Tom W

Probably a good Only Connect R1 by just giving the pairs of artists, finishing with Adele and Paul Hardcastle

Going just off Wuthering Heights and 19, shares its name with a number one single by a different artist?

Also AV sucks. If the argument is “the population has rejected AV”, great, multi-member STV it is, no one’s rejected that

I only got 3 of them, but I think not being American didn’t help

And then not actually include any liberals in it

The National story was about them investigating lefties. The mainstream press don’t care about that. Even now the story is only about the mainstream journalists, not the others

The American Film Institute did a “100 years, 100 quotes” thing in 2005. Six of them were from Casablanca, twice as many as any other film

One simply cannot escape the conclusion that there isn't a single example of trans people existing in public as themselves that Sex Matters or For Women Scotland won't oppose.

Ashley Havinden - Wikipedia

It’s the workroom of the designer Ashley Havinden en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_...

… but didn’t seem to consider Shadow First SoS as at all important when attacking Corbyn for not having women in top roles (Angela Eagle was shadow first SoS at the time)

Harriet Harman says Labour is too male-dominated - BBC News Labour's former deputy leader Harriet Harman criticises the number of men in top jobs in the party.

Interesting the suggestion is to make them First SoS, rather than replacing Lammy as DPM. Both because that implies having a DPM, a separate Deputy Leader of the party, AND a First SoS, and because Harman now seems to think First SoS is very important…

I’m interested to see these statistics she’s citing! Sounds like there must be a lot of studies to establish a clear and reliable result on so many different and hard-to-test qualities

There’s a decent chunk of people who - rightly - recognise that the current way of doing things suck, and it’s a matter of who can persuade them their alternative is better

Won’t be taking the Labour whip, but will be taking a seat in the legislature for life

Good point. I think I’ve misremembered and it’s just that corporate bodies have to prove financial loss, it can’t merely be a loss to reputation per se

iirc only natural persons can sue for libel, because it’s about individual reputation. Sometimes you may be able to say a statement about an org implies a statement about a particular person in that org, but it’s trickier. Generally for orgs you need to use malicious falsehood instead (higher bar)

The Latest Findings from the World’s Longest-Running Global Public Opinion Study Only One Leader Is Globally Liked: Pope Leo

I am doubtful of that figure. Comes from a Gallup International poll, but domestic polls like YouGov have a *much* lower rating. The GI poll also has Trump on -21% in the UK; in 2019 he was on -50%. The 2025 UK sample feels like a polling error to me www.gallup-international.com/survey-resul...

maybe not the best analogy to choose the day after a high profile game where the team losing 2-1 in the final minutes sent their keeper up front… resulting in an almighty mess where they nearly conceded another goal and had their star player sent off

“Electable” has always stood far more for a particular style and set of policies than it has for an actual ability to win votes

Yeah, that first sentence seems straight-up wrong, the selectorate loved Starmer, they just did so because they were completely misinformed on what he was actually like

This is an interesting one as he joined No 10 well after Mandelson was appointed, in fact barely before he left. So either he was unofficially involved much earlier, or there’s something else going on that’s come out as a result

I think there’s also a way the cartoonification makes people more attractive (or at least raises people to a certain minimum level), eg bigger eyes, simplified, symmetrical

If we’re limiting it to named individuals, out at the time, I think so. Obviously lots of big marching bands etc which may have had gay members, and Brian Boitano performed in 1992 but wasn’t officially out then

Starmer clearly entirely unable to make a decision without McSweeney to tell him what to do, can't even decide which of the deputies to promote

You need a holiday!

And even that specific risk, “not much experience in politics but an impressive non-politics CV” is how we got Sir Keir

I think it’s also an inferiority complex thing, they get starstruck by anyone who has Achievements Outside Politics (and especially things they couldn’t imagine themselves achieving). Which is also how we ended up with Sir Keir.

And also some who are maybe a bit of a stretch (eg whose link is apparently “was in the same cabinet under Brown”). Which draws attention away from those really closely linked with him (Streeting, McSweeney, Livermore etc)

YOU! Are you looking for a new hobby?

I recommend the wonderful world of quizzing!

Quiz League of London are hosting a New Players night next Monday in London, which will introduce you to the format, and most importantly, the fun!

It's a lovely community, and a lovely way to spend an evening

That’s off-peak. If you want to travel before 9:30am it’s £47