Gary Sheffield

Risible policies.

Labour are on course to deliver what this Country needs. Just a reminder of this week’s announcements. They’re in office, have a stonking majority and GE is well over 3 years away. It was a By Election with a 47% turnout. It would have been nice to win. But it’s politics.

I don't agree that Lab is aping Reform, but otherwise there is a lot in what you say

Last nights election result feels like being a single mother doing all the hard graft, laying down good foundations for healthy, prosperous kids, only for the father to swoop in last minute giving limitless sweets & permission to ditch homework with no thought of consequences or need for balance.

2/ Real disaster, not just for Labour but for the UK, would have occurred had the far right won this election. I would have preferred that Labour won, but otherwise I am going to bed (I'm in NZ!) reasonably satisfied with the outcome.

1/ I don't buy this 'disaster for Labour' spin. Governing party suffers by election loss - v common. Despite tactical voting which favoured (on this occasion) Greens, Lab vote did not collapse. Lesson for Starmer is to appeal more to centre left voters, bc tactical voting against Reform is real...

It will be easier for labour to recover than the conservatives. Many Green voters have the same values and aspirations as the labour party members. But in a general election will find some of their policies, e.g. on defence under intense scrutiny. In power Labour can & should act. Not too late. 3/

Combined Reform + Tory support
2024 - 22%
2026 - 30.6%

So in a mid-term by-election with Farage having peaked, the right gained just 8.6% and lost 30:70

Well done to the voters of Gorton and Denton for keeping the scourge of Reform at Bay: almost 2/3rds of you voted for compassion and progressive parties.

The UK asylum backlog: explained – Full Fact A guide to the backlog of asylum decisions, and how changes to asylum law have impacted how cases are processed.

New figures published today show the number of asylum cases waiting for an initial decision has fallen by 43% since Labour took office.

We’ve got more detail in our updated explainer 👇

bsky.app/profile/benb...

I agree. The big takeaway is tactical voting to block the far right - again. So in general, good news

Things you don’t see in the english ‘free’ press/media.

He'd have been a good choice

9th Australian Division pre-2nd Alamein: the digger must 'be a good staunch Australian and not emulate the Italians'. Gen Morshead, aka Ming the Merciless, pulling no punches.

Starmer hasn't devoted his life to accumulating wealth as did Sunak; isn't reckless which was Truss's trademark; not corrupt in contrast to Johnson; won a parliamentary majority whereas May lost one; and is rebuilding relations with Europe not gambling them away Cameron-style.

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

“‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Hear, hear

👍

I honestly don't know. Naval history types - any views? @timbenbow.bsky.social?

Dr Wendy Maddocks @nursinghistory.bsky.social giving an excellent paper on NZ nurses in the Great War at NZ Military History conference. Exciting new research

Hi Wendy, do you mind if I share the pic of me giving my talk?

Of course Starmer has made mistakes but his mistakes didn't cost 20,000 lives, destroy our public services, leave our armed forces living in squalid housing, make us a laughing stock on the global stage and ruin our relationship with the EU. 14 years of misrule can't be fixed in 19 months.

Labour good news but barely reported in the media.

We must discuss post 1945 UK govts over lunch when I'm back in Blighty, as I have an, errmm, 'different' take from you. Glad to see that you think Mr Attlee was alright tho'

🙂

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The BBC is funded by licence fee payers and claims strict impartiality, yet too often its reporting feels shaped by narrative rather than evidence. When a publicly funded broadcaster loses the trust of the public it serves, the problem is no longer editorial judgment - it is institutional failure.

Pink Ange more like

We'll have to agree to disagree. Altho' I wish it was more radical I understand why it can't be.