Jake L

This is the only review I trust

X We're sorry! The post you are replying to has been deleted. Otto English Under a Reform government we'd currently be throwing ourselves into war with Iran. Don't let anyone ever tell you that all parties are the same. I am trying to reply to this with the words: This may need some revision with the events of the last few hours. But I can't because it was deleted.

A bit of humour on this dark evening

"They died to save her face"

From the Private Eye archive.
Issue 550, January 1983, some months after the Falklands war.

"no way to have seen this coming" says nation where for decades half the population has been screaming about it while the other half insisted they were overreacting

Cyrus Janssen @thecyrusjanssen • 2h An Iranian man left this comment on my YouTube channel. This is without a doubt the single best explanation of the reality facing Iranian people today "As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political-it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic's unelected institutions. Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore-because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse-because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation. So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime-but because we know how imperial powers treat liberated' nations in the Middle East. Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation-they're collapse. A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we've learned-too well-what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."

AI Growth Zones to create thousands of jobs and unlock up to £100 billion in investment, as new site confirmed for North Wales North Wales in line for more than 3,400 new jobs through newly announced AI Growth Zone, as the Prime Minister and Technology Secretary set out plans to ensure sites deliver for working people.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Especially baffling when transphobia has been pushed by the rich. The most famous figures are the most successful living writer who lives in a literal castle and the millionaire co-creator of one of the most loved sitcoms of all time. Oh and all the dark money poured into legal fees.

like this is a baffling response for so many reasons, but like what does she think just happened?

anouther takeaway from this:

instead of doing the 'son of a toolmaker'/'my grandfather was the son of a miner' thing you can just . . . run candidates who work in trade

columbine was such a weird nexus of lies

evangelical kids were literally learning about Cassie Bernall like she was a martyred saint when in reality her parents appropriated/fabricated a story to paper over the fact that she'd abandoned their stupid religion

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassie_...

the way british television keeps censoring speech and... nobody is talking about how absolutely insane it is that they keep doing this.

This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, but the reality is, it will only serve to create far more.

This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t

This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t

I can't fucking believe we're doing this again.

Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads: The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same... - Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

On social issues specifically, Labour have shifted so far to the right that they could "move to the left" by adopting Theresa May's positions on immigration and trans rights, which is an absolutely unreal thing to be able to say of the architect of the Hostile Environment, and yet

I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

Note how Tom says 1) they lost because of Gaza 2) implies it’s despicable to campaign against them on this, and 3) does not propose doing anything different. It’s just the cost of doing what must be done.

A party can lose and still learn nothing Gaza, Sir Oink Alot and the whack analysis.

For non-Brits: this is a former deputy leader who ended his political career by creating a horrific smeary frontpage hoax designed to fuck his party in an election year; was rewarded with it with a peerage (a non-job for life) and now works for Palantir tomwatsonofficial.substack.com/p/a-party-ca...

Deaths of 22 children in Channel due to ‘catastrophic failure’ by UK and France, NGO says Project Play finds UK taxpayers are funding ‘record child fatalities’ and ‘repeated violence’ against children in northern France

Can’t help wondering how the home office squares tear-gassing children & brutalising their parents with stated priorities such as “ending violence against women and girls”
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

One other issue here is while there is rightly discussion about what happens if the Iranian regime survives and Trump et al have no plan for what next, there also needs to be more discussion of scenarios where the regime falls and Trump et al have no plan for what next

This is still out cheers

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social I just teel like, ideally, the Labour response to yesterday's result would have tried to talk people *out* of detecting to the Greens, rather than, y'know, the opposite? 09:19 • 28 Feb 2026 • Everybody can reply 81 reposts 10 quotes 627 likes 3 saves 33 ¿ 91 627 ... Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social • 2h As ever, I don't imagine myself representative of anyone but me. But if l'd had a vote in Gorton l'd have agonised, then done whatever felt most likely to stop Goodwin. After Starmer and Mahmoud's responses I now feel quite motivated to vote *against* Labour? 32 10 86 O 569 ... Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social • 2h It's one thing to critique the leadership or its policies. But I know a lot of people who've detected to the Greens, they are not mad, and you do not. Attack. The. Bloody. Voters

Jonn is correct here and I’d say the time for “We need to recognise these people are wrong and misguided, and seek alternatives” is long since past. We are now at “these people need to be hounded out of public life as a dire threat to the democratic system itself, or we will get this forever”.

Being fair, there has been a Bob Hope cartoon strip since 1957, eh @daveyjones.bsky.social?

doubling down on the 'attack your own voters" strategy

If Reform had won, Labour's statement would be that this result is a stark reminder we need to listen and learn from voters who rightly feel betrayed by modern politics.

But the Greens won by a comfortable margin, so it's: these voters are stupid and also sinister and, ugh, Muslims

Lot of ideas in that film but no idea how to hold them all.

julie klausner in character asking “What do you think John Landis’ worst contribution to society is, his alleged manslaughter or his son, Max?”

bring back DIFFICULT PEOPLE

Reminder that I made a commercial for Minmo brand catfood

youtu.be/UEkoTeZKdRU?...

It's ridiculous to teach pre and post ww2 politics without communism.
The fact few of us know Communists were Nazis biggest opposition, the fact few of us think about why Russia was excluded from NATO but Germany included post war.
Both important moments, both lost in history