James Morrison

I think they're forgetting that also applies to private jets

If there was a mistake, it was flirting with offering Ukraine membership without having lined everything up to make sure that could happen. I doubt Estonia et al see NATO expansion post 1989 as a mistake.

Farage v Clegg EU debate (2014)

YouTube video by April 5, 2063 "This is Insane. You Actually Want Rom to Be Nagus?" Quark

I loved the scene where Zek nominated Rom as his successor, particularly the [conservative] rant by Quark against it

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vfO...

I don't think the same problem applies to a Monday because the broadcasters wouldn't want a weekend round that falls on 24/25 Dec.

Yes - there will be a chunk that have gone Lab 2015 - Con 2017, 19, 21 - Lab 24 - Reform now

Rodger the Dodger comic

Leger poll of national identity in Quebec. 33% more Canadian than Quebecois; 26% equal; 40% more Quebecois than Canadian

striking how much stronger Canadian identity is in Quebec than British identity in Scotland (h/t @338canada.bsky.social)

Sideshow Bob Roberts poll result and "margin of error"

Sounds like somewhere in Wales

YouGov poll in late May 2019

GB polls right now are somewhat like the mid-2019 situation, when Farage and the Lib Dems were doing well but it was very fragmented. Obviously the election did not end up like this.

could just be a failure of imagination, i.e. British pols have lived on twitter / X for so long now that they can't think of a world without it

yeah, and that ended with him a) losing big in the mid-terms and b) losing re-election

He isn't that far away from 3000 hits (2431), which would get him in even without all the other things

the sub-samples aren't big enough to be taken seriously, but they give a general idea of what's going on

does X have any rules nowadays?

tbh this seems to have come more from Streeting

(the statement put out by Labour was more milquetoast)

Harris got a chance that she maybe wouldn't have earned if there had been time for a primary, and didn't make the most of it. She should look in the mirror rather than blaming Joe for everything.

That's a bit harsh on Idris Elba 😉

The Stanislav Petrov situation was initially based on a single (imaginary) ICBM

it is what it is

It's like sports. Even if your team is doing well, you'll always have someone who foretells doom. They're bound to be right eventually, of course, because only one team can win the championship, etc.

I think it must be a kind of coping mechanism for some people, but it's incredibly annoying.

Doug Ford said he was running it in GOP districts

Read the two paragraphs together. He's saying that the "challenge" is there is a "none of the above" (i.e. not Tory or Labour) option in Wales and Scotland that isn't available in England.

Which is nonsense on two levels - the SNP aren't "none of the above", and other parties compete in England.

fozzie bear is sitting at a table with a cup of coffee ALT: fozzie bear is sitting at a table with a cup of coffee

Mason then says this will also be a problem for Reform in Scotland because of the SNP... who have been the government there since Tony Blair was Prime Minister.

But apparently it won't be a problem in England, even though the Lib Dems and Greens (and maybe the Corbyn thing) exist

Chris Mason: "It is clearly not easy for [Reform] to be the first choice "none of the above" alternative to Labour and the Conservatives when there is another party also claiming that mantle. That is a challenge for them in Wales, as it is in Scotland with the SNP, in a way that it isn't in England."

It's hilarious how even when he knows the result, Mason still mucks up explaining the result. How in god's name are the SNP, who have formed the Scottish Government since *2007*, a "none of the above" option in Scotland?

safer Lib Dem areas, particularly in Scotland e.g. Edinburgh west, Shetland, the posh bit of Fife, what was east Dunbartonshire

Those would basically vote in line with the last set of elections

and the poll itself may have had an observer effect, i.e. Plaid have been using it for the last week to argue "you need to vote for us to stop Reform" - that may have stimulated more turnout and some tactical swing from Lab / Grn / LD

tbf there was a Welsh Lab pol (MS, not MP of course) on Today at about 6:35 who was very stridently arguing the UK party need to a) go to the left a bit and b) be more sympathetic to Welsh demands (devolve justice, HS2 funding)

Wonder if it might cause some pause for reflection amongst journos. e.g. Chris Mason giving twice as much time to Reform in his piece on Wed night compared to Plaid. Maybe not.