A cardboard box?

Well, maybe I'm just looking for something else the pod doesn't offer. Thank you anyway for the courtesy of your replies.

And that's about it Andrew.

I recognise you're not the Today programme and you rely on politicians (of whatever stripe) wanting to be on the pod, but I wonder if your editorial policy could be a bit more challenging?

I was really disappointed that the team didn't really challenge Matt Warman's points. Robert Jenrick's "no white faces" trip to Birmingham was "reflecting voters' concerns", was it?

Budget time saving pro-tip: anyone whose argument amounts to go “The fiscal mess is largely due to spending money on (people and things I don’t like) and can be solved by raising taxes on (people and things I don’t like)” is not a serious person and their views can be ignored.

Yes I have - because I live 20 miles away.

Glasgow sectarianism is a perfect example of the duality of national symbols, which is kind of the point of the post.

@sturdyalex.bsky.social , I've been struggling to express how the use of the Union flag, cross of St. George etc. makes me feel uncomfortable. Then the Bolsonaro conviction put it in some perspective.

Flying a flag or wearing a shirt is fine.

Unless you're doing it to intimidate, or exclude, or harass someone who's different to you.

Then, as the Brazilians say, "nem fodendo!"

In the UK, a cross of St. George, or a Union flag, has an innocent and respectable meaning as a national symbol.

But deployed in certain ways - placed outside and asylum hotel, or waved by an anti-refugee protesters, for example - it's a warning marker to anybody a little bit different.

To us in the UK, the Brazil shirt reminds us of Pele, Socrates and Roberto Carlos.

To a dark-skinned Brazilian or a member of an indigenous tribe, it's a warning marker that it's wearer likely espouses the racist, homophobic, pro-torture ideals Mr Bolsonaro regularly articulated.

It meant as a (very) white girl, walking around in Sao Paulo she would attract certain types of people, and noticed she visibly made darker-skinned students at university wary.

Thankfully her Brazilian mentor kindly explained the shirt's significance and advised tact

A few weeks in, on a call, I asked if she'd worn her shirt. She was a bit uncomfortable and said yes, she had, but it had led to a bit of trouble.

You see, in Brazil, Bolsonaro's movement had appropriated the shirt as a uniform for it's supporters.

Two years ago my daughter started her university year abroad in Brazil. We were a bit worried, if course, but a few months before she went Lula was elected President and the hard-right, authoritarian regime of Jair Bolsonaro lost power.

To celebrate her trip we bought her a Brazil football shirt.

This is a short thread about Brazil, England and how far right appropriation of national symbols can make us uncomfortable in ways it's difficult to articulate.

NOTHING will prepare you for this 45-second story arc. From "I'm just doing this because I love the flag, it's totally grassroots, and I'm not part of anything political"... to who actually gave him the flags the night before.

Anyone who believes it is an innocent movement needs to see this.

YouTube video by James Talarico I’m running for the U.S. Senate

Said it before: this dude is heading to the top.

youtube.com/shorts/IpO0S...

Sign the Petition Urge Nigel Farage to Release His Tax Returns

chng.it/4TLPg4KXS6

West Point cancels ceremony to honor Tom Hanks as ‘outstanding US citizen’ Little known about decision, although Hanks, who has advocated for military memorials, also voted for Biden

Surely, America, you've reached an inflection point when the regime starts messing with Tom Hanks...

West Point cancels ceremony to honor Tom Hanks as ‘outstanding US citizen’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Nadine Dorries Has Joined Reform UK. Are There Any Ex-Tories They Won't Accept? The Boris Johnson fangirl has long been a figure of ridicule at Westminster.

Ooh, ooh, do Owen Patterson next...

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nadine...

a close up of a young boy wearing a sweater and making a surprised face . ALT: a close up of a young boy wearing a sweater and making a surprised face .

Sometimes the differences between American English and British English are glorious.

This, for example, is the face my kids would pull if I described "whale buggers".

US foreign policy update: friends alienated, enemies united, armed forces spreading mulch in DC. MAGA

Fact-Check: Here's A Look At The Reality Asylum Seekers Actually Face In The UK Don't believe everything you hear – asylum seekers have it far from easy in this country.

These are the facts that the government should focus on sharing and repeating as often as needed, not pandering to the far right.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/realit...

Imagine the message it would send if Gary Lineker won 'Presenter of the Year' at this year's National Television Awards

Standing up for compassion & the right to speak out

And, the feathers it would ruffle

My lovely followers, you know what to do:

nationaltvawards.com/vote

🗓️ Deadline: 12th Sep

A local hotel has recently been the subject of racist protesters and I joined the counter-protest.

I've protested myself a few times but what I wasn't prepared for this time was just how stinking drunk at 10, 11 o'clock many of the racists were.

Booze+whipped-up anger will kill someone, yes.

Here's how the real two-tier Britain works:
1. Whatever Nigel Farage says, however stupid, is looped and discussed by the media, while left-wing voices are treated as noises off.
2. Tiny far-right protests get massive airtime, while 10s of 000s gathering for Palestine or green causes are ignored.🧵

And of course since he'll have scrapped all human rights protections to do that, he'll happily deport anyone who dares disagree.

assets.nationbuilder.com/euromove/mai...

Maybe being kind is the new punk rock.

None of them seem to have worked out the consequences of not using hotels. It'll be more administratively difficult to find accommodation, cost more, and mean the firms providing that accommodation begin competing with local renters, driving up rents and making it harder to find a home.

Trump Has No Cards Why would Putin need to make a deal with him?

Trump has no cards.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-putin-ukraine-talks/683899/