polus.bsky.social
@polus.bsky.social
Fascinating watching the Bluesky community struggle to comprehend why the worst PM and Chancellor in history are so reviled, and concluding it’s probably something to do with the “information space.”

The centrist dad Principle Skinners have decided that no, it’s the children who are wrong.
Glad the FT is asking the question. Even if I’m not convinced they found a compelling answer.
I get that Starmer & Reeves are unpopular, I really don’t understand the extent of the dislike.

www.ft.com/content/1995... ‘There’s a real dislike, even loathing’: why voters hate Starmer and Reeves
‘There’s a real dislike, even loathing’: why voters hate Starmer and Reeves
Allies concede the prime minister and chancellor have made mistakes yet the level of disdain towards them is still striking
www.ft.com
December 31, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted
Our @yougov.co.uk data journalism extraordinaire Matt Smith has compiled all news tracker results from 2025 into this stunning graphic

This tells us so much about what 'cuts through', how news cycles evolve, and what grabs attention re: flash moments vs ongoing stories

yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
December 31, 2025 at 11:45 AM
So civil servants ignored all of this and gave him citizenship anyway. And now the British public are supposed to suck it up on the basis that “he’s as British as you and me.”

Haha. Nope. Everyone involved in this decision should be fired.
December 30, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Hey Sharon, did I say it did? You used the emotive term “home”, suggesting this was some poor soul people want to expel from his homeland.

In fact, this is a simple legal issue. He has been given citizenship for geopolitical reasons. Many in the U.K. wish that he had not.
hey Alexa, does home play any role in questions of positive law regarding legal rights to come to the UK, or does citizenship?
I didn’t mention citizenship, I said this is not his home, because it isn’t.
Dipshit
December 29, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I didn’t mention citizenship, I said this is not his home, because it isn’t.
Dipshit
that's not how citizenship works, dumbass
He wasn’t returning home. This isn’t his home. Egypt is. He clearly hates this country and has almost zero connection with it.
December 29, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Some Americans are even more ignorant of British politics than they are of their own
Wow the Brit’s are even more insane than the Americans
He wasn’t returning home. This isn’t his home. Egypt is. He clearly hates this country and has almost zero connection with it.
December 29, 2025 at 2:34 PM
He wasn’t returning home. This isn’t his home. Egypt is. He clearly hates this country and has almost zero connection with it.
were those good views? no. do you prevent a UK citizen from returning home because of said views? no
December 29, 2025 at 1:57 PM
London is the greatest city in the world and continues to be, in spite of a terrible mayor, who has made everything he touches worse.
Good interview in the paper, this. I think Sadiq is right: London 'needs' to be less successful than it is for a bunch of political arguments here in the UK to work, hence the fictions being invented about it:
Populists attack London because it is ‘progressive and successful’, says Sadiq Khan
Rightwing attacks on one of the world’s most visited cities at odds with reality, says mayor
www.ft.com
December 26, 2025 at 10:14 PM
December 24, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted
Can't really argue with this. Stupid situation, entirely self-inflicted
The High Court is currently preparing its ruling on whether the ban of Palestine Action is lawful

In a statement, Ms Thunberg's lawyers called the laws used to arrest her "farcical", adding: "The UK's global reputation for human rights is in tatters whilst these laws remain in place."
December 23, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted
According to ridiculous NHS rules Psychiatrists with 13 years of training can’t diagnose ADHD.

But anyone who does a 4 week (120 hour) course and reads through a tick sheet can.

They charge £500 an hour, instead of the £35 it would cost the NHS.

It’s a scam.
December 18, 2025 at 6:26 PM
This is how the government creates “green jobs”. State gives out contracts to grifters who know how to work the system.
December 8, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Reposted
It can't be terminal - they're already dead.
November 14, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Asserted without evidence that the bbc is the difference between the USA and the UK.

This is an implausible claim
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM
“The BBC should not worry about broadcasting fake news and being institutionally biased in a way that corrupts its news values, because Celebrity Traitors is popular.”
Just absolutely classic BBC. You've just broadcast the most successful programme of the year, uniting Gen Z kids online and Boomers on broadcast in a return to appointment television. And instead of celebrating, your DG reigns due to a made-up right-wing scandal.
November 9, 2025 at 9:43 PM
No, it’s because there is systemic bias to the point that it consistently fails to meet basic standards of journalism.
This is the most abysmal, pathetic thing. The BBC head resigning because the corporation is not supine *enough* to the far-right.
🔴 Breaking I Davie faced mounting criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by Donald Trump

➡️ Read more: trib.al/I0iw7aP
November 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM
An asylum seeker caseworker describes the huge scale of fraud by illegal migrants trying to game the system
November 6, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Reposted
FYI, I've fleshed out some recent comments on Tesco bashing into a blog... 🤔✍️

julianhjessop.substack.com/p/its-time-t...
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
November 3, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted
the us economy grew last quarter because of ai.
without it, we’d be in recession.
@gzeromedia.com
Is Abu Dhabi becoming the global capital of AI development? | Ian Bremmer's Quick Take
YouTube video by GZERO Media
www.youtube.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Shot
Chaser
November 2, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Every political commentator told us that Reform had made a massive mistake by talking about remigration.

So let’s see: what happened to their polling?
October 15, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Reposted
The letter Nobel Prize Winner María Corina Machado sent Netanyahu in 2018 begging Israel to help her enact Regime change.

Very peaceful behaviour.
October 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted
As Labour conference wraps up, I've done a piece for the Swingometer looking at their record in the polls so far.

Visual summary below...

swingometer.substack.com/p/labour-how...
October 3, 2025 at 10:38 AM
There is something rotten in English culture that we English can produce an Englishman like Jihad Al-Shamie.
October 2, 2025 at 8:24 PM