Martin McDonald
@martymcd.bsky.social
UK & US Politics and other stuff from the kitchen table, one tweet at a time.
Some say 'a totally undiscovered twitter treasure' apparently. Also tax. And law
Some say 'a totally undiscovered twitter treasure' apparently. Also tax. And law
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Pope Leo XIV has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, three trucks carrying 100,000 servings of instant soup for communities affected by the war. “The Pope not only prays for peace but also seeks to support suffering families,” a Vatican official said.
December 28, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Pope Leo XIV has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, three trucks carrying 100,000 servings of instant soup for communities affected by the war. “The Pope not only prays for peace but also seeks to support suffering families,” a Vatican official said.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Really not convinced this week’s Dining across the Divide is going to work
December 28, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Really not convinced this week’s Dining across the Divide is going to work
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Doesn’t feel coincidental that all of the ‘women’ in the advert look to have barely reached adulthood. If that.
"And I never say no"
We need to have a serious talk about the way "AI companion" apps not only prey on the vulnerable, but are priming their users to ignore consent and to conflate love with control.
We need AI regulations across so many sectors, but this area is particularly horrifying.
We need to have a serious talk about the way "AI companion" apps not only prey on the vulnerable, but are priming their users to ignore consent and to conflate love with control.
We need AI regulations across so many sectors, but this area is particularly horrifying.
December 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Doesn’t feel coincidental that all of the ‘women’ in the advert look to have barely reached adulthood. If that.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
I thought that during a bus ride through the centre on Christmas Eve. Everything was clean, shiny and well-maintained. Beautiful.
December 28, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I thought that during a bus ride through the centre on Christmas Eve. Everything was clean, shiny and well-maintained. Beautiful.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
I've lived in this city for 31 years as of this week. Pretty much my whole adult life.
Yes Soho was rawer and dirtier back then and sure you could rent some dilapidated place in Balham for a few hundred quid a month but honestly... this city has never been as good as this in those 31 years.
Yes Soho was rawer and dirtier back then and sure you could rent some dilapidated place in Balham for a few hundred quid a month but honestly... this city has never been as good as this in those 31 years.
December 28, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I've lived in this city for 31 years as of this week. Pretty much my whole adult life.
Yes Soho was rawer and dirtier back then and sure you could rent some dilapidated place in Balham for a few hundred quid a month but honestly... this city has never been as good as this in those 31 years.
Yes Soho was rawer and dirtier back then and sure you could rent some dilapidated place in Balham for a few hundred quid a month but honestly... this city has never been as good as this in those 31 years.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
A Study Linked Cheese to Lower Dementia Risk. Is That Too Good to Be True?
www.nytimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Martin McDonald
So you disappear for four days and expect a warm welcome!
December 28, 2025 at 8:13 PM
So you disappear for four days and expect a warm welcome!
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy
December 27, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy
Reposted by Martin McDonald
The damage this fuckwit is doing to medicine and public health is almost unquantifiable.
Kennedy is ramping up his attacks on vaccines. Conspiracy theories are central to that agenda of undermining faith in public health, medicine, and experts.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
RFK Jr. Claims 'Vaccine Research' Likely Responsible for HIV and the Spanish Flu
Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed vaccine research was responsible for diseases like HIV, RSV, Lyme disease, and the Spanish flu.
www.rollingstone.com
December 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM
The damage this fuckwit is doing to medicine and public health is almost unquantifiable.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
I could do one of those "just came back to the UK, people playing their music aloud on phones, UK has fallen, MOAR racism etc".
Instead I saw exactly the same behaviours in Belgium that are often resolved by politely asking them to can it/put in earphones.
Instead I saw exactly the same behaviours in Belgium that are often resolved by politely asking them to can it/put in earphones.
December 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
I could do one of those "just came back to the UK, people playing their music aloud on phones, UK has fallen, MOAR racism etc".
Instead I saw exactly the same behaviours in Belgium that are often resolved by politely asking them to can it/put in earphones.
Instead I saw exactly the same behaviours in Belgium that are often resolved by politely asking them to can it/put in earphones.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
A day of reading straight men making excuses for Bardot would be amusing to me, but for my memoir containing much praise for the current Reform mayor of East Yorkshire.
Lust is a terrible vice.
Lust is a terrible vice.
December 28, 2025 at 8:02 PM
A day of reading straight men making excuses for Bardot would be amusing to me, but for my memoir containing much praise for the current Reform mayor of East Yorkshire.
Lust is a terrible vice.
Lust is a terrible vice.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Charming lot aren’t they
Non-Christians must eat bacon for a month, says Reform candidate
app.thenewworld.co.uk/story/147555...
Non-Christians must eat bacon for a month, says Reform candidate
app.thenewworld.co.uk/story/147555...
Non-Christians must eat bacon for a month, says Reform candidate
Chris Parry, standing to be mayor of Hampshire and the Solent, seems to be preoccupied with pork
app.thenewworld.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Charming lot aren’t they
Non-Christians must eat bacon for a month, says Reform candidate
app.thenewworld.co.uk/story/147555...
Non-Christians must eat bacon for a month, says Reform candidate
app.thenewworld.co.uk/story/147555...
Reposted by Martin McDonald
"I had a good and very productive phone call with Führer Hitler of Germany prior to my meeting with Charles de Gaulle of France today. Führer Hitler was very clear about which parts of France not currently under Nazi control he wants. Thank you for your attention to this matter! Winston Churchill."
