Matt Severn
@mattsevern.bsky.social
LibDem councillor, fe support staff, former bookseller, Dad, husband, Christian, non league fan x2 clubs, strategy gamer, very amateur HEMA fighter, SF&F reader, 4 x Parliamentary candidate.
Mostly found in Cumbria and North Lancashire.
Mostly found in Cumbria and North Lancashire.
Reposted by Matt Severn
In a touching tribute to his mentor, Morgan McSweeney has resigned in disgrace.
February 8, 2026 at 2:46 PM
In a touching tribute to his mentor, Morgan McSweeney has resigned in disgrace.
Reposted by Matt Severn
That was one of the more astounding things of reading the various “Morgan’s buddies” post-mortems, a total refusal to even acknowledge how the Government’s electoral performance is going while still touting this guy as a brilliant strategist heading off the soft left or whatever
And that's ultimately who he was: the preferred chief of staff of the 'no policies, just vibes' crowd, who are in denial even now that they have driven Labour to the brink of death.
February 8, 2026 at 6:03 PM
That was one of the more astounding things of reading the various “Morgan’s buddies” post-mortems, a total refusal to even acknowledge how the Government’s electoral performance is going while still touting this guy as a brilliant strategist heading off the soft left or whatever
Reposted by Matt Severn
Indeed. 'Things are going so badly we can't be certain of retaining a mayoralty in one of our safest areas with a popular incumbent. This is no time for a change of approach, strategy or leader'. You...sure about that one pal?
February 8, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Indeed. 'Things are going so badly we can't be certain of retaining a mayoralty in one of our safest areas with a popular incumbent. This is no time for a change of approach, strategy or leader'. You...sure about that one pal?
Reposted by Matt Severn
After a certain point the sanity of Palantir's leadership does matter to the national security of the UK and other European states buying its software
February 8, 2026 at 12:14 PM
After a certain point the sanity of Palantir's leadership does matter to the national security of the UK and other European states buying its software
Hopefully someone has bought @cjayanetti.bsky.social a pint by now to celebrate
February 8, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Hopefully someone has bought @cjayanetti.bsky.social a pint by now to celebrate
Reposted by Matt Severn
Hate-filled fake videos about London are everywhere. We've obtained a recording of a TikToker confessing to secretly filming Londoners in their homes for clicks.
He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger.
Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...
He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger.
Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...
February 8, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Hate-filled fake videos about London are everywhere. We've obtained a recording of a TikToker confessing to secretly filming Londoners in their homes for clicks.
He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger.
Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...
He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger.
Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...
Unfortunately it’s not going according to plan as we trail Truro by one goal to nil.
More focus and energy for the second half please @morecambefc.bsky.social
More focus and energy for the second half please @morecambefc.bsky.social
February 7, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Unfortunately it’s not going according to plan as we trail Truro by one goal to nil.
More focus and energy for the second half please @morecambefc.bsky.social
More focus and energy for the second half please @morecambefc.bsky.social
Jimbos Homecoming at @morecambefc.bsky.social
February 7, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Jimbos Homecoming at @morecambefc.bsky.social
Reposted by Matt Severn
Well done, The National. And fuck you, Mandelson. It’s in the public interest. www.thenational.scot/news/2583451...
Peter Mandelson issues secret notice demanding press leave him alone – read in full
LATE on Friday evening, this notice was circulated from representatives of Peter Mandelson, via press regulator IPSO and the Press Association news…
www.thenational.scot
February 6, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Well done, The National. And fuck you, Mandelson. It’s in the public interest. www.thenational.scot/news/2583451...
Reposted by Matt Severn
Depressing to see AI used in the Olympics opening ceremony. So much of it was showing off Italy's artistic work and people only for the theft and soulless regurgitation of art to be included
February 6, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Depressing to see AI used in the Olympics opening ceremony. So much of it was showing off Italy's artistic work and people only for the theft and soulless regurgitation of art to be included
Reposted by Matt Severn
Exclusive: Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons was provided with intelligence files gathered on journalists (including me) who had reported on Labour Together, the thinktank he chaired at the time (before he became an MP), sources say.
