Adam Squires

...with extra low carb potatoes.

Yep. I think Franco Manca do something similar. Works better than you might think, (but probably not ideal combo if anyone was trying low carb)

"would otherwise receive immediate access to welfare and social housing" is BS.

Correct: "after 5 years working in a care home, would be eligible to apply for welfare and social housing on the same basis as the rest of us."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Deliberately misleading/disingenous.

👇🏻What the far right say about Muslims, immigrants and asylum seekers, they said 100 years ago about my grandparents.

There is just something deeply disturbing and offensive about watching a Labour govt keep kicking the most vulnerable in our society.

The Brexit tendency seem to be absolutely losing their minds over the government's refusal to get bullied by America into an illegal war.

Quite something from the people who wanted "independence" and to "take back control."

Badenoch’s most impressive trait is plain-speaking, born of clear thinking. Here, she is all coyness and innuendo. If she means Muslim voters, she should spell it out. A couple of rebuttals could then be put forward in the open. First, opposition to this war is not confined to Muslims, as she might find out in the coming weeks. Second, her party has for decades been sensationally bad at construing the British “interest”. Examples include its support for the Iraq war and a Brexit that most voters regard as a mistake. Those who impugn the patriotism of fellow citizens should not mind if the discourtesy is returned. The British right’s desire to live vicariously through the US is even more pronounced than when the Brexit vote happened a decade ago. Most of the time, it is merely unbecoming. When the issue is war, it is rather worse than that. The fatal jingoism that Wilfred Owen wrote about with such controlled anger in “Dulce et Decorum est” was, at least, on behalf of one’s own country.

Good article explaining Starmer's decisions over Iran - from Janen Ganesh, usually no fan of Starmer's. With particularly beautifully written ire reserved for the Trumpists of the UK right.

Be glad of Starmer's caution over Iran giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

I’ve worked abroad my whole adult life and fairness, consistency, ability to bring family, straightforward path to permanent residency / citizenship are deal breakers. If the UK wants high skilled white collar workers then these all matter a lot

Right but when they were doing well in the polls the argument was "they have hardly any MPs".
Now they have nine times as many MPs as Reform do, that apparently isn't important any more.

Bizarre how anyone looking at the spike in oil prices the last few days, see how one 29 mile stretch is essential to our energy needs, and still decries the move to 'net zero' energy independence.

HMS Dragon: UK to send Royal Navy warship to Cyprus, Starmer confirms The prime minister said the

Comments sorted by highest rated was quite interesting - praise for Starmers approach, distrust of the US, revulsion at being dragged into the ME again

Not views shared on Twitter or here but possibly more representative of the UK in general

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

For the insults / Tommy Robinson etc - are you saying there would be a different approach to stop Trump doing that? Or that Starmer should have pushed back more strongly and publicly anyway regardless of whether Trump listens?

Yes. He literally stopped them from using the bases for something he didn't support. Which bit of this is the failure in your opinion?

It remains to be seen whether UK will face consequences / punishment/more tariffs for him doing that. But we'll see.

Likewise.
I didn't say he had no choice. Or that any other leader would have done the same. I dispute that this is a policy "ending in failure" or that he sacrificed anything significant in the belief that this would never happen.

I...think it's premature to say Trump being rude about Starmer is "it all ending in tears".
There is a good case that in the past, he had some influence, that he wouldn't have had otherwise.

(I didn't have strong views either way, but wasn't that bothered as long as it didn't involve caving on actually important decisions against UK interest).

I'm not sure what evidence there is that a different approach would have got a better outcome now?

I think it's a bit of a straw man to suggest that those of us who thought that a policy of being nice about Trump would mean Starmer could "control" him - rather, sometimes have some influence - or that we thought Trump would therefore never be rude about Starmer. He's largely unpredictable.

Am sticking with my bet that the right is reading this wrong and that the majority of voters are not at all unhappy Starmer has upset Trump by holding back from a war whose purpose and end game no-one seems able to define.

Balanced and sensible analysis of the many, many challenges facing Starmer.

Well worth a read.

And I think:
1) "Trump annoyed with Starmer" headlines may cut through as much as what he did and didn't agree to help with - and would help him (for low info voters)
2) There's a reasonable case that while he did not help the attack, he has to join now allies are being attacked by Iran (for higher)

Is that based on polling or something?
Personally it seems that he didn't actually make many *concessions* that weren't in UK interests, just said nice things. And - given that Trump is unpredictable - I don't think anyone thought there was any strategy that would guarantee good outcomes.

I went to uni with Corey Booker, and I can confirm.

Excellent choice.
"I ain't saying you haven't got your own struggles
All I'm saying is I don't fucking care about them"

Could you spell out your theory?

So...?

Saw them both at the Hacienda in 93 iirc

I've already made my feelings about this abhorrent policy clear but one antidote is to repost this piece I wrote last year about one refugee's story

open.substack.com/pub/christin...

Greens comfortably beat Reform in the last bye election so presumably doing something right...

Weird - the right has spent the last decade telling us it is unwise to sneer at working class voters who have the temerity not to vote the way we want them to...

Reminds me of the "more/less" than "you/some people might think" framing which again seems to involve correcting the wrong impressions of an imaginary reader.
bsky.app/profile/adsq...