Robert Hutton
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Robert Hutton
@roberthutton.co.uk
40K followers 410 following 3.3K posts
RobDotHutton from the broken site. Parliamentary sketches and film columnist for The Critic, co-host of classic cinema love-in War Movie Theatre. New spy book "The Illusionist" is out now.
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roberthutton.co.uk
Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · Apr 26
The Illusionist is now out in paperback! It's the "enthralling", "superbly entertaining", "delightful", and "satisfying" true story of an eccentric genius who made magic into a weapon of war.
Reposted by Robert Hutton
tomfreeman.bsky.social
Trump looking out of the window, with the Watchmen caption: "I am tired of Earth. These people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."
January 10, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
warmovietheatre.bsky.social
Under Siege was written by JF Lawton, whose previous film was, somehow, Pretty Woman. And, hear us out, you can argue that Under Siege is basically "Pretty Woman, but for teenage boys". champ.ly/g_eoTTwf
January 10, 2026 at 3:15 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
This week's episode of War Movie Theatre is on "Under Siege", a film full of terrible ingredients that somehow turns out to be really quite a lot of fun. (Much like our podcast, some would say.)

https://pod.fo/e/37457d
Seagal and Eleniak, both at their career high points.
January 10, 2026 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
warmovietheatre.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE: Terrible acting, ridiculous premise, appalling star, and yet somehow Under Siege is just a belter of a film.

champ.ly/g_eoTTwf
January 8, 2026 at 11:25 AM
roberthutton.co.uk
One reason I'm so negative on Badenoch's Conservatives is that they've American-internet-brained themselves into positions that were always obviously terrible. This is from the start of October.

thecritic.co.uk/if-something...
Badenoch commits herself to copying the "success" of ICE. It wasn't hard to predict that this would be a mistake.
January 10, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
aljwhite.bsky.social
Exclusive from @zoecrowther.bsky.social: Leaked WhatsApp messages show Labour MPs urging the government to leave X, arguing that it should "show direction to others in the UK" www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Leaked WhatsApp Messages Show Labour MPs Demanding Government Leaves X
Exclusive: Leaked WhatsApp messages show Labour MPs urging the government to leave X, arguing that it should 'show direction to others in the UK'.
www.politicshome.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:06 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
Very excited about this.
January 9, 2026 at 12:17 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
This is *such* a long way from what No10 was saying 48 hours ago.
peterwalker99.bsky.social Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d
Scathing words from No 10 on X making the Grok image tool available only to paying users: “That simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service. It's not a solution. In fact, it's insulting to victims of misogyny and sexual violence."
January 9, 2026 at 12:16 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
This is an important point, because the Rules Of The Universe mean that it's simply impossible for a G7 government to post in two or three different places. It can't be done! There are no apps! YOU'RE IMAGINING IT!
politicshome.bsky.social PoliticsHome @politicshome.bsky.social · 2d
Government should stay on X despite the Grok scandal, Keir Starmer's former communications director has said

James Lyons, who worked at TikTok before serving in Downing St, told PolHome podcast The Rundown that quitting Elon Musk's platform would leave a "vacuum" for Labour's rivals to fill
Government Shouldn’t Quit X Over Grok Scandal, Says Former No10 Comms Director
The government should not quit X as doing so would leave a 'vacuum' for its political rivals to fill, Keir Starmer's former communications director...
www.politicshome.com
January 9, 2026 at 7:40 AM
roberthutton.co.uk
The thing about the police is, their investigations are generally good up to the point where they decide who did it. And then they just fixate on that person. #TheTraitors
January 8, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
warmovietheatre.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE: In which Joe Twyman explains that Under Siege contains eveything that a 14-year-old boy wanted from a film in 1992.

champ.ly/g_eoTTwf
January 8, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
joetwyman.bsky.social
As the only person Rob and Duncan know who has seen both "Under Siege" and it's spiritual successor "Chasers", I was invited back on the War Movie Theatre podcast to discuss why I think the former is a remake of Pretty Woman for teenage boys.

Wherever you get your podcasts....
warmovietheatre.bsky.social War Movie Theatre @warmovietheatre.bsky.social · 2d
NEW EPISODE: Terrible acting, ridiculous premise, appalling star, and yet somehow Under Siege is just a belter of a film.

champ.ly/g_eoTTwf
January 8, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
warmovietheatre.bsky.social
This is AMAZING.
filthyrichey.bsky.social Tom @filthyrichey.bsky.social · 2d
If you've not seen it, I highly recommend Stephen Tobolowsky's (best known as Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day) story on working with Seagal: youtu.be/5cUNU8GkMso?...

