McDonald is asked to expand with more information on the suspect.
He says that the suspect identified as an 18-year-old female, by the name of Jesse. There is a history of police attendance at the suspect's family residence, he says, with some calls related to mental health issues.
McDonald confirms that the two people found dead at a local residence were related to the suspect. The adult female victim is Rootselaar's mother, the male youth is Rootselaar's step-brother, he says.
Talking of colonisation is quite disgusting by the loathsome Ratcliffe . This country is fxcked if Reform get in , it will descend completely into a cesspit of hate and division as they continue to other groups to appease the baying mob !
BBC leading with Andrew rather than Starmer. I appreciate they are between a rock and hard place on this sort of thing but I think the PM is more significant than Andrew.
He is, but his sins were of omission rather than commission. They don't have quite the same odour.
No one is saying Starmer is comparable with any alleged perpetrators. It smacks of the BBC not wanting to pile the pressure on the PM because that would be a bit unfair. This latest revelation is as serious as last week's if not more.
It is for us nerds. Lord Doyle isn't a household name though, or at least not in the households that read the Sun, the Mail, the Mirror and so on.
Never mind. When you are Chief Political Editor at the Beeb you will be able to choose which stories to lead with, and I am sure the world will be a better place as a result.
Chris Pincher wasn't a household name either.
Boris was though, and was a serial offender. Our man Starmer isn't in the same league.
Meanwhile, in "quality advice and contacts attracted people to Epstein" news,
Jeffrey Epstein Advised an Elon Musk Associate on Taking Tesla Private The financier recommended adding Margaret Thatcher to Tesla’s board even though she had been dead for five years.
BBC leading with Andrew rather than Starmer. I appreciate they are between a rock and hard place on this sort of thing but I think the PM is more significant than Andrew.
He is, but his sins were of omission rather than commission. They don't have quite the same odour.
No one is saying Starmer is comparable with any alleged perpetrators. It smacks of the BBC not wanting to pile the pressure on the PM because that would be a bit unfair. This latest revelation is as serious as last week's if not more.
It is for us nerds. Lord Doyle isn't a household name though, or at least not in the households that read the Sun, the Mail, the Mirror and so on.
Never mind. When you are Chief Political Editor at the Beeb you will be able to choose which stories to lead with, and I am sure the world will be a better place as a result.
Chris Pincher wasn't a household name either.
Boris was though, and was a serial offender. Our man Starmer isn't in the same league.
Britain's top civil servant Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is set to depart Downing Street - and it has been widely briefed that Sir Kier Starmer intends to replace him with Antonia Romeo.
But Dame Antonia has been at times a controversial figure - she was investigated by the Foreign Office while serving as Consul General in New York in 2017 over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination and misusing expenses.
Now Lord McDonald, who was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Foreign Office at the time, says he's tried to offer his testimony as part of the vetting process but hasn't yet heard back.
Meanwhile, in "quality advice and contacts attracted people to Epstein" news,
Jeffrey Epstein Advised an Elon Musk Associate on Taking Tesla Private The financier recommended adding Margaret Thatcher to Tesla’s board even though she had been dead for five years.
Apparently he was not a very good financier, it is a complete mystery why so many rich and powerful people nonetheless loved hanging around with him.
TBF if you want a high profile person who will appeal to your fan bois without asking difficult questions then a dead Margaret Thatcher sounds ideal
If you offered the UK electorate an animatronic AI Maggie ('a better PM dead than anyone else alive'), there would probably be a reasonably positive response. Must check whether they have taken the Andrew Rosindell-Conservative billboards down from Margaret Thatcher House, Romford.
At 5:00pm today The New Statement posted a podcast (grr). It told you that the problem with the Left is that it has no answers to 21st century problems and past solutions don't work now. The link is here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3tl-YV6QE
You don't pay me enough.
Journalists have been cribbing from PB for years, View.
I wish those muppets at the DfE would crib their education policy from it.
On C4 News : Extraordinary interview tonight with Simon McDonald - former Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office - who is trying to warn No 10 about the widely reported plans to replace Chris Wormald as Cabinet Secretary with Antonia Romeo without a new appointment process. He says ditching Wormald is “extraordinary” and he wants to talk to them about the Foreign Office investigation into allegations against Antonia Romeo in 2017 which the Cabinet Office said was investigated and dismissed without a case to answer. “Due diligence has some way to go” says Lord McDonald who says there must be a full process before any appointment. He says he’s been trying to speak to No 10 but nobody is calling him back!
Britain's top civil servant Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is set to depart Downing Street - and it has been widely briefed that Sir Kier Starmer intends to replace him with Antonia Romeo.
But Dame Antonia has been at times a controversial figure - she was investigated by the Foreign Office while serving as Consul General in New York in 2017 over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination and misusing expenses.
Now Lord McDonald, who was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Foreign Office at the time, says he's tried to offer his testimony as part of the vetting process but hasn't yet heard back.
How difficult is it to find people to do high level jobs who haven’t got problematic histories? This is coming from someone who has eschewed invitations to stand for office because I have been a terrible human being but there surely are people in the system who are just nice and good at their jobs.
At 5:00pm today The New Statement posted a podcast (grr). It told you that the problem with the Left is that it has no answers to 21st century problems and past solutions don't work now. The link is here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3tl-YV6QE
You don't pay me enough.
Journalists have been cribbing from PB for years, View.
I wish those muppets at the DfE would crime their education policy from it.
