Gemmill

Thornberry, who was Shadow AG, has been overlooked for the main gig. Only one so far, I think.

How was that not a pen?

The fucking lucky bastard Germans.

Paul Mitchell discovery Dani Olmo has just scored for Spain v Germany.

Listen to that podcast I posted earlier. Finkelstein reckons it'll come down to Badenoch, Tugenhadt, and Cleverly, and that Badenoch is the likely winner. He also says he doesn't think whoever wins it will be the next Tory PM.

Mandelson calling Ashworth "a casualty of the Gaza war"

Can't remember if this got posted or not. Gutted he got cut off just as he was getting into it.

They've got 5 now. Oh noes! Here's his bio: https://www.reformparty.uk/south-basildon-and-east-thurrock-constituency Definitely looks to be at the more polished end of their range of candidates. Although he also manages to say in the same actual sentence how big a fan he is of both tax cuts and supporting the NHS and education.

Totally agree. Honestly it was otherworldly last night watching cabinet member after cabinet member lose their seat, coming back to the studio and Kuennsberg's literal first take being "but look, the Labour vote share has barely moved!" You were watching a Labour landslide unfold and being gaslit into believing it was going badly for them. I dare say it's worked on loads of people.

Strong recommend for this if your worrying about Labour losing to a unite the right vote at the next election. Finkelstein is excellent and a proper brain (and a Tory) and does a pretty good job of dismantling the idea that you can just add up the Tory and Reform vote and give Labour real problems, for two reasons : Firstly, this completely ignores the fact that the Lib Dems have effectively joined the two party system. A big part of their success came from Labour voters in seats that would never return a Labour candidate voting Lib Dems. That's getting missed in the analysis. Secondly, on the unite the right point. He makes the point that the Tories have won elections before where they haven't wob seats like Hartlepool, but they've NEVER won elections before where they haven't won places like Chichester and Surrey Heath. And you don't win those places back by joining forces with Reform. Give it a lesson while you're pottering about the place or walking the dog, it's well worth it. Mandelson also points out that the "well this isn't as good as Blair's majority" line is nonsense (even though he was saying it last night), because Labour in 97 had had two elections prior to that where they'd been making progress and building support. This time they've gone from record defeat, to landslide in one electoral cycle. Given that context, OF COURSE their majority looks a bit brittle. But I'd rather he where they currently are, than where the Tories currently are.

And btw, this is one of the reasons why Tories and the Tory press fucking hate and are scared of her.

I love this. Forced by her employer to go and listen to this fucking baboon, and using facial expressions as her silent protest against it all. Get her invited to Number 10.

Stealing a line from somebody else on a recent podcast, but having a 44 year old grandmother who was pregnant at 16, and living with a mam that couldn't read, appointed Deputy PM is not nothing. There'll be loads of people looking at that today and thinking "fucking hell, that could be me", who would NEVER have thought that before.

Seen a couple of clips but I'm not watching cos I can't bear the man. He's gonna fucking HATE being an MP though. It's gonna bore the tits off him. This isn't the European Parliament where he's gonna be representing one of the major nation States and he can go and make his gob go and be listened to. And btw even that bored the tits off him and he never went. His voice in Parliament is gonna be fucking tiny and his finances and all of his MPs are gonna come under scrutiny. Remember when Galloway won and we were all told he was gonna be Starmer's worst nightmare. I haven't heard a fucking peep out of him since then. The political press with Farage are like how David Brent is with Finchy. "Oh... Here he is. *stifled giggle* Big Nige. Bet you're here to sort us all out are you Nige? *giggle* He's mental this one. You just watch what he's gonna do now, it's gonna be CARNAGE." They should all hang their heads.

Starmer's missus is the best looking PM's wife of my lifetime as well.

It's gonna be much easier to ignore politics very soon imo. The first time a cabinet member does something dodgy and is having to resign the next day, you'll feel a slight loosening of the knot in your shoulders. Loads of stuff that you used to just be able to expect from people in government that we've all forgot was just taken for granted is gonna come back, cos it's the easiest way in the world for Starmer to underline that this lot are different. We've all got addicted to being enraged by the people in charge, and I think and hope that that will be the first very tangible thing to change. Then hopefully people the bigger stuff will come. I've had a couple of hours kip so I'm gonna watch the walk to Downing Street and the speech. 👍

KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!

If I could give you back your e-coli, I would do it right now.

STOP THIS NOW! Labour has just won a landslide man. I don't want to hear your 1930s Germany comparisons.

If Labour sit on their hands and do nothing for the next 5 years, and you re-run last night's election with a Unite the Right party that could attract all of the votes from both lunatic Reform people AND moderate Tories in the home counties, then yes, Labour would be in trouble. Basically.. Can we just wait and see what happens. What happens at the next election will depend on many variables, but the biggest of all will be how well the government delivers, and we're on day 0 at the minute and trying to work out what happens 5 years from now. It's the idiotic political media in this country to blame. They all want to make RED HOT takes the day of the result. These are the same people who, on the day of the result 5 years ago, had everyone convinced that Labour could just completely forget about regaining power for the next 10 years. And yet here we are. I've had 1 hour sleep, so if this seems snippy, TOUGH SHIT!

Cletus has just left. When he turned up I had a smart electric meter that could transmit a signal and a smart gas meter that couldnt. I now have a smart electric meter AND a smart gas meter that can't transmit a signal. Which was well worth the 2.5 hours sat propping my eyelids open.

A catamaran man's got to man his catamaran.

Another sensible take.