Pawel Swidlicki

Feels like one of many ways in which the US' conduct during this war and under Trump more generally will come back to haunt them long after Trump himself has departed.

EXC: Inside Morgan McSweeney's cosy leaving drinks last night

— Acc to multiple witnesses Keir Starmer, in a speech to room full of Labour right types, said that McSweeney is not only one of the best political strategists in the country, "but in the entire world"

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

Destroying the Iranian state with the IRGC still around as a substantial armed actor in whatever hollowed out husk remains would generate levels of instability that will inevitably drag in the forces of most of Iran's neighbours long after the Americans and Israelis have declared victory and left

The cast iron rule of US politics for the duration of my lifetime

Steve King 9 @SteveKinglA + Follow Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. ESTERN ILIZATION Voice of Europe @V_of_Europe Hundreds of Islamists shouting "Allahu Akbar" in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Wilders is right for over 10 years. #turkijerel RETWEETS LIKES 516 688 10:40 AM - 12 Mar 2017 from lowa, USA

I'm teaching about early 20th century eugenics today and was reminded that 9 years ago Republican Representative Steve King was stripped of his committee assignments by his GOP colleagues for this post that simply states what is now bog standard GOP policy/rhetoric on immigration and "civilization."

Feels like part of his target market is also people who might have misgivings about his body art but are also so angry at the Dem leadership that they're willing to overlook those

It is impossible to have too much contempt for these people.

Maybe they don't care? Just like they don't really care if Russia takes chunks out of its neighbours.

At CBS News, where staffers are apparently barred from reading history books, the hostilities between Iran and the US don’t begin until 1979.

And in some cases not just conservative but outright reactionary.

Such a good case study of the transgressive --> mainstream --> conservative cycle.

One thing that is not discussed enough with the Tory and Reform stance on net zero and the North Sea is that it has massive 'dog that caught the car' Brexit redux vibes. Imagine what would happen if they won and enacted this policy...

Have they thought of doing a podcast

Now obviously they'd come up with some kind of mental gymnastics but even so it could be revealing to some extent, the kind of thing a good interviewer in an extended, non-aggro interview could really tease out.

To best of my knowledge, neither Farage nor Badenoch or other prominent Brexiteers have even been pressed to elaborate on why when it comes to UK-US relations 'taking back control' should be subservient to other considerations.

Yeah, he's called his show 'Harry Cole saves the West' and the lots of the people he invites on there are properly out there

6%? Guessing that's about the size of the organic Blue Labour constituency?

Yes, maybe Trump's secret police can arrest you off the street and willfully violate your rights for several months just because they can but did you know that a car wash manger at Buc-ee's in Alabama can earn over $100k?

Not if 80% of Reform are ex-Tory MPs though

Trump’s war is messing with the fallout from Trump’s tariffs, which is messing from the fallout from Trump’s war on clean energy

Think there is something to be written about how bad the news environment has got for people who want to keep up with politics but don't have the time/knowledge to go beyond the flagships.

I saw a clip of Hunt on LBC in which he said Trump had been given cause to 'question our loyalty' and implied that we should have gone all in with him in order to maintain his support for Ukraine (Trump has massively reduced US support for Ukraine).

"This government has restored economic stability" feels like a tin-eared thing for a Chancellor to say when global markets (and especially oil and gas) are in turmoil thanks to the USA's middle Eastern adventures. Not her fault but odd to ignore it.

Quite the contrast to the seemingly surgical decapitation strikes on senior regime figures

Minab school bombing: how the worst mass casualty event of the Iran war unfolded – a visual guide A strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh school during the US-Israeli bombing campaign killed up to 168 people. The Guardian has pieced together the incident and its aftermath using verified footage and images f...

"Photographs and verified videos from the site... show children’s bodies lying partly buried under the debris. In one video, a very small child’s severed arm is pulled from the rubble. Colourful backpacks covered with blood and concrete dust sit among the ruins." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Well, he did succeed in salting the earth for Labour, which I always thought was a core part of the rationale

I have a relatively high degree of sympathy given the unprecedented nature of this particular shit sandwich in the post-war context but what I find hard to forgive is all the excitable briefings about UK-EU tech partnerships, all the great trade opportunities, looking to DOGE for inspiration etc

Yep - exactly my point

Yeah was clearly a case of 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst'. Notwithstanding that even the realistic best case here was still bad.