www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/d... A beautiful tribute to a giant
‘There was rage and pain and iron in him’: Patrick Marber on the great hits – and fond smokes – he had with Tom Stoppard
The director worked with theatre colossus Tom Stoppard on two smash hits. Here, he remembers their heated rehearsals, the night they stayed up watching Jaws – and the last four cigarettes they smoked ...
www.theguardian.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:57 PM
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/d... A beautiful tribute to a giant
Reposted by Chris Milsom
There used to be a sort of alternation between BBC political editors: John Cole old-style Labour, Robin Oakley a bit of a Tory, Andrew Marr a Lib-Lab. we could usefully bring it back. But importantly they were all highly professional and you could trust their commentary; they didn’t have agendas.
December 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
There used to be a sort of alternation between BBC political editors: John Cole old-style Labour, Robin Oakley a bit of a Tory, Andrew Marr a Lib-Lab. we could usefully bring it back. But importantly they were all highly professional and you could trust their commentary; they didn’t have agendas.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
No that's not *your* on *our behalf*. Your job is to report the story, presenting all sides fairly and then *we* call it. What Mason is saying here is fundamentally not what the bbc is for!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
December 1, 2025 at 11:29 AM
No that's not *your* on *our behalf*. Your job is to report the story, presenting all sides fairly and then *we* call it. What Mason is saying here is fundamentally not what the bbc is for!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
😢
Saw him talk once. The intellect, the wit, the charisma, the voice…Rest in Peace Sir Tom
Saw him talk once. The intellect, the wit, the charisma, the voice…Rest in Peace Sir Tom
November 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
😢
Saw him talk once. The intellect, the wit, the charisma, the voice…Rest in Peace Sir Tom
Saw him talk once. The intellect, the wit, the charisma, the voice…Rest in Peace Sir Tom
No Stephen Pollard. Farage is not “a bulwark against extremism.” He is a bullock charging through the Overton window
November 28, 2025 at 3:33 PM
No Stephen Pollard. Farage is not “a bulwark against extremism.” He is a bullock charging through the Overton window
Reposted by Chris Milsom
I don’t think this is a “politicians have got dumber” issue for the most part. If you look at the *actual CVs* of previous cohorts of MPs, their background is not radically different when you account for, you know, the fact the economy is different! It is primarily a media and ecosystem issue.
We have got to make politics intellectual again. It is the only way that societies thrive is when politicians have the capability to actually think and reflect deeply:
![I confess that I always had difficulty with interpreting the Biblical precept to love our neighbours “as ourselves” until I read some of the words of C.S. Lewis. He pointed out that we don't exactly love ourselves when we fall below the standards and beliefs we have accepted. Indeed we might even hate ourselves for some unworthy deed.
None of this, of course, tells us exactly what kind of political and social institutions we should have. On this point, Christians will very often genuinely disagree, though it is a mark of Christian manners that they will do so with courtesy and mutual respect. [Applause] What is certain, however, is that any set of social and economic arrangements which is not founded on the acceptance of individual responsibility will do nothing but harm.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/bafkreicrdgbtvm54qnmttwe6crhxwt4be5v3izjmqtnvlxmaljwg5wolai@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I don’t think this is a “politicians have got dumber” issue for the most part. If you look at the *actual CVs* of previous cohorts of MPs, their background is not radically different when you account for, you know, the fact the economy is different! It is primarily a media and ecosystem issue.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
As political scandals go, a grubby backroom deal to, errrr, lift 450,000 children out of poverty is at least a novel one.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:30 PM
As political scandals go, a grubby backroom deal to, errrr, lift 450,000 children out of poverty is at least a novel one.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Looking forward to the 2029 general election campaign, when the incumbent government will run on "Public services haven't improved, those tax rises we announced years ago just kicked in, and now we have to increase immigration because it went too low and we are skint again."
The government figuring this out slowly over the coming two years is going to be quite something to behold.
I think the government meant to cut net migration but have accidentally overshot the target by a lot. They haven’t realised this yet.
November 27, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Looking forward to the 2029 general election campaign, when the incumbent government will run on "Public services haven't improved, those tax rises we announced years ago just kicked in, and now we have to increase immigration because it went too low and we are skint again."
Reposted by Chris Milsom
The government figuring this out slowly over the coming two years is going to be quite something to behold.
I think the government meant to cut net migration but have accidentally overshot the target by a lot. They haven’t realised this yet.
November 27, 2025 at 4:14 PM
The government figuring this out slowly over the coming two years is going to be quite something to behold.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.