Know more about this story? Contact me, Signal: henrydyer.01
Know more about this story? Contact me, Signal: henrydyer.01
Labour minister was provided with intelligence files on journalists
Exclusive: Material gathered was personally given to Josh Simons when chair of pro-Starmer thinktank, say sources
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Exclusive: Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons was provided with intelligence files gathered on journalists (including me) who had reported on Labour Together, the thinktank he chaired at the time (before he became an MP), sources say.
Know more about this story? Contact me, Signal: henrydyer.01
Know more about this story? Contact me, Signal: henrydyer.01
Reposted by Matt Severn
Let's say a new leader became PM on 1st April. They could be Prime Minister until the 16th August 2029. That would make them the Prime Minister with the median time in office - 29 would have served more, 29 would have served less. Three Years & a few months is actually a really long time in politics
Yet this is a government with three years left to run and an enormous Commons majority. For all the problems, there is an enormous opportunity there for someone with the political nous to take it and use 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 12:24 PM
Let's say a new leader became PM on 1st April. They could be Prime Minister until the 16th August 2029. That would make them the Prime Minister with the median time in office - 29 would have served more, 29 would have served less. Three Years & a few months is actually a really long time in politics
Reposted by Matt Severn
GUY WHO FOLLOWS BRITISH POLITICS CLOSELY BUT ALSO HAS RETROGRADE AMNESIA: still just absolutely reeling from the news that peter mandleson had compromising connections to wealthy crooks. it must have been such a shock to keir starmer to discover that fact. there were no warning signs
February 6, 2026 at 2:47 PM
GUY WHO FOLLOWS BRITISH POLITICS CLOSELY BUT ALSO HAS RETROGRADE AMNESIA: still just absolutely reeling from the news that peter mandleson had compromising connections to wealthy crooks. it must have been such a shock to keir starmer to discover that fact. there were no warning signs
Reposted by Matt Severn
I realise McSweeney is big news right now, but the story here should be about Josh Simons, a government minister www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Labour thinktank close to Morgan McSweeney paid firm to investigate journalists
Labour Together hired company to look at Sunday Times and Guardian reporters after article about donations, documents suggest
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:15 PM
I realise McSweeney is big news right now, but the story here should be about Josh Simons, a government minister www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Matt Severn
A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
February 6, 2026 at 6:13 AM
A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
Reposted by Matt Severn
The President of the US is a eugenicist white nationalist. It’s like having Woodrow Wilson back in the White House, only without any of the good parts.
Trump: "Certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore. We can argue about it but there's no argument. Friends come back from different places and say, 'I don't recognize it.' And that's not in a positive way. That's in a very negative way."
January 21, 2026 at 3:50 PM
The President of the US is a eugenicist white nationalist. It’s like having Woodrow Wilson back in the White House, only without any of the good parts.
Reposted by Matt Severn
I think the problem with this approach is the power of US money rapidly makes them the only ideological show in town on the right, and then regardless of domestic opposition to MAGA, you are one bad economic run from them getting power.
No reason to get too worked up about this.
Ultranationalist transnationalism is not an easy thing to pull off — and the trademark „MAGA-funded“ might hurt European forces more than help on balance.
Ultranationalist transnationalism is not an easy thing to pull off — and the trademark „MAGA-funded“ might hurt European forces more than help on balance.
February 6, 2026 at 2:11 PM
I think the problem with this approach is the power of US money rapidly makes them the only ideological show in town on the right, and then regardless of domestic opposition to MAGA, you are one bad economic run from them getting power.
Reposted by Matt Severn
Politics being out of touch with realities will tend towards instability
February 6, 2026 at 11:51 AM
Politics being out of touch with realities will tend towards instability
Reposted by Matt Severn
Yet this is a government with three years left to run and an enormous Commons majority. For all the problems, there is an enormous opportunity there for someone with the political nous to take it and use 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 11:52 AM
Yet this is a government with three years left to run and an enormous Commons majority. For all the problems, there is an enormous opportunity there for someone with the political nous to take it and use it.
Reposted by Matt Severn
“..if those now shouting loudest had been shouting then, the question would have been harder to avoid — and the appointment less likely to be made.”
