Puglia Princess

So Kemi Badenoch was a horrible teenager who grew into a horrible adult. She is no vote winner and that’s a dead cert

Turkish inspired Beef Koftas on the BBQ for lunch today. Alfresco eating in Puglia is a fine thing and not too hot today

Appointing former Sun editor David Dinsmore to run government comms is much worse than "magical thinking".

It was Dinsmore who published Katie Hopkins' infamous piece likening migrants to cockroaches & calling for gunships to be used against them.

Starmer is well aware of this, of course.

My sister was hopeless at cookery at school. The most her Cookery Teacher could say about her achievements on her end of year report was that ‘she had mastered the controls of the cooker’.

Virgin Media are reporting today that a huge swathe of people working from home log off from work by 3.00 on a Friday. As a former office worker I would say that most of us mentally checked out from work at this time too as we got ready for a Friday night drink and the joy of the weekend ahead

Cooper is the classic “good parliamentary performer, doesn’t mean they should be anywhere near power”

Not surprising that her star rose in the Boris era. She’s essentially Boris for FBPE liberals.

To think that Emily Thornberry MP was sacked from the shadow front bench by then Labour leader Ed Milliband for posting a not too dissimilar photo on Twitter back in the day. How times have changed

@skynewsrss.bsky.social For 2 days running you have gone live to a Reform UK news briefing. Why are they receiving such preferential treatment? There are other parties and they do not get this level of exposure. Would let this go if you actually interrogated Reform on their out and out lies

Trump describes Starmer as slightly liberal. Considering where we are with this government I think it’s a pretty fair assessment by the President and why we are so bitterly disappointed

Automatic voter registration sounds like a great idea to me using the existing information Government has on us like tax and passport records. Am assuming this would include those of us living abroad?

Giving our 3 cats a miss this week so here is a Saturday #Caturday with a Marlon Brando pic. He was apparently a big cat person

Have just watched #BBCUnforgiveable. Totally absorbing, thought provoking and sad. Writer Jimmy McGovern eloquently showing is how broken the country is. Acting gongs for the whole cast are deserved too

It’s not the BMA undermining the trade union movement. It’s a Labour government encouraging resident doctors to break with their union that is very very depressing

Grilled octopus for lunch today. A Pugliese classic on hot summer days and we absolutely love it #eatingwithmysister

Looney Luna chilling out on the cool marble stairs away from the heat yesterday. She’s no fool! Looks like she hasn’t got any eyes in this picture #puglialife

Your observations chime very much with my life here in Puglia in Italy. Not perfect but day to day life just moves along so much better than in the U.K. Things work and people are genuinely happier. I am here 3 years now with 2 years previously in France which I loved too. Mainland Europe rocks!

Disgraceful racist treatment of Lioness Jess Carter on social media. She’s coming off of it for the rest of the tournament for the sake of her mental health she says. Diane Abbott is right to call it out again and to talk about her lived experience

Our Zoey looking particularly pleased with herself today. Happy #Caturday

We have reached that point in the summer when the taste of the tomatoes is absolutely off the chart here in Puglia

Absolutely love and recommend this podcast. In a depressing and often bland media landscape these 2 great women discuss the issues but give us laugh out loud moments that are very precious these days @thetrawl.bsky.social

Ah, now we are being told that the Afghan data breach is much much worse than we originally thought as it includes the personal details of actual British operatives too. Our media framing is so racist and I am finding it so depressing right now

Wes Streeting possibly going to offer the striking Doctors a partial write off of their student debt in lieu of a further pay rise. A novel approach but surely this is something that should be available to other young people considering the shit show they are inheriting

Musk is stirring up the MAGA base nicely today #epsteinfiles Quite amazing that of all the bat shit crazy things he has done in the last 6 months this is the issue his supporters are pushing back on. He is looking increasingly queasy and quite shocked about it

Labour to give 16/17 year olds the vote during this Parliament. They had better up their TikTok game in the run up to 2029 election if they want to be re-elected

what a month for Rishi Sunak: first the job at Goldman, now the US is going to make Coke with cane sugar

Labour Party is clearly a broad church no more it would seem. What happened to the Starmer commitment to fully engage with fellow Parliamentarians following the disintegration of the Welfare Bill on ongoing reform? So disappointing

@why.bsky.team My ‘Latest from Follows’ has stalled. Nothing is feeding through. Is it a general problem?

So, do I have this right?

The Reform UK parliamentary setup currently comprises a leader, a deputy leader, and a chief whip, whose only job is to ensure the only woman in the group does as the three of them say.

What a brilliant idea! I binge watched every season in 2009 after I was made redundant. Didn’t want it to end and when it did I had to apply myself to my job search

Sunday antipasto here in Brindisi. In the heat this can be all we want. Salty and delicious with some Prosecco. #puglialife