John David Francis McAra
@jmcara.bsky.social
Retired lefty gammon who lies about his name.
I like reading stuff by people who know more about things than me. If you DM me uninvited I will block you. I don’t care how big your chest is madam.
I like reading stuff by people who know more about things than me. If you DM me uninvited I will block you. I don’t care how big your chest is madam.
It really needs to go.
The best time to cancel BBC Question Time was when Sir Robin Day left in 1989. The second best time is now. It has been extremely bad for most of my adult life.
January 31, 2026 at 3:06 PM
It really needs to go.
Vote winner
Jesus wept
Daily Express: NOW YOU MUST GIVE BRITAIN A PROPER BREXIT #TomorrowsPapersToday
January 30, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Vote winner
This is a blow. Find it a bit symbolic really. 3rd Eye was one of the few visible places were working class kids could interact with an arts world beyond the monotone schemes we lived in. My first jazz gigs when I was 17 were put on there by Platform. Just going in introduced you to another world.
As someone who attended the 1975 opening of The Third Eye Centre, it pains me to hear today that the now CCA has just gone into liquidation, with all staff let go.
A sorry saga of political posturing and dire mismanagement.
Pic: The Third Eye Centre, 1978, by Ian Breakwell
A sorry saga of political posturing and dire mismanagement.
Pic: The Third Eye Centre, 1978, by Ian Breakwell
January 30, 2026 at 3:25 PM
This is a blow. Find it a bit symbolic really. 3rd Eye was one of the few visible places were working class kids could interact with an arts world beyond the monotone schemes we lived in. My first jazz gigs when I was 17 were put on there by Platform. Just going in introduced you to another world.
Oh, I doubt he did it all on his own.
Trump has certainly highlighted all of the flaws and weaknesses of the system. The entire system. Social, legal, and political.
January 29, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Oh, I doubt he did it all on his own.
Elderly blond haired, inexplicably popular sex criminals are the new American black.
Your occasional reminder that getting really into the baddies in films can be a teensy bit of a cultural minefield.
Why US cinemagoers are dressing as Jimmy Savile to see 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
January 29, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Elderly blond haired, inexplicably popular sex criminals are the new American black.
Guys father lived well into his 90s. His mother to 88.
So maybe not.
So maybe not.
🇨🇦🇨🇦the only thing keeping me sane is knowing Trump will likely be dead soon.🇨🇦🇨🇦
January 29, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Guys father lived well into his 90s. His mother to 88.
So maybe not.
So maybe not.
Absolutely this.
As an elderly white hippie I'm bemused that work has become a deity, not a means to an end.
What a tedious life. What tedious people will be the result.
What a tedious life. What tedious people will be the result.
www.ft.com/content/d0b7...
No thank you.
No thank you.
January 29, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Absolutely this.
Good lad
This is the way.
January 29, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Good lad
Quite. Suspect the more people are exposed to Miller the less they’ll like him.
Democrats' demand that Stephen Miller is fired as a condition of voting for ICE funding is one of the smartest moves they've made under Trump.
Miller is a loathsome figure who I imagine has rock-bottom likability numbers. Democrats should try to raise his public salience as often as possible.
Miller is a loathsome figure who I imagine has rock-bottom likability numbers. Democrats should try to raise his public salience as often as possible.
January 29, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Quite. Suspect the more people are exposed to Miller the less they’ll like him.
Because disruptive radicalism has been soooo successful recently.
I’m also betting that Juliets concept of destructive radicalism is “for everyone but me”
I’m also betting that Juliets concept of destructive radicalism is “for everyone but me”
Juliet Samuels thesis is that centrism = seriousness = hamstrung = boring = nothingness.
Starmer is the embodiment of this.
Samuels goes on to suggest this is why Badenoch doesn't want to turn a bit more centrist as it doesn't have the disruptive radicalism needed to fix deep-seated problems.
Starmer is the embodiment of this.
Samuels goes on to suggest this is why Badenoch doesn't want to turn a bit more centrist as it doesn't have the disruptive radicalism needed to fix deep-seated problems.
Can read it here. I mean, why would you think that Ruth Davidson was 'a loss' in 2019 and be surprised that she is offering the exact same politics as when she was 'a loss'?
January 29, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Because disruptive radicalism has been soooo successful recently.
I’m also betting that Juliets concept of destructive radicalism is “for everyone but me”
I’m also betting that Juliets concept of destructive radicalism is “for everyone but me”
Bush and Major seem like political titans these days.
Some of my followers may enjoy this. I recently said, entirely sincerely, to a member of John Major’s Cabinet, that I thought the cones hotline predicted the shape of the future. They thought I was taking the piss and walked out of the restaurant. 🤣
My status as the founder and sole member of the John Major apologist club means I have to speak up for HW, whose measured response to the collapse of the Soviet Union meant the end of the Cold War was neither violent nor bloody.
