Stephen Murray

Oh wow! That brings back memories. Visited there in 1991. Stunning part of the world.

I wonder if Kier Starmer and the UK Home Secretary are listening to this.

I remember in the 70s being taught to answer the phone by saying "Darwen 73301", and only recently wondering why we told the caller the number they had just dialled 🤔

And that it's been won by a South American woman 🍿

Patriotism - the last refuge of the scoundrel, weaponising the delusion that the country you were accidentally born in is better than all the others.

Any chance we could stop listening to Nick Clegg?

Yep. Those phone backs are going to be a conference call now

The absence of even a semblance of self awareness is profoundly depressing.

Nicely done

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Not that skin colour should matter but, as a thought experiment, I wonder how many neighbourhoods there are where you wouldn't see a single black face, and whether that would equally bother Jenrick.

Greta should get it because:
a) she'd be a worthy recipient
b) Trump would melt down

Stockholm Syndrome

About to start watching All the President's Men with my wife, who hasn't seen it. We noticed it came out in the year she was born. I expect to be even more disillusioned with the inadequacy of our current news media in a couple of hours.

Imagine being a general or admiral and having to fly half way around the world to be lectured by that worthless idiot.

The safeguards will be ignored the next time there's some sort of national crisis (eg. pandemic) and carrying it will become compulsory "temporarily", and then not revoked. It's a slippery slope and an obvious one at that.

They're also least likely to have a smart phone too.

Laughable that you think this wouldn't mean even more data going to Silicon Valley. Who do you think will get the contract? TBI will make sure Oracle has a stake + Palantir. But you'd know all about TBI, right?!

Yep

Quite a few TBI alumni advising the current government. Should all be routed out.

Inside the Tony Blair Institute A former PM, tech tycoon Larry Ellison and Britain's data - what could go wrong?

Think the Tony Blair Institute looks sinister? You've not seen anything yet. Crucial investigation by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and Democracy for Sale:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

No surprise when you look at the politics and connections of Davie, Gibb, Robinson, Kuenssberg, Mason, Bruce et al.

Hypothetical: if you were to move to ban anti-fascism, what do you think that would say about you?

I'm going to have to borrow that phrase.

Shameful that Starmer aided this censorship.

Ah, patriotism. "... the last refuge of a scoundrel".

Currently, I'd settle for borderline competence with a reasonable set of principles.

Indeed. Sadly I have to go back about 6 generations to find a non-English ancestor. It's a curse.

Caught this last night by accident. 'Journalist' did absolutely sod all to challenge. Sky just provided a stage for blatant racism.