Green voters don't return the favour though, 70% of them prefer Starmer to Farage as do 75% of LDs joining the 76% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer to the Reform leader as PM.
69% of Tories prefer Farage to Starmer as PM as of course do 91% of Reform voters
Britain's top civil servant Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is set to depart Downing Street - and it has been widely briefed that Sir Kier Starmer intends to replace him with Antonia Romeo.
But Dame Antonia has been at times a controversial figure - she was investigated by the Foreign Office while serving as Consul General in New York in 2017 over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination and misusing expenses.
Now Lord McDonald, who was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Foreign Office at the time, says he's tried to offer his testimony as part of the vetting process but hasn't yet heard back.
How difficult is it to find people to do high level jobs who haven’t got problematic histories? This is coming from someone who has eschewed invitations to stand for office because I have been a terrible human being but there surely are people in the system who are just nice and good at their jobs.
They tend not to have any X factor that makes them stand out.
On C4 News : Extraordinary interview tonight with Simon McDonald - former Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office - who is trying to warn No 10 about the widely reported plans to replace Chris Wormald as Cabinet Secretary with Antonia Romeo without a new appointment process. He says ditching Wormald is “extraordinary” and he wants to talk to them about the Foreign Office investigation into allegations against Antonia Romeo in 2017 which the Cabinet Office said was investigated and dismissed without a case to answer. “Due diligence has some way to go” says Lord McDonald who says there must be a full process before any appointment. He says he’s been trying to speak to No 10 but nobody is calling him back!
Dom Cummings pops another piece of popcorn into his mouth and smiles.
At 5:00pm today The New Statement posted a podcast (grr). It told you that the problem with the Left is that it has no answers to 21st century problems and past solutions don't work now. The link is here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3tl-YV6QE
You don't pay me enough.
Journalists have been cribbing from PB for years, View.
I wish those muppets at the DfE would crime their education policy from it.
They are cribinals
Autocorrect apparently holds them in almost as low esteem as I do!
Britain's top civil servant Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is set to depart Downing Street - and it has been widely briefed that Sir Kier Starmer intends to replace him with Antonia Romeo.
But Dame Antonia has been at times a controversial figure - she was investigated by the Foreign Office while serving as Consul General in New York in 2017 over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination and misusing expenses.
Now Lord McDonald, who was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Foreign Office at the time, says he's tried to offer his testimony as part of the vetting process but hasn't yet heard back.
How difficult is it to find people to do high level jobs who haven’t got problematic histories? This is coming from someone who has eschewed invitations to stand for office because I have been a terrible human being but there surely are people in the system who are just nice and good at their jobs.
If you are nice and good and good at your job, you will get pushed behind someone less nice. It sucks, but that's the human condition. Electoral politics is an extreme example, but it's a general problem.
It's another reason to distribute power across more, smaller centres, rather than focus it in one individual at the top.
McDonald is asked to expand with more information on the suspect.
He says that the suspect identified as an 18-year-old female, by the name of Jesse. There is a history of police attendance at the suspect's family residence, he says, with some calls related to mental health issues.
McDonald confirms that the two people found dead at a local residence were related to the suspect. The adult female victim is Rootselaar's mother, the male youth is Rootselaar's step-brother, he says.
One thing is sure, Starmer is surely a dead man walking. On probation with his female MPs, hated by all the left-wing MPs, while the rest are just pulling their hair out when he says he'll never walk away. 18 Months in , huge majority, without a Scooby doo how to run a bath , let alone a country.
McDonald is asked to expand with more information on the suspect.
He says that the suspect identified as an 18-year-old female, by the name of Jesse. There is a history of police attendance at the suspect's family residence, he says, with some calls related to mental health issues.
McDonald confirms that the two people found dead at a local residence were related to the suspect. The adult female victim is Rootselaar's mother, the male youth is Rootselaar's step-brother, he says.
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
Britain's top civil servant Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is set to depart Downing Street - and it has been widely briefed that Sir Kier Starmer intends to replace him with Antonia Romeo.
But Dame Antonia has been at times a controversial figure - she was investigated by the Foreign Office while serving as Consul General in New York in 2017 over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination and misusing expenses.
Now Lord McDonald, who was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Foreign Office at the time, says he's tried to offer his testimony as part of the vetting process but hasn't yet heard back.
How difficult is it to find people to do high level jobs who haven’t got problematic histories? This is coming from someone who has eschewed invitations to stand for office because I have been a terrible human being but there surely are people in the system who are just nice and good at their jobs.
If you are nice and good and good at your job, you will get pushed behind someone less nice. It sucks, but that's the human condition. Electoral politics is an extreme example, but it's a general problem.
It's another reason to distribute power across more, smaller centres, rather than focus it in one individual at the top.
I know loads of people who are genuinely lovely who are partners of multi-national law firms, investment businesses etc, maybe it’s just politics attracts terrible people.
McDonald is asked to expand with more information on the suspect.
He says that the suspect identified as an 18-year-old female, by the name of Jesse. There is a history of police attendance at the suspect's family residence, he says, with some calls related to mental health issues.
McDonald confirms that the two people found dead at a local residence were related to the suspect. The adult female victim is Rootselaar's mother, the male youth is Rootselaar's step-brother, he says.
Have they already become part of Donald Trump's America?
