Lavenham Teacher
@robknapp.bsky.social
Primary School Assistant Head Teacher, politics obsessive, Oxford United fan, wildlife enthusiast and lover of science fiction.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
'The so-called ‘hero voters’ Labour targeted in 2024 did not actually turn out for them in any great numbers. So not only are Labour fighting the last war, they are fighting it with a battle-plan that didn’t actually work. It’s Labour’s very own winter invasion of Russia.' 👏 @benansell.bsky.social
Bloc Parties
In a world of bloc politics, what's a good offensive strategy?
benansell.substack.com
December 16, 2025 at 6:15 PM
'The so-called ‘hero voters’ Labour targeted in 2024 did not actually turn out for them in any great numbers. So not only are Labour fighting the last war, they are fighting it with a battle-plan that didn’t actually work. It’s Labour’s very own winter invasion of Russia.' 👏 @benansell.bsky.social
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
If handing someone their arse, was a video clip
December 12, 2025 at 8:12 AM
If handing someone their arse, was a video clip
Book number 60 of the year and the best non-fiction one. An excoriating book on the failings of many aspects of our state and practical solutions to accompany them. A rare book that lived up to the hype. Thanks @samfr.bsky.social and it is only more depressing 18 months after publication.
December 16, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Book number 60 of the year and the best non-fiction one. An excoriating book on the failings of many aspects of our state and practical solutions to accompany them. A rare book that lived up to the hype. Thanks @samfr.bsky.social and it is only more depressing 18 months after publication.
@totallyshow.bsky.social a suggestion for a Totally Extra topic. Either the story of late 90s/early 00s Leeds and their journey to the Champions League semi final and subsequent collapse or Steve McClaren's Middlesbrough and their mad journey to the Uefa cup final.
December 16, 2025 at 5:33 AM
@totallyshow.bsky.social a suggestion for a Totally Extra topic. Either the story of late 90s/early 00s Leeds and their journey to the Champions League semi final and subsequent collapse or Steve McClaren's Middlesbrough and their mad journey to the Uefa cup final.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
not the kind of behavior I expect from the winner of the fifa peace prize
December 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM
not the kind of behavior I expect from the winner of the fifa peace prize
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
I think the best way to explain the X vs Bluesky preference is whether a person thinks the left is more annoying than the right is dangerous.
The reason so many Noah Smiths end up on the X side of that equation is that while the left annoys them personally, the right mostly endangers other people.
The reason so many Noah Smiths end up on the X side of that equation is that while the left annoys them personally, the right mostly endangers other people.
December 15, 2025 at 12:42 PM
I think the best way to explain the X vs Bluesky preference is whether a person thinks the left is more annoying than the right is dangerous.
The reason so many Noah Smiths end up on the X side of that equation is that while the left annoys them personally, the right mostly endangers other people.
The reason so many Noah Smiths end up on the X side of that equation is that while the left annoys them personally, the right mostly endangers other people.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Happy birthday to Jane Austen, and to this very on-brand Economist chart
www.economist.com/christmas-sp...
www.economist.com/christmas-sp...
December 14, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Happy birthday to Jane Austen, and to this very on-brand Economist chart
www.economist.com/christmas-sp...
www.economist.com/christmas-sp...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
A man who heroically tackled and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach gunmen has been unmasked.
The hero has been named as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a Sydney local who owns a fruit shop in Sutherland.
www.news.com.au/national/nsw...
The hero has been named as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a Sydney local who owns a fruit shop in Sutherland.
www.news.com.au/national/nsw...
December 14, 2025 at 12:53 PM
A man who heroically tackled and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach gunmen has been unmasked.
The hero has been named as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a Sydney local who owns a fruit shop in Sutherland.
www.news.com.au/national/nsw...
The hero has been named as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a Sydney local who owns a fruit shop in Sutherland.
www.news.com.au/national/nsw...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
We live in a simulation.
December 13, 2025 at 8:37 PM
We live in a simulation.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
I’m so proud of the talented Leo High School Choir and all they are doing to represent the South Side of Chicago!
December 12, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I’m so proud of the talented Leo High School Choir and all they are doing to represent the South Side of Chicago!
I bet @dorianlynskey.bsky.social and @iandunt.bsky.social are off to this for an Origin Story movie night?
December 13, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I bet @dorianlynskey.bsky.social and @iandunt.bsky.social are off to this for an Origin Story movie night?
