Rootless Cosmopolitan

“The advantages of a first past the post system, of course, are that it prevents an overly fragmented parliament in which a stable governing majority cannot be found, and that it keeps the radical right down.”

“I’ll put it bluntly, Robert is wrong… it’s actually a very integrated place... Not the definition of a slum.”

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands 2017-24, responds to Robert Jenrick's comments on Handsworth.

#Newsnight

Today is Putin’s birthday.

It is also National TACO day in the United States

What a coincidence

Maybe they were looking at him "in a funny way".

"We can't have in this country communities where there's a heavy preponderance of one group or another" says the MP for Newark, which has a 95% white population .

What he means is "I don't like seeing lots of non-white faces all in the same place, they must be up to something."

Project 2025: The UK Edition (Part 2) A Cambridge academic, a YouTube influencer, and Reform UK’s old HQ - the ingredients for our own Project 2025 are already mixed.

How the Far Right Project 2025 is going to be brought to the UK through the Reform Trojan horse.

BBC Radio 4 - Britain's Fascist Thread Camilla Schofield explores the unbroken thread of fascism in Britain.

Now would be a great time to check out this BBC radio 4 series on the far right and racism in Britain by the amazing Camilla Schofield.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

"Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? If there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good."

There is a decency agenda absolutely in tune with majority feeling in the country that would be an open goal for the government if it wasn't also inclined to lurch towards an unpleasant space. Indeed it is one Keir Starmer could have personified if he could escape "Blue Labour" unpleasantness.

Another Cameron triumph.

New YouGov Westminster poll:

RFM: 27% (-2)
LAB: 20% (-2)
CON: 17% (+1)
LDM: 17% (+2)
GRN: 12% (+1)
SNP: 4% (+1)

Psephologist Sir John Curtice told a Demos-sponsored event at the Conservative Party conference fringe that the Lib Dems “will almost undoubtedly win more seats” than the Tories at the next GE.

“The LD vote is now more geographically concentrated than your vote.”

I don't think he pushed back anywhere near hard enough.

Wow. Robert Jenrick doubles down by branding a black journalist's questions "ridiculous" and saying that the problem is not his comments, but "journalists like you who pop up and try to knock me down", adding that "this is the reason why terrorist attacks happen". ~AA

US and UK 'immensely let down' families of detained Gaza flotilla activists Israel still holding hundreds of activists in Ketziot prison, with British and American citizens receiving little help

My friend’s dad Malcolm Ducker, former RAF pilot, dad & grandad, is among those still being held in a maximum security Israeli prison for the crime of trying to bring food & medicine to Gaza with the Global Sumud Flotilla. Read: www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-and-...

Reform UK set to hike council tax in Kent by 5% - despite pledge to cut costs Kent County Council’s Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge) has identified £40m of potential savings - but council tax looks likely to go up next year

Reform UK set to hike council tax in Kent by 5% - despite DOGE-style pledge to cut costs

Ultimately, if you pay someone to fix a hole in your roof, you don't go "thanks for fixing the hole" if they haven't really started yet, and you'd be a little irritated if they then went "but I have painted your garage door".

Many of the 'achievement' policies are also at the legislative or early implementation stages. You can't expect reward for that, when it hasn't actually made a difference yet.

Once again, though, this is the problem with lists of the government's achievements. They're by-and-large secondary concerns, often that haven't been implemented yet, that don't deliver on substantive improvements on cost of living or public services, i.e. what Labour voters felt they were promised.

No sudden rupture is now required for the far right to take power in this country. For what we're seeing is a steady normalisation of extremists by the Conservative and Labour Parties, BBC, Telegraph, Mail and others. A shift once considered unthinkable beings to look acceptable, even inevitable.🧵

The Sun corrects Katie Lam's numerous errors and lies about foreign nationals claiming benefits.

archive.ph/vQ7Tn

He wants people to be killed or at the very least to fear being killed.

Screenshot of an Express article; it says: Robert Jenrick lists 30 'activist judges' he vows to axe in war on UK's open border In a bold move, Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a controversial plan targeting what he calls 'activist' judges, at the Conservative Party conference.

I say this with the bluntness it requires: they will get people murdered if this continues. This is not just populism anymore either: it’s completely unhinged and a deliberate choice that does endanger lives. I am not saying this lightly at all.

British parts found in Russian drones, Zelesnky says The Ukrainian leader says British-made microcomputers were used in weapons launched at Ukraine this weekend.

British parts found in Russian drones, Zelensky says www.bbc.com/news/article...

Which genuine patriot doesn't engage in vandalism?

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

Enshittification. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Legitimate concerns.

The electorate that voted for Johnson and Brexit is fully capable of putting Farage in No 10 - especially when he only needs about 30% of the vote.

Robert Jenrick complained of ‘not seeing another white face’ in Birmingham neighbourhood Shadow justice secretary criticised for suggesting he could tell how integrated Handsworth was based on short visit

"A New Statesman profile of Jenrick in July 2025 referred to his visit to Handsworth. It said Jenrick “agreed that there was an English ethnicity” but suggested he was concerned with “Britain’s cultural identity, not questions of race & religion”"

Clearly untrue.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...