“a mix between the weddoes & the courteeners with the swagger of the arms industry”: uk politics in 2026

IT'S TIME

(concept half-stolen from matt #2 bcz i can't think in this heat)

Talent borrows, genius steals.

Starmer apparently staying for the full term as my MP.

Did someone mention This Heat?

NEW - MPs say Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall confronted Kemi Badenoch about her language at PMQs today where she called Phillipson “spiteful” which Kendall said was outrageous. Badenoch reported to have said “I’m never going to stop talking about how spiteful you are”

The Tories want my vote.

tbf Badenoch, who you'll remember was working class when she worked at McDonald's, called Phillipson a "spiteful class warrior". If only!

spiteful towards..the rich? I wish a bish would

Phillipson is from a working class background much like Badenoch was when she worked in McDonald's for a couple of weeks.

Burnham's dad was a British Telecom engineer doing the hard graft of 2nd-fixing category 5 cable to RJ45 wall sockets. Kind of like a less hard working electrician/plumber type trade. Less likely to get fucked up by asbestos as well!

Kemi Badenoch goes hard after Rachel Reeves.

“She didn’t even bother to come out into Downing Street to watch the PM deliver his resignation speech.

“Then she turned up to get a selfie with Andy Burnham.

“She let him down.”

lol, some of the hardcore Starmeroids are agreeing with Badenoch

What the hell is Badenoch's deal? There must a skeleton key to understanding her ideology, who she is contrarian to and when and
why.
It seems to be just Spiked magazine, or is there more to it than that?

She actually is a spiteful class warrior.

She's in the terminally online right, so her ideology is shaped by so many conspiracy theories and weirdness it's a fool's game to try to understand her.

Patrician Nigerian family, brought up to look down her nose at plebs + Christian to boot.

Badenoch is extremely horrible but on the anthropomorphic quotient she scores higher as a human being than BP, who is literally an automaton.

Badenoch seems to be in politics for the chance to attempt to humiliate others. Given the current state of UK Pol, she has had a few opportunities to try this. However because she's about a millionth as smart as she thinks she is and lacking in any charisma, nothing particularly lands apart from how incredibly nasty she is. The fact that this exposes how opposition leader is her dream role and the highest level she'll ever reach may or may not be lost on her.

And if she was leader of an opposition that had a hope of winning an election, they'd have to fire her so somebody who cared about that or was mature enough to pause the juvenile hectoring and pretend to could take her place.

So many Universities are on the brink. Might be worth having a plan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2djnz3y47o

xpost She's like Rik Mayall, not as in 'New Statesman' but 'Young Ones"

"Urr look at bogey face over there...."

(another politics thread with 'smart quotes' in the title that'll look bad for years)

Well, Kasabian have outlasted Starmer..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HLoowvCWoAAnyGe?format=jpg&name=medium

"It was a fatally prosperous forensic year."

Harris might have eaten shit but starmzy managed to fit quite a lot of extraordinary prosecutions into his short and dismal reign tbf

Kieth will always lament that he could never match Kamala's extraordinarily absolutely fucking evil feat of using her office to block evidence that would have prevented an innocent black man from being consigned to death row. But sometimes the achievements of a prosecutor is more about who doesn't get prosecuted rather than who does!

Lol how did Kamala ever lose

FT reporting that Unite and GMB are pulling out all the stops to prevent Miliband from becoming Chancellor because they don't like his commitment to Net Zero.

... on the hottest day since records began

the express has had several front pages damning net zero in recent weeks. they really have a bee in their bonnet about it.

It's a standard right wing hate totem

(Hence Unite etc etc)

Jobs Jobs Jobs

After last night's incumbent losses to upstarts in NYC, my sources tell me Dem party leadership is reaching out to an individual they refer to only as "The Fixer", and that making that call is a "break in case of emergency" situation, but he's available and ready to go to work pic.twitter.com/AFsBLUFawJ

— Will 🦥 Menaker (@willmenaker) June 24, 2026

UK unions being pro fossil fuel, anti-green energy is not in the interests of the working classes, its purely to serve the billionaires and is so on brand for them.

Sharon Graham organised a Unite protest for a more equitable share of the weapons of death industry blood money for workers, after Italian unions had organised blockades for Gaza. It's a shameful bootlicking country is this and Graham is despicable and the other unions are all right-wing garbage as well. Which goes to show how the unionisation of BAE is a trojan horse for the UK elites and how apolitical labourism without anti-imperialism and class politics is always going to serve the interests of the scumbag elites. And this all comes the back to the complete destruction of the Labour Party also cannot come soon enough.

The Economist here is providing more hallucinations on 'Red Ed'

https://archive.ph/32o0q

still grumbling about David Miliband losing 16 years later, and then the deranged rambling from some parallel universe where somehow Ed had pulled a soft coup and is the de facto unelected leader of the UK, lol a joke publication

Laughing so hard at this AI-slop I nearly forgot to ask where he was between October 2023 and April 2024. https://t.co/GM0d2R4Uur pic.twitter.com/CGbphjflRY

— bread and poses (@breadandposes) June 25, 2026

this long twitter post by AI Carns quite obviously is 90% LLM generated slop, it's quite hilarious that he would put something so incredibly stupid out. Just lots of jaunty vacuous slogans in series, and all kind of centred around the idea that there is a consensus for the UK to become an insane permanent warfare state.

Here's the lesson I learned from Ukraine and in government, and it never changes. We invent things. Other countries build them. Other countries decide. We're brilliant at the first mile and absent for the next ninety nine.

^^^
this is one of the bits he wrote himself I think, lol

As talked about here, Burnham will need to fight his MPs

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/25/bond-markets-andy-burnham-afraid-own-mp-labour

This is misreading Burnham's willingness to do a radicalism. Beside all that though, Lab MPs will not get rid of him if he went with Ed Mil and then there was some kind of radical plan for the markets and The Bank of England.

Going with Streeting as chancelllor is, needless to say, suicidal.

fully expecting eye-rolls for sharing monbiot content, but this analysis of the different political strands within the broader green movement is pretty good i think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8ic1KVmryY

Shabana Mahmood is set to sack Mike Tapp as Immigration Minister for "unauthorised remarks"

It comes after he wrote an article calling for foreign care workers to be exempt from her immigration reforms

A source says he's expected to be sacked for breaching the Ministerial Code

"He has taken possible ideas that the Home Secretary and her team were working on, and briefed them as his own to try to win a job in the new administration

tapp’s aff weather

about 90% of Tapp's schtick used to be "here comes the deportation hardman, let's go deport some subhuman scum" and now he's getting sacked for pretending to be more nuanced on immigration!