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
The way you can tell who this has come from is that it is a great dividing line, unless you care about the actual policy, at which point you go 'so, uh, what *collateral* has Downing Street put behind this?'
This sounds like defensive briefing straight from a Morgan McSweeney Whatsapp group in denial about how an ineffective leader unwilling to face the breakdown of US-Europe relations might not be the best figure to lead the UK into a post-American order
December 13, 2025 at 1:11 PM
The way you can tell who this has come from is that it is a great dividing line, unless you care about the actual policy, at which point you go 'so, uh, what *collateral* has Downing Street put behind this?'
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
A result which both illustrates the magnitude of the Reform threat and the problems with Labour’s “Farage is right, don’t vote for him” response. 37 point Lab to Reform swing. Labour go from first to 4th as anti-Reform vote splits 3 ways. Combined Lab/LD/Grn vote larger than Reform vote.
Red Hall & Lingfield (Darlington) Council By-Election Result:
➡️ RFM: 37.7% (New)
🌳 CON: 17.3% (-22.5)
🔶 LDM: 17.3% (New)
🌹 LAB: 16.8% (-37.1)
🌍 GRN: 9.8% (+3.6)
🙋 Ind: 1.0% (New)
Reform GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ 2023.
➡️ RFM: 37.7% (New)
🌳 CON: 17.3% (-22.5)
🔶 LDM: 17.3% (New)
🌹 LAB: 16.8% (-37.1)
🌍 GRN: 9.8% (+3.6)
🙋 Ind: 1.0% (New)
Reform GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ 2023.
December 12, 2025 at 12:31 PM
A result which both illustrates the magnitude of the Reform threat and the problems with Labour’s “Farage is right, don’t vote for him” response. 37 point Lab to Reform swing. Labour go from first to 4th as anti-Reform vote splits 3 ways. Combined Lab/LD/Grn vote larger than Reform vote.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him.
I don’t know how else to say it…
I don’t know how else to say it…
December 12, 2025 at 4:21 AM
This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him.
I don’t know how else to say it…
I don’t know how else to say it…
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Good and important piece by @chrisgiles.ft.com. One implication: if you look at the revised figures for 2014-5, then frankly any talk that 2015 was a 'shock' win for David Cameron starts to look really silly and you just go 'oh yeah, figures': www.ft.com/content/5aff...
The UK economy is not nearly as bad as you’ve been told
A huge pessimistic bias in our national accounts leads us to doom and gloom which turns out to be nonsense
www.ft.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Good and important piece by @chrisgiles.ft.com. One implication: if you look at the revised figures for 2014-5, then frankly any talk that 2015 was a 'shock' win for David Cameron starts to look really silly and you just go 'oh yeah, figures': www.ft.com/content/5aff...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
The big, big self-delusion at the heart of almost everything Labour is doing wrong is that through some old-time Labour economics you can avoid having an electoral coalition that looks a lot like 'Labour in 2024, Australian Labor in 2025, the Canadian Liberals in 2025' or indeed 'Harris in 2024'.
There’s more writing than wall at this point.
❗ Reform GAIN from Labour
Red Hall and Lingfield (Darlington) council by-election result:
REF: 38.4% (+38.4)
CON: 17.2% (-22.7)
LDEM: 17.2% (+17.2)
LAB: 16.6% (-37.2)
GRN: 9.7% (+3.5)
IND: 1.0% (+1.0)
+/- 2023
Estimated turnout: ~28% (-3)
andrewteale.me.uk/previews
Red Hall and Lingfield (Darlington) council by-election result:
REF: 38.4% (+38.4)
CON: 17.2% (-22.7)
LDEM: 17.2% (+17.2)
LAB: 16.6% (-37.2)
GRN: 9.7% (+3.5)
IND: 1.0% (+1.0)
+/- 2023
Estimated turnout: ~28% (-3)
andrewteale.me.uk/previews
December 12, 2025 at 12:35 PM
The big, big self-delusion at the heart of almost everything Labour is doing wrong is that through some old-time Labour economics you can avoid having an electoral coalition that looks a lot like 'Labour in 2024, Australian Labor in 2025, the Canadian Liberals in 2025' or indeed 'Harris in 2024'.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
December 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
“This is a reset of the transatlantic relationship like nothing else in living memory. No one alive has gone through this. America’s foreign policy, on paper at least, is more overtly hostile to Europe than China or Russia’s.”
inews.co.uk/opinion/us-p...
inews.co.uk/opinion/us-p...