“Many of the same columnists now condemning Starmer praised him at the time for appointing a “master of the dark arts”, for taking a gamble.”
“Many of the same columnists now condemning Starmer praised him at the time for appointing a “master of the dark arts”, for taking a gamble.”
Have written about a week where the hypocrisy of much of the media was laid bare (and address mine).
I also write about the truth Starmer cannot say: he appointed Mandelson to the court of Trump not in spite of the Epstein connection but in a sense, because of it. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
I also write about the truth Starmer cannot say: he appointed Mandelson to the court of Trump not in spite of the Epstein connection but in a sense, because of it. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
What Starmer cannot say
The hypocrisy, in so many directions, the Epstein files reveal of the Westminster and the media class
open.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:03 AM
“..if those now shouting loudest had been shouting then, the question would have been harder to avoid — and the appointment less likely to be made.”
“Many of the same columnists now condemning Starmer praised him at the time for appointing a “master of the dark arts”, for taking a gamble.”
“Many of the same columnists now condemning Starmer praised him at the time for appointing a “master of the dark arts”, for taking a gamble.”
Reposted by Matt Severn
Remember the controversy when Obama was accused of intervening in UK politics? This is the current US government openly seeking to undermine liberal democracy in Europe.
February 6, 2026 at 7:14 AM
Remember the controversy when Obama was accused of intervening in UK politics? This is the current US government openly seeking to undermine liberal democracy in Europe.
Reposted by Matt Severn
So true. Also, many of the Americans doing literally nothing about Epstein’s American ‘associates’ are precisely the ones lying about Europe & particularly the UK being overrun with child-rapists. It’s insane.
This is preying on my mind a bit. Jeffrey Epstein was not primarily a British scandal! So far we've removed a Prince from the Royal family, fired our US ambassador who was one of the most important political figures of the last few decades and banned the CEO of Barclays from the financial industry..
One by one, Europeans mentioned in the Epstein files who still hold political office are beginning to resign or are being forced out of office.
Meanwhile, ruled by an administration almost entirely made up of Epstein associates, the US carries on as if nothing really happened.
Meanwhile, ruled by an administration almost entirely made up of Epstein associates, the US carries on as if nothing really happened.
February 5, 2026 at 6:10 PM
So true. Also, many of the Americans doing literally nothing about Epstein’s American ‘associates’ are precisely the ones lying about Europe & particularly the UK being overrun with child-rapists. It’s insane.
Reposted by Matt Severn
this is such a weird story:
An influential Labour-aligned think-tank previously run by Morgan McSweeney, now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, paid a public affairs company to identify the source of leaks to journalists about the group’s funding.
www.ft.com/content/dca0...
An influential Labour-aligned think-tank previously run by Morgan McSweeney, now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, paid a public affairs company to identify the source of leaks to journalists about the group’s funding.
www.ft.com/content/dca0...
UK think-tank close to Labour paid firm to identify source of leaks to media
Labour Together, previously run by Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, commissioned APCO Worldwide
www.ft.com
February 5, 2026 at 11:19 PM
this is such a weird story:
An influential Labour-aligned think-tank previously run by Morgan McSweeney, now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, paid a public affairs company to identify the source of leaks to journalists about the group’s funding.
www.ft.com/content/dca0...
An influential Labour-aligned think-tank previously run by Morgan McSweeney, now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, paid a public affairs company to identify the source of leaks to journalists about the group’s funding.
www.ft.com/content/dca0...
Reposted by Matt Severn
A bus stop near Tesla's flagship store in London. Imagine a Super Bowl ad that showed only this.
February 5, 2026 at 3:44 PM
A bus stop near Tesla's flagship store in London. Imagine a Super Bowl ad that showed only this.
Reposted by Matt Severn
If you are a person who works in social media, and your job requires you to manage an account on Twitter/X, please ask your boss, in writing, to verify that you are required as a responsibility of your position to be on a platform that knowingly creates and monetizes child sexual abuse material …
January 29, 2026 at 6:46 PM
If you are a person who works in social media, and your job requires you to manage an account on Twitter/X, please ask your boss, in writing, to verify that you are required as a responsibility of your position to be on a platform that knowingly creates and monetizes child sexual abuse material …