Steve O'Gorman

Today, we celebrate the life and work of Linda Smith, our President who died #onthisday 2006. Linda was an incredible comedian, satirist, and broadcaster, whose passion for politics and humanism was palpable. She was our president in 2004, and is sorely missed.

O captain, my Captain.

A Letter from America - The Bear Mutated – Byline Times Digital / Print Edition Vladimir Putin’s greatest trick was convincing the West that the Cold War ended in 1991 with a whimper and a Big Mac in Pushkin Square.

🟧 Columnists — @therickwilson.bsky.social — Rick Wilson — Letter from America — (Edition 83)

The Bear Mutated — Vladimir Putin’s greatest trick was convincing the West that the Cold War ended in 1991 with a whimper and a Big Mac in Pushkin Square.

News headline: GRAN BEATS OFF INTRUDER.

Not sure if this is good. Is this good?

Reform Attacks Byline Times For ‘Attempting to Derail a Democratic Election’ – Before Blaming ‘Family Voting’ and ‘Muslim Sectarianism’ for Gorton and Denton Defeat Having imported its own ideas for a DOGE and ICE from the US, Farage’s party now appears to be copying the Trumpian tactics of alleging vote-rigging in elections

Having imported its own ideas for a DOGE and ICE from the US, Farage’s party now appears to be copying the Trumpian tactics of alleging vote-rigging in elections bylinetimes.com/2026/02/27/r...

Labour MP Clive Lewis doesn’t hold back on the Gorton and Denton result in this interview with ITV

APPARENTLY, the only person who displays no number plates on their car is the King of England himself, in which case I have just seen Charles Ill parking his Vauxhall Corsa at Hillingdon underground station. He looked much younger than I'd anticipated, and his language was a little coarse when I asked for his autograph. "Fuck off, knob" is a little unseemly for a ruling monarch in my view. But it was still very exciting to meet the great man in person. Neal Bircher, Uxbridge

subscriptions >>> shop.viz.co.uk/viz353bs

Naz Shah MP on Gorton and Denton Claims: ‘How Do Supposedly “Sectarian Muslims” End Up Voting for a Radically Progressive Party with a Gay Jewish Leader?’ The Labour MP told Byline Times that, from her experience of 'clan-based politics', it was not present in the Manchester by-election as Reform UK claims

🔴 Naz Shah MP on Gorton & Denton Claims: 'How Do Supposedly Sectarian Muslims End Up Voting for a Radically Progressive Party with a Gay Jewish Leader?'

The MP for Bradford West told Byline Times: "I know what clan-based politics looks like, I have a history of fighting it, this isn't what this is"

I may have to wander down to Cardiff for this. Weather and trains permitting, of course.

Plan taken from sales particulars showing the house and lands at Alteryn, home of George Sibbering.

Thank you to Roger Gilbert for sharing his research this afternoon on George Sibbering and his involvement with the Taff Vale Railway. Thanks also to everyone who joined us.

But if working people didn't have to give a big chunk of their money to banking, insurance, car and oil businesses just to be able to exist in society, what then? It's like you want to make Global Capital sad, Tom

The Guardian view on Plaid Cymru’s rise: Welsh politics is on the brink of a revolution | Editorial Editorial: After a century of Labour dominance, disillusionment with both Westminster and Cardiff has given progressive nationalists a historic opportunity

“For British politics, Plaid’s rise is yet another wake-up call. Come 8 May, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland may all have elected first ministers who favour their territories’ departure from the United Kingdom” #Senedd26 #Holyrood26
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Note for non-Brits: this is the reaction of the Conservative Party leader here to a by-election where the Greens came out of nowhere and won a safe Labour seat.

Her candidate lost his deposit (got less than 2% of the vote).

She's so far out of her tree the squirrels are sending out search parties.

Incidentally, Mary Winter, the Communist Party candidate who came fifth in 1984, is the mother of Beth Winter, our previous Labour MP (before the boundaries were redrawn and the Cynon Valley parliamentary constituency disappeared).

