(well, maybe "should the ambassador to the US be friends with a convicted sex criminal" but arguably they're right on that one)
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(well, maybe "should the ambassador to the US be friends with a convicted sex criminal" but arguably they're right on that one)
Yea speaking as person who does polling: the Lib Dems should absolutely ignore this. Hard to think of a question with more social desirability bias than "should the leader spend more or less time bungee jumping"
Adding James to the "people who have also read Neil Postman recently" list. Magnificent and deeply troubling piece.
Cillian Murphy plays a guy who keeps getting mistaken for JD Vance but is too stubborn to change his look
I'm a history and international relations graduate and I think not enough young people study history or international relations
I got shown I think that exact same one as the first video
Obviously each to their own and I'm sure there are strong reasons why she chose the route she chose but I remain a bit shocked that she didn't just do that in the first place
Feels like it was made for Musk if they thought he was coming in person but then he videoed it instead
This shouldn't annoy me as much as it does but a) although he has a private plane, the plane he's arriving on isn't private b) maybe I'm overestimating it but I feel like people probably know what Air Force One looks like (they've seen films) and know it doesn't look like that
Also requires accepting that "make sure this continues as a going concern" is the best case scenario and avoid damaging that with crazy hail-Mary style efforts to become PM
Hits the nail on the head, I started reading the book after seeing the film and it's much more enjoyable and worth spending time with. Instead we get a generic AF film that lives up to the words "Netflix original"
This is enraging, sorry you had to go through that
X discourse poisoning
Fair number quite sympathetic
Reaction to Rayner on Gogglebox is interesting
I love this chart, just the needless drive-by on It Ends With Us. It's very "chart showing the comet destroying Springfield, specifically Moe's bar"
On some issues yes. On others Labour voters are closer, public opinion is complex and there are plenty of issues where both are way off from the median voter.
Kind of disappointed not to be in any of the "look how many cyclists there are" pictures in stories about the strike given that they all seem to be taken on my commute route
I heard it on a podcast somewhere: "it's really meta because Riddler is the only villain who commits a crime against the player"
Mandelson gets sacked and an hour later there's a thunderstorm over Downing Street...
Starmer became unpopular almost immediately after becoming PM but the idea that there was a backlash because he was "too tough on the protests" is nonsense. In late August 18% of people thought govt had been too tough, 44% about right, 26% not tough enough
I increasingly wonder if this is down to so many government people still using X and mistaking that for an actual measure of public opinion. Poll after poll after poll has shown that British voters don't like small boats but they hate street violence and open racism much more.
I can't resist a good "actually they're more like guidelines"
I wish there was a "just skip this boss fight" option after you've died like 20 times with the original one, loved the game but hit a wall I knew I would never get past and gave up
Look, I know lots of people are dunking on this headline but you have to understand that it's because it's a really silly headline
I don't even care about the murders, I just want someone to build those flats
I think I hate this film
The Polish guy is from the Italian district of Krakow as well
Man's trying to alleviate the housing crisis, being blocked by a bunch of staggeringly wealthy NIMBYs living in the castle from The Traitors with pet llamas
20 minutes into Thursday Murder Club and I'm 100% on David Tennant's side
That's interesting, will pass that on, thanks
Guess that answers their trilemma of "reduce NHS waiting times AND cut taxes AND reduce immigration"
Ha, I get that with the 2007 one
If you want other bits of incredible obvious presentation advice then we're currently hiring: www.publicfirst.co.uk/jobs.html
"Adam this is like the 6th time you've asked me that"
Obligatory share of one of my favourite running bits youtu.be/wlfK51tN-xo?...
Always important when preparing slides to think about whether they're meant to be read or presented, and in what kind of room you'll be in when you show them
2. The 0% options are your friend 3. The best pre-work hangover cure is a decent run along the waterfront or canals so take your kit
Three tricks I've learnt: 1. "See if you can survive on the free food" is a young man's game. Unless you can't afford it, take periodic breaks and go out into the actual city to get food from where normal people get it.
Strong agree, I actually like the Lord Cameron /Douglas Home precedent of treating it as a retirement gig for former PMs
Every single time I go to look at Twitter there's about 20 notifications and it's mostly Tommy Robinson. I don't follow him, I don't follow any of his admirers, and yet that's who it wants me to see. Astonishing that the UK government's position on this platform remains "it's fine"
Yea it's a really odd article in lots of respects. As if anything so far this parliament suggests that the response to this government failing would be "George Osborne was right"
Monbiot is right to point out how “the centre” has been redefined. This isn’t just political drift, it’s what happens when discourse is shaped by systems that reward outrage and performance over verification.
The fact that Andrew Tate is so horrendous means that even one teenage boy admiring him is one too many, but that does risk drowning out that most of them don't like him.
I think there's a direct link between how unpalatable something is and how much attention is paid to how popular it is even if it is objectively quite unpopular.
This rings really true and it's fascinating how Starmer (a man with objectively a more normal / working class background than either Corbyn or Farage) is seen as posher than either of those two because he's much more formal
About 10 years ago I had to stay in a Britannia in Manchester after some focus groups and my colleague had booked me into a room with no window. Hotel was next to a night club and I had quite an existential crisis.
My version of this: every time I see the Britannia International I think that even asylum seekers who have escaped war torn countries probably think it's a bit shabby
There are two bodies of water between where they are and the hotel. And they're walking away from it.
