Looking at the stars

Tory government followed by Labour. At least there's continuity: we live under a mediocracy.

Who Melania says is to blame for Trump assassination attempt Melania described how shocked she felt following the attempts on her husband's life and detailed who she believes is to blame for the assassination attempt on her husband

Call me an old cynic, but is she just mad that they botched the contract?

www.irishstar.com/news/politic...

Curious how Republican chuntering about DEI focuses entirely on the E, and completely circumvents the D & the I. It's exactly as if it was a vehicle for their racism.

Sensational result for the Greens. Electors want optimism and responsibility for the future, not gloom and dog whistle racism.

I wasn't smit myself, though he has a moral integrity that is prerequisite for the next Lab leader. That and a healthy dollop of charisma (which wasn't Miliband's strong hand, tbh). I struggle to name a front runner. Maybe Streeting *is* the least worst candidate. At least he presents as human.

Rachel Reeves to abandon plans to raise income tax rates in budget Labour had laid the ground to break a manifesto pledge on taxes for working people but has now made a U-turn

Labour's budget planning is coming across as utterly chaotic. It feels like they're just throwing ideas out to see what lands ok with the markets. No sense of mission or moral principle: no suggestion that anybody's holding the steering wheel.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Local areas can lead the way on protecting nature, making lives better and securing a safe future for all of us - but they need government to stop starving them of funds.

@carladenyer.bsky.social led the way with her Climate Emergency declaration. Now time for the Government to step up.

Trump has to walk a fine line between keeping her sweet, so she doesn't talk; and not being seen to be doing so.

Pressure grows on Starmer to sack chief of staff over briefing row Growing calls for Morgan McSweeney to go after extraordinary briefing operation against Wes Streeting

Labour are fools if they think McSweeney's scalp will change the narrative. Starmer might have passed muster in easier times, but the combination of economic headwinds, a madman in the White House, and charismatic party leaders to his left and right is beyond him

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Your Party row erupts over hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations Clash the latest in months of political infighting between the camps of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana

If disenchanted Labour voters want to switch their allegiance to a progressive left party, they already have it in the Greens. What they don't want or need is an old skool People's Front of Judea, more concerned with infighting than representing the electorate

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Blooming heckers! Alvin & the Chipmunks is the third highest grossing Chrimbo film of all time. What fresh madness is this?

Sleepy Don Trump...

It's got to be Jade Cargill. Even heel Jade Cargill. In platforms.

Reading that article made me imagine something I'd never considered: a Labour/Tory pact to hold the centre ground against challenges from Reform on the right and the Greens on the left. An alliance of necessity between historic enemies to protect the establishment territory in which they co-exist

If the POTUS is unable to stay awake for the duration of a briefing, then he's incapable of taking in that information and making any necessary judgement on it.

He was never fit for office in the first place: but it's now impossible for even his enablers to ignore.

I come more and more to the conclusion that UK voters are disenchanted with politics and politicians because the overwhelming majority of their politicians are, at best, mediocre. Hidebound, detached from the lives of the electorate, and self-serving to an extent that approaches corruption.

I can hear the collective cries of Reform councillors, howling that they didn't think it would involve *this* much work.

Farridge, who doesn't do the job he was elected to do, and who earns £1m a year from murky sources additional to his MP's salary, chastises them for their lack of commitment.

Man who threw sandwich at US federal agent found not guilty of assault Former justice department employee’s lawyers argued it was a ‘harmless gesture’ during an act of protest

US Customs and Border Protection officer's feelings wos hurted by a sharp samwidge.

The collective noun for a bunch of wet snowflakes is 'slush'.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Reform UK suspends another member of Kent county council Isabella Kemp’s departure means party has lost nine of 57 councillors elected in May, including four after video leak

"To lose one councillor, Ms. Kemkaran, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose nine looks like you are the problem."

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I'm waiting for the first Holiday commercial to boast about the AI stuffing in their turkeys

Trump’s gold sign outside Oval Office prompts backlash Lawmakers outraged that president gilding White House as Snap food stamps in jeopardy amid longest US shutdown

Wikipedia's description of the Emperor Nero fits Trump perfectly: "Contemporary sources describe him as tyrannical, self-indulgent, and debauched. Romans believed the Great Fire of Rome was instigated by Nero to clear land for his planned "Golden House"

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

UK opts out of flagship fund to protect Amazon and other threatened tropical forests Decision is bitter blow to Brazil ahead of fund’s launch at Cop30 – and an embarrassment to Prince William

Starmer's Labour has rejected UK commitments to addressing climate change.

The time for voting tactically for the least unpalatable party is past: it's no longer a two-horse race. If you want to preserve our planet, join & vote for the party that wants the same

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Hey @theguardian.com , for the last week or two, when I look at the Guardian live feed in the Android app, the screen is blank at first until I scroll down a bit. It also goes blank if I scroll up within the live feed. It's irritating.

That little-known dinosaur, the Exododus. That monster Mamdani is going to set fire to the largest one still in existence.

Bryan Danielson is one of the most accomplished professional wrestlers of his generation and a global treasure, but he's still a novice at his craft as an #AEW colour commentator. His excited lead-out to adverts on Fright Night Dynamite - 'AND HE'S STILL NOT MOVING!!!" made me chuckle.

Israeli military's ex-top lawyer arrested as scandal over video leak deepens Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned on Friday, admitting leaking the video allegedly showing abuse of a Palestinian detainee.

It says everything about Netanyahu, his enablers in the Israeli government and the IDF, that their fury isn't directed at the Israeli soldiers who beat and viciously sexually assaulted a prisoner, but at the people held responsible for leaking the video of the attack

www.bbc.com/news/article...

I'd add bread to that list.

Handbags at dawn

YouTube video by Naxos Music Excerpt – ‘Sleep’ from Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Silent Night’ (Minnesota Opera)

Kevin Puts' chorus 'Sleep', from his opera
'Silent night'. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT2t...