Ben Pummell

Very impressive that we've managed to go from economic policy based on the whims of voters through election cycles, to the somehow even more short-termist approach of economic policy based on periodic projections from arms-length bodies. Truly it is a mystery why our economy fails to thrive.

Football club owners are a perfect antidote to imposter syndrome.

How the simmering UK freedom of speech row reached boiling point How did we reach a point where the UK is being compared to a 'tin pot Third World dictatorship'?

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If you were writing a political drama and wrote Stephen Miller as a character everyone would think you were being absurdly OTT.

So much of the commentary on Palestine today without much sense of the deep history. No this is unlikely to make much or any practical difference. But you can say this is a debt which has long been owed. The UK promised a Palestinian state a century ago when the British took on the mandate.…

UK officially recognises Palestine as a state Sir Keir Starmer has announced the UK has officially recognised Palestine as a state.

A welcome - and long overdue - step. But while it’s necessary, it’s deeply insufficient - and must be accompanied by urgent action to help bring an end to the genocide in Gaza, including boycotts, sanctions and an end to all arms sales to Israel.

Very odd watching BBC News talking about the Lib Dem conference and mentioning how the party has struggled to break through in the media like it's nothing to do with them.

This technocratic messaging simply isn't good enough for the era we're living through. Reform are gathering strength precisely because trust is at an all time low, and people *don't believe him* and *don't care* about realism. You have to challenge the ideology at source.

Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday.

I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.

Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.

Does feel like Liverpool game will be a turning point. Additional thing, with the resignation talk every time things go south, is I think he's kind of opened himself up to people saying he's checked out. Especially with his touchline body language. That could get really toxic.

‘I’m not far right but I went to a rally organised by Tommy Robinson’ is a pretty unconvincing position.

In a roundabout way the sensible signings that INEOS have made will be the undoing of him eventually. At this point there is absolutely no reason why this quality of players should turn in these performances. I really want him to work, but it looks really unlikely at this point.

And the Labour government - *Kinnock voice* the LABOUR government - thinks that's all just a wonderful display of free speech, while they also go about arresting pensioners for wearing Palestine Action t-shirts.

Because the parasite-king Morgan McSweeney decided he wants racist votes.

Want to be clear that the predictable violence against the police wasn't the only problem with yesterday's march

It's that 100,000 angry racists gathered in London for the biggest racist march in 50 years, and anyone not white had to steer clear

The govt can't see that because they are inadequate.

I've just explained yesterday to a friend in Kyiv.. England specifically is allowing a minority of far right thugs (not even "gracing" them with the word "fascist") to get away with steering the narrative .. it isn't a debate .. it's like people sitting passively allowing a bully to shout at them.

This is untrue on most major issues (though the media eıite don't know this). It is untrue on immigration in particular. Untrue on climate, on Trump, on human rights, on inciting racism. And much else

The Wall Street Journal needs to issue a full retraction and apology to the trans community for this. Nothing less will suffice. They put us all in danger and recklessly put out incorrect information.

Iconic moment at the Downton Abbey premiere

This is an argument for falling population, falling GDP, and an employment crisis.

1. Terrific that a US politician is holding Farage to account for his free speech hypocrisy

2. Why can’t we do this in the UK??

3. Farage lies in this clip - claiming he doesn’t ban journalists from Reform conferences. I’ve been banned from the past two.

From BBC news website: I 'completely get' concern over asylum hotels - Starmer Starmer is asked how he would feel if a hotel housing asylum seekers was at the end of his street. "I completely get it," Starmer says, adding: "Local people by and large do not want these hotels in their towns, in their place, and nor do I. I'm completely at one with them on that." Starmer says he understands why people want the hotels closed and he wants that too "as quickly as possible". Asked to put a date on it, Starmer reiterates his commitment to do so by the end of this Parliament. When it's put to him that is four years away, he says he would like to bring that date forward, but does not commit to another date.

Oh nothing, just the actual Prime Minister telling people they’re entirely correct to drive asylum seekers out of their communities

Tories would maximise North Sea oil and gas extraction, Badenoch to say Conservative leader says it is ‘absurd’ to shift away from fossil fuels and leave ‘vital resources untapped’

The current Tory position on climate change amounts to ‘it’s happening, it’s serious, we have no meaningful plan to address it, and we intend to make it worse’.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

If you can’t see how attacking this could have hugely dangerous implications for every single person living in the UK irrespective of citizenship or immigration status, I do not know what to tell you.

It's actually astounding how Labour has managed to go further on anti-migrant, anti-trans etc policies in a year than the Conservatives did in 14. The way they so cavalierly talk about circumventing human rights for migrants, trans and non-binary individuals etc is beyond even the last government.

Mockup cheque from The British Taxpayer to pay The Taliban £267,000,000, signed by Nigel Farage. Headline reads "Reform's Taliban Tax". Photo of Nigel Farage laughing.

Nigel Farage and the Reform Party’s Taliban Tax means sending hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money to an oppressive regime that British soldiers fought and died to defeat.

Dire. The Labour Party is being led by a moral vacuum

Biden's former ambassador to Israel seems to argue that it's OK to kill kids if they're the kids of Hamas fighters.

No wonder the Biden administration's policy on Israel was so wretched when people like this were involved. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

"The UK government is complicit in genocide" | Humza Yousaf interview

Again, credit to the NS for even belatedly but repeatedly telling their audience the obvious, at a time where their colleagues would rather talk about anything else

It's hard to understand what Starmer was apologising for on his 'island of strangers' comments when he's now apparently perfectly happy putting out obvious racist bait like this