Keir Starmer is currently refusing to sack Mike Tapp despite Shabana Mahmood's request

It’s understood No 10 see him as a Minister commenting on a policy that falls within his remit

this is getting funnier

None of this fuckery about immigration and settlement was even in the manifesto. I hope she gets pissy and quits.

was going to say I hope she falls in a hole, but let's extend that to the entire house of commons

When I moved to the UK, it was on a freelancer visa which cost nothing to get or to renew. After FOUR years, ILR. No NHS fees, and no income minimums. Just letters from regular clients saying they were happy to carry on working with you. After the first renewal, the next three were basically rubber-stamped

John Major’s Britain, people…

Farnworth (Halton) Council By-Election Result:

🌹 LAB: 51.0% (+14.6)
➡️ RFM: 36.4% (-0.0)
🌳 CON: 7.7% (-5.7)
🌍 GRN: 4.7% (-9.0)
🦅 LBT: 0.2% (New)

Labour HOLD.
Changes w/ 2026.

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) June 25, 2026

My rudimentary maths tells me that Labour only won that by like 10 votes or fewer the previous time

If Burnham does the minimum around cost of living, gets privitization of utilities going, is seen to mean business around cost of living and so on, we may still get a hung parliament xp

If Labour didn't have such a stonking majority I'd have put money on them calling an election before the end of the year. As it is, I think they'll sit it out.

Greens have just overturned a Labour majority in a council by-election here (Goldsmid), so much for any Burnham bounce

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/26232410.greens-take-council-seat-goldsmid-by-election-hove/

Uh, explain?

One of the adjudicated ballots which was called for Labour read “The least harming to this country”.

Keir Starmer will not sack Mike Tapp as Immigration Minister despite Shabana Mahmood’s request

No 10: “It is not for any Secretary of State to determine whether the Ministerial Code has been followed, it is a matter for the Prime Minister alone.

lol, the line between lame duck and already dead

Greens are basically a version of the Lab left, but they are meant to be their own thing.

Burnham must meet 3 key tests:

Will redistribution of power mean ditching the broken electoral system?

Will redistributed resources mean a real wealth tax and protecting the poorest?

Will a focus on local areas come with an end to the gutting of local authorities' budgets?

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) June 29, 2026

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/30/unite-union-sharon-graham-leadership-challenge-reform-uk

How could this have happened?

The situation in Gaza is desperate. Today the UK is announcing £23m for @UNRWA to deliver vital support including food, water, education and medical support for Palestinian refugees.

There must be more aid, all crossings opened, and humanitarian agencies able to operate safely.

— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) June 30, 2026

What you gonna do if the Israeli government doesn't comply, Yvette?

England play at 1am and Starmer calls on businesses to let workers start late to let everyone watch

— Y (@tinscognito__) June 2, 2026

A rare lapse in class and perspective from the forensic idol

🚨 NEW: Peter Mandelson has reportedly been in contact with Russian spies for over 35 years

He was considered a "privileged contact" and "one of the most significant Russian achievements in manipulating UK politics" in the last 30 years

[@Telegraph]

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 1, 2026

Good things are still possible

Via Christopher Steele, the Trump Pee Tape guy.

His relationship with Deripaska is pretty well established but the rest looks incredibly weak. No idea what the supposedly payoff in ‘manipulating British politics’ is supposed to be.

Sure, just reading it as a ppl washing their hands off him piece

Mcsweeney interviewed for the first time ever, have only engaged with it (will only engage with it) via a flyingrodent summary thread too lengthy to reproduce here but rest assured it seems no lessons have been learned by anyone

Here is someone else who isn't learning.

Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country. Victims must come first.

I will ask the Home and Foreign Secretaries to review all possible options - and they should consider nothing is off the table.https://t.co/u42MdjrX65

— Andy Burnham (@andyburnham) July 1, 2026

Got to abolish prison I guess.

Abolish Labour at least

a portion of the melt left protesting that the state pension isn't a welfare benefit - which it is - presumable either because they're stupid and believe that NI is a savings account or because they're fans of means testing and don't want to face the extended consequences of that

Our next pm did an AMA on r/ukpol last week. All of the top-voted questions were about abolishing the triple lock. Points ranged from fairer distribution of wealth from old to young, to specious copmplaints that some pensioners are "millionaires" etc. The sub is fairly right wing in general, but it's def astroturfed to hell, and pretty reliably represents Overton window movement directions pushed in the media using bad faith, superficially populist talking points ("how can it be fair that when young people are struggling the state is rewarding millionaire pensioners" "oh also we need to give money to our US arms manufacturer friends"). As you say NV, it's a first and hugely symbolic step towards attacking other benefits, for people at whatever age, at which point arguments about redistributing wealth from old to young will have disappeared in a puff of smoke, as if they never existed.

the "millionaire pensioners" argument is so transparently rubbish. universal benefits ensure take-up amongst those most in need, and the tax system recovers way more than the value of the pension from those least in need. it's a Labour Right argument that aligns with the policies of other welfare state hawks. anybody who thinks they're on the left and misses this point is an idiot or a liar.

When is Starmer actually fucking off? Is it the weekend Eng have a potential WC final?

Depends if anyone runs against Burnham. If not, about two weeks.

#itwozburnhamwotwonit

To be fair, the last time England won the World Cup there was a Labour Prime Minister in office who was a slippery professional Northerner determined to milk the win for all the votes he could get.

"i will make a statement on my future in public life at 2pm..." - NF

take the money and run? here's hoping.

Always hope for the Mishima Yukio option

nige isn't that cool

If he resigns, I presume the Oarliamentary standards investigation gets scuppered. Am I wrong?

Parliamentary ffs

Always hope for the Mishima Yukio option

with a cricket bat

If he resigns, I presume the Oarliamentary standards investigation gets scuppered. Am I wrong?

House of Lords commissioner cannot investigate a complaint about a former member but I’m not sure that rule exists for the lower house, at least not that I’ve seen. The receipt and use of the money and accusations are likely something that could be pursued under other avenues. Electoral Commission scope applies to people who aren’t current MPs anyway. They can refer cases to the police etc.

Needs an electronic tag like Marine Le Pen.

what the fuck is this clown doing

he's stepping down as an mp and then he's going to run in the by election

there was also a whole big spiel about being the most attacked politician in britain

just about 10 years to the day sice jo cox was actually stabbed to death

classy guy

Is he planning to lose then get his supporters to believe it was an establishment stitch-up?

next mayor of manchester?

Any chance of the great folk of Clacton seeing sense this time?

no he wants to win to show that he has popular support whatever the findings of the parliamentary standards investigation xps

Will be interesting to see if Elon puts his thumb on the scale here.

If he'll genuinely be upset at losing bring it on.

Should the election laws be changed? resigning to re-stand is just a time wasting exercise.

Tactical voting could definitely work but it would mean either the Tories or Labour falling on their swords and that's not going to happen.

all seems incredibly wasteful and self-serving, I think he might actually have a hard time boiling this whole thing down into something sellable to the general public

meanwhile he's guaranteed that a whole lot of attention will be put on the stuff he wants everyone to ignore

This seems very odd.

