William French
@wtfrench76.bsky.social
Head of Communications at @theelders.bsky.social. Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before. 🇬🇧🇩🇪🇪🇺
Reposted by William French
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
Lead headline on @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social news: "the Chancellor is defending her Budget". Was it ever framed thus under the last government, even in 2022 with Kamikwaze and Liz Truss or 2012 with Osborne's omnishambles?
November 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Lead headline on @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social news: "the Chancellor is defending her Budget". Was it ever framed thus under the last government, even in 2022 with Kamikwaze and Liz Truss or 2012 with Osborne's omnishambles?
Had completely forgotten that Michael Meacher appears as himself in the first episode of Edge of Darkness. Ego, lui?
November 26, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Had completely forgotten that Michael Meacher appears as himself in the first episode of Edge of Darkness. Ego, lui?
Reposted by William French
The governor of West Virginia is now walking back his initial post, where he stated two National Guard members died after being shot
November 26, 2025 at 9:16 PM
The governor of West Virginia is now walking back his initial post, where he stated two National Guard members died after being shot
Yes, very good by Faisal Islam comme d'hab - but noticeable that the word "Brexit" is wholly absent, unlike the perceptive analysis by the @irishtimes.com shared earlier.
November 26, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Yes, very good by Faisal Islam comme d'hab - but noticeable that the word "Brexit" is wholly absent, unlike the perceptive analysis by the @irishtimes.com shared earlier.
Reposted by William French
The Irish Times view on the UK budget: the long shadow of Brexit
The Irish Times view on the UK budget: the long shadow of Brexit
Nearly a decade after the referendum and five years after the UK’s exit from the EU, the economic and political price is all too clear
www.irishtimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:08 PM
The Irish Times view on the UK budget: the long shadow of Brexit
🎶 Panic on the streets of London, panic on the streets of Hugh Town... 🎶 (Another Wilsonian echo for the Government?)
NEW: I've crunched the stats and these are the places that could have highest proportion of mansion tax payers after today's #budget.
In Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, more than a quarter of homes sold in the last three years were worth over £2m.
In Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, more than a quarter of homes sold in the last three years were worth over £2m.
November 26, 2025 at 5:36 PM
🎶 Panic on the streets of London, panic on the streets of Hugh Town... 🎶 (Another Wilsonian echo for the Government?)
Good grief. (I didn't remember the previous portrayal but the next post reveals all...)
long-time followers of the channel may remember that time the bbc portrayed a tory chancellor as superman
November 26, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Good grief. (I didn't remember the previous portrayal but the next post reveals all...)
For all those who say "there's no difference between the two main parties".
This is such important news. Hundreds of thousands of children taken out of poverty with the stroke of a pen.
Two-child benefit limit is officially scrapped in Budget 2025
Rachel Reeves confirms policy that restricts what benefits families can receive will be removed
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
For all those who say "there's no difference between the two main parties".
More's the pity.
"We are freezing known Russian assets" says Rachel Reeves
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
November 26, 2025 at 1:41 PM
More's the pity.
Youth of Britain, drink for victory. 🍻🍷🍸🥃
From now on, when discussing the budget, please use “is this measure bigger than the cost to the exchequer of gen Z drinking less” as your metric for assessing whether something actually raises or costs a significant sum
November 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Youth of Britain, drink for victory. 🍻🍷🍸🥃
Hell's teeth. I remember as a wire reporter that someone from HMT would come to the newsroom with a copy of the Chancellor's speech, turning over the pages in real time as he spoke to the Commons to ensure nothing got out early. Who would blame Rachel Reeves for tanning a whole bottle of whisky now?
As bad as your day might be, it could be worse, you could be the person who accidentally published the OBR's budget document a couple of hours early: obr.uk/docs/dlm_upl...
obr.uk
November 26, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Hell's teeth. I remember as a wire reporter that someone from HMT would come to the newsroom with a copy of the Chancellor's speech, turning over the pages in real time as he spoke to the Commons to ensure nothing got out early. Who would blame Rachel Reeves for tanning a whole bottle of whisky now?
"It is reasonable to note how the foreign state that saw the greatest benefit to itself in fracturing Europe’s democratic alliances, and that continues to machinate against western unity, is Vladimir Putin’s Russia." (Below this on my feed is a @lemonde.fr story on Farage, Gill & 🇷🇺. Join les dots.)
Fantastic column by @rafaelbehr.bsky.social this:
Rachel Reeves has many problems. She’s realising that her Brexit bind may be the biggest of all | Rafael Behr
Brutal economic realities are prompting a shift in Labour’s tone on Europe. But will it dare tell the whole truth about Britain’s predicament, asks Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:51 AM
"It is reasonable to note how the foreign state that saw the greatest benefit to itself in fracturing Europe’s democratic alliances, and that continues to machinate against western unity, is Vladimir Putin’s Russia." (Below this on my feed is a @lemonde.fr story on Farage, Gill & 🇷🇺. Join les dots.)
