Running Dog
@runningdog.bsky.social
In the early days of our movement, it was mandatory that all members smoke cigarettes and refrain from speaking, but we realized those traditions were stupid. He/him/his/bark
Pinned
Running Dog
@runningdog.bsky.social
· Jul 17
Journalists: anonymous abuse of politicians has toxified the public sphere, its an existential threat to our democracy 🥺
Also journalists: somebody’s called this MP a knobhead and I won’t say who 🤠
Also journalists: somebody’s called this MP a knobhead and I won’t say who 🤠
Reposted by Running Dog
Quite the breathtaking opening. Jonathan Freedland claims that an "ifpology" (i.e. "I'm sorry if anyone was offended by my prior ignorance") would have been enough to close down the Farage antisemitism flap. Would it really?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Antisemitism allegations against the teenage Farage matter – look at what he went on to do | Jonathan Freedland
Farage has cosied up to US figures who espoused conspiracy theories about Jews. That kind of talk is becoming alarmingly mainstream on the Maga right, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Quite the breathtaking opening. Jonathan Freedland claims that an "ifpology" (i.e. "I'm sorry if anyone was offended by my prior ignorance") would have been enough to close down the Farage antisemitism flap. Would it really?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Suddenly imagining half a dozen journalists taking Jeremy Corbyn to court because they don’t believe he’s read Ulysses
I wrote about a novel approach to tackling misinformation currently being discussed in Wales--and which some say Canada should try, too. What if we made a rule so politicians couldn't lie? www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
Is it time to make it illegal for politicians to lie to us?
That’s the question currently on the table in Wales, which has just released a draft of the “globally pioneering” sanctions for politicians.
www.thestar.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Suddenly imagining half a dozen journalists taking Jeremy Corbyn to court because they don’t believe he’s read Ulysses
Oh no the Telegraph’s gone mad. Perhaps uh *Paul Dacre* will make it nicer 🤠
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
November 29, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Oh no the Telegraph’s gone mad. Perhaps uh *Paul Dacre* will make it nicer 🤠
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
There’s been several podcasts which said they were aiming to do this (minus figures from the arts world tbf), and every one of them almost immediately devolved into the panelists honking received wisdom at one another in a Very Measured Tone
We need one of those bare set, hour long politics tv shows shown at 11pm where no one shouts, the questions are forensic, the other guests are figures of the arts world, and only 6 people watch it.
Though one important part of making politics intellectual is that when you host a podcast called "Political Thinking" and somebody comes out with guff like Badenoch did, you really do have to challenge it. Right now there's no reward structure for deeper thinking or self-reflection.
November 28, 2025 at 1:47 PM
There’s been several podcasts which said they were aiming to do this (minus figures from the arts world tbf), and every one of them almost immediately devolved into the panelists honking received wisdom at one another in a Very Measured Tone
On the News Agents, Jon explains today shows Labour & Reform love unaffordable welfare spending, which opens up space for the Tories to “reinvent as a Thatcherite party”. ☠️
November 26, 2025 at 8:11 PM
On the News Agents, Jon explains today shows Labour & Reform love unaffordable welfare spending, which opens up space for the Tories to “reinvent as a Thatcherite party”. ☠️
Poor guy just wants to fix the NHS but things keep getting in the way, such as doctors, nurses and becoming prime minister without needing anyone to vote for him
"Coronation": the latest thinking on how to overcome the fact the Labour membership would never choose Wesley.
November 26, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Poor guy just wants to fix the NHS but things keep getting in the way, such as doctors, nurses and becoming prime minister without needing anyone to vote for him
Reposted by Running Dog
I couldn't have come up with this in my wildest parodies of Labour.
Reeves asks banks to praise her plans as they escape Budget tax raid on.ft.com/3KjmNae
Reeves asks banks to praise her plans as they escape Budget tax raid
Chancellor is under pressure from some Labour MPs to raise levies on business this week
on.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:19 PM
I couldn't have come up with this in my wildest parodies of Labour.
On the one hand, dozens of people testify he was very racist. On the other hand, 90% of lobby hacks enjoy going for beers with him, so it’s impossible to say whether it’s bad or not
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?
Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:25 PM
On the one hand, dozens of people testify he was very racist. On the other hand, 90% of lobby hacks enjoy going for beers with him, so it’s impossible to say whether it’s bad or not
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Running Dog
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
AirBnB CEO calling it “vibe revenue” just 👨🍳 😘
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
November 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
I thought publishing would be a way to work with interesting people on interesting projects, and tbf with some notable exceptions I was wrong
November 23, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I thought publishing would be a way to work with interesting people on interesting projects, and tbf with some notable exceptions I was wrong
On the News Agents, special guest Michael Crick explains he was doing “Farage was very racist at school” before it was cool, before explaining that he personally doesn’t think Enoch Powell was racist and he is pretty rightwing on immigration. Quite an insight into news values here
November 20, 2025 at 9:44 PM
On the News Agents, special guest Michael Crick explains he was doing “Farage was very racist at school” before it was cool, before explaining that he personally doesn’t think Enoch Powell was racist and he is pretty rightwing on immigration. Quite an insight into news values here
Reposted by Running Dog
Genuinely a ridiculous state of affairs for a country with an extant social care crisis, aging population, and that pretends to care about integration.
November 20, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Genuinely a ridiculous state of affairs for a country with an extant social care crisis, aging population, and that pretends to care about integration.
Mate if you’re so underestimated how come all the commentators incorrectly predicted you were going to be awesome
'There is a hint in Reeves’ comments that she is acutely aware of her own political mortality.'