I’m not a crook, so don’t pay attention to the money. Anyway, pay attention to me while I do something very unnecessary and gives everyone an opportunity to say how much of a crook I am.

Restore could eat in to a 9k majority. Hard to see him coming out of it stronger, either way. A bunch of morons who elected you the first time around still think you’re ok? Guess you must be PM material after all.

Looking pretty frazzled here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnj1GjPWbdc

The cunt's been treated with kid gloves by the media his entire political career ... then completely falls apart when he's under a bit of long overdue scrutiny. Hilarious.

what precedents are there for this sort of shenanigans?

am struggling to think of other examples, maybe there aren't that many because basically it's a pretty stupid thing to do?

Churchill probably did it.

Apparently David Davis did it and won. Zac Goldsmith did it and lost.

wondering if Neil Hamilton did it but not googling

anyway, no seppuku, no interest

Vaguely remember the Davis one, some kind of principled stand on civil liberties. Goldsmith, no idea.

In 2008, David Davis resigned as shadow Home Secretary in protest at Labour trying to increase days terror suspects could be held without charge from 28 to 42. He won the subsequent by election.

Amazing luck for Burnham.

Maybe Eng will also win the World Cup now

Just a farce, he's had more retirements and comebacks than Cher.

latest, bollox to the fake by-election

The Tories aren’t going to stand a candidate in Farage’s by-election.

Lib Dems aren’t going to stand a candidate.

Restore UK aren’t going to stand a candidate.

I’m told that it’s unlikely Labour will stand a candidate, just needs to be signed off by NEC today.

So…

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) July 7, 2026

Would be icing on the cake if he lost to Count Binface.

haha

Great chance for Count Binface to finally get into Parliament tbf.

xp!

Same thing happened in the by-election David Davis triggered in 2008, he ended up standing against 25 candidates, including David Icke and singer, Ronnie Carroll. The Green Party came second with 7.4% of the vote.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Haltemprice_and_Howden_by-election

Still crazy to me that Texans have more reservations about James Talarico than Mainers have about Platner. I don't think he's the perfect candidate by any means, but he's very much a normie Democrat who is probably not going to have a bunch of awful skeletons in the closet. Why is it so important to win Susan Collins' seat at all costs, but barely seen as necessary to take Cornyn's seat?

Because Talarico still has almost zero chance of winning Texas

or Clacton

Ruh roh https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/07/revealed-farages-5m-gift-reported-to-uk-agency-over-money-laundering-concerns

4 years to the day since Boris resigned

Well, there would be political symmetry if Count Binface stood against and won. Or even if he loses by the same percentage as the brexit vote.

How much of a following can the country get Binface? I feel like this is quite the opportunity

21 years since 7/7.

Cursed date

Tanabata :(

Good luck, UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/08/two-in-five-britons-think-muslims-cannot-integrate-in-uk-poll-finds

only a 40% racist country, could be worse

It's actually worse than that.

55% of people believe Britain’s national identity is disappearing because of diversity.

yeah but those other 15% are just gentle patriots who aren't like the bigots they just love a bit of patriotism

luckily all the libs can agree that Farage is a bad man and that's the only problem

They should do the next survey on what people think the word integration means.

Or what national identity / culture means.

Integration (AKA just another day in London) is riding the bus to Whitechapel with your hijabi neighbour to buy cheap veg and both cracking up at the take-away along the route calling itself FIVE AKHIS.

You do occasionally get ‘Anglo-futurists’ trying to explain how immigrants have eroded ‘national culture’ and it rarely progresses past bananas arguments about vape shops and Turkish barbers ‘colonising the indigenous high street’, etc.

You could probably make a much stronger case for Total Yank Victory and, globally, culture being subsumed into a kind of private-equity-Mr-Beast-Labubu-CR7-Netflix consumer identity but can’t blame that one on the ‘Boriswave’ or whatever. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone from Reform actually talk about what they want to do to promote British culture other than force kids to learn about the Armada between the ages of 5 and 17.

The Armada being a purely English affair, of course.

i guess i meant more like why is there a survey about 'integration', like what are people being asked to comment on here, rather than like questioning whether people itt know someone who is from a different ethnic or religious background.

for some people answering that survey i guess 'integration' would mean like conversion to being secular? or it would have to go further than that? idk tho. in general these surveys always seem provocative and i suspect they're made in an unscientific way. like are people itt 'integrated' into uk society? it seems a strange concept and one that should prob be rejected off the bat.

the culture or disappearing identity stuff is quite weird as it seems total fascist territory at first glance but then you think about all the softish left views about high streets, "gentrification" etc and there's a lot of preservation language there too.

don't really know how what people want from their public areas.

but then you think about all the softish left views about high streets, "gentrification" etc and there's a lot of preservation language there too.

Haven't actually ever heard any odes to the high street but I imagine the soft leftish stance you mention there to be similar to what it is elsewhere I've lived - a valuing of "traditional commerce" in the face of multinational chain supermarkets. This opposition does indeed sometimes take on nostalgic tones but I don't think it is purely reactionary in the way reform nostalgia is; after all, often the stores and stalls being defended are owned by immigrant communities.

Or, to put it in a platitude, some developments are good and others aren't.

i guess i feel specific actions about shops and who owns them are different to the generalised language of people talking about gentrification. in fact, the problem with the latter is it is quite widespread but untethered from politics or action, imo.

I dunno, it feels less untethered from politics or action than most issues ppl discuss tbh, perhaps because it is so rooted in everyday life. Discussions about gentrification tend to focus on actual purported victims and culprits (fairly or unfairly), specific markets that get closed down, specific shops that move in.

they really don't - half the time they're just about hipsters or food some other irrelevant shite. inequality would be a far more specific word and frame for how we discuss big cities.

So, bits and bobs im reading, suggest that Farage cannot resign and re-stand.

The traditional method woyld be to get the Chancellor to appoint them to the Chiltern 1000s making him ineligible to be an mp as its a theoretical 'for gain' position. But that means he can't re-stand.

I don't know how that squares with what happened to Dave Davis or whoever it was..

Of course, he could get his application refused, but that's not happened for 150 years...

Etc. Apologies for typos or mitsteaks

they really don't - half the time they're just about hipsters or food some other irrelevant shite. inequality would be a far more specific word and frame for how we discuss big cities.

Not at all my experience! There's like half a dozen markets in areas of London I don't even go to that I know of entirely because of all the discourse around their possible closures.

The gentrification bit seems strongly weighted towards London and Manchester, i think. The wider 'death of the high street' is much more likely to be around boarded-up shops, betting parlours or fly-by-night businesses catering to stuff you can't easily buy online. Like the 'death of the pub', it's probably more about further atomisation than anything else. Drinking at home, ordering from Amazon and driving to an out-of-town supermarket has none of the sense of being part of a living community that going down the high street on a Friday night / Saturday morning does - but, equally, the reaction to 'fifteen minute cities' shows a pretty strong rejection, on the right, of actually wanting to change that.