Our son in Vancouver has just text to say she was a trans male, known to the police for mental health issues and had been detained for care under the mental health act
She shot her mother [39] and step brother [11] at home, and then went to the school where most of the victims were 11 to 13 and a 39 year old teacher
Our son, his wife and family, together with all Canadians are devastated and it was no wonder Carney was so emotional on tv
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
The most infuriating fact about this past two utterly dire months of weather is this: it’s not even been remotely record breaking, except for that one rather telling sunshine statistic in Aberdeen.
Wet, but not record breakingly wet. Not even particularly severe flooding. Not record breakingly mild, nor cold. Not even record breakingly dull here in London. Just bleak. A sky like a sodden dripping grey flannel. Halfhearted rain. Dawns that scarcely break.
We are living the New York Times stereotype of Britain.
Green voters don't return the favour though, 70% of them prefer Starmer to Farage as do 75% of LDs joining the 76% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer to the Reform leader as PM.
69% of Tories prefer Farage to Starmer as PM as of course do 91% of Reform voters
"There’s a lot of evidence that it might be a very special night for the Dems in the midterms."
What midterms?
We're only in mid February and it's already increasingly clear that a fair midterms would be a bloodbath for the Republicans.
Ideas of "hey lets use ICE thugs to scare voters away" assumes there are only a few pockets of seats where the threat is. But we're seeing big swings in all kinds of unlikely places.
The only winning move for Trump is not to play. National Emergency. Seditious traitors everywhere trying to overturn the immortal republic. So to protect it we have to suspend the election, especially in states where the voters have elected traitors to illegally run corrupt elections. You can have a federal election - run by me DJT where I'll win - or I will suspend the state-run elections until the traitors can be removed from office and brought to justice.
Never going to happen. They kept elections going even through the actual Civil War.
There is no proviso in America to cancel elections.
You know the xkcd cartoon on the subject, I'm sure;
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
The manner of Labour's implosion in office is quite incredible.
The fundamental problem is the lack of a sense of direction. It turns out that carrying on government with the equivalent of the Ming vase whilst waiting for the economy to turn around for you and things to right themselves is not a very successful policy. If Labour had some clear ideas of what they were trying to achieve and what to focus on they would not be getting distracted by every passing zephyr and might have some control of the narrative again.
McDonald is asked to expand with more information on the suspect.
He says that the suspect identified as an 18-year-old female, by the name of Jesse. There is a history of police attendance at the suspect's family residence, he says, with some calls related to mental health issues.
McDonald confirms that the two people found dead at a local residence were related to the suspect. The adult female victim is Rootselaar's mother, the male youth is Rootselaar's step-brother, he says.
"There’s a lot of evidence that it might be a very special night for the Dems in the midterms."
What midterms?
We're only in mid February and it's already increasingly clear that a fair midterms would be a bloodbath for the Republicans.
Ideas of "hey lets use ICE thugs to scare voters away" assumes there are only a few pockets of seats where the threat is. But we're seeing big swings in all kinds of unlikely places.
The only winning move for Trump is not to play. National Emergency. Seditious traitors everywhere trying to overturn the immortal republic. So to protect it we have to suspend the election, especially in states where the voters have elected traitors to illegally run corrupt elections. You can have a federal election - run by me DJT where I'll win - or I will suspend the state-run elections until the traitors can be removed from office and brought to justice.
Never going to happen. They kept elections going even through the actual Civil War.
There is no proviso in America to cancel elections.
You know the xkcd cartoon on the subject, I'm sure;
"There’s a lot of evidence that it might be a very special night for the Dems in the midterms."
What midterms?
We're only in mid February and it's already increasingly clear that a fair midterms would be a bloodbath for the Republicans.
Ideas of "hey lets use ICE thugs to scare voters away" assumes there are only a few pockets of seats where the threat is. But we're seeing big swings in all kinds of unlikely places.
The only winning move for Trump is not to play. National Emergency. Seditious traitors everywhere trying to overturn the immortal republic. So to protect it we have to suspend the election, especially in states where the voters have elected traitors to illegally run corrupt elections. You can have a federal election - run by me DJT where I'll win - or I will suspend the state-run elections until the traitors can be removed from office and brought to justice.
Never going to happen. They kept elections going even through the actual Civil War.
There is no proviso in America to cancel elections.
You know the xkcd cartoon on the subject, I'm sure;
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
Sad news RIP 'Actor James Van Der Beek, best known for his starring role in US teen drama Dawson's Creek, has died aged 48 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
"Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning," his family said in a statement posted to his social media accounts. "He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace."
The star was diagnosed with the disease in the latter half of 2023 but only revealed the news in November 2024.'
Sad news RIP 'Actor James Van Der Beek, best known for his starring role in US teen drama Dawson's Creek, has died aged 48 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
"Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning," his family said in a statement posted to his social media accounts. "He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace."
The star was diagnosed with the disease in the latter half of 2023 but only revealed the news in November 2024.'
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
The manner of Labour's implosion in office is quite incredible.
The fundamental problem is the lack of a sense of direction. It turns out that carrying on government with the equivalent of the Ming vase whilst waiting for the economy to turn around for you and things to right themselves is not a very successful policy. If Labour had some clear ideas of what they were trying to achieve and what to focus on they would not be getting distracted by every passing zephyr and might have some control of the narrative again.
Labour have to have lots of policy success just to stand still with the negative media environment. The Tories don't, they get to fail multiple times before thr media turns on them.
The Blair govt (which inherited a much more favourable environment) got this.
The most infuriating fact about this past two utterly dire months of weather is this: it’s not even been remotely record breaking, except for that one rather telling sunshine statistic in Aberdeen.
