Phil Wilkinson

Tories confirm plans to cut PIP for mental health claimants The Conservatives have unveiled plans to cut spending on welfare and scrap environmental subsidies

Tories offer £47bn austerity - cuts to disability benefits, PIP for mental health claimants, social housing, civil service, regulators, green economy, accompanied by anti-migrant rhetoric.

Won't hike taxes the rich or curb profiteering.

The nasty party heading for the dustbin of history.

Beyond Amelia: The Forgotten Pioneers of Flight with Midge Gillies Podcast Episode · History Rage · 05/10/2025 · Subscribers Only · 38m

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

Tories set a low bar after misspelling Britain on conference chocolate Misprinted wrappers pulled from Manchester goodie bags after derision on social media

People would have signed this off.

Others will have been shown the product.

Further individuals will have put them in the goodie bags.

How on Earth did nobody spot it?

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Trump is woefully uninformed and a bad liar.

Good to hear this from Shadow Minister James Cleverly say this. Government has yet to comment, says @catneilan.bsky.social but should surely say so too

I haven't really got beyond "who in God's name decided that this needed to exist?" tbh

Paddington is escorting our expired nation into the afterlife, probably

I have so many questions about this

He's strikingly incapable of setting out *why* something is bad. Everything he writes is a search for labels that avoid having to make an argument - Reform's policies are 'racist', these protests are 'un-British'. You are the prime minister! Explain why they are wrong!

Ryan Gosling’s pasty looks nice – but how did it get on my phone screen? The Stephen Collins cartoon We are so advanced yet so basic

Don't read this headline please, it spoils the comic!

Please click the link, read the comic, visit the Guardian! But don't read the headline!

Nnnnnng!

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

[Scene is ANCIENT GREECE - where SOCRATES and PLATO and others are sitting round, thinking] 1 SOCRATES: Plato.. PLATO: Yes Socrates? 2 SOCRATES: Can you tell me, are you human? PLATO: Why… yes, Socrates 3 SOCRATES: And would you agree, Plato, that a human knows what a chariot is? PLATO: Um, yep 4 SOCRATES: So you can tell me, then 5 [Socrates produces a papyrus, showing a drawing of the corner of a chariot wheel] SOCRATES: *Is that a chariot*? 6 PLATO: Well that’s more just a bit of wheel 7 SOCRATES: So not a *chariot*. PLATO: No. 8 SOCRATES: [Producing another papyrus with the full drawing of the chariot, chopped into boxes] So if a man were challenged to “tap the boxes containing chariots to prove you’re human” when he was just trying to check his ClubCard points... *where could he tap*? 9 PLATO: Well you can’t tap any of them really 10 SOCRATES: So are we not human? PLATO: ‘Spose not. 11 [Bleak pause] 12 PLATO: I’ll get the hemlock SOCRATES: Yeah [ends]

Iain Lee - Imposter Syndrome worked last night and I think it is something very special.

I play the Rondo Theatre in Bath in February but looking for more venues across teh country. Ideally holding between 80-120.

Do you work for a venue that would like to book me? Or know any?

iain@iainlee.com

Reform poised to raise Kent council tax as Musk-inspired attack on costs falters ANNA GROSS - KENT Kent's local authority will probably raise council tax rates next year as Reform UK strugglesto find big savings under an Elon Musk-inspired cost-cutting drive. Kent was one of 10 councils that Nigel Farage's rightwing populist party seized in a swath of local election victories in May. He vowed to save "a lot of money" by abolishing "wasteful" spending. But Diane Morton, Reform's cabinet member for adult social care on Kent county council, told the Financial Times that services were already "down to the bare bones". "We've got more demand than ever before and it's growing." she said, stressing she did not believe access to those services should be limited. "We just want more money." As with many local authorities in England, the bulk of declined to say whether council tax Kent's budget went on adult and chil- would be raised but other Reform coun- dren's social care, as well as on children cillors said they wanted to avoid hitting with special educational needs, which the full 5 percent. together accounted for about 50 per Reform's experience highlights some cent of its £2.5bn annual expenditure. of the obstacles it may face in national All councils have a legal duty to bal- government if it won the next general ance their books and will set next year's election and pursued its pledge to slash budgets in February or March. Ahead of taxes and spending. "Everyone thought that, most councils in England are we d come in and there were going to be expected to increase council tax by 5 per these huge costs we could cut away but cent, the maximum allowed. there just aren't," said a third senior "I think it's going to be 5 per cent," Reform cabinet member in Kent. Morton said of where Kent would land Farage has set up a Reform Depart- on tax rises, adding that every 1 per cent ment of Government Efficiency team - increase equated to an extra E10mn. modelled on Musk's "Doge" i…

