Mark Fuller

This post is giving me flashbacks to all of the 'the devil will be in the detail' press releases I've written in the past...

Not usually one for 4d chess nonsense Westminster speculation, but when there's briefing on the leadership potential of Labours best media performer by some distance the night before he's on the morning round, I do have to go hmmmmm.

Fascinating watching parts of the commentariat get so excited by Mamdani's win. Reality is that the US left needs to pray that NYC is a low crime, low cost, high tax base utopia over the next few years to avoid him being a convincing scare story told by Republicans in 2028...

It’s like Andy Warhol said, in the future everyone will repurpose my quip about everyone being famous for 15 minutes to be a social media post about the French prime minister for uh 15 minutes ok this one doesn’t work

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Creative businesses and freelancers outside of London are in line for major government support to help them innovate, up-skill and attract private investment

https://downthetubes.net/six-uk-regions-receive-25-million-to-bolster-creative-industries/

The Home Sec is entirely right. The *vast* majority of the British public will agree with her that this weekend is not a weekend for a march like this. And it will have an impact on what they think of the marchers and their cause.

Andy BECKETT thinks the insurgent leftist party run by a Bennite crank has huge potential? ANDY BECKETT? The Andy Beckett? Well, you could blow me down with a feather.

If you're unhappy with Keir Starmer and you think the answer is Andy Burnham and a wealth tax you're not serious about the state of the country/party and the actual *hard, unpopular decisions* that need to be made to put things right.

Communities to seize control over high streets and restore pride Local communities will be handed new powers to revitalise their high streets and restore pride in their towns.

Brilliant to see this. Comic Book UK is very happy to work with any communities looking to repurpose empty buildings into places where people can enjoy opportunities to create and celebrate comics together. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Can Keir survive? Inside the plot to bring down the prime minister With his government mired in scandal, an operation to dethrone Starmer is now under way

I increasingly feel that the lobby has not yet moved on from writing about the catastrophically dysfunctional Tories and is determined to see Labour through the same lens. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

See also: an MP quoted as saying 'Starmer's not up to the job' without any mention of the fact that said MP thought that Jeremy Corbyn was an absolutely fine choice to put to the electorate.

We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children.

I'm horrified by the shooting of Charlie Kirk at a college event in Utah.

Political violence has no place in our country.

Anyone in any way celebrating or taking satisfaction in a shooting of anyone needs to take a good hard look at themselves.

Would be a good result. Sensible, effective Minister who would use the role to help the Government get things done rather than indulge in performative nonsense.

It is hard to see why a Cabinet minister would take the risk of standing in and losing this contest. Burgon and Whittome and others on the left of the party don't have a path to 80 MPs to nominate them. So the contest is likely to come down to 3 of the 9 centreleft backbenches named in the middle.

“Maybe down to the cafe, they do a lovely all day breakfast there”

The deputy leadership election is going to be very depressing. I don't understand why so few people in Labour are incapable of actually looking at what happened to our tax burden under the last government.

How politicians took back control of the NHS, Part 1 In its first year in charge of the NHS after more than a decade on the sidelines, Labour triggered a revolution in how the service is run. Dave West asked insiders what drove the new government's thinking, and what comes next. Part one of two.

Highly recommend @davewwest.bsky.social on why and how politicians are ‘taking back control’ of the NHS: www.hsj.co.uk/comment/how-...

A very popular opinion, it seems, and I think it's rubbish. It's also interesting how persistently a lot of people underestimate Starmer.

I really worry that so many politcos sneer at "centre-left and centre-right sensibly debate how to tax and spend effectively" that they want four years of Reform being at the centre of our politics because a battle on race, identity and culture is just more novel and exciting to them

Honestly baffled by where this reflexive scepticism to 'the public services should run better and the economy should grow more, and the government would be re-elected if this happens' comes from. 'Deliverism' in the United Kingdom has won whenever it has been tried!

Inside The Founding Of Jeremy Corbyn's New Party: 'End This Horrible Power Struggle' The trials and tribulations of founding a new party on the left. Can they unite? What challenges lie ahead? Sienna Rodgers reports

As a purveyor of high-quality satire myself I absolutely adored this parody of the new Corbyn / Sultana party.

Very witty, jolly well done to all involved. www.politicshome.com/news/article...

"I don't do implementation"

Yes because being a gobshite on YouTube is a lot easier than doing hard policy graft 🙄

13 years on, and this still applies: "Their interest is not in reducing oppression as much as it is in reducing their own participation in it. Above all else, they want to be able to say that they are not oppressing, not that oppression has ended."

mattbruenig.com/2012/05/10/p...

Mark Ferguson is pitch perfect, not least because he is obvs simply talking about his relationship with our flag, long before he became an MP. Others can adapt his vg message and tone
bsky.app/profile/mark...

Shabana Mahmood: My pledge to solve the prisons crisis in six months The justice secretary will move away from short jail sentences to tougher community punishments and a ‘good behaviour’ programme

Good interview from one of the Gov's most impressive Ministers so far. Pushing forward serious reform in criminal justice and speaks with clarity on the need for similar in welfare. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Good. It's not the Government's job to offer a running commentary on every bit of nonsense touted by cranks. Just get on with the difficult task of delivering actual results.

The only way Labour can extinguish the nonsense of the populist left and right by the next election is to have delivered on the issue that median voters most care about. They must do whatever it takes to do so. Anything that's gets in the way of that has to be bulldozed.

3 episodes in and I'm prepared to say that Alien Earth is far better than Andor. A gripping, brilliant show in its own right that expands on the lore and is completely consistent in tone with the source material.