Sunder is again performing an important public service in providing an evidence-based record of attendance at protests and counter protests across the country.
I can
Every increasingly mad statement is an attempt to delay the weight of realisation that will eventually hit her like a truck. At some point she'll just be found in a field swaying back and forth saying "I fucked it" over and over again
Football bloody hell
Posted that when I saw they were 2-0 down, hadn't realised it went to penalties
Genuinely thought someone was being murdered outside then remembered that my new downstairs neighbour is a Man Utd fan
Or they decide not to release them
Really enjoyed Weapons but in hindsight I'm not sure it's a spoiler to say that town has the dumbest set of cops since Police Academy
My piece on racism for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Thought about this because I've just finished Amusing Ourselves to Death which is interesting if a little outdated (but just Ctrl+H everything he says about TV for "the YouTube algorithm" and you're good)
I remember immediately thinking "Labour's going to lose the next two elections" and technically I was right
Especially surprising when he's surely busier with the football season starting
I remember being in a focus group some years ago and a participant saying "just give us the facts and figures about Brexit and we'll decide!" and an observer commenting, "all we do is give them facts and figures and it doesn't work!" What voters say they want and what works are two different things.
Rewatching Andor (like any Le Carré it's best on a re-read) and in hindsight can't believe they use Canary Wharf as the ISB headquarters when the MoJ has one of the all time great sinister looking buildings
Hats off to the District line driver just now explaining that the delay is because of "two drunk people having a fight on the platform at the next station". Detailed information makes such a difference!
It's mad that these aren't screenshots from the finale of "Hagrid: the pre-Hogwarts years", a rollicking but sometimes surprisingly moving Nick Frost miniseries which has somehow become the best thing from that universe
That if you get all of a human being's blood vessels, take them out and lay them down end to end across a field, they'll die
See this is the main reason I haven't bought an iPad since my last one died, I like having dedicated things for dedicated purposes but it does mean you end up with a lot of things!
Yea not only is this my main way of buying kindle books but sometimes if I've got the hardback of something (Failed State for example) I'll still get the kindle version for 99p because it's easier to carry around
The bit where I'm midway through a second pint and my brain goes "best enjoy this, the next one you'll pay for tomorrow"
Weekend trivia: Who is the worst Lords appointment each leader has made? Miliband: Glassman Brown: Strong second by Alan Sugar but it's got to be Digby Jones
The follow-up, always, with this is "do you want your children to go to university" or "should your children have the option to go to university"
Increase a band Horses
That just needs a ", Brian" at the end
My new commute takes me past TfL's greatest sign
God there's a lot of contenders for 2025's "What the fuck did you expect?" award but this guy...
I read this again a few months ago having first read it in my early 20s and had a proper "oh no I get it now" moment. First time was a bit too affected by having watched the film
I live not to far from the Canary Wharf hotel and honestly the only reason I know about it is because I follow you, saw one police van and that's it
The logical rebuttal is that actually it's actually the bone-deep need to ban "things other people do that annoy you"
I really want to poll this, pit British people's bone-deep need to ban things against their belief that buildings and pedestrians are merely things that get in your way when you're driving
Every 1 like = 1 questionable sartorial choice
Every Apple TV+ series that's 9-10 episodes should really be 7-8 episodes because we've just hit the filler ones with the otherwise great Your Friends & Neighbours, just like we did with Bad Monkey and Silo
I agree with every word of this. That "I drew the posters myself" scene is incredible
Gonna start using that Douglas Adams line about "we may only be 10% of the market, but it's the top 10%"
Oh that's a shame, Taskmaster is on Netflix at least though
I think it was about £40 for a year of Channel 4 without adverts and honestly I think I'd pay it every year now, it removes such a barrier to trying things now that you aren't psychologically committing to a 3 minute wait
ICYMI: British Future is recruiting for 3 posts: 1) Senior Researcher on a new project on race equity; 2) Manager for a new ‘South Asian Bridgers Forum’ to strengthen inter-faith and inter-community solidarity between British South Asians; 3) Events and Parliamentary Networks Manager [1/2]
I don't disagree with Alan but "the political class" also includes news organisations with a direct financial incentive to trigger emotional reactions. This is arguably anything but failure
Love that he's standing outside a Spoons
I'm sure that most of it is online but it is interesting that Carswell moved to a state most British people probably associate with "oh this is a film about racism" and is now coming out with this stuff
Mine is also Signs, there's a really little jump scare in this scene made worse by a woman in the cinema properly screaming at it. Then an audience wide stress relief chuckle youtu.be/aO7yO24g-Xs?...
Like I'd been hoovering Pompeii!
Always good to discover some until-now hidden part of the hoover that it turns out you should've been cleaning for the last 3 years
Today's your last chance to pick up a 25% pre-order discount from Waterstones on the definitive book analysing last year's general election - coming this autumn!
And the thing that turned my very middle class mum around on it? She overheard us watching the Mary Poppins episode
Don't know what I've done that makes them think my disengagement from Twitter is "not enough Tommy Robinson"
The effect of this on the Green leadership election will be interesting as well
Flashback to when The Independent Group was forming and struggled with the question "why not just join the Lib Dems?" and then later most of them joined the Lib Dems.
