DameV17

The greatest orator of our times

Darren Johnson.

It was quite a year

Yes. I’m sorry.

“With conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, artificial definitions of which services counted as healthcare and which were social care had led to institutional “bunfights” over who footed the bill, she said, “with families picking up the pieces”.

Can confirm 🫥🫥🫥

Again, Farage, Badenoch and their fellow travellers on X are wildly out of touch with the public on Iran.

Even the majority of Reform supporters oppose their position.

Influencers sold the world a fantasy Dubai – and now it’s gone in a puff of missile smoke | Gaby Hinsliff The city was portrayed as an aspirational place to live, but now those who moved there are realising the precarity that comes with being an economic migrant, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

Influencers sold the world a fantasy Dubai – and now it’s gone in a puff of missile smoke | Gaby Hinsliff

I’m deeply honoured to receive the Royal Television Society 2026 Special Award. Thank you RTS and many thanks to the great BBC team in Moscow.

Kemi is wrong about everything. Which is almost an achievement in itself | John Crace The Tory leader’s appearance on the Today programme was sheer madness – and comedy gold

Kemi is wrong about everything. Which is almost an achievement in itself | John Crace

This reporting is macabre. Deeply inappropriate.

love Stella Creasy just locking in and deciding she’s not accepting shite platitudes in a private WhatsApp chat

I’ve been in York today

Oooh 🤩

Untrue - the Convention provides both for the possibility that protection might cease to be necessary (ie the cessation clause: refugee status ends if there's a change in circumstances) AND the possibility it might need to be long-term (ie references to facilitating citizenship of the refuge State)

[Scene is THE OSCARS. On stage a PRESENTER CELEBRITY is about to announce Best Director.] PRESENTER: And the winner is Mr Director, for… Let's Just Bung It On Streaming. [Huge applause. On the screen behind him, a movie poster comes up. It is a Cinema Paradiso-style poster capturing the romance of cinema - a young boy beneath a movie projector beam, his rapt face illuminated by the image onscreen, while a design of movie film loops around behind him. The title is LET'S JUST BUNG IT ON STREAMING.]. [A typical grey-haired, bearded DIRECTOR comes on stage to accept the award. The rapturous applause stops as he goes to speak, pinching his fingers together meaningfully as he goes to speak]. DIRECTOR: Thank you. Thank you. Y'know... When we were making this picture I said to the studio, "I'm not making a movie here. I'm writing a love letter... ...to bunging it on streaming." [HUGE BURST OF APPLAUSE] DIRECTOR: I want people to experience this like real cinema. A communal thing... Where you pause it every time someone needs a wee Or mum wants to look up "what's that man been in". I want this movie to just turn up one day on your TV And you don't even know whether you're watching tellu or a film for the first 30 minutes. I want to make literally one promotional poster... And put it on one bus stop... Behind the Screwfix in Bedford. [HUGE APPLAUSE] [Ends]

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

South West Water admits criminal offence over Devon parasite outbreak Firm admits supplying water unfit for human consumption after nearly 150 people fell ill

South West Water admits criminal offence over Devon parasite outbreak.

Water unfit for human consumption, 150 people fell ill.

SWW already has nearly 200 criminal convictions. Licence not cancelled, no exec prosecuted, record high customer bills, sewage dumped in rivers.

Privatisation is a scam.

There is something very ugly about saying lower earners - for example the people who care for our families - are contributing less than high earners.

There is just something deeply disturbing and offensive about watching a Labour govt keep kicking the most vulnerable in our society.

This is a good thing

OBR raises UK unemployment estimates amid ‘worrying’ increase in young people out of work Unemployment is now predicted to reach 5.3% this year, up from the previous forecast of 4.9% Unemployment in the UK is set to peak this year at a higher rate than previously estimated, with a “worrying” increase in young people being out of work, the government’s official forecaster has said. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said unemployment will peak at 5.3% this year, up from its previous forecast in November of 4.9%. Continue reading...

OBR raises UK unemployment estimates amid ‘worrying’ increase in young people out of work

An expat in Dubai has a startling revelation: the Stephen Collins cartoon Reality check …

An expat in Dubai has a startling revelation: the Stephen Collins cartoon

It's not Roosevelt we're dealing with. Hell, it's not even Nixon.

Trump’s plan. Carry on until he gets bored. Then leave everyone else to clear up the mess. That’s his style

So Don is tilting at windmills?

This IPSO adjudication against the Telegraph is quite something

Confirms their story titled: ‘We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays’ was completely fabricated, with the family involved non-existent and stock pictures used

www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/0210...

Noooo

Precisely! More than that, most Brits despise Trump, and will want Starmer to resist his bullying. By contrast, Farage and co will lose support tying themselves so sycophantically to Trump. I’d call this a win-win situation!

Labour Deputy Leader Opposed By-Election Attack On Green Drug Policy Lucy Powell was among the Labour figures privately concerned about attacking the Greens' drug policy during the Gorton and Denton by-election campa...

The problem wasn't really the negative campaign.

The problem is that it was a smear campaign based on lies.

And still Labour aren't offering any solutions to the highest drug deaths in Europe.

Let's have *that* conversation.

www.politicshome.com/news/article...

A neck rash is nothing to a man who can grow back an ear that was shot off.