Andy Butterworth

Labour lost three by-elections yesterday - all to different parties mobilising disaffected voters on their liberal left flank: Greens (see below), Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru.

Starmer/McSweeney strategy of marginalizing the left flank to go after socially con Reform curious continues to backfire

Photos of a children's book entitled "Monstreffic", which is a story about a car-eating monster that feeds on the traffic jams of the city.

Photos of a children's book entitled "Monstreffic", which is a story about a car-eating monster that feeds on the traffic jams of the city.

Photos of a children's book entitled "Monstreffic", which is a story about a car-eating monster that feeds on the traffic jams of the city.

Photos of a children's book entitled "Monstreffic", which is a story about a car-eating monster that feeds on the traffic jams of the city.

“A grumpy giant, slow and wide. He lives in cities and can stretch for miles. Big or small, electric or gas, cheap or fancy—any car is a tasty snack.”

Meet Monstreffic, a new book by Peter Füssy and Gabriela Araújo that invites young readers to look at cities (and their streets) in a whole new way.

Almost 250 years after we broke with George III, the question must now be faced: Are we a monarchy or a nation of laws? https://robertreich.substack.com/p/fascist-dictator-or-16th-century

@mrjamesob.bsky.social
Queen Queenie . .

I’m no legal expert

but the documents leaked to Epstein by Mandelson seem even more market sensitive to me than the Prince Andrew ones

(Mandelson leaked information about imminent $500bn eurozone bailout, £20bn of UK gov asset sales, tax changes etc)

@mrjamesob.bsky.social
The Divine Right of Kings in UK died on 30 January 1649...

@mrjamesob.bsky.social
The King is NOT above the law.
Parliament ordered the arrest of King Charles in 1647 and his execution in 1649.
Since then the Monarchy bends to our electedvParliament.
NOT the other way round.

‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong question The graduate earnings premium isn’t really measuring what most people think

Turns out (says @jburnmurdoch.ft.com) it's not so much an oversupply of graduates in the UK (the same would be true of other similar countries but it's not) as an undersupply of the kind of jobs that a better-performing, more productive economy would supply.

Connor Tomlinson - who wants to ban all Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, blacks and Asians from parliament and the civil service - is among those talking about Restore Britain as "we"

Restore says it won't vet for members/activists overt racism. Lowe says it will vet for "stomach" on mass deportations

Ignore the professional gloomsters and doomsters.
- Borrowing ⬇️ (record surplus last month)
- Inflation (and interest rates) ⬇️
- UK fastest growing European G7 economy
- Retail sales up 4.5% over the year
There’s lots more to do but Britain’s economy is on the mend.

Only Labour can stop Reform in Gorton and Denton

Orbán’s pay cheques: Reform candidate fuelled by profits from Russian oil The Reform candidate at this month’s byelection claims he wants to put Britain first, but is he still on the payroll of Viktor Orbán’s far-right propaganda unit?

Reform’s by-election candidate Matt Goodwin received a salary of up to €10,000 a month from a far-right pressure group based in Hungary 👀
https://goodlaw.social/pif5

Tesla admits it still needs drivers and remote operators — then argues that's better than Waymo Tesla filed new comments with the California Public Utilities Commission that amount to a quiet admission: its “Robotaxi” service still...

This regulatory spat between Tesla and Waymo is proving to be quite revealing.

This filing is the clearest illustration yet of the gap between Tesla’s “Robotaxi” marketing and its actual operations.

electrek.co/2026/02/19/t...

Photo of a a well dressed man riding a bicycle with an outrigger sidecar attachment containing a small child.

Berlin, 1931

Reform UK suspends by-election campaign activist over ‘antisemitic and misogynistic’ posts EXCLUSIVE: Adam Mitula, Reform UK’s interim campaign manager in Tameside, has been assisting Matt Goodwin's Gorton and Denton by-election campaign

So it turns out Matt Goodwin's Reform campaign manager was a holocaust-denying Nazi who said he would "never touch a Jewish woman.”

When do we start seeing all the coverage of the antisemitism crisis in Reform UK?

www.jewishnews.co.uk/reform-uk-su...

I'm already bored of Andrew M-W's arrest and related media coverage.

Grim. One can only imagine what passes for ‘banter’ or ‘locker room talk’ when these ghouls converse in private.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested: King Charles says ‘law must take its course’ as ex-prince taken into custody – live The police raided Andrew’s Norfolk home on Thursday

American colonists 250 years ago were very worked up about judicial independence and the rule of law. Now it seems it's only the British who still care

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...

@mrjamesob.bsky.social
@phillipspobrien.bsky.social
@petergeoghegan.bsky.social
@pickardje.bsky.social

How can the BBC Royal correspondent be so ignorant of England's history?

How can the BBC Royal correspondent be so ignorant of England's history?

Inside the Cover-up: How Prince Andrew was exposed Behind the headlines lies a deeper story of privilege, protection and a public kept in the dark

For the day that’s in it would really recommend reading this piece and watching video with Andrew Lownie about carefully curated narrative was created around Andrew - and ‘policed by armies of lawyers and PR people’ and a pliant media.

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

Statement from Virginia Giuffre’s family: “Our broken hearts have been lifted by the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty... He was never a prince. For survivors, everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”

She never lived to see this moment, but it’s worth remembering that none of this would have happened without Virginia Giuffre.

She had the courage to speak out against power and privilege when it was just her word against Andrew’s.

Thanks to her, justice & accountability may finally have its day.

£400 cash boost for disabled adults to tackle cost of living 150,000 disabled adults to keep £400 more cash each year to help with cost of living, and £700 million to support tens of thousands of home adaptations.

150,000 disabled adults to keep £400 more cash each year to help with cost of living, and £700 million to support tens of thousands of home adaptations👇🏻
www.gov.uk/government/n...

First senior member of the royal family to be arrested since Charles I...

Important to remember.

@mrjamesob.bsky.social
You are wrong to say the monarchy has hardly changed.
Since 1649 monarchy in UK has had power limited by parliament.
In 2026 at state opening of parliament King enters and speaks by order of Parliament...
BTW keep up the great work!Thank you for your attention in this matter.

The special schools bringing inclusion into the mainstream Ministers want 'a system that works together'. Schools Week meets three schools leading the way

schoolsweek.co.uk/sharing-not-...

Union admits its members aren't fit to drive.