January 29, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Bush and Major seem like political titans these days.
He always was an empty suit.
Obama being best positioned to coordinate opposition to this administration (particular in civil society smoke filled rooms) but instead opting to lob pronouncements from Olympus like Jupiter but only for those pronouncements to be podcast recs is so insanely Barrycoded
literally laughed out loud
January 28, 2026 at 5:54 PM
He always was an empty suit.
Has she ever read a newspaper?
January 28, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Has she ever read a newspaper?
And only the one..
I love that the decision was consciously taken at some point not to go for a friendly woollen glove but a creepy Boston Strangler glove.
January 28, 2026 at 5:35 PM
And only the one..
This…
It is genuinely astounding how Reform, Labour and the Tories have decided to fight tooth-and-nail for the votes of the same 30-35 percent of the electorate and completely ignore everyone else.
Badenoch's strategic genius on full display here, telling centrist voters to fuck off, including in the 60+ seats the party lost to the Lib Dems, so she can focus on competing with an extreme right party ahead of her in the polls.
January 28, 2026 at 5:32 PM
This…
Badenoch * really * isn’t very good at this.
Makes Starmer look like Metternich.
Makes Starmer look like Metternich.
Sad to see Cat doubting the value of 'we're just like Reform, but more implicated in the last government, BUT did I mention that I met my husband at a Conservative party event?' as a dividing line.
This is, strategically, batshit
January 28, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Badenoch * really * isn’t very good at this.
Makes Starmer look like Metternich.
Makes Starmer look like Metternich.
Are the Americans reaching the point where this isn’t funny anymore?
Trump: "We have the groceries going down. We have the energy going down. We have gasoline going down at a record clip. That's what I want to do. We're doing well."
January 28, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Are the Americans reaching the point where this isn’t funny anymore?
“Above the shops” is the key.
The deader High Streets I see tend to have a pretty low population density around them. The solution is partly to get several thousand new houses/flats built nearby or above the shops
January 28, 2026 at 4:43 PM
“Above the shops” is the key.
“If I’m going down, I ain’t going quietly”
Kristi Noem: "Everything I've done, I've done at the direction of the president and Stephen"
January 28, 2026 at 3:14 PM
“If I’m going down, I ain’t going quietly”
See also: Star Trek/Wars
Fundimentally so much Harry Potter stuff is people putting way too much weight onto what are good children's books which were never designed to sustain it - and Rowling trying to respond to that.
They're just kids books guys! Its not a suprise they dont sustain critical examination!
They're just kids books guys! Its not a suprise they dont sustain critical examination!
Interestingly enough, you can see this in a lot of Rowling's later worldbuilding, which struck me as trying to smooth of the edges of a world which had--unexpectedly to her--become so meaningful and important to so many people.
January 28, 2026 at 12:52 PM
See also: Star Trek/Wars
Smart money says this is a result for the Tories.
Suella Braverman is the latest defector to Reform. Good place for 'Cruella'
x.com/i/status/201...
x.com/i/status/201...
Katherine Forster on X: "BREAKING: Suella Braverman defects to Reform: “I feel like I’ve come home” https://t.co/3BjUkJbJw6" / X
BREAKING: Suella Braverman defects to Reform: “I feel like I’ve come home” https://t.co/3BjUkJbJw6
x.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:20 PM
Smart money says this is a result for the Tories.
They may do quite well. Although someone would need to explain the difference with the Lib Dems.
Andy Street's central role is also worth noting
A new moderate centre-right Tory group launched today. Worth looking at the list of supporters including @davidgauke.bsky.social @davidlidington.bsky.social, Ruth Davidson, Malcolm Rifkind &many others known to
1) be quite pro-European
2) have no time for culture wars
prosperuk.com/meet-the-team/
1) be quite pro-European
2) have no time for culture wars
prosperuk.com/meet-the-team/
January 26, 2026 at 2:16 PM
They may do quite well. Although someone would need to explain the difference with the Lib Dems.
An honest sonsie face.
Have a good Burns Night everyone. The first in which we can see him through the eyes of one of Scotland's greatest painters, Henry Raeburn.
January 25, 2026 at 6:17 PM
An honest sonsie face.
Everybody else can.
Whether they will say it or not, surely there must be some people in the MAGA movement who are able to see that Stephen Miller is a psychopath.
January 25, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Everybody else can.
He’s an opportunistic arse, but he does it well.
As a fuck you to the orange felon for withdrawing the United Stares from the World Health Organization, California has joined instead thanks to Governor Gavin Newsome.
Good, love that.
Good, love that.
January 24, 2026 at 11:22 AM
He’s an opportunistic arse, but he does it well.