Click to read our interview with the UK chancellor on.ft.com/4oS3IuV
Click to read our interview with the UK chancellor on.ft.com/4oS3IuV
November 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Mate if you’re so underestimated how come all the commentators incorrectly predicted you were going to be awesome
Cool how you can get a flawless victory on the Guardian’s “budget game” simply by soaking the rich. Has anyone told the politics desk
November 20, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Cool how you can get a flawless victory on the Guardian’s “budget game” simply by soaking the rich. Has anyone told the politics desk
One of the skills he used to become PM was convincing commentators he had the skills to be PM, and given his failure to convince anyone of anything ever since, that can’t have been very difficult. Which seems like a wider problem for everyone tbh.
Articulates the problem facing Labour: Starmer has the skills to become PM but not to be PM; and there is no underlying strategy because the years in opposition were wasted. Difficult to see this being turned around before 2029 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Starmer’s squandering of a historic election victory is a tragedy nearing its finale | Rafael Behr
The tactics that gave Labour its huge majority in 2024 were no preparation for government – and the prime minister has proved he has nothing more to offer, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:14 AM
One of the skills he used to become PM was convincing commentators he had the skills to be PM, and given his failure to convince anyone of anything ever since, that can’t have been very difficult. Which seems like a wider problem for everyone tbh.
On the News Agents, Jon explains Labour is ungovernable because too many MPs are crybaby do-gooders who’re afraid to be cruel to refugees in case they need to slink back to the charity sector when they lose their seats 🤔
November 17, 2025 at 10:18 PM
On the News Agents, Jon explains Labour is ungovernable because too many MPs are crybaby do-gooders who’re afraid to be cruel to refugees in case they need to slink back to the charity sector when they lose their seats 🤔
Reposted by Running Dog
A tremendous exhibition of an extraordinarily talented person, well worth a visit if you can make it
Lee Miller | Tate Britain
www.tate.org.uk
November 15, 2025 at 7:03 PM
A tremendous exhibition of an extraordinarily talented person, well worth a visit if you can make it
Remembering when Osborne was hired as Standard editor with zero experience in journalism and an obvious partisan agenda, and the hacks were correctly outraged for 5 minutes before realising a word out of place might affect their careers. How times change.
Ok the FT politics podcast, George Parker explains that the next director general of the BBC should be George Osborne, on account of he “took editing the [now basically defunct] Evening Standard quite seriously” and “would be harder for the Tory right to criticise”. Unbelievable scenes really
November 14, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Remembering when Osborne was hired as Standard editor with zero experience in journalism and an obvious partisan agenda, and the hacks were correctly outraged for 5 minutes before realising a word out of place might affect their careers. How times change.
Ok the FT politics podcast, George Parker explains that the next director general of the BBC should be George Osborne, on account of he “took editing the [now basically defunct] Evening Standard quite seriously” and “would be harder for the Tory right to criticise”. Unbelievable scenes really
November 14, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Ok the FT politics podcast, George Parker explains that the next director general of the BBC should be George Osborne, on account of he “took editing the [now basically defunct] Evening Standard quite seriously” and “would be harder for the Tory right to criticise”. Unbelievable scenes really
Reposted by Running Dog
Railing against populists at this point in British politics is a revealing choice in itself, isn't it? And by no means the choice of someone living up to the complexity of the present.
November 14, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Railing against populists at this point in British politics is a revealing choice in itself, isn't it? And by no means the choice of someone living up to the complexity of the present.
It’s a fun dynamic to have Neal and Zoe spelling out what’s been plain to see for ages in the opinion pages, while the Guardian politics team are obliged by a combination of cluelessness, lobby omertà and complicity, explain that it’s all a baffling mystery.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Starmer was never meant to be Labour’s prime minister – his leadership was doomed from the start | Neal Lawson
His alliance with the party’s anti-Corbyn faction was a shotgun marriage that totally lacked vision. Now Labour is paying the price, says Neal Lawson of the cross-party campaign organisation Compass
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:34 PM
It’s a fun dynamic to have Neal and Zoe spelling out what’s been plain to see for ages in the opinion pages, while the Guardian politics team are obliged by a combination of cluelessness, lobby omertà and complicity, explain that it’s all a baffling mystery.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Pretty amazing to choose Starmer as the example of a politician who tells the truth but looks like he’s lying. Even the tame political hacks are constantly saying he doesn’t believe or even comprehend what he’s saying half the time. He’s famous for it!
November 13, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Pretty amazing to choose Starmer as the example of a politician who tells the truth but looks like he’s lying. Even the tame political hacks are constantly saying he doesn’t believe or even comprehend what he’s saying half the time. He’s famous for it!
“The advisor has become the story” is such a funny rule of politics. Like we’ve seen many times that being the story is fine if the story is “giant politics brain is awesome”. The problem is when the story becomes “everyone hates this calamity-prone monster”, and that’s true of really any role.
November 13, 2025 at 2:24 PM
“The advisor has become the story” is such a funny rule of politics. Like we’ve seen many times that being the story is fine if the story is “giant politics brain is awesome”. The problem is when the story becomes “everyone hates this calamity-prone monster”, and that’s true of really any role.
Kiran on Politics Weekly here. Perhaps ironically, it sounds like it’s Labour who need to hire an ambitious hypnotherapist
November 13, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Kiran on Politics Weekly here. Perhaps ironically, it sounds like it’s Labour who need to hire an ambitious hypnotherapist
The hacks are now stuck between “Wes is being targeted by paranoid losers simply for being awesome” and “well yes obviously all the good lads want a coup”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Thin majorities and chaotic strategy push Labour MPs toward regime change
Frustration with Starmer’s lack of visibility unlikely to be quelled by No 10 efforts to show up leadership challengers
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:19 AM
The hacks are now stuck between “Wes is being targeted by paranoid losers simply for being awesome” and “well yes obviously all the good lads want a coup”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...