Nothing worse than work peeps or others wanting to discuss l'affaire Farage and I just wanna shrug and go "he's a cunt, that's all I got to say"

yeah it's annoying because they want to connect on a personal level and of course farage is a cunt, but if they think he's in any way the only problem we're dealing with then at best they are ill-informed and I'm not going to be the guy at work ranting about politics

"At the launch of the report – titled Britain Under Strain: The Broken Social Contract, Democratic Distrust and the Mainstreaming of Extremism"

Love how this policy researcher dreck gets ample reporting.

Ofc it definitely feels true -- by discourse and the way people vote, as well as anecdotal things I hear --that much of British society is racist, but it would include the establishment and governments that have been more than happy to lend a hand at incinerating Muslims in the middle east for the last two decades, to give one example.

If you were positively in favour of that you might also think Muslims here would not want to "integrate" either. A thing that might not at all follow, but it would be a perfect jumping off point to then say lets deport foreigners that don't speak English, for example.

The fracturing of Reform and elevation of Restore would seem to be where we are going.

tbh, I think there’s a lot of people who have generally bad views if you press them on certain things but don’t necessarily build their entire political and social identities around them in a way that being ‘a Restore guy’ kind of encourages.

yeah i think that's why these surveys, and the more daily grind ones like yougov, are mainly intended to drive things rightward. like set up to then report the worst possible corners of what might be people's views and connect them to politics and news and then to an extent policy-making, when otherwise it'd just be stuff people might vaguely think.

this is also why "improve people's material conditions" usually drives down the extent to which the average voter is preoccupied with legitimate concerns. the surveys and the news cycle are helping to centre this stuff which has been at the margins of politics for a long time prior

the "Muslims aren't integrating" crowd have clearly not met many Muslims.

So, bits and bobs im reading, suggest that Farage cannot resign and re-stand.

The traditional method woyld be to get the Chancellor to appoint them to the Chiltern 1000s making him ineligible to be an mp as its a theoretical 'for gain' position. But that means he can't re-stand.

I don't know how that squares with what happened to Dave Davis or whoever it was..

Of course, he could get his application refused, but that's not happened for 150 years...

Etc. Apologies for typos or mitsteaks

That’s not actually true, I don’t think. Zac Goldsmith resigned and forced a by election over Heathrow I think a good few years back and then lost his seat to a Lib Dem in the subsequent by election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Richmond_Park_by-election

Nv otm, also like as much as it's bleak, people's thoughts are not illegal, think whatever you want tbh, but trying to draw out everyone's instinctive take on shit they might not ever have even really considered is agenda-setting and grim. It's an erosion of privacy, as is the notion we all need some collective national opinion about "integration"

but, equally, the reaction to 'fifteen minute cities' shows a pretty strong rejection, on the right, of actually wanting to change that.

I don't know that those people have actually sat down and considered whether their lives would be better or worse if most of the things they needed were within a 15-minute walk of where they lived. The hatred just seems to be a knee-jerk paranoid conspiracy theorist response.

The 15 minute cities dreck seems like inane Americanisation that actually has very little to do with British life.

NBS otm just another term that if you asked a hundred people what it meant you'd get a hundred different answers, even if the group you chose were all people who consider themselves opposed to "fifteen minutes cities"

From what I can tell 15 minute cities is explicitly trying to avoid UK cities becoming like American cities, god knows towns here in the UK are already car-dominated enough, I welcome anything (within reason) that stops that getting worse.

this is also why "improve people's material conditions" usually drives down the extent to which the average voter is preoccupied with legitimate concerns. the surveys and the news cycle are helping to centre this stuff which has been at the margins of politics for a long time prior

― 99 gram lychee (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 8 July 2026 bookmarkflaglink

Agreed in principle and certainly this was a driver for Corbynism. Like to think it can be driven down, to an extent. Although racism wasn't extinguished in times where the UK was growing and you had near full employment. The far right was causing damage in the late 70s and so on.

But also I think it will take a lot of political will and energy to turn back from austerity. Things like climate change will make that also harder.

All of this means taking the constituency that votes Reform seriously. It would be good to stand a candidate against Farage instead of a fucking bin.

yes you need a two-pronged response. tackling inequality reduces the far right's constituency among casual racists - the voters for who white supremacy isn't the primary driver - but politicians also need to stand strongly against racist narratives and say so publicly, not pandering to legitimate concernism. the latter is probably politically more *possible* in the UK because it doesn't threaten capital directly, but it doesn't feel much more likely than dismantling the austerity state. the dainty "let's ignore Farage and his low class chicanery" stance at this by-election is the centrist uni-party at its worst.

Hello, small North Yorkshire market town dweller here. Most of the things I need are within a 15 minute walk, and my life is definitely better for it.

Although racism wasn't extinguished in times where the UK was growing and you had near full employment. The far right was causing damage in the late 70s and so on.

The UK was in no way in great shape in the late 70s!

No but in the period between post war and the 70s there was more social housing, for example, the unemployment levels were not as high as in the early 80s, as Thatcher went through her 'reforms'

But I wouldn't say that Black and Asian ethnic minorities were freer from racism then. It's a constant that the people that came here for work (because there was more demand for exploitative manual labour) were subjected to racism.

So, from all that the notion that racism could be dialled down by restoring the health of public services, a mass housebuilding program and so on...feels faulty to me.

Surprised people think parties should run candidates against Farage. It's a stupid stunt to get him attention and the best possible outcome is him having his jolly prankster vibe undercut by the only other candidate being a bloke dressed up as a bin. Also, it isn't going to make the stories of financial impropriety go away, whatever the damage they do to him turns out to be.

There will be nothing else to talk about but financial impropriety in an election campaign against a bin.

Hard to know what will come up but running people against him would just allow him what he wants, to reiterate his key messages, energise his base, and say look nobody cares about this financial stuff while changing the news cycle.

The more this is ignored or a farcical sideshow the better.

So he'll avoid all hustings, because the general public aren't bound by whatever rules and Farage will only end up repeating "I have done nothing wrong" like some Eighties Tory Politician who cannot definitively say "I have done nothing illegal"....

So, for all the fun&games of Count Binface, there's a chance he might not run so Farage gets elected unopposed, no cost of a by-election, and the rozzers are straight round...

However:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLucdKkYRwkcBM68Z60bLOxmH_V8TzFslpKwr0dQF0LQ&s=10

.. comes in as a stalking horse and ensures this happens.

Hmm....

https://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/homersphere/news/jovan-owusu-nepaul-battle-clacton

This is what happened in Clacton last time. A black Lab candidate was ordered to stop campaigning against Farage.

