Colin Lawson

Four parties within a 5 point swing of first place and five parties on 12% plus.

This would be pure chaos under first past the post.

Shoutout to the Boomers, really showing everybody else up in 2025

Yes, a girl who doesn't conform to regressive gender stereotypes doesn't need a special name or category like tomboy or trans. She just needs to be left to live her best life, loved and respected for who she is and not encouraged to be something she can never be.

This really needs to be said and understood. What makes it worse, if possible, is that it is not coming out of any genuine crisis or emergency. It is a deliberate attempt to whip up anger and grievance in order to capitalise upon it & in Jenrick's case purely to advance his leadership ambitions.

Report: Beneath the surface - Athena Forum Read how gender identity is reshaping Europe.

For over a decade, gender identity policies have reshaped Europe’s laws & institutions through undemocratic “soft-law” measures, eroding women’s rights, child safeguards, data integrity, and free speech while quietly redefining Europe’s legal and political framework:
athena-forum.eu/publications...

Journalist Edward R. Murrow used his platform on CBS to criticize the witch hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s.

This is what real journalism should do — hold power to account, not capitulate to it.

Heseltine at the Tory conf:

"Fascists of the 30s are back... Trump's language coincides with words here... The immigrant has replaced the Jew as the problem. We must make clear we will never have any part in the populist extremism of Farage... We don't need Trump's mouthpiece anywhere near No. 10.”

NHS suggests coeliac children use food banks as doctors blast ‘cruel’ cuts Clinicians warn of ‘shocking levels of ignorance’ over ‘cruel and risky’ decision to cut gluten-free prescriptions

Hadn't realised lots of trusts were no longer prescribing gluten-free food for coeliac kids.

My son is coeliac and his food is so much more expensive. We don't get on prescription because we can afford it but for a family in poverty that's a massive issue.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...

This is what the far right do when confronted with their toxic hate .. they respond in feigned outrage repeating learned rhetoric while ensuring the person questioning them can’t get a word in edgeways so it looks like they’ve won

You see it from Trump, Farage, Tice, Tommy Robinson - It’s textbook

If you can't see how this will end, then you're not paying attention (not least to what's going on on the other side of the Atlantic).

Report: Beneath the surface - Athena Forum Read how gender identity is reshaping Europe.

For over a decade, gender identity policies have reshaped Europe’s laws & institutions through undemocratic “soft-law” measures, eroding women’s rights, child safeguards, data integrity, and free speech while quietly redefining Europe’s legal and political framework:
athena-forum.eu/publications...

Tax authorities examine finances of key Nigel Farage ally Exclusive: HMRC conducts scoping exercise into Reform UK backer ‘Posh George’ Cottrell’s income from business and wealth

Tax authorities examine finances of key Nigel Farage ally.
Exclusive: HMRC conducts scoping exercise into Reform UK backer ‘Posh George’ Cottrell’s income from business and wealth:
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Not sure what is the bigger distress signal - ConHome failing to identify the shadow chancellor or the fact that Steve Bray hasn’t even bothered to come to Tory conference to shout at them

Humiliation upon humiliation for the Melster in front of half-full Tory crowd | John Crace At conference where the stench of decay is overpowering, the shadow chancellor’s speech was an act of desperation

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
"The stench of decay is overpowering . . . Humiliation heaped on humiliation . . . it was both intellectually dishonest and completely irrelevant."
The state of this most hard right Conservative party in living memory. Drowning not waving.

Court cases and sentencing must be founded on facts. When dealing with child sex abuse the sex of the perpetrator is directly relevant not the perpetrator's subjective perception of their gender.

The man repeatedly abused his 5-year-old daughter and shared the abuse with other pedophiles. He says he's a woman, so was placed in a woman's prison.
The Australian government is failing women by believing the fantasy that men can become women. It is far-reaching and receives scant media coverage.

Court cases and sentencing must be founded on facts. When dealing with child sex abuse the sex of the perpetrator is directly relevant not the perpetrator's subjective perception of their gender.

In which Australia's Labor government is called to defend its inane refusal to protect women against men who think they're women.

I guess the same AI that fabricated the references can be used to detect the fabrication. I wonder how much of those widely touted AI efficiency gains will be wasted on sorting out the mess left by lack of due diligence in its use.

The Big Four accountancy and consultancy firm will repay the final instalment of its government contract after conceding that some footnotes and references it contained were incorrect. on.ft.com/3KWQI7Z

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

Once again, where is the CNO? SECNAV? After what just happened in Quantico, when will the military top brass speak up?
I asked this after the disgrace at Ft. Bragg, too.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Hmm. We were still fighting in Afghanistan during Trump’s first term. How come we didn’t win “easy” then? Why did Trump sign a one-sided agreement with the Taliban that allowed them to take over?

State Terror A brief guide for Americans

"State Terror: A brief guide for Americans"
Revisiting a piece I wrote in April 2025
"In the history of state terror, the escape from law into coercion takes three forms... the leader principle; the state of exception; and the zone of statelessness."
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror

Tories say people denied benefits in UK can return to home countries Mel Stride outlines plans to slash £47bn a year from public spending, including £23bn welfare cut

Denying all benefits to non-UK nationals sounds simple but it would mean excluding people who might have lived and paid tax in the UK for many years. And - as the interview shows - it’s not very clear what they should do under the Tory plan.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Judge Diane Goodstein’s Edisto Beach home burned down on October 4, 2025, after she blocked DOJ access to voter registration data. Her husband and son were seriously injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
time.com/7323442/sout...

Good example of how the claims are false but how unpicking them is fiddly & doing all of them would be time-consuming. One test of whether it's worthwhile will be how the author responds to Alan's expert commentary: retract, refute, double-down, insult, or ignore?
bsky.app/profile/alan...

OK, let's take this seriously. I had an odd half an hour and via Apple Books had a quick look at the three claims I knew most about - two re the post-Brexit bilateral preferential trade agreements replicated from the EU versions and one about cheaper bananas. All are wrong or wildly implausible. 1/n

Morning LOL.

'Hampstead Heath swimming ponds considering limiting transgender users’ access'.
Translation:
The swimming ponds must stop men, however they identify, using the women's pond.
It's the law.
Men have two other ponds they can swim in.
Women have rights too.