The Prophet Cassandra
@prophetcassandra.bsky.social
Talks occasionally.
Trans. 28. London. She/Her.
Trans. 28. London. She/Her.
Pinned
"The Hard Left in England long imagined that they were enthusiastic about socialism, equality, and the beauties of the old English Radicalism, until the day of danger wrung from them the confession that they are enthusiastic only about magic grandpa."
Hearing from multiple sources that Streeting and Burnham have agreed a pact where Wes becomes PM and Andy Chancellor. Reportedly the breakthrough point in negotiations was agreeing to a 10% uplift in spending on public services paid for by "A Wealth Tax on Transgender"
More as we get it
More as we get it
Might see if I can start a false rumour that Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham were seen shaking hands after a meal at a restaurant
getting word that Wes Streeting is not in London, because he's in Manchester. more on this developing story as we get it
November 12, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Hearing from multiple sources that Streeting and Burnham have agreed a pact where Wes becomes PM and Andy Chancellor. Reportedly the breakthrough point in negotiations was agreeing to a 10% uplift in spending on public services paid for by "A Wealth Tax on Transgender"
More as we get it
More as we get it
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Sun up the level of rot in British police in one paragraph:
November 12, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Sun up the level of rot in British police in one paragraph:
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
I would prefer it if Wes Streeting did not become Prime Minister
November 12, 2025 at 8:47 AM
I would prefer it if Wes Streeting did not become Prime Minister
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Appreciating it's not an original observation, it is extremely obvious that Starmer still basically believes he's leading a large civil service department and not an actual government.
It's not just that he is a bad leader, it's that he has little interest in understanding why that might be.
It's not just that he is a bad leader, it's that he has little interest in understanding why that might be.
This is in the New Statesman today by Ailbhe Rea is well worth a read on the mood in the Parliamentary Labour Party
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Does Keir Starmer realise how much trouble he's in?
The Prime Minister is facing a crisis of contempt among his own MPs
www.newstatesman.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Appreciating it's not an original observation, it is extremely obvious that Starmer still basically believes he's leading a large civil service department and not an actual government.
It's not just that he is a bad leader, it's that he has little interest in understanding why that might be.
It's not just that he is a bad leader, it's that he has little interest in understanding why that might be.
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Tony Blair and David Cameron were chosen by Party Members. Gordon Brown, Theresa May, and Rishi Sunak were chosen by MPs.
It’s not bad luck it’s structural.
Parties now select leaders based on direct democracy by absolute freaks, party members, and MPs are doing one of the worst jobs imaginable (with a genuine risk of death!) for the same money a supermarket manager or trainee lawyer gets.
bsky.app/profile/will...
Parties now select leaders based on direct democracy by absolute freaks, party members, and MPs are doing one of the worst jobs imaginable (with a genuine risk of death!) for the same money a supermarket manager or trainee lawyer gets.
bsky.app/profile/will...
Nope - we've really just had the most atrocious run of bad luck when it came to Prime Ministers. You can see that in the most competent politician since 2007 (whilst PM) has the smallest drop off.
November 12, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Tony Blair and David Cameron were chosen by Party Members. Gordon Brown, Theresa May, and Rishi Sunak were chosen by MPs.
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Palantir update via www.wired.com/story/alex-k...
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Palantir update via www.wired.com/story/alex-k...
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
this is not "everyone is twelve" theory. this is the slightly rarer but typically much more consequential "no one knows what lawyers do" theory
“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS source said.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Bari Weiss wants to take down ‘too much power’ CBS News Standards unit: sources
EXCLUSIVE: Internal rumblings within the newsroom come after the S&P head resigned and the network disbanded its vaunted Race and Culture unit.
www.independent.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
this is not "everyone is twelve" theory. this is the slightly rarer but typically much more consequential "no one knows what lawyers do" theory
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Lisa Nandy has now begun working on selecting the worst BBC Director-General of all time
November 9, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Lisa Nandy has now begun working on selecting the worst BBC Director-General of all time
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
This is the most abysmal, pathetic thing. The BBC head resigning because the corporation is not supine *enough* to the far-right.