The danger of ignoring constituencies deemed safe or unwinnable is that it risks sending a message to marginalised communities – whether they are minoritised or poor white areas – that their votes do not matter. This leads to a “sense of antagonism towards politicians”, he added.

I know it's a different situation than an election but regardless not running a candidate and a good campaign against a party that is still odds on to form the next government shows contempt.

Elections are about accountability and the Greens and any progressive electoral movement runs a candidate, asks the questions, talks to voters that will have those different opinions. And if we want an electorate that will vote right wing parties out we better approach them at election time, for a start.

I get the cenrist uniparty argument but Restore, who you would have assumed would have much to gain from running against Farage, were the first party to say they wouldn't be running in the by-election. FWIW.

Not running a candidate is just fun & games.

The hard work would be running on your message, showing you want to defeat the right at the doorstep, asking the voters whether this MP has done anything for them in the last couple of years.

This is why this democracy is a joke, and why Reform will get close to forming a government.

It's a completely different situation to a normal election. There is no good outcome from running candidates in this scenario.

This election is not about accountability, it's someone drawing attention to themselves. They would be idiots to run against him based on some abstract principle gleaned from a situation that was not this one.

The fun and games is this by-election but it doesn't surprise me there's some theories as strong as a wet balloon suggesting the reverse.

Yeah I think main parties not running is the least worst response in a bad system. You can't allow the incumbent to dictate terms so much (part of me thinks Reeves should've blocked it even - you should not be allowed to resign just to re-run). Even after GE24 it's not exactly a swing seat.

At least we will pour scrutiny on the bin fella.

The joke isn't the bin. The joke is pretending the man inside it is some random eccentric. Jonathan David Harvey is an Oxford-educated writer with three decades at the heart of the BBC comedy establishment, writing for programmes such as The Thick of It, Have I Got News For You and Yes Minister. He's won awards, been celebrated by the media, and is hardly an unknown outsider.
So let's stop pretending Count Binface is just a bloke who wandered into politics wearing a wheelie bin.
The costume is the gimmick. The career behind it is anything but.

I’m of the belief that running against Farage would actually make it harder to talk about your own beliefs here. He thought he was setting up some tremendous trap and tbf to him, if they put their foot out, they would have got caught.

Instead, by ignoring him, he looks like a fucking ignoramous being out talked by a bin and they can say they aren’t pissing around (lol) and busy actually trying to get stuff done (lol) and actually talking about the issues (lol) instead of not taking dodgy money (lol)

Remember when we all used to say Starmer won't still be leader come the next GE? Well, I seriously think Farage won't be leader come the next GE.

would be interesting to know what specifically Nige did to upset the Murdochs

The other reason for not running in this by-election is risk of contesting the seat again in another few months when NF gets recalled for violating parliamentary standards.

He keeps doubling down on how very dare you judge me to broadcasters and the Commons, which if he is found guilty will see a harsher punishment. Boris Johnson was down for a 90-day ban for calling the committee a ‘kangaroo court’ and resigned to avoid that censure.

xp rumour mill says NF might not actually be alive at next GE.

Yes, I've heard his health is poor.

Reason for running a candidate isn't to do with avoiding or falling into traps, or what the commission does or doesn't do. You do it because you might like to talk to voters and engage them and show you are there, as one would think it's part of accountability in an electoral democratic process. Farage laying a trap is just a media narrative.

But as the people on top of the parties are very much from a professional class who have shown contempt for voters, and are very much singing to the tune of agendas set by the media you get a guy in a bin. Easier not to knock on doors.

It's August, time to go on holiday, its silly season, right?

Even if Farage dies the narratives and the racism stay. Meloni in Italy is running a very stable government, I hear.

it is to do with not falling into traps. you can make up whatever you wish in order to spout the same points you wish to make regardless, but that is why all the parties are not indulging this stunt. and let's be honest if all the parties were running candidates you'd have some other way of making the same point which could be the exact opposite to what you're saying today.

You keep spouting the same dumb shit about traps too.

We just disagree on this, no need to say I am making this up or whatever.

I am interested in a progressive movement -- like the Greens, which is the closest we have -- running a candidate. Lab and Tories practically agree with a lot of the Reform narrative.

And I'll keep saying that, because I am interested in how to get places from not voting for far right talking points. Which is still where we are going.

i didn't say you're making it up and i never mentioned traps. i pointed out that whatever the situation you would find a way to reiterate the same point. the events are not relevant to the point being made. you don't have to agree with that, why would you? i'm sure others can decide themselves.

your view, fwiw, is farage's view also as quoted today.

xpost

"it is to do with not falling into traps."

?

technicalities won't save you here

just admit all of your takes are based on 'what would my enemy think' and forming the opposite pov. in this case farage's view.

Actually I don't care what Farage thinks, I just see this in line with political parties and their contempt for voters.

The very contempt that led to the Brexit vote and is leading to a Reform government.

Binface’s creator chose Peter Cook for Great Lives:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002vx3y

the contempt for voters is calling a by-election to try to get a win about the media zoning in on your dodgy financial dealings

xpost

^^^^

technicalities won't save you here

― LocalGarda, Thursday, 9 July 2026 bookmarkflaglink

How is it a technicality to say you never mentioned traps, when you are agreeing with not running a candidate because it's a trap?

You do it because you might like to talk to voters and engage them and show you are there, as one would think it's part of accountability in an electoral democratic process. Farage laying a trap is just a media narrative.

You can do all that outside of an election campaign. Farage deciding when you do it is not the way imo.

Actually a by election where you could put in good resources is a great time do it?

And this goes for the Greens when not making a proper run against Burnham too. He is currently ready to carry on with the racist Home Office policies under Starmer.

i responded to a post of yours with the word 'trap' in it, has nothing to do with the broader argument just more risible shit. maybe your post was a trap omg i fell in the trap, oh no, you've got me.

you say labour shouldn't run a candidate, only the greens, because they are the same as reform along with tories, but earlier you cited 'a black lab candidate' being victimised by reform as an example of why parties should be running candidates? is that out the window now you've thought about it more? is that candidate pro-reform?

and given you repeatedly say reform will win the next election, and have said this at every possible juncture for an increasingly long period of time, like a few years, then what matter are events like this? if the greens ran a candidate, should that candidate be certain that reform are winning the next general election, as part of their electoral strategy?

or is that just a comfortaing way of thinking itt/when arguing online?

Well yeah so maybe focus resources on that pragmatically, not this sideshow that progressives don't have enough control of. xp

einstürzende louboutin (suzy) at 12:55 9 Jul 26

Binface’s creator chose Peter Cook for Great Lives

LG - It matters because unlike you I don't think what is good today or this week or month. I am interested in how places like Clacton go from voting Tory and Reform long term, as the situation is dire.

I focus especially on the Greens as I refine my correct initial point because they are the progressive choice. Not running is a big disaster especially for them, as it was not properly giving it a good go against Burnham.

