Simon Murdoch

This is a disaster unfolding in plain sight. Each day Keir Starmer is smoothing Nigel Farage’s path to No 10 | Owen Jones A simple, terrible and obvious mistake is being made. The more Labour echoes Reform’s talking points, the more it strengthens them, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

I’m definitely not a fan of Owen Jones but every word of this article resonates with me. Read it and weep for our current situation.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Taliban Says It's 'Ready And Willing' To Work With Nigel Farage On Deportation Plan The brutal regime also said it would not accept any money for returning refugees.

Is there anything else you need to know about this plan?

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/taliban-says-its-ready-and-willing-to-work-with-nigel-farage-on-deportation-plan_uk_68aea625e4b002e9c5f1233e

Anything you want to do? Like rape a thirteen year old maybe? This is getting out of control.

Why Trump built a staff of incompetent sycophants | Robert Reich Leaders who value loyalty above all else have a symbiotic relationship with those unable to succeed on their own merits

This seems very true for Trump and Putin alike. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

That is some consolation though the only trouble is it’s true for all of us too!

And this is another useful reflection on which protests are publicized internationally.

BREAKING: Arnold Schwarzenegger:

“Mr. President Trump, you stood there like a little wet noodle, like a fanboy.”

‘He has trouble completing a thought’: bizarre public appearances again cast doubt on Trump’s mental acuity Joe Biden was hounded for his age-related gaffes, but Trump’s increasingly strange behavior has largely been ignored

What goes around comes around. Schadenfreude time. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

No shit Sherlock!

America needs Gavin Newsom and others to be providing this kind of information every single day. America is falling apart.

This is going to be great for tourism. I don’t want to go to the US for say 3 1/2 years…

$54m down to $3m is a huge drop. Well done Canada for your action but to hit the US economy you need to affect $bns not $mns.

Trump has unleashed something terrifying in the US – that even he may be powerless to control | Gaby Hinsliff The protests in LA are what everyone feared, and a warning to countries that flirt with populism, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... this is well worth reading…

Go Zoe. This is awesome.

The likeness is uncanny!

Birthright citizenship and me The Supreme Court takes up the question today

This is great writing about a great concept: open.substack.com/pub/anandwri...

Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, recently used my second-place finish in the 1,600-meter run, and that of my teammate in the 800-meter run, to malign Soren Stark-Chessa, the trans-identified athlete who finished first. One of the reasons I chose to run cross-country and track is the community: Teammates cheering each other on, athletes from different schools coming together, and the fact that personal improvement is valued as much as, if not more than, the place we finish. Last Friday, I ran the fastest 1,600-meter race I have ever run in middle school or high school track and earned varsity status by my school’s standards. I am extremely proud of the effort I put into the race and the time that I achieved. The fact that someone else finished in front of me didn’t diminish the happiness I felt after finishing that race. I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points. We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren’s participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are. Anelise Feldman Freshman, Yarmouth High School Yarmouth

this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...

Ukraine has exposed Trump’s true identity: as a vandal, an autocrat, a gangster and a fool | Jonathan Freedland This presidency places authoritarian ambition above all – and now the people of Ukraine are paying the price, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

I completely agree with this great article. Trump is an enemy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Google broke the law. It’s time to break up the company Two recent US cases have found the search giant is functioning as an illegal monopoly. This should be a turning point

This is interesting. Is it kicking Google just as the free market is going to kill its monopolistic position anyway, ie I mean that ChatGPT and others are the beginning of the end for Google anyway?

See www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump accuses Zelenskyy of jeopardising imminent peace deal US president attacks Ukrainian counterpart for complaining Kyiv is unwilling to cede Crimea to Russia

It really does look like Trump is a Russian asset. This makes me sick to the stomach. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Good. She has already given too much away with the Digital Services Tax. We need to stand up to the orange bully and work closer with true allies like the EU and Canada.

Wrong move at the wrong time. Your engagement is low considering you have 35m users and this Twitter copy move will likely reduce engagement outside the US. I am disappointed by this.

Could this be the beginning of the end for Bluesky? With 35m users and relatively low engagement this definitely feels like a dumb move. Please measure effect on engagement esp outside the US and if affected retract this poor move.

Harvard professor offers a grim assessment of American democracy under Trump Steven Levitsky studies how healthy democracies can slip into authoritarianism. He says the Trump administration has already done grave damage: "We are no longer living in a democratic regime."

Harvard's Steve Levitsky, coauthor of How Democracies Die: "We are no longer living in a democratic regime." Must-listen interview - remarkably clear about the severity of the situation we now face www.npr.org/2025/04/22/n...

I reckon he’s a big fat liar.

Would like to read this nonsense but I can’t face the idea of giving the WaPo any money to do so.

Trump goes full gameshow host to push his tariff plan – and nobody’s a winner There were charts and scores, as if The Price Is Right had come to Washington. The big prize? A global trade war

Quote: The US is about to discover the one thing more dangerous than a politician who believes in nothing is a politician who believes in something stupid. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Cybertruck as metaphor What one car says about the state we're in

Great quote from open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
In the US something is ultra safe if it protects those inside the vehicle, regardless of what would happen to those outside in the event of an accident. In effete, over-regulated Europe it also matters what your car could do to other people.

G8 -> G7 -> G6

Hope 1: that millions of Americans feel this way and can mobilise to do something about it. Hope 2: Trump crashes the US economy and loses the faith of his voters. It’s going to be a long and painful journey though.