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
It's galling to contemplate but I really think you have to admit that Musk buying X was an unqualified victory. It can't be exaggerated just how much prominent journalists, pundits, business type, etc. mistake the vibe on X for "how the country is feeling."
February 15, 2026 at 8:50 PM
It's galling to contemplate but I really think you have to admit that Musk buying X was an unqualified victory. It can't be exaggerated just how much prominent journalists, pundits, business type, etc. mistake the vibe on X for "how the country is feeling."
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
One of the most bizarre things you'll see on a policy level in London is watching influential British figures flaunting myths of UK geopolitical power to EU or US counterparts that are in reality falling apart due to lack of funding and focus
And another bites the dust?
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial
Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:22 PM
One of the most bizarre things you'll see on a policy level in London is watching influential British figures flaunting myths of UK geopolitical power to EU or US counterparts that are in reality falling apart due to lack of funding and focus
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Landfill polling, I'm afraid.
"Yesterday, Rupert Lowe MP launched a political party named Restore Britain. If there were a General Election tomorrow, how would you vote in that election?"
RFM: 25%
GRN: 20%
LAB: 15%
CON: 13%
RES: 10%
LDM: 10%
Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 14 Feb.
RFM: 25%
GRN: 20%
LAB: 15%
CON: 13%
RES: 10%
LDM: 10%
Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 14 Feb.
February 14, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Landfill polling, I'm afraid.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
One thing I appreciate from Strange New Worlds is that it finally confronted the Eugenics Wars/World War III shit by saying "Look, fuckers got time travel, wibbley-wobbly timey-wimey go fuck yourself."
Honestly I kind of love how the writing considerations that gave us the mess that is the canon slowly leaked into the narrative itself - the writers gave up and just said "the timeline makes no sense and WW3 keeps moving around because of the time war. A wizard did it. Shut up"
February 14, 2026 at 3:25 PM
One thing I appreciate from Strange New Worlds is that it finally confronted the Eugenics Wars/World War III shit by saying "Look, fuckers got time travel, wibbley-wobbly timey-wimey go fuck yourself."
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
There's no end to the irony of the "fans" complaining about canon in newer Star Trek because if you know anything about the series you know that shit was always stitched together with duct tape and prayer.
Did you know the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek III was originally intended to be Romulan?
Did you know the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek III was originally intended to be Romulan?
February 14, 2026 at 3:11 PM
There's no end to the irony of the "fans" complaining about canon in newer Star Trek because if you know anything about the series you know that shit was always stitched together with duct tape and prayer.
Did you know the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek III was originally intended to be Romulan?
Did you know the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek III was originally intended to be Romulan?
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Compare Chinese state media (below) with US state media (Fox et al, with increasing bleed-over into many "legit" news operations.)
China's Xinhua news agency has just published this editorial cartoon in response to Trump's rejection of climate policies.
It is pretty clear that China views this as a HUGE geopolitical fumble by the US leaving the field clear for China's to win the global race to clean-tech hegemony
It is pretty clear that China views this as a HUGE geopolitical fumble by the US leaving the field clear for China's to win the global race to clean-tech hegemony
February 14, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Compare Chinese state media (below) with US state media (Fox et al, with increasing bleed-over into many "legit" news operations.)
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
We just released our first US midterms polling of 2026. The main story is a familiar one, that the cost of living is again set to punish the incumbent.
Since 2024, the Democrats' vote margin has increased by double digits with those most concerned about food/gas prices.
Since 2024, the Democrats' vote margin has increased by double digits with those most concerned about food/gas prices.
February 13, 2026 at 4:15 PM
We just released our first US midterms polling of 2026. The main story is a familiar one, that the cost of living is again set to punish the incumbent.
Since 2024, the Democrats' vote margin has increased by double digits with those most concerned about food/gas prices.
Since 2024, the Democrats' vote margin has increased by double digits with those most concerned about food/gas prices.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
This illustrates nicely a point I've come back to a few times: Trump was unusually reliant, for a Republican, on lower income voters in 2024. They believed he would help them. He hasn't. And that's a big reason why his approval ratings are so bad.
Trump approval is now sharply correlated with voters' perceived financial positions, a pattern which holds among his own voters.
February 13, 2026 at 4:21 PM
This illustrates nicely a point I've come back to a few times: Trump was unusually reliant, for a Republican, on lower income voters in 2024. They believed he would help them. He hasn't. And that's a big reason why his approval ratings are so bad.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
What is effective about this Burnham statement is it reads like something that he is personally invested in and is not worried about criticism for. More of this please.
February 12, 2026 at 11:00 AM
What is effective about this Burnham statement is it reads like something that he is personally invested in and is not worried about criticism for. More of this please.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Farage's stinking personal ratings are massively overlooked
Latest party leader net favourability ratings, February 2026
Kemi Badenoch: -23
Nigel Farage: -37
Keir Starmer: -47
Zack Polanski: -8 (48% DK)
Ed Davey: -10 (36% DK)
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
Kemi Badenoch: -23
Nigel Farage: -37
Keir Starmer: -47
Zack Polanski: -8 (48% DK)
Ed Davey: -10 (36% DK)
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
February 12, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Farage's stinking personal ratings are massively overlooked
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
(AXIOS) - Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios in an interview Tuesday that, when he searched President Trump's name in the unredacted Epstein files the previous day, it came up "more than a million times."
@axios.com
www.axios.com/2026/02/10/t...
@axios.com
www.axios.com/2026/02/10/t...
February 10, 2026 at 6:13 PM
(AXIOS) - Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios in an interview Tuesday that, when he searched President Trump's name in the unredacted Epstein files the previous day, it came up "more than a million times."
@axios.com
www.axios.com/2026/02/10/t...