The US is now a potent threat to Europe. No one alive has ever seen this
The radicals in the White House have made their agenda plain
inews.co.uk
December 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
“This is a reset of the transatlantic relationship like nothing else in living memory. No one alive has gone through this. America’s foreign policy, on paper at least, is more overtly hostile to Europe than China or Russia’s.”
inews.co.uk/opinion/us-p...
inews.co.uk/opinion/us-p...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Nigel Farage's electoral coalition now runs from James Orr to Bonnie Blue. Talk about cross-pressured.
anyway, leaving you with the news that Bonnie Blue has come out for Reform, unclear if before/after getting arrested in Bali (if you don't know who Bonnie Blue is i do not recommend googling) www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
How Bonnie Blue made her political bed with Nigel Farage
Plus: resignations from Boris Johnson’s cabinet; Starmer’s Christmas parties; a mistaken political identity; and when Rick Astley didn’t let down his audience
www.thetimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Nigel Farage's electoral coalition now runs from James Orr to Bonnie Blue. Talk about cross-pressured.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Imagine the right-wing reaction if Starmer or Biden had proposed something like this
Citizens of countries including the UK and France will have to disclose the past five years of their social media history to visit the US even though they are covered by visa waiver schemes, under new proposals by the Trump administration.
www.ft.com/content/683b...
www.ft.com/content/683b...
US to require social media disclosure for visa-waiver requests
Change would affect visitors from countries including the UK, France and Australia
www.ft.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Imagine the right-wing reaction if Starmer or Biden had proposed something like this
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
The most charitable way you can describe the US Liberal consensus on the Occupation is "I want Israel to want a two-state solution".
In many ways "I support a two-state solution" was just the de facto thought terminating cliche of the bipartisan consensus for the last thirty or so years. Its purpose was to stifle more substantive and direct conversation about the myriad ways in which USG policy impacts the conflict.
See for example a few months ago when the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee said that he does not believe in recognizing the State of Palestine, but that he is still for two states. What exactly will the second state be?
December 10, 2025 at 9:47 PM
The most charitable way you can describe the US Liberal consensus on the Occupation is "I want Israel to want a two-state solution".
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Something every 2026/28 Dem should commit to is investigations of any company that did deals with Trump. A kind of forward guidance to get companies to think twice in advance of what’s coming.
Fox News will applaud this but can you imagine their coverage if President Biden hatched a secret plan to take over Fox News and revamp its programming to be nicer to him
New WSJ reporting: "During a December visit to Washington, David Ellison offered assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he'd make sweeping changes to CNN, a common target of President Trump's ire, people familiar with the matter said..."
December 9, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Something every 2026/28 Dem should commit to is investigations of any company that did deals with Trump. A kind of forward guidance to get companies to think twice in advance of what’s coming.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
When the whole truth comes out, we will need decades of truth, reconciliation, restitution and de-Nazification.
BREAKING: At one point, the Pentagon considered sending boat strike survivors to CECOT torture prison in El Salvador to avoid discovery in US courts. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/u...
Inside the Pentagon’s Scramble to Deal With Boat Strike Survivors
www.nytimes.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:52 AM
When the whole truth comes out, we will need decades of truth, reconciliation, restitution and de-Nazification.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
I read this future of war / we’re not ready piece with interest and it’s strikingly shallow.
Surveillance and targeting have advanced, yes. That’s in my 2018 book. Much of the rest reads like tech company hype marketing.
AI will make bio weapons that target one person! Well, it sure can’t now.
Surveillance and targeting have advanced, yes. That’s in my 2018 book. Much of the rest reads like tech company hype marketing.
AI will make bio weapons that target one person! Well, it sure can’t now.
Opinion | This Is the 21st-Century Arms Race. Can America Keep Up?
Innovations in A.I., synthetic biology and quantum computing are set to change war.
www.nytimes.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
I read this future of war / we’re not ready piece with interest and it’s strikingly shallow.
Surveillance and targeting have advanced, yes. That’s in my 2018 book. Much of the rest reads like tech company hype marketing.
AI will make bio weapons that target one person! Well, it sure can’t now.
Surveillance and targeting have advanced, yes. That’s in my 2018 book. Much of the rest reads like tech company hype marketing.
AI will make bio weapons that target one person! Well, it sure can’t now.