PM describes net migration of 205k as "a step in the right direction". His govt has no public position on a sustainable level of immigration is, nor any known process to decide what, why & how. Starmer is now implying he wants it significantly lower
www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...
www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...
Net migration drop ‘step in the right direction’ – Starmer
Net migration peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023 but has fallen sharply since then.
www.standard.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
I know who Nus Ghani MP is - not because we always agree - but because she’s been serving her constituency (as well as lewks) since 2015.
Who the hell is Lucy White?!
Ah, a quick google search reveals her as a rentagob for GB ‘news.’
I know which one is qualified to chair the budget debate.
Who the hell is Lucy White?!
Ah, a quick google search reveals her as a rentagob for GB ‘news.’
I know which one is qualified to chair the budget debate.
November 26, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I know who Nus Ghani MP is - not because we always agree - but because she’s been serving her constituency (as well as lewks) since 2015.
Who the hell is Lucy White?!
Ah, a quick google search reveals her as a rentagob for GB ‘news.’
I know which one is qualified to chair the budget debate.
Who the hell is Lucy White?!
Ah, a quick google search reveals her as a rentagob for GB ‘news.’
I know which one is qualified to chair the budget debate.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Starmer and Reeves run probably the most economically left-wing government of past five decades and yet bleeding support to its left thanks to dumb strategy www.economist.com/britain/2025...
November 27, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Starmer and Reeves run probably the most economically left-wing government of past five decades and yet bleeding support to its left thanks to dumb strategy www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Reposted by Chris Milsom
A good day for Ed Miliband: mansion tax introduced, green levies moved off bills to taxation, ban on new North Sea oil and gas licences confirmed.
November 26, 2025 at 9:59 PM
A good day for Ed Miliband: mansion tax introduced, green levies moved off bills to taxation, ban on new North Sea oil and gas licences confirmed.
The problem encapsulated in a skeet
Raising taxes is the right sort of progressive compromise for better public services etc. The problem (among other problems) is that the progressive pleasing nature of the budget (on the left hand) is entirely compromised by the authoritarian nature of immigration policy etc (on the right hand).
November 27, 2025 at 9:07 AM
The problem encapsulated in a skeet
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Plus sides to today: Two-child benefit scrapped. Largely progressive tax implications. Good market reaction. No big spending cuts. Nightmare prospect of cutting funding to net zero etc avoided. It's a left-wing budget. Those who say there's no difference between Labour and Tories are bananas.
November 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Plus sides to today: Two-child benefit scrapped. Largely progressive tax implications. Good market reaction. No big spending cuts. Nightmare prospect of cutting funding to net zero etc avoided. It's a left-wing budget. Those who say there's no difference between Labour and Tories are bananas.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
A wise man once said that ‘jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement’. That man was David Lammy. Me for @unherd.com
unherd.com/newsroom/scr...
unherd.com/newsroom/scr...
Scrapping jury trials won’t solve Britain’s legal backlog
A wise man once said that “jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement. Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea.” High office has a habit of deadening such wisdom, and now Da...
unherd.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:42 PM
A wise man once said that ‘jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement’. That man was David Lammy. Me for @unherd.com
unherd.com/newsroom/scr...
unherd.com/newsroom/scr...
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Budget quite literally taxes the rich and even contains a actual wealth tax (with a lower threshold than Zack's fantasy one) but, you know, facts arent that important to him
November 26, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Budget quite literally taxes the rich and even contains a actual wealth tax (with a lower threshold than Zack's fantasy one) but, you know, facts arent that important to him
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Two theses on this:
1.Historians cut religion out of political history too early. Well into the 80s, UK politics is still saturated in the stories, referents & norms of Christianity (irrespective of belief).
2.The collapse of that common culture is the most neglected factor in more recent politics
1.Historians cut religion out of political history too early. Well into the 80s, UK politics is still saturated in the stories, referents & norms of Christianity (irrespective of belief).
2.The collapse of that common culture is the most neglected factor in more recent politics
November 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Two theses on this:
1.Historians cut religion out of political history too early. Well into the 80s, UK politics is still saturated in the stories, referents & norms of Christianity (irrespective of belief).
2.The collapse of that common culture is the most neglected factor in more recent politics
1.Historians cut religion out of political history too early. Well into the 80s, UK politics is still saturated in the stories, referents & norms of Christianity (irrespective of belief).
2.The collapse of that common culture is the most neglected factor in more recent politics
Reposted by Chris Milsom
Idiocy
November 25, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Idiocy