Tom Freeman
@tomfreeman.bsky.social
Occasional editor and writer. Purveyor of half-baked opinions. Intermittently able to make my nieces laugh. (SnoozeInBrief on Twitter)
My blog on usage, editing and suchlike: https://stroppyeditor.wordpress.com
My blog on usage, editing and suchlike: https://stroppyeditor.wordpress.com
Reposted by Tom Freeman
Truss got to -70 with YouGov; Starmer was -57 in January with YouGov, his lowest rating with them.
Liz Truss’s net favourability rating falls to -70 | YouGov share.google/gOg6XSqD17x5...
Liz Truss’s net favourability rating falls to -70 | YouGov share.google/gOg6XSqD17x5...
Liz Truss’s net favourability rating falls to -70 | YouGov
Just one in ten Britons have a favourable opinion of the prime minister
share.google
February 9, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Truss got to -70 with YouGov; Starmer was -57 in January with YouGov, his lowest rating with them.
Liz Truss’s net favourability rating falls to -70 | YouGov share.google/gOg6XSqD17x5...
Liz Truss’s net favourability rating falls to -70 | YouGov share.google/gOg6XSqD17x5...
In fairness, the last Ipsos poll on Truss was carried out 2-3 weeks before she left No10, so it probably didn't capture the full scale of her collapse
February 9, 2026 at 10:05 PM
In fairness, the last Ipsos poll on Truss was carried out 2-3 weeks before she left No10, so it probably didn't capture the full scale of her collapse
Yeah well you weren't prepared to become PM but it didn't stop you
February 9, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Yeah well you weren't prepared to become PM but it didn't stop you
Yes hello, I would like to resign from hearing any more news about Keir Starmer please
February 9, 2026 at 8:07 PM
Yes hello, I would like to resign from hearing any more news about Keir Starmer please
Marty Supreme: good fun, earns its length better than most 2.5hr films, manages to keep you onside with a frankly odious main character. Then there's the Extremely Strange Moment, but I'd better not say anything about that.
February 9, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Marty Supreme: good fun, earns its length better than most 2.5hr films, manages to keep you onside with a frankly odious main character. Then there's the Extremely Strange Moment, but I'd better not say anything about that.
[lawyer boot camp]
I don't know but I've been told
I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD
Hearsay evidence won't hold
HEARSAY EVI— wait, hang on, objection
I don't know but I've been told
I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD
Hearsay evidence won't hold
HEARSAY EVI— wait, hang on, objection
February 9, 2026 at 3:58 PM
[lawyer boot camp]
I don't know but I've been told
I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD
Hearsay evidence won't hold
HEARSAY EVI— wait, hang on, objection
I don't know but I've been told
I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD
Hearsay evidence won't hold
HEARSAY EVI— wait, hang on, objection
"Come and play with us, Keir. For ever, and ever, and ever..."
February 9, 2026 at 12:18 PM
"Come and play with us, Keir. For ever, and ever, and ever..."
The only building project that will take longer than refurbishing parliament
Elon Musk (you may recognize him from the Epstein files) has just given up on Mars.
February 9, 2026 at 11:29 AM
The only building project that will take longer than refurbishing parliament
It's fun - and fair - and maybe a little comforting - to point and laugh at the weird things LLMs get wrong. But AI can already do a lot of seriously impressive things. It is definitely worth thinking about how we'd handle the disappearance of, say, a fifth of white-collar jobs over the next decade.
Bluesky AI haters: you need to know that it is coming and it cannot be stopped and you need to help. Ask anyone in coding and you’ll hear that AI is a freight train heading our way. You need to get past ‘it doesn’t work’ and ‘I hate Elon Musk’. I know it sticks in the craw. But please start thinking
February 9, 2026 at 8:56 AM
It's fun - and fair - and maybe a little comforting - to point and laugh at the weird things LLMs get wrong. But AI can already do a lot of seriously impressive things. It is definitely worth thinking about how we'd handle the disappearance of, say, a fifth of white-collar jobs over the next decade.
"Febrile February" is a tempting slogan here but it's going to require quite a few of us to be more particular about how we pronounce "February"
I have experienced my first instance this morning of a podcaster reporting that the atmosphere is "febrile"in the Labour party.
February 9, 2026 at 8:37 AM
"Febrile February" is a tempting slogan here but it's going to require quite a few of us to be more particular about how we pronounce "February"
Political reporter: "It is unclear what Starmerism looks like without Mr McSweeney." Buddy I have some breaking news for you about how clear it is what Starmerism looks like with Mr McSweeney
February 9, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Political reporter: "It is unclear what Starmerism looks like without Mr McSweeney." Buddy I have some breaking news for you about how clear it is what Starmerism looks like with Mr McSweeney
The correct plural form is actually "chieves of staves"
NEW: An email has just gone round No 10 staff confirming that the PM has asked Jill Cuthbertson and Vidhya Alakeson to be acting chiefs of staff, with immediate effect.