Wet, but not record breakingly wet. Not even particularly severe flooding. Not record breakingly mild, nor cold. Not even record breakingly dull here in London. Just bleak. A sky like a sodden dripping grey flannel. Halfhearted rain. Dawns that scarcely break.
We are living the New York Times stereotype of Britain.
In the good old days we would have set forth on ships and taken over countries with better weather. Sadly we aren’t top country anymore.
I can live with this weather - would rather it be snow than rain but I think it’s all character building. You just have to work out solutions to staying dry and entertained. It’s not like everyone is suddenly missing out on sitting on terasses drinking rose in the early spring sun suddenly.
I can’t ski this year as my knee makes Lindsey Vonn’s look functional so just dealing with it.
Green voters don't return the favour though, 70% of them prefer Starmer to Farage as do 75% of LDs joining the 76% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer to the Reform leader as PM.
69% of Tories prefer Farage to Starmer as PM as of course do 91% of Reform voters
The most infuriating fact about this past two utterly dire months of weather is this: it’s not even been remotely record breaking, except for that one rather telling sunshine statistic in Aberdeen.
Wet, but not record breakingly wet. Not even particularly severe flooding. Not record breakingly mild, nor cold. Not even record breakingly dull here in London. Just bleak. A sky like a sodden dripping grey flannel. Halfhearted rain. Dawns that scarcely break.
We are living the New York Times stereotype of Britain.
I'm sure its been fine if you live in Kinlochbervie.
It has been dire here in the Flatlands. I think we've had 10 minutes of sunshine this month.
Green voters don't return the favour though, 70% of them prefer Starmer to Farage as do 75% of LDs joining the 76% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer to the Reform leader as PM.
69% of Tories prefer Farage to Starmer as PM as of course do 91% of Reform voters
The big problem with the new “look at the real me” relaunch is that it implies that I’ve never really been in charge
EVERY political re-launch is like that. How many of such re-launches did we have to go through with Sunak, Johnson and May - Truss not being around long enough to have a re-launch?
Sad news RIP 'Actor James Van Der Beek, best known for his starring role in US teen drama Dawson's Creek, has died aged 48 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
"Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning," his family said in a statement posted to his social media accounts. "He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace."
The star was diagnosed with the disease in the latter half of 2023 but only revealed the news in November 2024.'
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
The manner of Labour's implosion in office is quite incredible.
The fundamental problem is the lack of a sense of direction. It turns out that carrying on government with the equivalent of the Ming vase whilst waiting for the economy to turn around for you and things to right themselves is not a very successful policy. If Labour had some clear ideas of what they were trying to achieve and what to focus on they would not be getting distracted by every passing zephyr and might have some control of the narrative again.
Three significant policy announcements this week. One a day. Manifesto commitments.
The right wing media block it out They claim paralysis
Sad news RIP 'Actor James Van Der Beek, best known for his starring role in US teen drama Dawson's Creek, has died aged 48 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
"Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning," his family said in a statement posted to his social media accounts. "He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace."
The star was diagnosed with the disease in the latter half of 2023 but only revealed the news in November 2024.'
Bowel cancer screening in UK from 50 - 74 is available and should be used by everyone who qualifies
Indeed, my father had bowel cancer but survived post surgery, sadly given Van Der Beek was 48 he was younger even than the standard scanning age for the disease. He was a father of 6 so sad for them too
It's a bit early 2000s to complain that the media is a pure right wing echo space. It's a tawdry story about a once powerful man, prone to scandals, who has deep connections to the governing party of the UK and is tied to an even wider scandal that has global reach, of course it ticks all the boxes to get mass media attention.
When a political party is reduced to complaining that the media is unfair you know they are in deep trouble - even when it is true, it is the job of a political party to overcome such things. Which they can, and they spend time telling everyone how they defeated the traditional media etc who tried to take them down.
Probably a more fruitful area for them. The very centre are either with perennially indecisive LD supporters, or are not going anywhere as the Tories remain toxic to the centrists.
Indeed, it feels like with the Tories still needing to eat into support to their right, and Labour to their left, the centre is both more isolated and probably reduced in scale.
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
The manner of Labour's implosion in office is quite incredible.
The fundamental problem is the lack of a sense of direction. It turns out that carrying on government with the equivalent of the Ming vase whilst waiting for the economy to turn around for you and things to right themselves is not a very successful policy. If Labour had some clear ideas of what they were trying to achieve and what to focus on they would not be getting distracted by every passing zephyr and might have some control of the narrative again.
Labour have to have lots of policy success just to stand still with the negative media environment. The Tories don't, they get to fail multiple times before thr media turns on them.
The Blair govt (which inherited a much more favourable environment) got this.
Sunak's government faced an overwhelmingly negative press and media where getting credit even for the things going right was impossible. I think that you are wrong to suggest that there is a political slant to the negativity faced by this government, it is more the way that modern media works. Negative headlines generate clickbait and that is what it is all about.
It's a bit early 2000s to complain that the media is a pure right wing echo space. It's a tawdry story about a once powerful man, prone to scandals, who has deep connections to the governing party of the UK and is tied to an even wider scandal that has global reach, of course it ticks all the boxes to get mass media attention.
When a political party is reduced to complaining that the media is unfair you know they are in deep trouble - even when it is true, it is the job of a political party to overcome such things. Which they can, and they spend time telling everyone how they defeated the traditional media etc who tried to take them down.
