Stephen Smith

Quite funny that Starmer's allies are waking up to this point now …

Cuts to Winter Fuel… not in the manifesto
Disability benefit cuts… not in there either
Cutting jury trials… also not there
Digital ID… no mention
Raising employers NI… nope
Freezing tax threholds… nah
Contracts with Palantir… no

This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show, A show that I named and helped develop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter

In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'. • I chose the latter. It broke my heart. I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career.

I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more. I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost". James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences. I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters.

Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not "just a job" I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. B

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

Not easy to get to sleep tonight - have burnt the bridge of whatever career I had left and really don’t feel that my opinions are so extreme that that should have been necessary

Attendees at the first Greens Organise meeting in Brighton on Friday 4th July.

“Greens Organise, thank you for joining” message.

💚 A great turnout of people ready to fight for change in Brighton on Friday!
🤩 & following Saturday’s launch, I’m now a Greens Organise member.
💥 We’re pushing hard for real change, against austerity, Labour’s complicity in genocide & the threat of the far right.
💻 Be part of it: greensorganise.uk

A large group of protesters hold a Greens Organise banner, while marching down a road.

The left were out in force at today’s People’s Assembly March in London.

Inequality is ruining millions of lives.
Let’s make this country a little more fair shall we…

Welfare not warfare
Stop the cuts
TAX THE RICH

Watch Jeremy Corbyn speak out on Gaza from London's Wide Awake festival Jeremy Corbyn made an appearance on the main stage at London's Wide Awake festival, calling for support for "people in a desperate situation in Gaza".

Watch Jeremy Corbyn speak out on Gaza from London’s Wide Awake festival

Last night, watched the final episode in a flood of tears.

If you haven’t seen this yet, WATCH IT!

Had forgotten how disturbing David Lynch’s Eraserhead could be when watching it again earlier this month. Sad & unexpected news of his passing yesterday.

Remember Al Franken. How quaint.

josiah threatening to deport dasha's dad

incredible things continue to occur among the nationalist populist right

It's now 13 months since our friend, colleague and award-winning #journalist Minnie Chan went missing while on assignment in Beijing. Her children, current and former colleagues and a global community of journalists care only for her welfare and hope she is OK. We will never give up hope.

Bravo Paul Weller for organising tonight’s excellent Gig for Gaza benefit in Brixton Academy. #FreePalestine 🇵🇸

What a turnaround for typos and grammatical mistakes. After years of being irritants, they are now quaint and charming evidence that the text was written by a human being.

Jonathan Hinder - just catching up with this report. Yes we need bold economic policies which improve the lot of ordinary people. But abandoning our working class base, seeking to hoover up the "woke" progressives is NOT the answer. Our party tried that in 2019, and look how that went!

Labour MPs doing Reform tribute acts.

If you find this lacks vision & is totally uninspiring - then there is an alternative.

If you believe that lifting minority communities & working class communities & tackling the climate crisis is the same struggle:

Join.greenparty.org.uk

From yesterday, Kay Burley reads out an IDF press release & pretends its news.

farage came 3rd in I'm A Celeb

Happy 1st Anniversary of Jimmy's epic experience.

Brighton and Hove Albion winger Simon Adingra getting his hair cut at Meds Barber in Hove, surrounded by framed shirts signed by various Brighton players

Left on the Dogma Issue 13 cutting room floor: Simon Adingra getting his hair cut at Meds #BHAFC

Yoon Suk Yeol being allowed back into the Presidents office

Emma Brockes Guardian column. Headline "Never mind what Rachel Reeves did long ago at the Bank of England: what claims do you make on your CV?"

turns out Rachel Reeves repeatedly lying to the electorate is actually the fault of us, the disgusting british public. We must work harder to meet the expectations of our brave political and journalistic classes who, again, are only lying because we made them

"If a woman doesn't look woman enough to a Republican, they want to be able to inspect your genitals to use a bathroom? It's disgusting.

Everyone should reject it completely... they're endangering women, they're endangering girls of all kind, and everyone should reject it. It's gross." - AOC

The ICC’s arrest warrants are long overdue.

The Prime Minister & Foreign Secretary must immediately endorse this decision. That is the bare minimum.

Will the UK government now, finally, honour its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?

In court, the government admitted UK-made F-35 parts risk being used in violations of international law & Israel isn’t committed to complying to international law.

Yet the government has continued arms exports, breaching legal obligations & exposing itself to criminal liability.

The account I was talking to that I thought was Perry Anderson turned out to be a Ukrainian scammer but I already bought them $4,000 of Verso Gift Cards please fix

Woke up this morning remembering how, after Kerry's 2004 loss to W, the Democratic party and the press decided it was abortion's fault. When I tell you that this is not an exaggerated memory:

American missiles are called Attackums; British missiles are called Storm Shadow; Russian missiles are called Kh-47M2 «Kinzhal». None of you are doing anything about those national stereotypes

Episode 312 - Mixing Classic Rock and Politics (ft. Toby Manning) Jack talks to author Toby Manning (@TobyManning) about his new book Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music, out now from Repeater Books. Naturally, a very JFR-brained understandin

NEW REEL POLITIK: I interview Toby Manning about his book Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music, out now from @repeaterbooks.bsky.social, using Weller and the Stones as case studies in the connections between popular music and political ideology.

soundcloud.com/reelpolitikp...

We need a completely new approach to local government. Councils are barely staying afloat and making cuts to libraries, youth centres and all sorts of social infrastructure because they struggle to fund social care and SEND provision. Government should directly fund these things.

UK journalists talking about echo chambers when 0.2% of journalists are Black and 2.5% Asian and 51% of the most influential journalists went to private school is a bit of a joke

'What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo. But in a zoo, there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys, who dance on your fingertips. Others are lions, who can bite your head off. We are the lions, Mr Manager.'

— Jayaben Desai during the 1976 Grunwick strike