February 8, 2026 at 6:07 PM
The correct plural form is actually "chieves of staves"
Surely even Kemi Badenoch cannot screw up PMQs this week
February 8, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Surely even Kemi Badenoch cannot screw up PMQs this week
There is actually one person with a proven capacity for making remarkable comebacks to help out beleaguered Labour PMs
Presumably it will have to be an internal appointment to replace McSweeney because no one will give up an external job to work for a PM so clearly on the edge himself.
February 8, 2026 at 2:49 PM
There is actually one person with a proven capacity for making remarkable comebacks to help out beleaguered Labour PMs
Hard to see how this is compatible with "But Keir should stay on"
February 8, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Hard to see how this is compatible with "But Keir should stay on"
Mor-gone McSweeney, more like
February 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Mor-gone McSweeney, more like
"...and that's why half-hearted cruelty will be a winning compromise position"
The Home Office now describes asylum seekers as "illegal immigrants [living in hotels]" with no reference to the reason that these people are in government-funded accommodation is that this government has taken & will process the asylum claim from them in 98-99% of cases of unauthorised entry.
February 8, 2026 at 2:03 PM
"...and that's why half-hearted cruelty will be a winning compromise position"
[70m years ago]
"Ken"
"Yeah Sheila"
"I've been thinking we should evolve into birds"
"What"
"Like smaller and more feathery, and flying"
"That could work"
"No but the good bit is some of us will be owls"
"Um"
"And that will create pun potential about a bowl"
"What's a bowl"
"Ok you see those lemurs"
"Ken"
"Yeah Sheila"
"I've been thinking we should evolve into birds"
"What"
"Like smaller and more feathery, and flying"
"That could work"
"No but the good bit is some of us will be owls"
"Um"
"And that will create pun potential about a bowl"
"What's a bowl"
"Ok you see those lemurs"
February 8, 2026 at 1:29 PM
[70m years ago]
"Ken"
"Yeah Sheila"
"I've been thinking we should evolve into birds"
"What"
"Like smaller and more feathery, and flying"
"That could work"
"No but the good bit is some of us will be owls"
"Um"
"And that will create pun potential about a bowl"
"What's a bowl"
"Ok you see those lemurs"
"Ken"
"Yeah Sheila"
"I've been thinking we should evolve into birds"
"What"
"Like smaller and more feathery, and flying"
"That could work"
"No but the good bit is some of us will be owls"
"Um"
"And that will create pun potential about a bowl"
"What's a bowl"
"Ok you see those lemurs"
Reposted by Tom Freeman
ok. does anyone know if it's twice per athlon or every two athlons
February 7, 2026 at 2:44 PM
ok. does anyone know if it's twice per athlon or every two athlons
Reposted by Tom Freeman
Amazing to think that we have surnames because this is how medieval people managed their phones
I am very glad of my habit of saving tradespeople in my phone as "Firstname JOB THEY DO" rather than "Firstname Surname" because an unexpected phone call from John Smith is much more stressful than an unexpected phone call from John ELECTRICIAN. I know roughly what expect from John ELECTRICIAN.
February 7, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Amazing to think that we have surnames because this is how medieval people managed their phones
The Winter Olympics should have more realistic events:
• 15-metre gently downhill ice walk with shopping bags
• speed bin-put-out in snow-absorbent slippers
• brisk walk in a far-too-thin jacket because it looked sunny ok
• 15-metre gently downhill ice walk with shopping bags
• speed bin-put-out in snow-absorbent slippers
• brisk walk in a far-too-thin jacket because it looked sunny ok
February 7, 2026 at 12:08 PM
The Winter Olympics should have more realistic events:
• 15-metre gently downhill ice walk with shopping bags
• speed bin-put-out in snow-absorbent slippers
• brisk walk in a far-too-thin jacket because it looked sunny ok
• 15-metre gently downhill ice walk with shopping bags
• speed bin-put-out in snow-absorbent slippers
• brisk walk in a far-too-thin jacket because it looked sunny ok
What ultimately brought Margaret Thatcher down was the great helium leak of 1990
This is one for the party whips.
MPs' voice pitch goes up in debates if they are intending to break ranks...
MPs' voice pitch goes up in debates if they are intending to break ranks...
February 7, 2026 at 11:24 AM
What ultimately brought Margaret Thatcher down was the great helium leak of 1990
So unfortunate for Trump that everything he's said and done in his political career was a mistake by a junior staffer
February 7, 2026 at 11:15 AM
So unfortunate for Trump that everything he's said and done in his political career was a mistake by a junior staffer