Especially pitiful when they brand the all the media as right wing
Same as all the whataboutery and it just seems so desperate
The big problem with the new “look at the real me” relaunch is that it implies that I’ve never really been in charge
He is now so watch out.
Same could be said of Cummings and Boris and Timothy and May, Campbell and Blair.
So what you are saying is that he has sat on his arse since the election and is only now going to start doing things? He has a huge majority and could steamroll things through but now he’s found the steel his father made tools with. He’s an absolute wet wipe.
Britain's top civil servant Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is set to depart Downing Street - and it has been widely briefed that Sir Kier Starmer intends to replace him with Antonia Romeo.
But Dame Antonia has been at times a controversial figure - she was investigated by the Foreign Office while serving as Consul General in New York in 2017 over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination and misusing expenses.
Now Lord McDonald, who was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Foreign Office at the time, says he's tried to offer his testimony as part of the vetting process but hasn't yet heard back.
How difficult is it to find people to do high level jobs who haven’t got problematic histories? This is coming from someone who has eschewed invitations to stand for office because I have been a terrible human being but there surely are people in the system who are just nice and good at their jobs.
Anyone who has held executive or high level roles in the private and public sector will know the scenario well.
A highly suitable candidate with flair and ability, the ability to think outside the box but with a few blots on their copy book
Coming up against an interfering HR department with a process matrix and a clear idea of a candidate with no flair, little desire but who ticks the boxes and the latest in vogue personality test.
"There’s a lot of evidence that it might be a very special night for the Dems in the midterms."
What midterms?
We're only in mid February and it's already increasingly clear that a fair midterms would be a bloodbath for the Republicans.
Ideas of "hey lets use ICE thugs to scare voters away" assumes there are only a few pockets of seats where the threat is. But we're seeing big swings in all kinds of unlikely places.
The only winning move for Trump is not to play. National Emergency. Seditious traitors everywhere trying to overturn the immortal republic. So to protect it we have to suspend the election, especially in states where the voters have elected traitors to illegally run corrupt elections. You can have a federal election - run by me DJT where I'll win - or I will suspend the state-run elections until the traitors can be removed from office and brought to justice.
Never going to happen. They kept elections going even through the actual Civil War.
There is no proviso in America to cancel elections.
You know the xkcd cartoon on the subject, I'm sure;
No President has sought to cancel (or manipulate into meaninglessness) elections... before.
The problem Team Trump have is that they are in a lot of trouble if they hand over power to anyone else. Are they really going to take the risk?
Really?
Pam Bondi's behaviour in testifying (sic) to Congress certainly does not suggest someone who thinks the Democrats will ever be in power again,
Whether they will succeed is an unknown but it is not realistic or credible to think that the current USA regime intend to run any risk of losing their grip on power. Their actions so far give the clearest indications of the sorts of lengths they will go to.
It is likely that they will prefer to keep hold of power by means where the criminality involved in deniable - such as fixing and rigging behind the scenes rather than abolishing elections altogether - but I don't really doubt that doing away with even a semblance of free and fair elections is what they will do if they have to.
Fact: with William Hill, Donald Trump 7/2 to be the Republican nominee and 5/1 to win in 2028, in an election he can't stand in if the rule of law prevailed. That is a low level of confidence in the rule of law. DYOR, bet accordingly. I am not entering that market above 20p.
The big problem with the new “look at the real me” relaunch is that it implies that I’ve never really been in charge
He is now so watch out.
Same could be said of Cummings and Boris and Timothy and May, Campbell and Blair.
So what you are saying is that he has sat on his arse since the election and is only now going to start doing things? He has a huge majority and could steamroll things through but now he’s found the steel his father made tools with. He’s an absolute wet wipe.
It reminds me of his speech celebrating Labour's first year in government when he said Labour had done the "hard yards" and delivery was just around the corner...
Green voters don't return the favour though, 70% of them prefer Starmer to Farage as do 75% of LDs joining the 76% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer to the Reform leader as PM.
69% of Tories prefer Farage to Starmer as PM as of course do 91% of Reform voters
Think back to the days of three parties. There were fairly regular polls showing that, if the Lib Dems could get into a head-to-head, they would win. In a forced Lib-Con choice, enough Lab voters would go yellow; same for Conservatives in a forced Lib-Lab choice.
It never worked out like that, because the Liberals/Alliance/Lib Dems could never break through into the top two on a stable basis. Hence the invention of "can't win here" barcharts and clip art showing exactly two horses in the race. (Had a Romford byelection ever happened, I wonder if they would have done the same with greyhounds?)
It's good for Kemi, and good for the Conservatives, that they have improved on this basis. But it's also an indication of how far they are from actuallly winning. I'm with HYUFD and Eagles- she may have taken on an impossible gig, but her party isn't ahead of The Worst Government Ever (allegedly), and that's a problem.
Green voters don't return the favour though, 70% of them prefer Starmer to Farage as do 75% of LDs joining the 76% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer to the Reform leader as PM.
69% of Tories prefer Farage to Starmer as PM as of course do 91% of Reform voters
Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer · 24m Offensive and wrong.
Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country.
Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.
Happy to take his hospitality though:
Oh, I see, the prime minister, terrible as he is, has failed to recognise what someone was going to say in the future and accepted his hospitality before he said it.
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
The manner of Labour's implosion in office is quite incredible.
