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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 1d

Health vulnerability maybe? My cardiovascular system is a right shambles.

Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 1d

When I booked flu jab through NHS app it offered Covid one, but has been some confusion in past. GP and central NHS app seemed to use slightly different entitlement criteria.

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 1d

3 days of mild side-effects from combined Covid and flu jabs. Better than having Covid and flu, but I feel I should get a good few bonus days of *not-sick* leave later in winter to specifically bask in not having Covid or flu. Otherwise it just blends into background health.

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Chairman Moët @chairmanmoet.bsky.social · 1d

There's a touch of the Liz Truss about Kemi Badenoch. Both in the tax cut paid for by fantasy figures and also a belief there's This One Special Trick The British State Doesn't Want You To Know About! that will somehow solve everything.
Be rude to some civil servants and the UK's problems vanish!

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 1d

That was exactly the line that stood out to me as exceptionally weird. It’s also probably the only line that proves the speech wasn’t an LLM churn through every Tory right platitude from the past 20 odd years. It’s authentically her drivel.

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 1d

Or, in cultural context of right wing UK politics, a feeder prep school ..,

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 1d

Badenoch’s only achievement is to have shrunk the Tories to a low-wattage Faragist think tank and warehouse storing future parliamentary candidates for Reform www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Badenoch’s ‘thoughtful Conservatism’ turns out to be just the slower road to Faragism | Rafael Behr

The Tory leader’s intellectual meanderings have shrunk her party into little more than a holding pen for future Reform party candidates, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

www.theguardian.com

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 2d

Not saying they look *exactly* alike but would definitely cast Robert Jenrick (shadow justice secretary) in biopic of Paul Reczeh (Gestapo agent, all-round sociopath)

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 2d

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 2d

I'm guessing Robert Jenrick might be hard-pressed to see a black face if he walked round his own constituency of Newark for 90 minutes, given the ethnic minority population of its main town looks to be smaller than the white population of Handsworth. (Source: citypopulation.de/en/uk/eastmi...)

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 3d

Not a serious person. Zero mention of what this would mean for the over a million British citizens whose own access to welfare in the EU is protected by the withdrawal agreement.

EU citizens living in UK shouldn’t be allowed welfare benefits, says Tory rising star

Katie Lam — who is earning plaudits on the Conservative right — calls for Brexit withdrawal agreement to be reopened.

www.politico.eu

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 5d

Can always rely on @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social to say what needs saying and say it well on occasions such as these www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

In a time of hate and rancour, two Jews sought to pray – and were killed. Let Manchester be a turning point | Jonathan Freedland

This was a horror but with so much intolerance and antisemitism, no one can say it was a surprise. There are lessons to learn, and that must start now, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

www.theguardian.com

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Ros Taylor @rostaylor.bsky.social · 7d

OUT NOW: More Jam Tomorrow MILTON KEYNES

It’s built for cars. The buses are baffling. But it’s got the most energy efficient housing in Britain. What did it take to build a city from almost nothing?

Listen now at

morejamtomorrow.com/episode/milt...

Milton Keynes

It’s built for cars. The buses are baffling. But it’s got the most energy efficient housing in Britain. What did it take to build a city from almost nothing?...

morejamtomorrow.com

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Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 8d

Sitcom idea: ventriloquist couple living together, relationship frosty, discussing divorce, but their dolls are deeply in love and do what they can to keep the couple together.

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Gaby Hinsliff @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · 13d

We’ve just moved into an old house where the carpet underlay seems to consist entirely of copies of the Times 1965-1970, and it’s kind of reassuring to find the headlines (arms sales to Israel, teachers’ strike, rows about some MP calling another MP a drunken buffoon) are so utterly relatable

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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 13d

A story that’s attracted surprisingly little attention in our media:

Ex-Reform politician admits Russia-linked bribery charges www.bbc.com/news/article...

Reform UK's ex-Wales leader Nathan Gill admits pro-Russia bribery

Nathan Gill admits eight charges of bribery while being a Member of the European Parliament.

www.bbc.com

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 15d

On anti-Faragism, the point of the Lib Dems and Ed Davey finding himself unmarked in front of an open goal www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Resisting Faragism offers the Lib Dems a rare clarity of purpose | Rafael Behr

Ed Davey’s rallying cry in defence of moderate, liberal Britain might give some coherence to a party with a reputation for opportunism, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

www.theguardian.com

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you!

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 15d

On anti-Faragism, the point of the Lib Dems and Ed Davey finding himself unmarked in front of an open goal www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Resisting Faragism offers the Lib Dems a rare clarity of purpose | Rafael Behr

Ed Davey’s rallying cry in defence of moderate, liberal Britain might give some coherence to a party with a reputation for opportunism, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

www.theguardian.com

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Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · 16d

One of the main ways that the US was traditionally covered in the UK was the "only in America" story - tales which played to the British sense it was a bizarre place where mad people did mad things. The Express had a daily column of such stories. Maybe we should just go back to that framing.

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 16d

Why are the American president's claims about autism the first item on British news bulletins?

He's not our president, the advice doesn't apply here and he's not presented any evidence to support his assertions.

So why spread these claims? What make this the biggest story in the UK?

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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 17d

There should be a high bar for politicians attacking the media, but maybe Ed Davey has half a point here?

For example, the first three paragraphs of this BBC story repeat Reform's £243bn figure without saying that the thinktank behind the estimate now disowns it. (This is mentioned in paragraph 35)

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 17d

It was obvious when EU citizens had the terms of their settlement here retrospectively revoked that a precedent was being set and that, in time, the argument would move on to other categories of migrant, always tending towards a purity test of who is ‘indigenous’. Unless resisted.

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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 17d

Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart.
Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point.
Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 18d

I think they largely still are but tailwind of big money donors and indulgent press carries them through it.

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Garvan Walshe @garvanwalshe.org · 20d

It might be worth reading my paper on how Europe should fight a war against Russia without the Americans, and which are the key gaps that need to be filled first

www.martenscentre.eu/wp-content/u...

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