🔴 Breaking I Davie faced mounting criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by Donald Trump
➡️ Read more: trib.al/I0iw7aP
➡️ Read more: trib.al/I0iw7aP
November 9, 2025 at 6:16 PM
This is the most abysmal, pathetic thing. The BBC head resigning because the corporation is not supine *enough* to the far-right.
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
The Equality Act being inverted over the last 15 years from a work of explicitly egalitarian legislation with clearly defined boundaries to a shield used to protect the worst kinds of bigotry our society has to offer and crush minorities of every stripe under its heel is... not good
November 9, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The Equality Act being inverted over the last 15 years from a work of explicitly egalitarian legislation with clearly defined boundaries to a shield used to protect the worst kinds of bigotry our society has to offer and crush minorities of every stripe under its heel is... not good
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
“Nobody thought a Labour government would have to raise taxes by more than £70bn,” claims one insider in this excellent piece. Shows the problem of the climate of fear in meetings created by some of Starmer’s aides, in that plenty of Labour insiders, did, in fact, think this!
The politics of breaking manifesto promises
The history of politicians who go back on their words has lessons for Rachel Reeves as she mulls raising taxes
www.ft.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
“Nobody thought a Labour government would have to raise taxes by more than £70bn,” claims one insider in this excellent piece. Shows the problem of the climate of fear in meetings created by some of Starmer’s aides, in that plenty of Labour insiders, did, in fact, think this!
Finished 9 Thoughts:
1 - There is no era of the Queer Community in the last half century that would have uncritically praised and embraced this book. Every era would have found issues with it and I think the issues people would have with it today would be different to the ones they had in 1978
1 - There is no era of the Queer Community in the last half century that would have uncritically praised and embraced this book. Every era would have found issues with it and I think the issues people would have with it today would be different to the ones they had in 1978
November 7, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Finished 9 Thoughts:
1 - There is no era of the Queer Community in the last half century that would have uncritically praised and embraced this book. Every era would have found issues with it and I think the issues people would have with it today would be different to the ones they had in 1978
1 - There is no era of the Queer Community in the last half century that would have uncritically praised and embraced this book. Every era would have found issues with it and I think the issues people would have with it today would be different to the ones they had in 1978
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
It’s called the “Chappaquiddick reflex”
November 6, 2025 at 5:43 PM
It’s called the “Chappaquiddick reflex”
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
The average Representative really only knows Carter, Humphrey, Udall, Church, Brown, and Wallace ran in 76, us politics nerds just take it as a given everyone knows Shriver and Bayh at least but they don’t. Good to have some humility for how people who aren’t nerds about your topic know stuff.
Lots of politics nerds would be amazed how little lots of politicians care about political knowledge.
I say this as someone who only just realised this, but I think those of us who spend large portions of our leisure time following/commenting/joking about politics underestimate the big ways that politicians are not more successful versions of ourselves but actually a very different type of person
November 6, 2025 at 3:30 AM
The average Representative really only knows Carter, Humphrey, Udall, Church, Brown, and Wallace ran in 76, us politics nerds just take it as a given everyone knows Shriver and Bayh at least but they don’t. Good to have some humility for how people who aren’t nerds about your topic know stuff.
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Only second childhood or mere oblivion will save me from my occasional bouts of “she asked if someone from Bradford might win a Bafta in the same year someone from Bradford *did* win a BAFTA”.
November 5, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Only second childhood or mere oblivion will save me from my occasional bouts of “she asked if someone from Bradford might win a Bafta in the same year someone from Bradford *did* win a BAFTA”.
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Transsexuals who spend all their time talking about how the cis gays suck should watch The Boys In The Band (1970) and tell me history won't repeat itself once they have their rights with a straight face
November 5, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Transsexuals who spend all their time talking about how the cis gays suck should watch The Boys In The Band (1970) and tell me history won't repeat itself once they have their rights with a straight face
The reason I like films more than books is that it's a lot easier to bully your friends into watching a controversial gay film from the 70s than to bully them into reading a controversial gay novel from the 70s.
