Matt Wardman

An aspect of the Great Collapsing RefUK Disaster to watch - the Kent County Council majority has gone from 33 (57 vs 24) to 9 (45 vs 36) since May.

One hell of a drop & potentially existential for control of the Council, especially with the budget process about to happen.

@markpackuk.bsky.social

@markpackuk.bsky.social

I see we are up to 32 Reform UK Defenestratos.

If we reach 38 by the end of November I can make an Advent Calendar that will reach Orthodox Christmas in early January.

Image of the mechanical ladder outside the Louvre Text below says WENN'S MAL WIEDER SCHNELL GEHEN MUSS (When you need to move fast) Underneath is more German text which translates as "The Böcker Agilo transports your treasures weighing up to 400kg at 42m/min - quiet as a whisper."

The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'

10/10 response, no notes

Reese Witherspoon on Gone Before Goodbye: 'What do girls in bikinis have to do with solving crime?' The actress talks about co-writing her debut thriller, about a female surgeon, with Harlan Coben.

Reese Witherspoon clearly did not know very much about James Bond when young !
Solving crime ... what?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On Trump's invasions:

The places with terrorist uprisings tend to have relatively low crime rates. Sorry to pop the bubble:

San Fran: 7 per 100,000 (murder rate)
St Louis: 88
New Orleans: 52
Memphis: 48
Chicago: 20
Portland: 13

Sadiq Khan's London: 1

(Trump, a career criminal, does not see it.)

Droll ...

Nobel Peace Prize announcement due in 26 minutes.

USA to declare war on Sweden in 27 minutes, if Mr Trump does not get one.

Letitia James: New York attorney general criminally indicted James, who led a civil fraud case against US President Donald Trump, was indicted in Alexandria, Virginia.

President Chump is setting himself up to be handed his arse on a plate again:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Conveniently (and probably wisely) the segment of file cannot be found.
No indecent exposure charges incoming !!!

Reform Councillor James Petter of West Northamptonshire needs to be on Only Fans not Tik Tok.

The good Councillor was trying to be Churchillian, and doing politics whilst in the bath.

Unfortunately, unlike Churchill, he had a video feed from his tub ... oops.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_NG...

Deputy chair of Reform UK in Cornwall defects to become Independent He says his views and priorities for how best to serve local residents have “diverged” from those of the party

And another one ...

(The Reform Exit Portal should be running the Royal Mail.)

www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/cornwal...

@markpackuk.bsky.social

When it leaks we get a true measure of the individual.

Well, it's a benefit !

I also now have a Reform MP !

So it's all a bit wilderness here, though we don't have the worst of the extreme right, fortunately.

Tx for the comment.

I'm in the North (ish) & joined to try & get my voice from the Red Wall into the mix.

My place did well from Town Funds etc (£100m) but it was a call I got wrong.

So I am particularly bitter - especially when they went "culture war to save our arse" on road safety.

An empty Judge's Wig making a xenophobic speech via the dummy Robert Jenrick.

From Paul Keeley) on Twitter .. very good.

“GOTTLE OF GEER! GOTTLE OF GEER!”

Credit: x.com/drcrouchback

I got as far as three words in her speech.

"Conservatives love Manchester."

Nope. Last time you were here Sunak stabbed it in the back (HS2) and walked away smirking.

That's a lie you do not even know is a lie.

Fuck off, Kemi. Go and look in the mirror.

(Ex-Tory member.)

To be clear where my thread looks ambiguous - my "fear of Muslims" comment is my general opinion of a cultural fear that motivates the Nat Con movement in some respects, and is not a direct relevance to the Miriam Cates interview, or Cates herself.
(I have not seen here views on that aspect.)

Podcast: Faith in public life: A conversation with former MP Miriam Cates - Podcast - Affinity This article is part of the Affinity Talks Gospel Podcast series. In this episode of Affinity Talks Gospel, hosts Lizzie Harewood and Graham Nicholls welcome former MP Miriam Cates to discuss her jour...

3/2 Here is a longish interview by Miriam Cates (ex Tory MP), who embraces some National Conservative views, & been involved with Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, with
Affinity, who are an important Conservative Evangelical organisation. Very interesting.
www.affinity.org.uk/podcast/fait...

There's "we need more babies" stuff amongst NatCons & others here (which is about fear of Muslims often). I'll drop a link to an interview below.
The new female ABC has been Bishop of London for 8 years, which is where St Mellitus College, HTB etc are based. And I have seen no ructions. 2/2

Good question. I'd say that it would not be a huge issue in the UK - much less than USA - as Evangelicals have a lower view of the priesthood etc than say RCs. In the USA there is a lot of "male headship" stuff in some Ev traditions, which does not transfer here very much. 1/2

Councillor leaves Reform UK for "personal reasons", will continue as an independent A City of Doncaster councillor has chosen to leave Reform UK and sit as an independent, the party has revealed.

@markpackuk.bsky.social

Bomp.. bomp ... bomp ...

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/politic...

(Beat you this time !)

IMO he brings a relatively harder line of theologically based religious defined politics, that has not been in top leadership at HTB previously (no matter what you think of their version of charismatic evangelicalism).

HTB being hands-up evangelicals means little; look at PM's strategic position.

Future of the Church of England - Hansard - UK Parliament Hansard record of the item : ' Future of the Church of England' on Thursday 17 July 2025.

The Guardian is off.

It's not HTB.

It's that his politico-religious views are largely National Conservative, like Danny Kruger etc ie religion over state.

Spectator, Unherd, Alliance 4 Responsible Citizenship (ARC), maybe HTB, St Mellitus, are distribution.

hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

I feel there may be a modest selection bias here on which tweet you chose to repost 😜.

@markpackuk.bsky.social
A really interesting analysis of the YouGov MRP poll data on PB this morning, looking at the solidity of seats by stratified projected majority and party.

Vert much worth a look, and perhaps a mention in you week in polls.
www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/ar...
eg

The White House is thataway if you are looking for criminals ...

There is no war on the motorist.

Motoring receives enormous tax favours, and is within 2% of the cost it was in 2010 - despite cars becoming more and more like tanks.

Reform UK are battling with their own made up straw men.

He's a failed culture war Conservative.

I think a useful way of addressing Kruger - in addition to exposing BS where it is BS, is also to identify where his thinking comes from, and demonstrate the danger of drawing on those wells.

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

This is REALLY good news on #Huntingdons Disease:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...