Reform are currently very much on to either get a majority or close to. They have repeatedly polled well and made good on this in the last local elections. That's not me saying it. But long term, if we are interesting in having a functioning democracy this needs to be called out as stupid.

And long term the fight is against far right talking points and fascism. Would be good to not hold voters in contempt.

but earlier you cited 'a black lab candidate' being victimised by reform as an example of why parties should be running candidates?

Not sure what you are saying, but iirc that candidate seemed to be doing well on the doorstep and engaging the constituency but Starmer's lab forced a wind down of that campaign at the last GE. Not sure of the ins and outs of it, but from the quote I pulled out he doesn't think like a lot of them, which as we've seen is to put a Reform-lite layer in proceedings, listen to concerns and dish out racist Home Office deportations and prisons for migrants.

Talking of comedy candidates, Laurence Fox might be standing?

As a Green member in Makerfield, we had no chance of victory or even a substantial vote share. It was the right decision to save resources and energy for the Mayoral election campaign.

No, no it was "a great disaster" according to our own free riffing Donald Trump.

Wanna be a mass party actually act like one challenge

Seems their strategy has been good so far and is working for the. I remember a time not so long ago when their membership drive etc was being ridiculed here, even compared to a party that barely exists still, but seemingly they've had some success since and gained credibility there too. Perhaps they can continue to improve their electoral strategy even without help from us on this messageboard and our deep knowledge of this area.

for them*

They can do what they like.

I'll keep riffing away as I like.

Today's riff.

Ofc Lab are not going to stop selling arms and gathering intelligence for Israel. Anything else is words. Forget this 'reset'.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/burnhams-apology-over-gaza-marks-reset-moment-as-labour-seeks-to-win-back-progressive-voters

Police treating Ann Widdecombe's death as murder and hunting for white male suspect after body found with serious injuries https://t.co/mQGmMLO5bn

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) July 10, 2026

Very odd.

It is, I'd be bragging like fuck if I'd done it

lmfao

Apparently not politically motivated, according to the cops? Boo, I was hoping it'd be the start of guillotine season.

(Actually, I was hoping it was one of their own and would indicate an escalation of infighting that would lead to the collapse of all the fash parties, but obv that's a rather stupid daydream.)

they've arrested her nephew who came asking her for money last night, but it will turn out to be her jealous best friend who discovered the body. oh hold on, no, that's The Sittaford Mystery

be terrible if she was murdered by a white heterosexual guy who blugeoned her to death with nothing but the sheer irony of it

sorry that's quite a bleak thing to write in the context of violence against women, she was fucking bleak person though

nah you're ok

Farage statement: ok maybe second most attacked

First rule of Morse - motivation is generally petty

First rule of 2026 - Nazis will weaponize anything

They just created a million Ann Widdecombes

Guillotine season plz

led by donkeys new stuff is edgier than i expected https://t.co/4ZCgLCWYyw

— jake (@jakecumbrian) July 10, 2026

The guy arrested for this has now been released.

Looking forward to the true crime bollocks around this one.

maybe he lost money betting on her in Strictly

keep seeing the BBC news feature headline describing her as "fun feisty and formidable"

which part of wanting to find a cure for being gay was fun exactly

Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage said Widdecombe’s alleged murder showed that life for politicians in Britain had become even more dangerous. He said:

Our nation is a much, much poorer place without her. Reform UK is certainly a much worse place without her. I was expecting to see her in Clacton over the course of the next few days. Sadly, that is not going to happen.

Rest in peace, Ann. A remarkable, principled woman, and a truly dreadful way to die, and a terrible reflection on modern Britain.

And I do fear that for anybody in public life, or especially the political space, things have become even more dangerous.

Maybe it's you next, yes.

Load of bollocks, it's either some smackhead burglary gone wrong or someone she knew with a grudge.

I was expecting to see her in Clacton over the course of the next few days. Sadly, that is not going to happen.

Wait, he was gonna be in Clacton?

But also lol making it about him as usual.

No, he was looking forward to getting the Clacton Enquirer and seeing a picture of her doing hustings...

JE SUIS WIDDECOMBE

Counterterrorism police have taken over the Widdecombe investigation.

Spicy!

A second plane has hit the widdecombe

I wish Dawn Foster was here to troll Reform pols about maybe being Freemasons 🙃

I know I say this about everything but ‘vulnerable, socially-isolated white guy commits weird, semi-random crime’ makes me wonder which Discords he was in.

in a sense lol but also ffs nigel might have his stab in the back narrative after all

She doesn't feel like the most glaring of targets for a politically motivated attack in 2026

just imagine if this person is trans or a member of the green party, it will be bad. otoh if they are a nazi we will have another campaign to be more polite on the internet and use real names online.

Immigration and asylum bill sounds like another dark episode..

It’s horrible. People already pay huge amounts of money every year for visa renewal and NHS fees, and now they’ll double it.

Before 2003 charges for visas were minimal.

its fine though because its with a northern accent

my wife has ILR, does this mean I can no longer claim UC or any other benefits? because it's the whole household that is assessed. don't think they've thought this through at all.

You can still apply/receive benefits like any settled taxpayer.

I am still kicking myself for not doing postgrad at UK rates when I got ILR 30 years ago.

sorry what is this news about benefits etc for non-citizens?

Because right-wing parties have trailed taking benefits away from ILRs, and/or deporting ILRs who have claimed, a few people are so freaked out they think something similar has already happened.

right okay

you don't have to be a taxpayer to receive benefits btw!

They’re gonna give him one of those perfect days you give your dog before having him put down https://t.co/yRVnl1hs7b

— Agent 4ft 7” (@nathersjones) July 13, 2026

Feels kind of cruel to dangle a bank holiday and take it away if England get to the final and lose. Scotland had one just for playing Haiti!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/14/ann-widdecombe-killing-police-investigating-possible-leftwing-motivation

"Investigators are considering whether leftwing, anarchist and single-issue terrorism (LASIT) played a role in the suspect’s alleged motivation, but are keeping an open mind as new material emerges."

"LASIT"?????

there is literally like one site on the internet that uses this term. here's a chart from that site, very deep thinking going on here

https://www.protectuk.police.uk/sites/default/files/inline-images/LASIT.png

surely it should be LWASIT, I'm not going to stand for this nonsense

‘Could be left wing, could be a crank Catholic, could be an incel’ doesn’t strike me as a particularly useful category. Seems wildly irresponsible of the Guardian to frame that as ‘left wing’ when the police don’t appear to have done anything of the sort.

Yeah BBC going with the quote "targeted attack"

Dead on arrival.

EXC: Andy Burnham's team has “pretty much locked in” senior Cabinet picks

- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is now expected to become Chancellor of the Exchequer

- Opponents of Ed Miliband campaigned to stop his appointment as Chancellor. He is expected to be offered Foreign Secretary.

