Dr Mike Ward

This is a rather heartwarming story on (at least) two fronts.

Reform fury as someone else wins by Our By-election Editor Tim Shipsink The losing candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Matt Goodwhinge, has demanded an immediate re-run of the election on the grounds that he lost comprehensively to someone else. "It's totally unfair and rigged," said Goodwhinge. "I shouldn't be required to sit there and suck it up, just because I lost." Mr Goodwhine continued, *I can't believe that all those voters I demonised failed to back me. Especially after I was endorsed by Tommy Robinson and ten million Russian bots on X. "We have clear evidence of family voting, where people voted in order for me to stop deporting their families." Mr Badloser concluded. "I'm the victim of colour prejudice. They didn't vote for me simply because I'm not green." Reform leader Mr Farage, speaking from a sun lounger on a rock near the Chagos Islands said, "It's a tragedy that the people of Manchester won't see Matt in Westminster, but my constituents don't see me in Clacton either." PLUMBER DEFEATS MATT GOODWIN Photo of Hannah Spencer with speech bubble saying… I've stopped the cock

Beautiful from Private Eye on the massive toddler-tantrum that Matt Goodwin and Reform are having, because they got whooped in Gorton and Denton.

Also, how did they "restore control at [their] border" - given their open borders with Germany and Sweden?

I have just sent the following email to my Labour MP, Jeff Smith. Text is in Alt - feel free to use/adapt it. But whatever the case, write to your MP!

As with Vietnam, I suppose they will eventually declare victory and go home. But the corpses will be forming a rather large pile by then.

Since these treaties are bilateral, we can't take it as given that something like this might have been (or even be) possible to negotiate for the UK; but one can understand why they didn't even try - and thereby draw attention to the fact that we Brits were losing our rights.

Thanks. That's interesting.

That's interesting. Have you got any more information/links on that? I gave the e.g. of an Australian to @stevepeers.bsky.social by way of asking whether Brits would have similar rights in Gibraltar. You are saying that a New Zealander will actually have more rights than a Brit.

Spain to check Gibraltar arrivals under post-Brexit border deal Arrivals at the Rock's airport would have to show their passport twice under a new UK-EU treaty.

🧵 Thread

1. It seems unfathomable to me that a British person who has spent 30 days in Spain, 30 days in Germany and then 30 days in Italy would be prevented from spending even one day in #Gibraltar.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Well it does purport to measure wind speed. But you go out, and it's like rounding Cape Horn in an open boat during a comet strike, and the weather station will say something like "stiff breeze".

Just checked our weather station: "2.2°, feels like 2.1°"! What does it base that on? I mean I nipped out to check the garage door and it felt to me like ~-20°, but that's an entirely subjective impression, and I'm a human. It's just a machine. What feelings does it have?

'Tens of thousands' of sheep at risk of not being sheared due to visa changes The move has prompted animal welfare concerns among the sector.

Heard about this on Farming Today. Sheep shearers only make a living year-long by moving round the world with the seasons. But most of them are foreigners (usually New Zealanders) so our *Labour* government has decided "Fuck the sheep, we have to keep them out!"

www.scotsman.com/hays-way/ten...

Immunotherapy uses invisibility cloak to deliver direct hit to prostate cancer Immunotherapy uses invisibility cloak to deliver direct hit to prostate cancer

Hi Ian, we're so pleased that your cancer has been in remission for such a long time.

Hopefully you're interested in our article about the trial ⤵️

www.icr.ac.uk/about-us/icr...

And even-more-over, the other un-addressed question here is: why do we have to have an electoral system that forces us to vote tactically instead of voting for what we might actually believe in?

* Not that I agree with Labour's policies in those areas either.

Moreover, since Labour's flagship policy is not even curtailing* regular migration or refugee entry but being gratuitously beastly to foreigners who already live here, and since I'm married to one of those dreadful foreigners, I'm pretty close to saying "well fuck you too" and voting Green myself.

All true ... but, while many voted Green as a tactical measure to keep the appalling Goodwin out, the question still hangs as to why the Greens overtook Labour as the main opposition to Reform in the first place. And how often will that pattern be repeated across the country in future?

Commonwealth nationals with immigration status and Irish nationals can vote. Settled EU nationals can vote in local elections, although there’s some fine print

Colander-wearing Pastafarian strains the rules with Queensland driver’s licence photo Syaban Shadikillah told to get new driver’s licence after being issued one using photo of him with colander on his head

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated — and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News The world is far safer after President Donald J. Trump’s highly successful, decisive precision strikes against the Iranian regime’s key nuclear

Just a reminder: last June we learned that Iranian nuclear facilities were obliterated, and that suggesting otherwise was fake news.

www.whitehouse.gov/articles/202...

This is the front cover of the new edition of @thelancet.com (thanks to @profstevegriffin.bsky.social for sharing) #HealthPolicy #Science 🧪🧵

It reminds me of those lines you get on the approach to a roundabout. So maybe it means "Slow down now!"?

Yes, but many of (certainly the) German Greens started out from far more extreme positions than the UK Greens, but grew up.

OTOH, Joschka Fischer of the German Greens went from being basically RAF adjacent to being a very sensible and competent Foreign Secretary and Vice Chancellor without completely abandoning the values that informed his youth. So there is hope.

I'd have voted Monster Raving Loony if that had been the only way to keep Goodwin out. I expect that goes for an awful lot of the voters there.

He reminds me more of one of the Ferengi from Star Trek.

Nice to not wake up to the worst news. Phew!

Good to know some Labour MPs get it. (And my take, as ever, is that NO party should have a massive majority on a third of the vote, including Labour.)

I break into that very song whenever anyone remarks that it's cold outside.