Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Matt

Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 1h

“Man has different opinion 15 years later” isn’t much of a gotcha if I’m completely honest

❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ @sababausa.bsky.social · 5d

Matt Yglesias, last week:
The British electoral system is a trainwreck, and the LibDems should have simply held out in 2010 to somehow get the Tories to give them their long coveted proportional representation

Yglesias, in 2010:
the British electoral system seems fine as it is

Matthew Yglesias & @mattyglesias
It's insane that Nick Clegg didn't make electoral reform the price of his participation in the Cameron government.
& Luke Tryl & @LukeTryl • 23h
This week's voting intention. Small dip in Reform lead after a high last week they're at 30%. Labour's is 8 behind at 22, Tories at 20
→ REF UK 30% (-3)
LAB 22% (+2)...
Headline Voting Intention
Fieldwork: 10 - 13 October 2025
Age All
88
30%
22%
20%
15%
9%
Reform UK
Labour
Conservative
Liberal Democrat
3%
2%
The Green Party
Scottish National Party (SNP)
Another party/Independent
Candidate
7:14 PM • Oct 15, 2025 • 204.1K Views
Eli Braille&@megawhelmed • 9h
g..
He did. There was a referendum in 2011. They lost. Clegg was a terrible negotiator. His real power was eating shit for the coalition government. He went on to eat shit for Mark Zuckerberg.
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Matthew Yglesias & @mattyglesias • 9h
g...
Right, he settled for a referendum rather than a coalition agreement to do it.

Matt Yglesias
May 5th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Blame the Electoral System or Blame the Party Leaders?
Jonathan Bernstein stands up for first past the post voting in the UK. He starts with an observation I agree with, namely that "the ultimate goal of a political system cannot be to accurately reflect the strength of each party in parliament, much less accurately reflect the strength of all the views of the citizens in parliament, which is essentially impossible anyway." Then he offers another view I agree with, namely that what really matters is "is whether the government is responsive to citizens." What follows is a kind of Burkean defense of caution about radical reform away from a system that seems to be okay.
For my part, I'll say that as I look at the scene emerging it does seem to be the case that what's plaguing the UK isn't so much a weird electoral system as it is a weird party system. If you look at John Cleese's very funny_pitch for electoral reform from the eighties you have to remember that he was talking at a very different time in the British party system. At that point, Labour and the Tories seemed determined to debunk the median voter theorem by being shockingly far apart ideologically. That paved the way for a revival (in alliance with some renegade moderate Labourites) of a centrist Liberal Party, a revival that was severely curtailed by the electoral system. Flash forward to 2010 and you have a situation in which Labour has moved to the right and the Tories have moved to the left, and the ideological posture of the Liberal Democrats vis-a-vis the other parties is pretty murky and contestable.
Arguably if the Tories manage to secure a parliamentary majority with 37 percent of the vote (as seems at least plausible) that would be more the fault of LibDem and Labour party leaders than of the electoral system. If the parties don't have major systematic ideological differences, then they should cooperate with a formal electoral pact rather than running candida…

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 1h

a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a desk with the word touche in the background

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a desk with the word touche in the background

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Matt

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 5h

Cartoon by @deadder.bsky.social.

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 3h

Ugh yeah, true to form

Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 3h

Ha ha. I have a much younger millennial brother and I can't watch anything longer than 90 minutes with him for the same reason (I bought him Apocalypse Now on DVD about 10 years ago and I'm pretty sure he still hasn't seen it).

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 9h

This is really depressing. I can no longer recommend older films to people for this reason. Is it going to be the same for books too?

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 10h

Yep. It looks bloody cold.

Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 10h

(4) Katie Lam is not the answer to the Tories' problems.

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Reposted by Matt

Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 10h

I mean, there’s obviously a reason for this that isn’t “grotesque protection of the worst people while the decent are hung up to dry”, and it’s that if you allowed this stuff to go on - no matter how much you agree with it (which I do) - Parliament would quickly end up unable to function.

Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 22h

Dawn Butler was ordered to leave the commons when she called a lying Prime Minister a liar - now the deputy speaker tells her that you can’t call a racist a racist - grotesque protection of the worst people while the decent are hung up to dry

implausibleblog
implausibleblog • Original audio
• •
•
Surreal! - Dawn Butler MP is repeatedly told off for referring to Sarah Pochin MP as racist by the Deputy Speaker despite citing her racist language

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Reposted by Matt

Craig Hamilton @craighamilton.bsky.social · 1d

This plan is obviously bullshit, but I would totally watch a Towerblockuster/Football Hooligan movie that was 50% Die Hard and 50% The Firm.

Jason Statham would be the leader of the Hooligan firm that ended up saving the day by thwarting the terrorists.

This movies absolutely must get made.

Caesar Flunk @caesarflunk.bsky.social · 1d

This will 100% not be built.

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 11h

😂

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 11h

To be fair I'm not that surprised, Bluesky has a progressive bias not a hard Left one.

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 11h

Sure but saying 'it drives me mad seeing adverts full of black and Asian people' isn't making that point. Ask people if they think that statement is racist.

UnHerd @unherd.com · 12h

According to a new survey, 40% of Britons don't think it is racist to highlight overrepresentation of black people in adverts | Eric Kaufmann

unherd.com

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 11h

Zarah, Winston Churchill wasn't a friend to organised labour. During hostilities with Germany it was mostly working class men being killed on both sides. If we apply your logic from the Ukraine conflict shouldn't we have pursued peace with Hitler?

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Reposted by Matt

Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 22h

At this point, Barack Obama should come out and publicly say he’d love to be President again and he hasn’t ruled out running for a third term. I’m serious. My fellow Democrats, either fight or go home.

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Reposted by Matt

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 1d

Politico: "MPs should consider deleting X, according to a committee led by Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle...

"On social media, the report said MPs should feel “empowered to step away from platforms that pose more harm than benefit.”

Absolutely. Please get on with it.

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 23h

Oh, you were joking 😂 * disappointed face

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 23h

Ooh, didn't know there was a sequel. I hope it picks up🤞

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 23h

Everyone at Politics Joe is as thick as mince so I wouldn't expect this obvious point to be made.

Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 23h

This is so dumb. By this logic because Winston Churchill wasn't a friend to organised labour and working class men were being killed on both sides we should have pursued peace with Hitler 🤡 🤡 🤡 🤡

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 23h

This is so dumb. By this logic because Winston Churchill wasn't a friend to organised labour and working class men were being killed on both sides we should have pursued peace with Hitler 🤡 🤡 🤡 🤡

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Reposted by Matt

sianushka.bsky.social @sianushka.bsky.social · 1d

Sultana’s comments are so offensive on so many levels. You can’t “both sides” Putin & Zelenskiy. You can’t speak over the voices of Ukrainian workers who are on the frontlines fighting for democracy & workers rights.

It is Putin and his acolytes who benefit from this war.

Ukraine Solidarity Campaign 🇺🇦✊🏽🚩 @ukrainesol.bsky.social · 1d

We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers' rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ys...

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 1d

Fair point :-)

Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 1d

Ah, I've always refused to install any social media apps on my phone for obvious reasons

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 1d

I don't mind the occasional uber progressive drive by shooting attempt though, I find their righteous fury amusing

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Matt @matthewblott.bsky.social · 1d

To a degree. I like to hear a plurality of views but not a plurality of bullshit.

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