The fundamental problem is the lack of a sense of direction. It turns out that carrying on government with the equivalent of the Ming vase whilst waiting for the economy to turn around for you and things to right themselves is not a very successful policy. If Labour had some clear ideas of what they were trying to achieve and what to focus on they would not be getting distracted by every passing zephyr and might have some control of the narrative again.
Labour have to have lots of policy success just to stand still with the negative media environment. The Tories don't, they get to fail multiple times before thr media turns on them.
The Blair govt (which inherited a much more favourable environment) got this.
Sunak's government faced an overwhelmingly negative press and media where getting credit even for the things going right was impossible. I think that you are wrong to suggest that there is a political slant to the negativity faced by this government, it is more the way that modern media works. Negative headlines generate clickbait and that is what it is all about.
Actually I think the media climate in 2024 was fairly enthusiastic about a new Labour broom and felt there was mileage in the stories of this massive majority and reasonably decent man who could put things right. The failure is not in the media but in Labour planning and communications. No-one minded the Ming vase, as long as there was a popular and working plan to be revealed.
As to the media generally, the 'right wing' bias is overdone. BBC, Guardian, Mirror, FT, Sky, Ch4, LBC, ITV are in no sense anti progressive outlets. (I never see the Mail or Express. Does anyone read them these days apart from James O'Brien who uses his progressive platform daily to bewail the fact that there is no progressive platform.)
Starmer really is fucking useless. It’s bittersweet for the few of us who supported Rishi before the election where Starmer was unapologetically deluging Rishi in his pompous nonsense about being the grown ups. At least Rishi understood global finance.
The staggering thing in all f this contrived Epstein / Mandelson / Andrew / but make Starmer the fall guy right wing media plot isn't who has played along with it and is obsessed with it, Badenoch, Davey, Fynn but who hasn't.
Farage has passed comment when asked Polanski has passed comment when asked
Now it may be that they are focused on Elections
It may be in the case of Farage that he wants to keep his head down
I'm pretty damn sure though that the public will see them as far more serious about REAL LIFE and reality come voting time.
Something Badenoch, Davey and Flynn may live to regret. It may in a paradoxical way be the making of the real Keir Starmer too.
Opposite Day motions spent on puerile pointless gesture politics will be very badly received at times when people want politics to grow up ans represent them.
It seemed odd that the Canadian shooter was a brown-haired girl. Well .. Jesse Van Rootselaar, who was born male but identified as female, shot and killed his mother and brother at home on Tuesday before killing four students and one teacher at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia.
It seemed odd that the Canadian shooter was a brown-haired girl. Well .. Jesse Van Rootselaar, who was born male but identified as female, shot and killed his mother and brother at home on Tuesday before killing four students and one teacher at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia.
What have we done to children where some feel their only outlet is to shoot people or stab people. I was speaking to a family member earlier and we couldn’t think of it being a “thing” in the last. It’s tragic.
Emma Lewell told the PM about her anger, having spent years working in child protection services.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
It seems that is being ascribed entirely to the Epstein business, but there's another business closer to home that we aren't allowed to mention on here.
The staggering thing in all f this contrived Epstein / Mandelson / Andrew / but make Starmer the fall guy right wing media plot isn't who has played along with it and is obsessed with it, Badenoch, Davey, Fynn but who hasn't.
Farage has passed comment when asked Polanski has passed comment when asked
Now it may be that they are focused on Elections
It may be in the case of Farage that he wants to keep his head down
I'm pretty damn sure though that the public will see them as far more serious about REAL LIFE and reality come voting time.
Something Badenoch, Davey and Flynn may live to regret. It may in a paradoxical way be the making of the real Keir Starmer too.
Opposite Day motions spent on puerile pointless gesture politics will be very badly received at times when people want politics to grow up ans represent them.
If Starmer hadn’t been such a pompous holier than thou arse then he could get away with it. He was so he can’t.
Ratcliffe's comments on benefits are interesting. According to the Government:
24 million people claimed some combination of DWP benefits at February 2025. Of these:
13.2 million were of State Pension Age (including those in receipt of their State Pension)
10 million were of Working Age
800,000 were under 16 (and in receipt of Disability Living Allowance as a child)
More than half of those getting benefits are getting the State pension reflecting the truth more than 20% of the population is at or above pensionable age. The number on Universal Credit is about 8 million and only 80,000 get JobSeeker's allowance.
The staggering thing in all f this contrived Epstein / Mandelson / Andrew / but make Starmer the fall guy right wing media plot isn't who has played along with it and is obsessed with it, Badenoch, Davey, Fynn but who hasn't.
Farage has passed comment when asked Polanski has passed comment when asked
Now it may be that they are focused on Elections
It may be in the case of Farage that he wants to keep his head down
I'm pretty damn sure though that the public will see them as far more serious about REAL LIFE and reality come voting time.
Something Badenoch, Davey and Flynn may live to regret. It may in a paradoxical way be the making of the real Keir Starmer too.
Opposite Day motions spent on puerile pointless gesture politics will be very badly received at times when people want politics to grow up ans represent them.
A post that defies believe
There are real victims here, Mandelson and AMW face the most serious charges immaginable and a scandal that threatens the goverment and royal family
I am not sure why you post this embarrassing nonsense, because it does you no favours or ironically labour
On free and fair elections in November. Trump does calibrate things on this stuff - ICE in, ICE out, coded words on Jan 6th, just pick Maduro up.
The question is how much does he need to rig the the elections in reality, having gone down the line of running by fiat with few courts able to stop him.