So then you're stuck halfway through F@ggots 1978 with no one to talk about it with
So then you're stuck halfway through F@ggots 1978 with no one to talk about it with
November 4, 2025 at 7:19 PM
The reason I like films more than books is that it's a lot easier to bully your friends into watching a controversial gay film from the 70s than to bully them into reading a controversial gay novel from the 70s.
So then you're stuck halfway through F@ggots 1978 with no one to talk about it with
So then you're stuck halfway through F@ggots 1978 with no one to talk about it with
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
![[Death at the claw machine meme] Dick Cheney?! Is Henry Kissinger even in this thing?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:g5mlcjdhkv3j545hfvdmkycm/bafkreifjhsh7yd4b7s5mgcnuk7xbtvyyhkpyo6ne2qqloswdnr44hnx6p4@jpeg)
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
This "Deciding To Win" study is pretty compelling, say what you will about the participants but you can't argue the stats
October 29, 2025 at 5:54 PM
This "Deciding To Win" study is pretty compelling, say what you will about the participants but you can't argue the stats
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
HE institutions have often been poorly managed, but the “overly optimistic strategic and financial planning” has been forced by government policy, not least the reasonable assumption that a Labour government might care about higher education and might step in to help support it
Here the text (p. 51) is clear: beyond tuition fee rises, you're not getting any more money from us. We want more cuts and far more job losses, and we think management should be much tougher. No other reading is possible. (5/?)
October 29, 2025 at 11:32 AM
HE institutions have often been poorly managed, but the “overly optimistic strategic and financial planning” has been forced by government policy, not least the reasonable assumption that a Labour government might care about higher education and might step in to help support it
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
It's increasingly obvious that Labour's strategy - call it Starmerism, Blue Labour, whatever - has got it badly wrong. It has alienated the party's core vote while failing to win over those leaning to Reform. There was no shortage of people warning them they were getting it wrong either.
October 28, 2025 at 12:02 PM
It's increasingly obvious that Labour's strategy - call it Starmerism, Blue Labour, whatever - has got it badly wrong. It has alienated the party's core vote while failing to win over those leaning to Reform. There was no shortage of people warning them they were getting it wrong either.
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
It's so funny how much the aggressive pro-Starmer people on here are in a very real sense, just Keir Starmer: successful people in or past the third quarter of their careers who don't really like or understand politics.
October 25, 2025 at 10:58 AM
It's so funny how much the aggressive pro-Starmer people on here are in a very real sense, just Keir Starmer: successful people in or past the third quarter of their careers who don't really like or understand politics.
This is how Starmer's Labour Party moves.
It's first instinct is always the wrong one, and then, after endless badgering, they will move to the position everyone said they should be doing in the first place, but crucially, Starmer's Labour never actually learns from this.
It's first instinct is always the wrong one, and then, after endless badgering, they will move to the position everyone said they should be doing in the first place, but crucially, Starmer's Labour never actually learns from this.
October 24, 2025 at 2:55 PM
This is how Starmer's Labour Party moves.
It's first instinct is always the wrong one, and then, after endless badgering, they will move to the position everyone said they should be doing in the first place, but crucially, Starmer's Labour never actually learns from this.
It's first instinct is always the wrong one, and then, after endless badgering, they will move to the position everyone said they should be doing in the first place, but crucially, Starmer's Labour never actually learns from this.
Reposted by The Prophet Cassandra
Fraud is up 24% in 2025, having been up 31% in 2024, and it is effectively legal (less than 1% of cases ever result in a charge!) It is the only kind of crime rising, so you might expect the government to at least pretend to take it seriously.
EXCLUSIVE: The British government is preparing to roll back on its pledge to make Big Tech companies pay for scams in its upcoming fraud strategy.
Banks furious as UK shies away from making Big Tech pay for fraud
Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged before the election to put tech giants on the hook for fraud.
www.politico.eu
October 24, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Fraud is up 24% in 2025, having been up 31% in 2024, and it is effectively legal (less than 1% of cases ever result in a charge!) It is the only kind of crime rising, so you might expect the government to at least pretend to take it seriously.