Mahmood has essentially turned the 43 year old Chevening Scholarships, a key soft power tool of the Foreign Office introduced by Margaret Thatcher, into a dead letter

All without any discussion or debate

This is why I don’t believe Starmer’s an institutionalist - he never protects institutions.

Even granted that the Home Office makes ministers at least 50% more evil, there’s something unnerving about Mahmood’s performative cruelty

I almost missed that in a video where the former Chancellor of the Exchequer talks about "Institutional Credibility", the video misspells the word "credibility", which kind of sums this whole thing up

"beat him and chain him up in a dungeon" sounds good to me, TBH

(Oh dear, now I can't visit the US. How sad.)

Everyone saw this clearly when Russia invaded Ukraine and said, this is a criminal act. This shit is not better, it is the same thing.

‘Treat us fairly’: skilled workers face having their dream of settling in UK snatched away As government mulls doubling requirement to 10 years, the uncertainty is putting many who came to Britain to work under strain

An economically, politically and morally bankrupt strategy.

Bad for individuals, bad for families, bad for businesses, bad for public services, bad for integration and cohesion.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Starmer's ability to find the exact sweetspot which pisses off everyone is extraordinary. He's a savant.

Oh good, now we're not just complicit but actively enabling. Fucking A, Starmer.

But the Lib Dem was David Belotti, who was a different sort of horrible bastard (if you were a Brighton fan in the 90s, as I was...)

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice splitting time between Skegness and Dubai after partner leaves UK MP says says he is totally committed to his constituency after Isabel Oakeshott moved to the Emirates

Skegness probably looking more appealing now www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

THIS.

We're already discussing exit strategies if Reform gets in (my wife's on Indefinite Leave to Remain).

What incentive is there for me to vote Labour if they're normalising the same toxic anti-migrant rhetoric?

Why do they only borrow thinking from the right? Why not steal some Green policies, FFS?

This is going to be an early challenge for the Board of Peace to deal with.

I know it's not the main issue, but what's the FIFA protocol for when a host nation for a world cup attacks or declares war against a participating nation in the run up to the competition? especially when the head of the host nation is in receipt of your inaugural peace prize?

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Waking up to another war launched by the FIFA Peace Prize winner and the Most Moral Army in the World is such a joy.

Great to know the world is a better place, with no innocents dying thanks to corrupt men desperately needing a distraction.

"Let's be blunt. Let's be brutally honest with ourselves. When you lose an election in a democracy, you deserve to. You don't look at the electorate and ask them, what were you thinking? You look at yourself and ask, what were we doing?"

Keir?

Well this confirms my vote for the Greens in the locals. Nice one, Starmer.

A lot of people who were lucky enough to have never heard of him before now only know him as a loser, if that counts?

Mandelson referred to EU fraud investigators over Epstein files OLAF, the European anti-fraud office, has been asked to look into the former trade commissioner, a Commission spokesperson says.

🚨🚨Late to this but one of the biggest #EU story of yesterday was that @ec.europa.eu has referred disgraced British politician Peter #Mandelson to @euantifraud.bsky.social over his links to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey #Epstein. This is very welcome news. 🧵
www.politico.eu/article/pete...

Labour: why don't you all fuck off LOL
Labour: no not like that

obviously today is a huge embarrassment for Matt Goodwin and for Reform, which is something that we absolutely ought to celebrate, but we must also remember it's a huge embarrassment for Morgan McSweeney and Maurice Glasman and all the Blue Labour weirdos, and that's important to celebrate too :)

It’s worth returning to Monday here, to remind ourselves that the commentariat seemed genuinely astonished and deeply alarmed to discover the public are more upset about facilitating crimes against humanity than they are about the pundits’ forever war upon transgender people in toilets

Beaten by... a plumber... the Establishment candidate.

Again, fuck Matt Goodwin.

Late to this, I know, but hahahaha! Fuck Matt Goodwin.

I, too, had unfavourable opinions of McSweeney.

I, too, fear the rot runs deeper.

But at least we've not yet given Farage the kind of landslide the Farage in a frock has just been given in Japan.

There's still hope Labour will finally realise why they exist and why they have the majority they do.

It was obvious cynical realpolitik, and it backfired. But we're in a cynical realpolitik age, so...

See the follow up - and jinx

No one in a senior position in the Labour party (or any reader of Private Eye over the last 30+ years) can pretend they didn't know why Mandelson was good at what he did. And Starmer can't pretend that the Mandelson-Trump dodgy friends Venn diagram wasn't a good part of the reason he was appointed.