Transcript: Vote WOMBLE in the ABERDARE EAST Ward of the Borough Council Elections 7th MAY, 1987 I AM NOT A LOONY. IT IS NOT A JOKE. I am a serious candidate. I shall work in partnership with our councillors for the good of the people. Must prevent cut-backs and erosion of our Welfare State. I am caring and a man of ACTION. Like Father Christmas, Wombles of Wimbledon are friendly, mythical creatures. I am a retired miner.

Here's Noel Rencontre's leaflet from the 1987 local council election.

Transcript: 'Mr Rencontre's name was already familiar to some of us, as he'd stood for Parliament in 1984. Ioan Evans, the previous Labour MP, had passed away at the age of only 56. A by-election was called, and seven candidates contested the seat on 3 May that year: Ann Clwyd (Labour) 19,389 Felix Aubel (SDP) 6,554 Clayton Jones (Plaid Cymru) 3,619 James Arbuthnot (Conservative) 2,441 Mary Winter (Communist) 642 Noel Rencontre (Womble Independent) 215 Paul Nicholls-Jones (Independent) 122

After seeing someone's post about the Tories losing their deposit yesterday, and the deposit system discouraging 'joke candidates', I thought of a likeable eccentric who stood for election in my constituency in May 1984. He lost his deposit but didn't come last. He stood for the council as well.

When I was first old enough to vote, you used to have to put up £50 to stand. (We used to have an eccentric chap in my town who stood as a Womble Independent candidate.) It went up to £1,000 some years ago. I don't know if it's changed since.

If you add my money to that of Bezos and Zuckerberg, I am incomprehensibly rich.

This would be fun in our family. My mother votes Labour (her father was a miner, therefore ...); I've voted Plaid Cymru in the last five UK and Senedd elections; my brother hasn't found yet a party that aren't sufficiently 'anti-Woke' for his tastes; my cousins would have to be dragged out of bed.

I laughed way too much at this.

After enjoying many years of its faithful service as my default browser, I'm reluctantly forced to accept Firefox's resignation because the latest update comes bundled with a fucking AI feature. As it sails off into the sunset, I'm pleased to hand over the reins to Vivaldi. I wish it a long career.

Hope Beats Hate: Green Party Defeats Reform and Labour in Huge Gorton and Denton By-Election Victory A concerted political and media campaign to scare voters about a “Green Menace” winning this by-election failed, reports Adam Bienkov

📌 ICYMI — Hope Beats Hate: Green Party Defeats Reform and Labour in Huge Gorton and Denton By-Election Victory

A concerted political and media campaign to scare voters…

https://bylinetimes.com/2026/02/27/hope-beats-hate-green-party-defeats-reform-and-labour-in-huge-gorton-and-denton-by-election-…

I'm going to have this printed on a T-shirt.

I live in Wales so you'd think my Unpredictable Tripewriter would have got the hang of the spelling by now. Not a hope ... 😁

To avoid family voting they should let teenagers have their own polling booths in their bedrooms so they can choose their own votes while grandparents can vote at the garden centre.

I saw a great exhibit at the British Library's exhibition 'Making Your Mark' about the history of writing. It was a stone pillar with carved symbols, standing unsupported, with a little sign in front saying 'Please don't touch me, I'm very old and unstable'. It spoke to me on many levels.

Graph: Gorton & Denton by-election results. Labour vote share plummets as Green share rises. Similarly Reform rises and Conservative falls. End result: chunky Green win, Reform slightly higher than Lab, Cons dismal.

Eager to see what lessons Labour draws from this.

Early example of the terror that HM inspired in the average NME hack. What's interesting about Priest was their unconditional embrace of the HM tag, something which I think even Sabbath were wary of. Oh, and great pic of Mr Halford, who ironically looks like he could be in a new wave band here...

It should have been, shouldn't it? 😃

Just searched "Gorton and Denton" on YouTube and every result was the right wing press or accounts like True GB News. Had to scroll a long way to get to the independent* then it was straight back to the right wing trash.

*still not great, but not actually bumming a flag in the pfp