Kirsty MacColl had to rename her song "There's A Guy Works Down The Truck Stop Swears He's Elvis" so the Yanks would understand it.
new favourite New York Times term for a British thing just dropped
November 26, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Kirsty MacColl had to rename her song "There's A Guy Works Down The Truck Stop Swears He's Elvis" so the Yanks would understand it.
Is "whiskey" here a specific reference to the Northern Irish export market, or lazy/ignorant use of American spelling by Guardian subs?
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
November 26, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Is "whiskey" here a specific reference to the Northern Irish export market, or lazy/ignorant use of American spelling by Guardian subs?
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
"God knows we lesser countries have put some ghastly people in charge ourselves, but you do have to allow your international underlings the occasional cackle at the fact that in your great nation, Donald Trump has now become president, twice." Will Grauniad US staff have another fit of the vapours?
She never misses a beat, of course, but Marina's first paragraph this week is *chef's kiss*
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
What can we learn from RFK's 'erotic poetry'? That Americans need to get better at enjoying a scandal | Marina Hyde
The US health secretary’s ‘digital affair’ with Olivia Nuzzi doesn’t need sombre analysis. Take it from this Brit: sometimes laughter is the only option, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:34 PM
"God knows we lesser countries have put some ghastly people in charge ourselves, but you do have to allow your international underlings the occasional cackle at the fact that in your great nation, Donald Trump has now become president, twice." Will Grauniad US staff have another fit of the vapours?
Would Andrei Gromyko laugh or cry?
So this is Steven Witkoff coaching Putin‘s advisor Ushakov about how to please Trump
November 25, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Would Andrei Gromyko laugh or cry?
Reposted by William French
At least one insurrectionist goes to jail
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/w...
Bolsonaro to Start Serving 27-Year Sentence Over Coup Plot
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:45 PM
At least one insurrectionist goes to jail
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/w...
Swap GB News for Novara Media and this is how Corbyn and his acolytes responded to the charges of antisemitism.
Farage tells GB News that the Establishment are out to smear him over this, making the memories & testimony of twenty former pupils at the school some kind of political conspiracy
www.gbnews.com/politics/uk/...
www.gbnews.com/politics/uk/...
Nigel Farage categorically denies historic racism claims - 'They want to smear me'
'This is not the first time the desperate establishment has come after me, and it will not be the last,' the Reform UK leader said
www.gbnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Swap GB News for Novara Media and this is how Corbyn and his acolytes responded to the charges of antisemitism.
Imagine waking up from a 22 year-long sleep and seeing this.
Statement by President von der Leyen following the Call of the Coalition of the Willing
ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
Statement by President von der Leyen following the Call of the Coalition of the Willing
Today, the partners of the Coalition of the Willing convened to discuss ongoing negotiations toward a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.\nIn recent days and hours, we have seen solid and encouraging ...
ec.europa.eu
November 25, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Imagine waking up from a 22 year-long sleep and seeing this.
Reader, I snorted.
Life is pretty grim these days, but we have one thing going for us. At least the boys have finally left town. That was- ... Oh, here comes Phil Lynott! Hey, Phil, good to see you. Any news?
November 25, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reader, I snorted.
"Diplomats are encouraged to tell foreign delegations to prioritise three things: mineral deals, accommodating America's unwanted migrants, and evidence of how they can back Trump’s quest for a Nobel Peace Prize."
www.ft.com/content/ad6e...
www.ft.com/content/ad6e...
The death of the diplomat in Trump’s America
Sidelining the state department and relying on dealmakers will come at a cost
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:47 PM
"Diplomats are encouraged to tell foreign delegations to prioritise three things: mineral deals, accommodating America's unwanted migrants, and evidence of how they can back Trump’s quest for a Nobel Peace Prize."
www.ft.com/content/ad6e...
www.ft.com/content/ad6e...
Tidings of comfort and joy.
There is a startling level of cultural illiteracy involved in complaining that a school's Christmas play has a plot about refugees from the Middle East. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Inverness school's Christmas show cancelled after 'racist' abuse
Highland Council says some of the online messages were directed at staff at the primary.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Tidings of comfort and joy.
Lead story on The World At One. Ça continue...
The media should hold Farage to account for his words and deeds on racism just as they did Corbyn on antisemitism. Let's see how this pans out...
“I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way”
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Lead story on The World At One. Ça continue...