@axios.com
www.axios.com/2026/02/10/t...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Getting really tired of "this is all a media concoction"...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
February 9, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Getting really tired of "this is all a media concoction"...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
No-one seems to have noticed, but many of the core developments in the Mandelson/Epstein story these last few days have been broken on this website. @pickardje.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social are both posting each breaking development on BlueSky, not X.
February 10, 2026 at 11:40 AM
No-one seems to have noticed, but many of the core developments in the Mandelson/Epstein story these last few days have been broken on this website. @pickardje.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social are both posting each breaking development on BlueSky, not X.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
It's not even midnight and we're already at "Deport Elmo."
February 9, 2026 at 3:15 AM
It's not even midnight and we're already at "Deport Elmo."
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Also Net Zero has been Labour's policy the entire time McSweeney has been there and they're spending tens of billions to achieve it...
Yes, god help we risk a floundering government that feels like no one is in charge.
February 8, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Also Net Zero has been Labour's policy the entire time McSweeney has been there and they're spending tens of billions to achieve it...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Young men are the second most liberal group in the country after young women.
The untold story that is told constantly and isn’t really true
February 7, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Young men are the second most liberal group in the country after young women.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
A good example of how strangely unpolitical this government is at times.
The Economist is fretting that trade union laws have been tilted (sharply!) back towards strengthening unions.
But is the government making an argument around this to progressive voters? No.
economist.com/britain/2026...
The Economist is fretting that trade union laws have been tilted (sharply!) back towards strengthening unions.
But is the government making an argument around this to progressive voters? No.
economist.com/britain/2026...
February 7, 2026 at 12:59 PM
A good example of how strangely unpolitical this government is at times.
The Economist is fretting that trade union laws have been tilted (sharply!) back towards strengthening unions.
But is the government making an argument around this to progressive voters? No.
economist.com/britain/2026...
The Economist is fretting that trade union laws have been tilted (sharply!) back towards strengthening unions.
But is the government making an argument around this to progressive voters? No.
economist.com/britain/2026...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
I was not prepared to discover which 9 cities this is supposed to link.
Utterly bonkers
Utterly bonkers
Choosing to believe that Chris Williamson lost some kind of bet which is why he has been forced to propose this:
Chris Williamson proposes Neom-informed Loop to connect northern British cities
Chris Williamson has proposed linking nine northern British cities with The Loop – a raised high-speed railway informed by Neom's megacity The Line.
www.dezeen.com
February 7, 2026 at 12:27 PM
I was not prepared to discover which 9 cities this is supposed to link.
Utterly bonkers
Utterly bonkers
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
wow too much for tim scott is saying something
Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, had this to say:
February 6, 2026 at 3:02 PM
wow too much for tim scott is saying something
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Seeing these two headlines side-by-side is really something
February 6, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Seeing these two headlines side-by-side is really something
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
There's no reason to accept this as normal, though. Much of Starmer and Labour's unpopularity is not misfortune but his own doing. Mandelson was a choice. Consistently pursuing policy positions designed to appeal to people who will not vote for you - and alienating core supporters - is a choice.
Starmer's reported condition - incredibly unpopular, shorn of authority, probably un-reelectable and yet will stagger on for want of an alternative - is just the new normal of how Britain is governed. It was also true for two-thirds of May's premiership, half of Johnson's and all of Sunak's.
February 6, 2026 at 11:48 AM
There's no reason to accept this as normal, though. Much of Starmer and Labour's unpopularity is not misfortune but his own doing. Mandelson was a choice. Consistently pursuing policy positions designed to appeal to people who will not vote for you - and alienating core supporters - is a choice.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
5/5 PMs with approval ratings of measles isn't just a feature of failed leadership. It's Brexit Britain. There's no money for anything people want and were promised they would have, and no one can blame the people who got us into this mess because they got 52% of the vote (let alone reverse it).
Starmer's reported condition - incredibly unpopular, shorn of authority, probably un-reelectable and yet will stagger on for want of an alternative - is just the new normal of how Britain is governed. It was also true for two-thirds of May's premiership, half of Johnson's and all of Sunak's.
February 6, 2026 at 12:10 PM
5/5 PMs with approval ratings of measles isn't just a feature of failed leadership. It's Brexit Britain. There's no money for anything people want and were promised they would have, and no one can blame the people who got us into this mess because they got 52% of the vote (let alone reverse it).
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
"There's just a problem in Westminster where men, who are notorious bullies or sex pests, they get defended by their friends"
Ailbhe Rea, Political Editor for the New Statesman, says "women in Westminster" are "absolutely devastated" by the Mandelson revelations.
#Newsnight
Ailbhe Rea, Political Editor for the New Statesman, says "women in Westminster" are "absolutely devastated" by the Mandelson revelations.
#Newsnight
February 6, 2026 at 1:05 PM
"There's just a problem in Westminster where men, who are notorious bullies or sex pests, they get defended by their friends"
Ailbhe Rea, Political Editor for the New Statesman, says "women in Westminster" are "absolutely devastated" by the Mandelson revelations.
#Newsnight
Ailbhe Rea, Political Editor for the New Statesman, says "women in Westminster" are "absolutely devastated" by the Mandelson revelations.
#Newsnight
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
This quote from a Reform UK councillor sums it up beautifully. Cross-boundary moral outrages, exported online and sold (especially, but not exclusively) to generations that grew up before the internet, are such a central feature of radicalisation today. www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...
February 5, 2026 at 8:42 AM
This quote from a Reform UK councillor sums it up beautifully. Cross-boundary moral outrages, exported online and sold (especially, but not exclusively) to generations that grew up before the internet, are such a central feature of radicalisation today. www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
"Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some"
February 5, 2026 at 6:38 PM
"Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some"