Impeachment itself requires a supermajority at points, the Dems are not going to get that. He thinks senators schmenators. He could get into battles, hearings, money bills and shutdowns - grist to the mill, he's still Pres, creating a theater where he is under threat but not enough for defeat is his MO. His real threat comes from the 25th and that is outwith the electoral process.
There is also the risk after a blatantly stolen election that 20 million scendono in piazza (love that phrase) and a, mostly normal, security apparatus who have grown up with democracy don't have the numbers or the will to enforce something of terror.
So, I wonder if we merely get turbocharged, normal for Norfolk, Virginia, gerrymandering, voter suppression and the like, but no more, simply because more isn't needed and brings its own risks.
Ratcliffe's comments on benefits are interesting. According to the Government:
24 million people claimed some combination of DWP benefits at February 2025. Of these:
13.2 million were of State Pension Age (including those in receipt of their State Pension)
10 million were of Working Age
800,000 were under 16 (and in receipt of Disability Living Allowance as a child)
More than half of those getting benefits are getting the State pension reflecting the truth more than 20% of the population is at or above pensionable age. The number on Universal Credit is about 8 million and only 80,000 get JobSeeker's allowance.
You would of thought as someone who penny pinches every part of Man Utd operations he would appreciate the Government subsidy that Universal Credit gives companies by allowing them to pay workers less than they need for their family to live.
Thinks who the f##k is using Mistral crap models*...checks article...governments.
* absolutely miles behind all the US and Chinese players.
We've been benchmarking real time speech to text, and the latest Mistral model is the first to beat OpenAI's Whisper. We're probably going to switch over to it.
I thought Inworld had the best model these days.
Mistral no where near on LLM, coding, text to image / video, etc. They are surviiving because EU governments are buying their services, not because the best, but because of this French push to get away from US dominance.
We are truly in the future. We have supranational blocs competing with each other, each advised by their own national AIs.
I tend to think the UK should have its own AI, for very similar reasons. It's a cultural ark. And it could similarly get off the ground by our public services using it exclusively.
Comments
Have they already become part of Donald Trump's America?
Although let me rephrase that.
I'm not sure what proportion of the 4% was born female.
And don't get me started on patriarchal mysoginists.
https://x.com/Channel4News/status/2021678690203996670
Britain's top civil servant Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is set to depart Downing Street - and it has been widely briefed that Sir Kier Starmer intends to replace him with Antonia Romeo.
But Dame Antonia has been at times a controversial figure - she was investigated by the Foreign Office while serving as Consul General in New York in 2017 over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination and misusing expenses.
Now Lord McDonald, who was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Foreign Office at the time, says he's tried to offer his testimony as part of the vetting process but hasn't yet heard back.
On C4 News : Extraordinary interview tonight with Simon McDonald - former Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office - who is trying to warn No 10 about the widely reported plans to replace Chris Wormald as Cabinet Secretary with Antonia Romeo without a new appointment process. He says ditching Wormald is “extraordinary” and he wants to talk to them about the Foreign Office investigation into allegations against Antonia Romeo in 2017 which the Cabinet Office said was investigated and dismissed without a case to answer. “Due diligence has some way to go” says Lord McDonald who says there must be a full process before any appointment. He says he’s been trying to speak to No 10 but nobody is calling him back!
58% of Tory voters and 60% of LDs join the 72% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer as PM to the Green leader.
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/2021646735039459482?s=20
Green voters don't return the favour though, 70% of them prefer Starmer to Farage as do 75% of LDs joining the 76% of Labour voters who prefer Starmer to the Reform leader as PM.
69% of Tories prefer Farage to Starmer as PM as of course do 91% of Reform voters
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/2021647565507506400?s=20
If you are nice and good and good at your job, you will get pushed behind someone less nice. It sucks, but that's the human condition. Electoral politics is an extreme example, but it's a general problem.
It's another reason to distribute power across more, smaller centres, rather than focus it in one individual at the top.
Mass shootings are a very male activity, for whatever reason.
She said: “I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts when people are screaming at me in the street that I am a member of the ‘peado protectors party’."
https://x.com/breeallegretti/status/2021655814579319078
She shot her mother [39] and step brother [11] at home, and then went to the school where most of the victims were 11 to 13 and a 39 year old teacher
Our son, his wife and family, together with all Canadians are devastated and it was no wonder Carney was so emotional on tv
May the victims rest in peace
Wet, but not record breakingly wet. Not even particularly severe flooding. Not record breakingly mild, nor cold. Not even record breakingly dull here in London. Just bleak. A sky like a sodden dripping grey flannel. Halfhearted rain. Dawns that scarcely break.
We are living the New York Times stereotype of Britain.
I thought you were a conservative and would be pleased
https://x.com/i/status/2021311990392852903
I think convictions are 75% male / 25% female but get gradually more male the more serious the crime?
She's no genius. She has discovered a simple heuristic that has led to career success: do exactly what Trump wants.
She's not playing 4D chess; she's doing what Trump wants, because that has what's worked thus far.
---
Edited, because too much repetition.
https://x.com/i/status/2021518174852956322
*Is that the right word? I'm at the outer edges of my understanding here and may well be wrong.
"Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning," his family said in a statement posted to his social media accounts. "He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace."
The star was diagnosed with the disease in the latter half of 2023 but only revealed the news in November 2024.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3x0lnyxd3o
RiP
The Blair govt (which inherited a much more favourable environment) got this.