I'd also add that Executive Decision is his only decent post-Under Siege movie with a most un-Seagal like element to his role.
Stephen Tobolowsky on working with Steven Seagal | Cut
YouTube video by Cut
youtu.be
January 8, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
davidtwilcock.bsky.social
As relevant today as it was then.
January 8, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
elle-g.bsky.social
Very misunderstood film. Tommy Lee Jones was standing to for the underdog, he wanted to sell the nukes to Denmark to protect Greenland.
January 8, 2026 at 11:33 AM
roberthutton.co.uk
Britain's leaders think X's diversification into child porn-on-demand is "unacceptable". Although, in good news for people who want child porn on demand, they will continue to accept it. thecritic.co.uk/poli...
One of Farage’s revenue streams is X, the social media site that Ofcom urgently wishes to speak to about the ability of its Grok AI facility to undress women and generate child porn. He has been paid just under £13,000 by the company since entering parliament. Was he still comfortable taking money from the company? Cunningham gasped at the temerity of the question. Farage seemed briefly worried. He complained first of all that the parliamentary register of interests doesn’t allow him to offset his expenses. To be fair, it wasn’t set up for people who view being an MP as a money-making enterprise. But the short answer is that he will continue to take the X cash. Other party leaders aren’t on the X payroll, but their answers are hardly better. After PMQs we asked their spokespeople what they were doing about the company. Number 10 explained that the situation was “unacceptable”, although the prime minister’s continued presence on X suggests that he can, in fact, accept it. Badenoch’s s
January 8, 2026 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
roberthutton.co.uk
An important part of Farage press events is keeping track of his changing positions on, well, everything. It helps to be wildly credulous. thecritic.co.uk/poli...
Over the course of the questions that followed, Farage’s mood, flitted between “wildly triumphalist” and “angrily snippy”. He was asked about his days as a teenage fan of 1930s strong-man politics. At the end of last year, he was apologising for this, but his position has shifted again, and now the stories are “complete made-up fantasies”. It is amazing that he can get away with such inconsistencies, but if the Conservatives play politics on the easy setting, Farage seems to have discovered a cheat mode. Not only does he have a TV channel that supports him so much it pays him hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, he has newspapers so supportive that the Daily Express asked him if the Conservatives shouldn’t be standing down candidates in his favour. There are news outlets in North Korea that would be embarrassed about that.
January 7, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
peterwalker99.bsky.social
Amazingly, this was not even the cheekiest thing @roberthutton.co.uk said about Nigel Farage today.

From his excellent sketch: thecritic.co.uk/politics-on-...
He was in the Glazier’s Hall, which is next to the Bermondsey Bierkeller. Farage excitedly reminded us that the last time he’d been there, he’d been taking control of the party back from Richard Tice. Leading a putsch, as it were.
January 7, 2026 at 9:41 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
An important part of Farage press events is keeping track of his changing positions on, well, everything. It helps to be wildly credulous. thecritic.co.uk/poli...
Over the course of the questions that followed, Farage’s mood, flitted between “wildly triumphalist” and “angrily snippy”. He was asked about his days as a teenage fan of 1930s strong-man politics. At the end of last year, he was apologising for this, but his position has shifted again, and now the stories are “complete made-up fantasies”. It is amazing that he can get away with such inconsistencies, but if the Conservatives play politics on the easy setting, Farage seems to have discovered a cheat mode. Not only does he have a TV channel that supports him so much it pays him hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, he has newspapers so supportive that the Daily Express asked him if the Conservatives shouldn’t be standing down candidates in his favour. There are news outlets in North Korea that would be embarrassed about that.
January 7, 2026 at 7:47 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
Politics on Cheat Mode: my SKETCH of Nigel Farage's endless and sometimes fawning press conference. thecritic.co.uk/poli...
January 7, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
benfenton.bsky.social
I think this is the best analysis of the state of British media I have read for years and yet it is also ostensibly a work of satirical fiction.

From the enchanted keyboard of @roberthutton.co.uk

thecritic.co.uk/bring-back-d...
Bring back DCMS | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
We are now a year and a half into Keir Starmer’s government. The Prime Minister said on Tuesday that 2026 would be the year voters would start to see results. But one thing is already clear: his…
thecritic.co.uk
January 7, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
tpgroberts.bsky.social
Lisa Nandy has broken her silence to post to Facebook about the Wigan Christmas tree collection service.
tpgroberts.bsky.social Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 5d
In the time since a major platform started committing and enabling a strict liability offence for sexual crimes against children the Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport has posted on said platform three times, put out one instagram post and written an article for Wigan Today.
January 7, 2026 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
jessicaelgot.bsky.social
I reckon over the past decade I have been sexually harassed ten times more often inside the Palace of Westminster than I have on London streets
January 7, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
roberthutton.co.uk
If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
Or there’s X, the website formerly known as Twitter. Its owner is committed to removing the government, and seems keen to encourage violence on Britain’s streets. Now its 2026 update lets users create what are politely called “sexualised images” of anyone, including children. A Secretary of State for Culture, if Britain had one, could take a view on whether this was a welcome development. They could, if they had been appointed and went into work every day, offer Starmer advice on whether X should be one of the government’s main channels of communication, effectively supporting a site that produces on-demand pornography of real people including, let’s say it again, children.
January 7, 2026 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
roberthutton.co.uk
Critic Campaign: it's time to admit that it was a mistake to abolish the Department if Culture. Keir Starmer should bring it back.

thecritic.co.uk/brin...
January 7, 2026 at 9:20 AM