David Herdson
Part-time writer. Political activist. Fan of Bradford City and rail travel (amongst other things). Bibliophile. Dad. List not necessarily in order of importance.
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- I hope the abyss in @stephenkb.bsky.social's newsletter becomes a returning character
- I will never understand how it wasn't obvious to everyone that crypto has no real function except speculation and crime
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- Many underestimate the scale of the war in Ukraine and fail to recognize that Russia is committing genocide. In Mariupol alone, the death toll over just 3 months may have exceeded the total deaths in Gaza over the entire war, despite a smaller population. Reflect on that
- Starmer's reported condition - incredibly unpopular, shorn of authority, probably un-reelectable and yet will stagger on for want of an alternative - is just the new normal of how Britain is governed. It was also true for two-thirds of May's premiership, half of Johnson's and all of Sunak's.
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- Stop saying they’re “coequal branches.” No branch wields more power than Congress. All it has to do is decide to use it.
-
View full threadWhich is why almost every modern democracy is parliamentary, has ranked voting or some similar mechanism to ensure half a dozen parties are in power Unfortunately, to do this in the US would require a supermajority party to literally destroy any chances of them ever being in power again..or a
- literal revolution and overthrow of the government. And of course Trump wants to move to make any discussions of this very nature illegal or at least a reason to send you to a concentration camp.
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- Please, my magic bean, it is very sick
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- ‘Can cork man stay afloat?’ was right there.
- So true. Also, many of the Americans doing literally nothing about Epstein’s American ‘associates’ are precisely the ones lying about Europe & particularly the UK being overrun with child-rapists. It’s insane.
- This is preying on my mind a bit. Jeffrey Epstein was not primarily a British scandal! So far we've removed a Prince from the Royal family, fired our US ambassador who was one of the most important political figures of the last few decades and banned the CEO of Barclays from the financial industry..
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- How can the other parties not beat this? I mean, seriously? These people should be shouted down in roars of laughter the minute they say this. Just toxic. www.bigissue.com/news/politic...
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- Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue
- If anyone is wondering, like I was… myshakespeare.com/hamlet/the-s...
- That getup sounds awfully Gandalf the White!
- If Gandalf had shaved and was on his way to watch the Wimbledon mixed doubles final. Once I left the office and he was chatting to Sir Patrick Stewart in the corridor (rehearsing for ‘waiting for Godot’) and my first thought was ‘oh, there’s Gandalf chatting to the captain of the USS Enterprise. 🙂
- As regular as clockwork, Kemi Badenoch has a good (actually a great day yesterday) and starts listening to her own instincts again (a terrible move). Why is she giving a speech at the same time as the prime minister? Indeed, why is she giving a speech today *at all*?
- There is no logic to it whatsoever. Someone said on a podcast to justify racism and now they all spout it like it means something.
- Doesn't seem like the best day for Starmer to reheat "you lefties [on the backbenches/in the Labour membership/in the Labour electorate] just don't get it" Blue Labour type arguments?
- I know it's not easy and wouldn't be on the same scale, but I would think there's at least some demand sufficient to support a newspaper in the nation's capital that has actual reporters.
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- I'm so torn on Rayner. Clearly the best person for the job in terms of ability. Incredible story, personable, good at politics, charismatic and has delivered in govt. Has shown it again today. A symbol of what Labour should help people achieve. But...
- ... her polling is incredibly poor *and* very hard - not much room for improvement. The right wing press have done a absolute number on her. We remain a deeply classist and sexist nation - and it shows in how she's treated by the public. And it goes way beyond normal anti-Labour peeps. Urgh
- Im so very tempted to say we should just go fuck it, put her in place and properly own it. I would love that. But the stakes are so high - we get this wrong and we get Reform. And the data is the data
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- The only way Labour can win the next election is by governing well. That might not be enough, but it’s the bare minimum. The questions to be asking about any potential new PM are “what is their agenda and can they achieve it?” Not “do they currently poll well?” Or “can they handle a media round?”
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- That‘s the spirit.
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- He should donate more then
- If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff. Democracy dies in oligarchy.
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- it’s genuinely reassuring to me that this is the most miserable and paranoid person in the entire world
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