December 28, 2025 at 7:37 PM
"I had a good and very productive phone call with Führer Hitler of Germany prior to my meeting with Charles de Gaulle of France today. Führer Hitler was very clear about which parts of France not currently under Nazi control he wants. Thank you for your attention to this matter! Winston Churchill."
Reposted by Martin McDonald
The UK PM spoke with the President of Ukraine today, ahead of the President meeting with the US President today.
Both welcomed ongoing diplomatic efforts towards securing peace and agreed to remain in close contact in the coming days.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Both welcomed ongoing diplomatic efforts towards securing peace and agreed to remain in close contact in the coming days.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
PM call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine: 28 December 2025
The Prime Minister spoke with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy today.
www.gov.uk
December 28, 2025 at 7:48 PM
The UK PM spoke with the President of Ukraine today, ahead of the President meeting with the US President today.
Both welcomed ongoing diplomatic efforts towards securing peace and agreed to remain in close contact in the coming days.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Both welcomed ongoing diplomatic efforts towards securing peace and agreed to remain in close contact in the coming days.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Reposted by Martin McDonald
this is a beautiful homage by my friend and colleague Claer Barrett to recently-departed FT reader Bruce Dalton, which she read at his funeral last week
December 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM
this is a beautiful homage by my friend and colleague Claer Barrett to recently-departed FT reader Bruce Dalton, which she read at his funeral last week
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Predictions for British politics in 2026 will be even tougher than usual because I think we are potentially near inflection points for both Lab and Con - if current steep declines continue, that will soon provoke leadership crisis/challenge which will change poll dynamics.
A reminder of yesterday's post reviewing last year's Christmas predictions for 2025. I will start a new prediction thread for 2026 about a week from now. If there's a prediction you'd like me to make, post it in the replies here!
New Swingometer post! I review the preditions I made last Christmas about politics in 2025 and try and draw some lessons from my various blunders and missteps:
swingometer.substack.com/p/my-2025-pr...
swingometer.substack.com/p/my-2025-pr...
December 28, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Predictions for British politics in 2026 will be even tougher than usual because I think we are potentially near inflection points for both Lab and Con - if current steep declines continue, that will soon provoke leadership crisis/challenge which will change poll dynamics.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
“It was unclear how Putin’s call, which the Russians said Trump initiated, would affect the discussions with Zelensky on Sunday afternoon. Ukraine has already agreed to “many different compromises” in the 20-point plan”
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump meets Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago between Putin calls
The president sounded optimistic about a deal to end Russia’s almost four-year-old invasion while sharing no new specifics.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 28, 2025 at 7:26 PM
“It was unclear how Putin’s call, which the Russians said Trump initiated, would affect the discussions with Zelensky on Sunday afternoon. Ukraine has already agreed to “many different compromises” in the 20-point plan”
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Martin McDonald
This is not idle speculation. The intercepts of the Witkoff/Kushner/Dmitriev conversations leaked by NATO intel services to various European and US publications show that this is _exactly_ what is going on. It's the most humiliating chapter in the whole history of US diplomacy.
December 28, 2025 at 7:28 PM
This is not idle speculation. The intercepts of the Witkoff/Kushner/Dmitriev conversations leaked by NATO intel services to various European and US publications show that this is _exactly_ what is going on. It's the most humiliating chapter in the whole history of US diplomacy.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Ultimately the concession (and I include mooted proposal bilateral territorial withdrawal of some regions in the Donbas) is aimed less at the Kremlin and more to Trump, to convince them a deal is possible and it's Putin who is stalling.
I mean, it's obvious to everyone thats the case except Trump
I mean, it's obvious to everyone thats the case except Trump
December 28, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Ultimately the concession (and I include mooted proposal bilateral territorial withdrawal of some regions in the Donbas) is aimed less at the Kremlin and more to Trump, to convince them a deal is possible and it's Putin who is stalling.
I mean, it's obvious to everyone thats the case except Trump
I mean, it's obvious to everyone thats the case except Trump
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Theatrics, insane quotes and stroke-addled rambling aside - a 'win' for Ukraine today would be keeping the US seriously involved in the negotiations and offering some concessions to pile some, any, pressure on the Russians into the new year.
December 28, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Theatrics, insane quotes and stroke-addled rambling aside - a 'win' for Ukraine today would be keeping the US seriously involved in the negotiations and offering some concessions to pile some, any, pressure on the Russians into the new year.
Reposted by Martin McDonald
Trump's black hand is painted up today
(Joe Raedle/Getty)
(Joe Raedle/Getty)
December 28, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Trump's black hand is painted up today
(Joe Raedle/Getty)
(Joe Raedle/Getty)
Reposted by Martin McDonald
How's it going Ed looking forward to New Year's eve
#TheArchers
#TheArchers
December 28, 2025 at 7:24 PM
How's it going Ed looking forward to New Year's eve
#TheArchers
#TheArchers
Reposted by Martin McDonald
#TheArchers
"Events spiral out of control" tomorrow... 😬
"Events spiral out of control" tomorrow... 😬
December 28, 2025 at 7:17 PM
#TheArchers
"Events spiral out of control" tomorrow... 😬
"Events spiral out of control" tomorrow... 😬
Reposted by Martin McDonald
“What do you think of the photo? I didn’t want to overdo it. #thearchers
December 28, 2025 at 7:13 PM
“What do you think of the photo? I didn’t want to overdo it. #thearchers
Reposted by Martin McDonald
December 28, 2025 at 7:07 PM