Rob Simkins

Jim Ratcliffe should pay his taxes like the rest of us or shut up.

Students who run societies do so voluntarily. Many have seen the rise of MAGA and decided no thanks. Threatening to defund their university because they won't invite you is hardly "freedom". It's childish bollocks.

Not only is this proper ghoulish misogyny dressed up as some saviour complex, it would take £££ directly out of large parts of the consumer economy where SINK/DINK people cut back to pay a levy to people who make greater use of societal infrastructure. Absolutely fucking mad.

There's no reason to accept this as normal, though. Much of Starmer and Labour's unpopularity is not misfortune but his own doing. Mandelson was a choice. Consistently pursuing policy positions designed to appeal to people who will not vote for you - and alienating core supporters - is a choice.

Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known, emails show Newly released files from DoJ show the pair making plans in 2012 and 2013 for the Tesla CEO to visit Epstein’s island

Amazing revelation about the creator of the popular girl undressing app - Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known, emails show
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Matthew Goodwin hopes to make the transition from being a former academic to elected politics by standing for Reform in the Gorton & Denton by-election.

It sounds like he will be making his "Trump is right" case about civilisational erasure to the Greater Manchester constituency's voters

Death toll in Afghanistan when NATO answered the US’s call:
- 453 Britons
- 158 Canadians
- 89 French
- 59 Germans
- 53 Italians
- 44 Danes
- 17 Spaniards
“Stayed a little back, off the front lines “!
No one in the media will call him out over this lie or any of the others he spouts.

457 British troops lost their lives in Afghanistan.

Trump avoided military service 5 times.

How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.

IF ONLY THERE WAS A SNAPPY ACRONYM

Me living through Welsh, UK and global politics today on 20th January in the year of our lord 2026:

Can’t wait for the November impeachment soap opera.

I’m old enough to remember when many of the voices saying very little tonight told us very loudly that Obama and Biden were anti-British.

What Europe could do is threaten to boycott the World Cup. It won't. But that might actually work. Trump wants his big show.

One of the most maddening things about our current government is the way that they seem to think that if you find the right ambiguity of framing, they can continue to have it both ways and be everyone’s friend indefinitely.

Two social media posts. The first is from Keir Starmer and reads: “The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela. We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate President and we shed no tears about the end of his regime. I reiterated my support for international law this morning. The UK government will discuss the evolving situation with US counterparts in the days ahead as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.” Below it is a post from Ed Davey that reads: “This cop out isn’t good enough. Standing up for international law means condemning leaders when they break it, whether that’s Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump.”

Overdevelopment? Nearly 10,000 people are on a social home waiting list and rents are through the roof.

Development must be considerate and future-proofed but to suggest the city is overdeveloped is just ridiculous.

Honestly also the brass neck of this paper, which cheered this asymmetric trade deal at the time and advocated that Liz Truss, the Cabinet minister who signed it should become *prime minister*.

Mind blowing stats from @rsimkins.bsky.social of @carerswales.bsky.social in the second half of ep 2 of our Green, Fair and Caring podcast

Listen for insightful analysis of what works, what doesn't, and why the rhetoric and intent doesn't always match the reality of implementation
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Another wave of crackdowns will turn this around!

This is so perfect. No one have any doubts at this point about what Elon Musk really represents.

Whoever replaces Starmer will want some easy wins and one of them would be to ensure that Glasman is no longer a Labour peer

A good example of someone using "economically inactive" to mean "available for work but choosing not to" and forgetting it covers students, early retirees, carers, severely disabled people, parents with very young children etc...

"The actual numbers that matter are the number of people who are economically inactive who are British citizens,” he said. “Where we want that number to be is zero. I want zero economically inactive British workers. If you can get that as close to zero as possible, then we can talk about how we feel about gaps in our labour market.

What on earth is this nonsense from a Blue Labour MP?

What, you want a policy targeting zero illness, no full time caring responsibilities, no skills mismatches or career breaks and you think we should heavily crack down on migration until we get there?

Just not serious policy/politics.

I would prefer it if governments could spend more time fixing the issues they and their predecessors have created as opposed to relentlessly briefing against and knifing one another.

Makes NUS seem fucking chill tbh.

Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?

£15.75m Welsh Government funding to support unpaid carers | GOV.WALES The Welsh Government has confirmed a significant investment of £15.75m over the next three-years to continue two vital schemes supporting unpaid carers.

The announcement of the continuation of funding for the Short Breaks Scheme and Carer Support Fund in Wales is welcome and gives cetainty to continued support for carers across Wales. /1

www.gov.wales/1575m-welsh-...

Someone else who has spent far too much time on X.

New Yorkers faced the choice between hope and fear, and just like we've seen in London, hope won.

Huge congratulations to @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social on his historic campaign.

Tonight you get your roti and your roses - enjoy!

God knows how many times this has happened: Zero.

Much like Vance lying about Haitian immigrants eating people's pets, this is 100% racist bullshit being spewed by an unabashed white nationalist.

Congrats to everyone who patronizes the Nazi bar he runs.