Anyone remember Reform promising to go into their new councils with DOGE-style units to slash “waste” and stop taxes from rising? Yeah, it went exactly as you’d expect if you put people in charge who have no idea how anything works.

GB News comment about LGBTQ+ including 'paedos' in breach of Ofcom code A GB News presenter saying “full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons” at a church would “include paedos” breached the Broadcasting Code, Ofcom said.

We're pleased that the loathsome comments carried by GB News, which equated being LGBT+ with being a paedophile, have been found in breach of the Ofcom code, following 71,000 complaints collected by @goodlawproject.bsky.social. pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/new...

Yup.

Ah, Reform and their perfect spelling. (AI) bsky.app/profile/refo...

Another catastrophic gaff at the Conference nobody is talking about

From the Ukrainian who lived with us for a year, now in Chernihiv.
"The whole city feels the explosions and the blast wave. If it's at night, we wake up from the explosions. When a drone flies, there's a terrible roar and you realize at any moment that you could be killed"
1/2

Robert Jenrick complained of ‘not seeing another white face’ in Birmingham neighbourhood Shadow justice secretary criticised for suggesting he could tell how integrated Handsworth was based on short visit

This is shocking racism from Jenrick and Badenoch should sack him immediately.

No further comment necessary.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Good morning! This week's theme is the River Thames.
------
'Bridge in London' (1908) by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky

(Private collection)

If only someone had warned them that he wasn’t a man of his word. No way they could’ve known.

Stephen Miller’s Own Cousin Calls Him the “Face of Evil” Alisa Kasmer says Stephen Miller has betrayed all of their family values.

“Stephen Miller’s own cousin calls him ‘the face of evil’ *** ‘I am living with the deep pain of watching someone I once loved become the face of evil,’” Alisa Kasmer wrote in a July Facebook post. “‘I grieve what you’ve become, Stephen...’” 10/6/25 … 1/

UK Jewish groups condemn Israeli minister’s invite to Tommy Robinson Far-right activist described as ‘thug who represents worst of Britain’ after invitation to Israel sparks outrage

“UK Jewish groups condemn Israeli minister’s [Amichai Chikli] invite to Tommy Robinson ***
Far-right activist described as ‘thug who represents worst of Britain’ after invitation to Israel sparks outrage” 10/5/25 … 1/

They could all have stayed at home and Mel visited each one individually to give his speech and have a cuppa and a nice bun. Saved everyone a lot of time and money.

this photo is pretty brutal

www.ft.com/content/5a73...

Stephen Miller is one of the most powerful figures in the Trump regime.

His recent rhetoric demonises the Democrats as anti-democratic supporters of terrorism.

This is the rhetoric of a regime fabricating the pretext for a coup. Trump has no intention of allowing voters to curb his power.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

Carbon offsets are, and always have been, a complete and utter con, designed to permit business as usual and free-market capitalism in the fast lane

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Resistance to Trump and MAGA's Authoritarian Agenda is Growing

From boycotts to protests to community organizing, the majority, including many judges, are increasingly finding creative ways to resist Donald Trump's authoritarian agenda.

thelefthook.substack.com/p/the-resist...

Trump is going to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell.

They'll never release the Epstein Files because Trump is all over them.