- A Labour insider sympathetic to Miliband said his prospects of becoming Chancellor had suffered not so much because of scepticism about his net zero agenda, but because many in the party had not forgiven him for Labour's 2015 general election defeat.

- Also in line for Cabinet positions are Louise Haigh who will be in a “beefed up" role as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a senior Cabinet Office minister who drives cross-government policy and collaboration.

- Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell and former Housing Secretary Angela Rayner are all in line for Cabinet positions.

- Cabinet expected to be announced late Monday afternoon

Starmer called Labour under the previous leader "institutionally antisemitic" at pmqs today.

Meanwhile Andy Burnham is interviewed by Gary Lineker who was smeared in the same way.

All a bit fucking schizoid really

xpost that stuff is more important, obv

Aberdeen University employee Heather Herbert has now been arrested over online posts celebrating Ann Widdecombe's death

🚨 BREAKING: Aberdeen University employee Heather Herbert has now been arrested over online posts celebrating Ann Widdecombe's death pic.twitter.com/rTK4FzHtYG

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 16, 2026

Meanwhile, remember this:

https://www.facebook.com/speechfirstorg/videos/ann-widdecombe-on-free-speech/857344429674785/

"Nobody has the right to live their lives being protected from offense or from insults or from hurt feelings. It is an occupational hazard of living in society." - Ann Widdecombe, Former Member of the European Parliament

Yeah, but Farage was also saying it's wrong that people should be arrested for expressing personal opinions online. oh wait.... (but not for too long).

Rare good news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg7gg2zdexo

about time. i see they're still discussing room for fudging but publishing a guaranteed minimum salary plus expected hours should be compulsory

also ban the "what are you earning now?/what do you expect to earn?" questions from applications

Many civil service posts will show a pay range. So reasonably someone applying thinks that if they keep their nose clean and do a good job they’ll reach that at some point. In reality they’re likely to be stuck at the salary they joined at for years. The higher salaries in the range only for those who do a transfer from another government department so that their salary doesn’t drop from their old job to new job

"what is your expected salary?" is such a fucking annoying question, ridiculous that it's allowed at all.

Lord Sadiq Khan.

... and Dame June Sarpong!

Bob Stanley’s ex-wife apparently secretly runs the country now. We’re never escaping the long 90s.

Bob Stanley’s ex-wife apparently secretly runs the country now. We’re never escaping the long 90s.

― ShariVari, Thursday, 16 July 2026 15:55 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

if there's a finer compiler of melt ex-wives i don't want to know about it

(xp) LOL that was meant to go in the St Etienne thread.

nothing can stop us now, barring an election

People, you're in a bad way

unfortunate that the spaceballs thread got bumped just when shabana mahmood's helmet-like head is all over the news

anyway woke up thinking that my hate for these fucks will still be strong, after the boys of starmer have gone

Mostly because they haven't gone, just swapped seats

Wigan Keir

One thing that’s already very notable is that government by leak and counter leak is going to continue.

Survation poll had LAB and Reform on 25% each.

Only one bit of data but from that you'd think ppl want this to succeed..

Burnham isn't Starmer, that's worth a few percentage points without him even doing anything.

the Fell For It Again Society has a sizeable membership it's true

it's not unlike the England football cycle, we should be due a few opinion pieces saying Burnham is the greatest politician of the 21st Century in a couple of weeks

Well, it’s a pretty low bar to beat.

sadly we are only weeks away from the first new statesman/observer articles from former Melody Maker journos telling us how much of a sexual frisson AB gives them.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/18/nigel-farage-clash-times-editor-reform

First let me say lol Farage is disgusting and I hope he tanks it all.

But second, it is going to be really fucking annoying that as Farage chokes so close to potentially taking over the country that we are gonna drown in northern right wing coded centrist bullshit like burnham did something amazing while still fucking the country, just because Farage has started stepping on rakes.

Green Party regretting not seriously fighting the Makerfield by-election yet?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c935yx2z9d4o

Polanski's 'tests' for Burnham a few weeks ago didn't even include climate stuff!

xxp yes the murdoch papers have decided to turn on farage, sadly this is the most important factor here and the one which will be completely ignored

Lol why oh why did New Order agree to having their song played game's gone

Breathtaking from Burnham, straight in with full cunt credentials established

I think "Blue Labour" is going to be Burnham's thing

kier starmer going to see the king

"it's a deeply personal thing and you can tell that because he's brought his kids along, which he never normally does" (tv presenter, for the same of something to say)

i suggest that's because they've just broken up for summer and it saves on childcare

The number one rule of a political adviser is keep quiet in public. To keep off social media and to be the voice behind the scenes. But just for today I’m breaking that rule.

I first met Keir Starmer more than twelve years ago when he was standing to be the Labour Party candidate in Holborn and St Pancras.

Since then I have had the privilege of being by his side. From Brexit to the pandemic, leadership campaign to election, opposition to government. Changing Labour from a party of protest to a party of change. Having the chance to do what politics is really about: improving people’s lives.

Keir is a man of extraordinary strength, determination and decency. I’m so proud of what we have achieved together. Others will judge his time in politics as they see fit. But for me I see a Britain today that is a better country because of his leadership.

Right, back to staying quiet.

Posting like this is certainly a choice

Well, he's sacked Lammy and Reeves, so brownie points for that.

And Steve Reed, who does very unsubtle mafia-style threats in his letter

Now to see who is in *screaming begins*

... and Liz Kendall.

Liz Kendall out too! With maximum cliche effusivity.

Now don't hold this against me but if Andy Burnham keeps sacking shites like Lammy, Reed and Kyle I might say something nice about him.

— Rangzen (@revoltinghippie) July 20, 2026

Hilary Benn get tae fuck.

A Chancellor called Healey? Not sure about that one.

Jesus, every bit the same level of cunt as the ghouls he's sacked

Healey specifically resigned because of, in his opinion, insufficient defence spending. The only reason Burnham would stick him in the treasury is to facilitate increased defence spending. How this squares with tackling cost of living, increasing tax thresholds, lowering energy bills, massive council house building programmes, is anyone's guess. So either Burnham's bullshitting everyone, or he hasn't got a clue and it's going to fall apart imminently.

As I said, "war socialism"/economic stimulation via rearmament is a specific Blue Labour objective. But it's a disastrous policy and won't fulfil any of Burnham's other objectives. Assuming they're not out and out lies.

As I understand it defence spending is a terribly inefficient way of growing the economy, as opposed to pretty much any other government investment. But it's the usual "impossible to tell whether they're evil, stupid or both" stuff from Labour

Healey apparently big on housing which is another of Burnham’s priorities. Not in love with the appointment but at least it’s not Streeting.

…who hasn’t yet made an appearance!

Healey is being put in because he’s a nobody who will do what he’s told, imo.

