Roger McCarthy

Britain’s surging deer population is causing an ecological disaster. I have a solution: wolves | George Monbiot Humans have failed to keep numbers down. Reintroduce these predators, and let them get on with the job, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

I have absolutely no idea how feasible, sensible, or desirable this plan is.

But I instinctively support 100% any headline that ends with "I have a solution: wolves".

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Q&A with Jay Rosen: How Trump nullifies reality Media critic says lies should be called lies, but the word has “no magic powers.”

Media critic Jay Rosen says journalists' regular fact checks are overmatched by today’s political lies. What’s needed now, he says, are “reality rejection checks” as Trump and his supporters deny established facts.
My Q&A with ‪@jayrosen.bsky.social‬ in this week’s free Stop the Presses newsletter.

DC's sole congressional rep is too old to drive. Can she defend the city from a hostile GOP? While DC faces a budget crisis Congress created, 87-year-old Eleanor Holmes Norton is struggling.

Your weekly reminder that DC's sole congressional delegate, who might be counted on to protest Trump's latest assault on the city's autonomy, is 88 and too old to drive. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Letter on a beige background with the "Together With Refugees" logo at the top right, featuring an orange heart partially shaded in black. The heading reads, “Dear Party Leaders.” The letter condemns recent anti-refugee protests in the UK, comparing them to riots from the previous summer. It describes the suffering of targeted refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan, and Syria, who now face hostility, unemployment, and fear due to delays and a broken system. The letter calls for leaders to unite against racism, hatred, and divisive politics, urging them to promote cohesion instead. It highlights public support for refugees and stresses solidarity, stating, “This is what represents our country, this is who we are.” Signed, “Yours sincerely, 213 organisations.”

We’re proud to stand in solidarity with over 200 organisations to call for communities and the country to be brought together for a different way forward – one that’s compassionate and humane.

This must be a turning point.

Read the letter 👇🏾 @refugeestogether.bsky.social

This Day in Labor History: August 11, 1911. Workers at the Watertown Arsenal in Watertown, Massachusetts walked off the job as the scientific management ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor began to be applied to their work. Let's talk about resistance to corporate micromanagement of work!!!

Anyone who approaches any political argument today giving the benefit of the doubt to the right-wing on any subject is:

-Right-wing
-An idiot
-Completely clueless as to the state of the world

(It's a trick question, it's all three)

READ MORE The Telegraph has launched a new campaign against Labour's housebuilding plans

Remember that viral story last week about Angela Rayner bulldozing allotments? Which even the allotment society somewhat debunked?

I looked into one of the sites and it’s wilder still: they are *increasing* the number of allotments, not cutting them. capx.co/angela-rayne...

Starmer urged to stand up to EU over tough holiday checks on Brits Keir Starmer was challenged to 'stand up' for Britain and fight tough new checks for UK citizens travelling to the EU.

The folks who wanted to leave the EU and end free movement - include Farage himself - chose this outcome and are fully responsible for it. And the Mail article repeats the "travel insurance" and "return ticket" falsehoods from the Times article.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

These are all things that he absolutely has to do anyway to solidify his dictatorship - the only connection to Epstein is that he's maybe doing them even faster.

That they feature in popular books (and a less popular film) actually indicates that they are not forgotten at all.

Plus are the creations of Stevenson and Stoker and Haggard and Verne and Wells really just pulp characters?

Massey with bare shoulders, her graceful hand up to her face

Remembering Anna Massey on her birthday 🎂
📷 Cecil Beaton
bromide print on white card mount, 1956

"What constantly impressed was her fastidious intelligence and capacity for stillness: always the mark of a first-rate actor."
- Michael Billington
#filmsky

every single time

The glee this man gets from talking about his violent, racist, and authoritarian assault on a Black city.

Damn him. Damn him to hell

Every news broadcast should run the facts split-screen in real time while Trump spews his lies.

Nice work, @msnbc.com — every network had time to prepare because they knew what was coming.

Peter Kellner (@peterkellner1) Check out my new post! Targeting "Mondeo man", "soccer mums" and "Waitrose women" is no longer the most urgent task for L:abour or the Tories. Their biggest problem is to reverse the defection of thei...

If this analysis is correct (and I think that it is) McSweeney is following a strategy that will destroy Labour at the next election. Clear from the briefing to The Times on Saturday that Rayner and Miliband understand this but Starmer isn't in the mood to listen. substack.com/@peterkellne...

Morning, bitches!

Every day at any nameless numberhead media corp is an exercise in surrender, compromise, and pointless, looping repetition due to over-management.

Then, you are blamed by management for the surrender, compromise and wasting time on the repetition.

0 Stars. Do not recommend.

This explains the MAGA crowd.

When I see a beautiful house I can't afford being advertised by estate agents on Facebook, I sometimes write 'Stunning house, but I couldn't live there after what happened' in the comments, then sit back and watch the replies.

Last week I took a group to the infamous 9th Fort in Kaunas, Lithuania, which was the site of infamous crimes against humanity. This ended up begging the question: if this is the 9th fort, what about the others?!

Thread.

I can see why you'd take that from the (rather mediocre - particularly season 2) TV show but that is absolutely not the case in the books.

A man holds a pipe while looking at the camera, in front of an English village church

A young woman holding a rifle pointing out of a window looks away from its sight to an older woman by her side, whose gaze is set on the rifle's target.

Two women in 1940s clothes stand close while surrounded by two threatening figures wearing British WW2 uniforms. These are all stills from the 1942 Cavalcanti film, Went The Day Well.

Other English-villages-invaded-by-outlandish-foreign-threat stories are available...

If the UK manages to make Wikipedia untenable without a VPN it'll be a national embarrassment. Unfortunately I strongly suspect this will still be net popular, but the point is it's bad on merits and I wish Labour cared about that more. I wish there was any evidence Starmer's government ever cared.

Pasts Imperfect A Newsletter Supporting a Global Antiquity

Hello, Pasts Imperfect fans. We migrated away from Substack because of their platforming & support of Nazis. Our new site is free & almost exactly like the other one. I have uploaded all posts & subscribers before our return from hiatus on Thursday, but here is the new site: pasts-imperfect.ghost.io

“We have had the police knocking on every door,” said a dog walker and resident of Dean, as a helicopter buzzed overhead. “They wanted the names of everybody living there and details of their social media. I know several people refused. We asked them if they were protecting us, or Vance. At least they were honest and said it is for him and that it will all be passed on to the American security people.”

Buried in The Observer yesterday was this: UK police knocking on doors demanding details of social media accounts of people, to pass to a foreign government, simply because they happen to live near where a US politician wanted to have a holiday observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Part of the problem for Labour is when they try and strike a tough pose it is just tragi-comic like this.

OMFG the BLEATING of the "victims" of VAT on private schools is one of the most insufferable lobbies in the entire social media sphere.

You're paying VAT for your little darlings. Get over it and get a life. If you can't afford it, join us, The Plebs, in the state system. 1/3