premise “a whole constituency of people might willingly elect Matt Goodwin”