Emma Pritchard

Mainstream loses control of agenda by mimicking far-right, study finds During the 2024 European Parliament election campaign, centrist politicians warned about the threat posed by far-right parties to democracies. Yet experts suggest the political mainstream itself is pa...

“One common strategy of mainstream political parties — adopting the same topics and rhetoric as the far-right — often backfires. Instead of reducing their appeal, it can amplify extremist narratives and legitimise their agenda.”

We cannot defeat fascism by platforming it and debating on its terms.

Dogs off-lead on shared use cycle/foot paths: discuss.

Into the annoying period when I need to put events in for next year but my diary company haven't released their 2026 diaries yet.

Starmer to end asylum ‘golden ticket’ of resettlement and family reunion rights People granted asylum will have to earn right to invite family in plan charities call ‘straight from populist playbook’

People recognised as refugees fleeing persecution & granted the right to live in the UK to be denied the right to be joined safely by their spouse & children.

This Labour govt is a moral void, a stinking darkness, an empty hollow of cowardice & contempt. #r4today www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

This is also true for LGBTIQ+ people - I've had so many more friends report instances of harassment both verbal and physical in the last year.

In other news, we are now making school cake.

The north-south divide in our house currently being played out in a Bake-off provoked argument over whether school cake has pink icing or white icing.

Does anyone have recommendations for good second hand book websites that aren't owned by Amazon?

I've gone for the opposite vibe, and dressed up very nice for my Zoom meeting where no one is going to see my outfit.

I do not like being in a version of the UK where I am actively considering whether it is safe to have the rainbow/queer stickers I have on my laptop while travelling.

Do cross country design their trains as Faraday cages so you have to sell your data to their WiFi service?

I am a stuck and broken record but every time it's true: scratch a terf, sniff a racist.

It’s quite do-able from a legal perspective. I don’t think dismissing Reform in this way is wise. Voters need to understand that this stuff can happen if they vote for it - and that it would be morally, socially, culturally, economically disastrous. So they shouldn’t vote for it.

Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart.
Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point.
Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.

I made friends with the bookseller in Blackwell's over this - imagining the number of people who had bought it based on the cover vibes and got something of a surprise.

My favourite thing about cooking in other people's kitchens is that everyone answers the question "if I were a vegetable peeler where would I live" in a different way

Book cover the title "Someone You can Build A Nest In" in decorative script over a forest scene with a distant couple in front of a fantasy town.

This is great!

I'm still not over the European cover of Someone You Can Build A Nest In - which possibly wins my prize for "least suitable to the subject matter, though pretty".

Am I good at distinguishing these two occasions? No.

But I'm excited for cake.

Sometimes you need to push through on your PhD.

Sometimes you need to go to the county library, get a stack of completely unrelated books and go sit in a coffee shop with cake.

Q for the reporter: did you feel any desire or obligation to point out that all of this *is* racism? Or are you just here to observe the racism and amplify it without commenting on the fact that it is, indeed, factually racist as hell?

Press neutrality is an oxymoron. Time to show some principles.

All of this. It's no good trying to play nice and "understand" why people are espousing racist ideology. We have tried that. We ended up allowing racists to feel emboldened. The only option to confront racism is to call it out. If people don't like being called racist they should stop doing racism.

Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says The panel finds that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out against Palestinians during the war.

BBC managed to report on the UN finding of genocide in Gaza as their frontpage article this morning - yet you'll note that no Palestinian is allowed to speak in the article, while Israel's refutation is prominantly cited.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Becoming that person: going for a run in my Ice Hockey Varsity T-shirt from 2013.

"I don't care that he's dead."
"He's not a hero."
"He's a scumbag."
"He shouldn't be celebrated."

No, no. I'm not saying that about Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk said that about George Floyd.

Just in case anyone's interested in what he thought was fair to say about someone who was killed on camera.

My letter to Lord Reed.

This was posted today, so should be with the SC tomorrow.

If you would like to see Lord Hodge interviewed as suggested, you can tell the Supreme Court directly with their general contact form:

supremecourt.uk/_next/static...

The Greens could be polling at 40% and all we’ll read about is the rise of Reform

You have to be extraordinarily naive or criminally indifferent not to find this absolutely beyond the pale.

From the Labour government, not a word…

Yes, I may need to use tape to keep my joints in place to do the high impact sport of embroidery.

But, it does have flowers on it

So who's the real loser here?

Did not need taskmaster reminding me I don't know my 7 times table on a Saturday morning

‘We took the gloves off’: ex-IDF chief confirms Gaza casualties over 200,000 Retired general Herzi Halevi says ‘not once’ had legal advice constrained Israel’s military decisions in the strip

ex-IDF chief confirms Gaza casualties over 200,000

That’s 10% of the entire population of Gaza in 2 years

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...