Stephen Murray

Artisans, rise up.

And it's only for working people. Others get cholera

Road sign saying "Lancashire welcomes careful drivers"

My Yorkshire-born wife will kill me, but ... 😂

Why give children the vote? If 16, why not 15, or 14, or ... 5? Voting age should align with age of majority. By all means make the argument for reducing that, but I'm not sure why we always want to shrink childhood years. Would you be happy with 16 year olds in frontline combat roles, for example?

⏳Final week to sign up to the Green Party.

🗳️ Vote for Bold Leadership on August 1st.

Sounds like socialism is a good thing. We should give it another go.

Starmer's an authoritarian. You only have to look at how he runs the Labour Party. That time as a human rights lawyer looks like performative CV building.

Perhaps although I doubt many children earn enough to pay tax, in reality.

Age limits are always somewhat arbitrary. However, age of adulthood is 18. Don't believe children should get the vote. And for those saying "but they can pay tax so should get a vote", there is no age limit on paying tax but I doubt anyone's suggesting votes from birth.

High water bills, filthy rivers – and now drought. This is England's great artificial water crisis of 2025 | George Monbiot In its refusal to nationalise water, it’s clear the government operates in the interests of private capital and not of the country, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

High water bills, filthy rivers, now drought. England’s water crisis created by privatisation.

1989 - 2023: No shareholder investment.
Investment funded by customers.
19% of water lost to leaks.
£82.4bn cash extracted.
Water bills up 360%.

Govt opposes public ownership. Looting continues.

@timfarron.bsky.social As my MP and a member of a party with the word Liberal in its name, I think this needs raising in parliament. Absolutely chilling!
cc @eddavey.libdems.org.uk

This is absolutely chilling. And entirely predictable. We are sleep walking towards authoritarianism.

Reeves says rules and red tape are ‘boot on the neck’ of business At the Mansion House dinner she calls for regulators to allow more risk to clear the way for economic growth

Cutting "red tape" (aka public protections), as Reeves is doing, does not save money. Instead, it transfers costs from the rich to the poor. Other people pay for financial recklessness, filthy rivers, air pollution, lax building standards and consumer rip-offs.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Taming corporations is the key issue of our times To appease corporations, people may raze mountains, divert rivers, clear forests, cover countryside in tarmac and shower subsidies upon them, but they have no loyalty to any place, people or product.

Pockets picked

Big pharma made £12bn excess profit from just 10 NHS drugs; profit mark-ups up to 23,000%.

Energy companies £514bn operating profit since 2020.

England Water companies £85bn in dividends, dump sewage in rivers.

Govts subservient to corporations. Abuses continue.

Wither democracy.

HSBC becomes first UK bank to quit industry’s net zero alliance Campaigners condemn ‘troubling’ move that follows departure of six of largest US banks after Trump’s election

Trumpism

HSBC becomes first UK bank to quit industry’s net zero alliance.

Banks take bailouts, subsidies, sell dodgy financial products, launder money and abuse taxes, but never accept social responsibility.

Voluntarism is a fig leaf. Change law. Impose public duties.

What's so bewildering isn't that Starmer shoots himself in the foot, but how quickly he can reload and do it again.

Tony Blair’s staff took part in ‘Gaza Riviera’ project with BCG Former UK prime minister’s institute participated in meetings on plan to turn shattered enclave into trading hub

NEW: Tony Blair's staff took part in a BCG project for the redevelopment of Gaza along the lines of the 'Trump Riviera' plan www.ft.com/content/0b1b...

I'd like to ask Lisa Nandy why nobody has been prosecuted for materially supporting the genocide in Gaza.

The stupidity is very real and found everywhere.

Kyle is to technology what Streeting is to health. Both in the pockets of relevant commercial interests.

Welp. ATI had already narrowed its focus to health, sustainability and security, but are now being told that health and sustainability are no longer legitimate public priorities for AI research, and that this is consistent what ‘the British public expects.’

I'd say it's not below the surface at all, but out in the open.

Minister demands overhaul of UK’s leading AI institute Peter Kyle calls for new leadership at Alan Turing Institute and greater focus on defence and national security

share.google/uNJ9FuIIg3pP...

So instead of efforts to improve humanity's lot through improving health or addressing climate risks using AI, Peter Kyle thinks we should focus on using it to find more efficient ways to kill people. What a ghoul!

Palestine Action isn’t a danger to British democracy – but this repressive government is | George Monbiot With their illiberal attitudes and ever more draconian use of technology to crack down on protest, it is ministers who now imperil our rights, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

One of the astonishing aspects of our times is that once-progressive parties are rushing us towards dystopia almost as fast as the far right is. This week's column is about what we might now face and how to contest it.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Headline from The Spectator which reads "And now let's bomb Glastonbury" by Rod Liddle. Shows a picture of a performer crowd surfing.

Presumably, the UK Government will now be moving to proscribe The Spectator as a terrorist organisation.

Businesses don't get a vote. I never understand why governments are so beholden to them.

No, the world needs zero billionaires

The world needs zero billionaires.

Meanwhile in the UK, politicians and the media are outraged at some not very nice words used at a music festival.

Streeting is a member of a government providing diplomatic and military support to a genocidal maniac slaughtering tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of innocent people, but he's appalled at some not very nice words being shouted from the stage at a music festival.