Maybe, Wes Streeting will be appointed Business Secretary (with expanded responsibilities for Technology and Innovation, and Science?) as the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation is going.

Department for Business & Trade - will maybe be renamed.

Healey is being put in because he’s a nobody who will do what he’s told, imo.

― ShariVari, Monday, 20 July 2026 20:27 (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

so why didn't he do this under Starmer and supposedly resigned on principle? Secret Burnhamite?

Jonathan Reynolds in at the new expanded Business Department.

The Department title:

🚨 UPDATE: Andy Burnham has scrapped the Department for Science, Technology and Innovation

It has been merged into Business and Trade, which will be renamed as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 20, 2026

Dbist is yet to come

We are running out for big jobs for Wes

Defence Sec
Justice Sec
Transport Sec

Nandy stays at DCMS

🚨 NEW: Andy Burnham has reappointed Lisa Nandy as Culture, Media and Sport Secretary pic.twitter.com/pjQLBfNLt9

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 20, 2026

ah, Wes Streeting to be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister?

Update: No 10 says "Digital" has been added to Lisa Nandy's department

It's now named the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Update: No 10 says "Digital" has been added to Lisa Nandy's department

It's now named the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 20, 2026

however in the expanded Business depart includes Innovation (surely Innovation includes Technology?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_for_Culture%2C_Media_and_Sport

It was renamed to Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 3 July 2017, staying DCMS under the premiership of Theresa May to reflect the department's increased activity in the digital sector.[5] The department was renamed back to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in February 2023, with responsibility for digital moving to the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Healey is being put in because he’s a nobody who will do what he’s told, imo.

Must admit to wondering if he'd made Chancellor so he could see how little money there is to spare to play soldiers.

Healey did his bit to hasten Starmer's downfall and is being rewarded.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-burnham-makerfield-labour-defence-welfare-starmer-b2995000.html

yeah i'm really not gonna work my way thru the Legion of Doom ranking them from worst to least worst

Anyone heard any more?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/20/man-charged-with-murder-ann-widdecombe-joshua-kerry

strange appointment, Wes Streeting as Defence Sec

Wes Streeting has been chosen as the new Defence Secretary in the cabinet.

— LBC News (@LBCNews) July 20, 2026

Got to stick the cunt somewhere I suppose.

Anyone heard any more?

only that he appears as a signatory on this open letter to Your Party from last year

https://openletter.earth/sign-the-open-letter-baf85a5c?limit=0

...

Doesn't seem much doubt where he lies in the political spectrum.

Jeremy crombyns off to the tower tomorrow then

Such a pity that 90% of the UK's freshwater is in one nation.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/21/not-enough-water-for-uks-datacentre-plans-trade-body-says

The UK will not have enough water for future datacentres, the water industry has said in stark criticism of the government’s AI growth plans.

this is simply untrue - the uk has more than enough water for datacentres if the thirsty oafs who live here restrict themselves to the sensible, healthy six thimbles of water a day recommended by the department of health and start shitting in holes they dig in the ground instead of using wasteful toilets

look, ensuring the uk population is adequately hydrated is the old politics

Ap brief moment of optimism: This is genuinely the kind of thing the government - any party government - are extremely vulnerable over, and I think the public fucking hate datacentres. We've already seen the results of the Green surge in pushing gov policy the tiniest bit left, even before Burnham. I think Greens under Polanski know how to exploit this, and I think Burnham does feel that pressure on his neck hairs. Ok optimism over.

> I think the public fucking hate datacentres

the daily express lampoons milliband on a weekly basis because he's against datacentres that will earn the country billions of pounds.

"Red Ed's 'suicidal energy policy' blamed for £31B data centre blow to UK" etc

The messaging is a lot more 'left-wing' in a Corbyn sorta way around cost of living, no more rough sleeping etc. Definitely the first government in a while that are looking at household bills and struggles as a day one priority.

Obviously they need to put cold hard cash back in people's pockets if they are going to have any hope of saving themselves...has to go far beyond pretty words and speeches.

Westminster Voting Intention:

LAB: 28% (+8)
RFM: 28% (=)
CON: 18% (+1)
LDM: 10% (-2)
GRN: 10% (-3)
SNP: 3% (=)

Via @DeltapollUK, 17-20 Jul.
Changes w/ 12-15 Jun.

The early polling is like thank fuck Starmer has been given the boot lol, but also you have your sometime back don't fuck it up

Where have they gained the 8 points from if the Conservatives have also gained 1 and the losses from the other parties only add up to 5?

I noticed that too - do they include undecided voters and people who weren't going to vote?

13% undecided. I guess 3% have decided...

Or whatever

There's no way there's only 3% undecided in any poll about anything.

Well, if people "don't know" they're less likely to fill in an online voting poll.

The answer when someone asked

'Others' down 2%, rest will be rounding.

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) July 21, 2026

That's some serious rounding.

let's assume the numbers are broadly accurate - the new improved dead count bounce will probably last a month or two tops

dead cat bounce

dead count is Rentoul, obv

Never noticed the similarity between Rentoul and Renfield before.

"Others" down two percent, from what? To What?

bins

I see the £2 bus fare cap back - seemed like a ridiculous self-own to get rid of it at the time especially considering how little it relatively costs.

Here’s where I remind Londoners that weekends from now to September, bus travel is £1.75 per day for as many rides and routes as you need.

Londoners as in those who live there?

Yes, obviously but also people visiting. I plan to get a few decent outer-zone dog walks out of it.

Oh, fine.

I'm at the age where I could get free trav on the London, but I'd have to live there to get it...

https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-announces-new-weekend-hopper-fare

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-21/burnham-approves-use-of-uk-bases-for-some-us-strikes-on-iran

EXCLUSIVE: Andy Burnham has approved the use of British military bases by the US for what the UK calls defensive strikes against Iran, in a continuation of Keir Starmer’s policy even as Trump ramps up his war.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2dg54vprno

In 2023 when he was the mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham called for freezes to private sector rents until the cost of living crisis was over.
But Rayner told the BBC on Friday: "I don't think that rent freezes, rent controls, is a way forward at the moment.
"Three years ago, Andy called for that because there was a significant crisis in the rental market.
"We implemented between then the Renters' Rights Act which is giving renters more power and control."

Ok glad the crisis is over Angie thx

Perfect scenario for mayors to be given extra powers, eh Andy?

My two, living in Brighton, have just about settled into new accommodation after having been evicted in a "No fault, but just-in-time" eviction.

I know of a few others that have had to do that. But, at least that's now gone as a threat.

Maybe have a look at how the LHA - the cap that determines how much people can claim for housing costs on Universal Credit - is hundreds of pounds below the average market rent in many places now. Nah, I'm sure that's not a problem.

well polly toynbee says that's actually fine and not a problem

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/24/british-people-andy-burnham-goodwill-gestures

Toynbee gonna Toynbee ffs