I can live with this weather - would rather it be snow than rain but I think it’s all character building. You just have to work out solutions to staying dry and entertained. It’s not like everyone is suddenly missing out on sitting on terasses drinking rose in the early spring sun suddenly.
I can’t ski this year as my knee makes Lindsey Vonn’s look functional so just dealing with it.
It has been dire here in the Flatlands. I think we've had 10 minutes of sunshine this month.
24 hour right wing media in UK
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/11/reform-drops-green-tory-ben-goldsmith-after-rural-backlash/
The right wing media block it out
They claim paralysis
The facts are anything but paralysis
Possibly bigger as royals involved.
Jeez.
When a political party is reduced to complaining that the media is unfair you know they are in deep trouble - even when it is true, it is the job of a political party to overcome such things. Which they can, and they spend time telling everyone how they defeated the traditional media etc who tried to take them down.
Indeed, it feels like with the Tories still needing to eat into support to their right, and Labour to their left, the centre is both more isolated and probably reduced in scale.
Same could be said of Cummings and Boris and Timothy and May, Campbell and Blair.
Same as all the whataboutery and it just seems so desperate
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aGDyTlrgyCY
@Keir_Starmer
·
24m
Offensive and wrong.
Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country.
Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.
A highly suitable candidate with flair and ability, the ability to think outside the box but with a few blots on their copy book
Coming up against an interfering HR department with a process matrix and a clear idea of a candidate with no flair, little desire but who ticks the boxes and the latest in vogue personality test.
No difference here.
It is likely that they will prefer to keep hold of power by means where the criminality involved in deniable - such as fixing and rigging behind the scenes rather than abolishing elections altogether - but I don't really doubt that doing away with even a semblance of free and fair elections is what they will do if they have to.
Fact: with William Hill, Donald Trump 7/2 to be the Republican nominee and 5/1 to win in 2028, in an election he can't stand in if the rule of law prevailed. That is a low level of confidence in the rule of law. DYOR, bet accordingly. I am not entering that market above 20p.
Think back to the days of three parties. There were fairly regular polls showing that, if the Lib Dems could get into a head-to-head, they would win. In a forced Lib-Con choice, enough Lab voters would go yellow; same for Conservatives in a forced Lib-Lab choice.
It never worked out like that, because the Liberals/Alliance/Lib Dems could never break through into the top two on a stable basis. Hence the invention of "can't win here" barcharts and clip art showing exactly two horses in the race. (Had a Romford byelection ever happened, I wonder if they would have done the same with greyhounds?)
It's good for Kemi, and good for the Conservatives, that they have improved on this basis. But it's also an indication of how far they are from actuallly winning. I'm with HYUFD and Eagles- she may have taken on an impossible gig, but her party isn't ahead of The Worst Government Ever (allegedly), and that's a problem.
Did we send Arsenal?
Yes, terrible...
As to the media generally, the 'right wing' bias is overdone. BBC, Guardian, Mirror, FT, Sky, Ch4, LBC, ITV are in no sense anti progressive outlets. (I never see the Mail or Express. Does anyone read them these days apart from James O'Brien who uses his progressive platform daily to bewail the fact that there is no progressive platform.)
Farage has passed comment when asked
Polanski has passed comment when asked
Now it may be that they are focused on Elections
It may be in the case of Farage that he wants to keep his head down
I'm pretty damn sure though that the public will see them as far more serious about REAL LIFE and reality come voting time.
Something Badenoch, Davey and Flynn may live to regret. It may in a paradoxical way be the making of the real Keir Starmer too.
Opposite Day motions spent on puerile pointless gesture politics will be very badly received at times when people want politics to grow up ans represent them.
Well ..
Jesse Van Rootselaar, who was born male but identified as female, shot and killed his mother and brother at home on Tuesday before killing four students and one teacher at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia.
Dave Throup
@DaveThroup
January deluge. Little 🧵
Most of England was wet but the south was wettest.
8 sub catchments in the SW saw their wettest January since records began in 1871.
https://x.com/DaveThroup/status/2021597146978361429
24 million people claimed some combination of DWP benefits at February 2025. Of these:
13.2 million were of State Pension Age (including those in receipt of their State Pension)
10 million were of Working Age
800,000 were under 16 (and in receipt of Disability Living Allowance as a child)
More than half of those getting benefits are getting the State pension reflecting the truth more than 20% of the population is at or above pensionable age. The number on Universal Credit is about 8 million and only 80,000 get JobSeeker's allowance.
There are real victims here, Mandelson and AMW face the most serious charges immaginable and a scandal that threatens the goverment and royal family
I am not sure why you post this embarrassing nonsense, because it does you no favours or ironically labour
The question is how much does he need to rig the the elections in reality, having gone down the line of running by fiat with few courts able to stop him.
Impeachment itself requires a supermajority at points, the Dems are not going to get that. He thinks senators schmenators. He could get into battles, hearings, money bills and shutdowns - grist to the mill, he's still Pres, creating a theater where he is under threat but not enough for defeat is his MO. His real threat comes from the 25th and that is outwith the electoral process.
There is also the risk after a blatantly stolen election that 20 million scendono in piazza (love that phrase) and a, mostly normal, security apparatus who have grown up with democracy don't have the numbers or the will to enforce something of terror.
So, I wonder if we merely get turbocharged, normal for Norfolk, Virginia, gerrymandering, voter suppression and the like, but no more, simply because more isn't needed and brings its own risks.