1/2 OK, so those boys at Panorama were a bit stupid, ... -in October last year.

Funny, ain't it (?), that the toys have taken so long to be thrown out of the pram, while we hear "the BBC has caused President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm".

1. Keir pitches his tent on Farage's lawn
2. Kemi tows in her ECHR Traveller's caravan.

The new Banksy mural outside the High Court has now been covered up.
Maybe, to be fair, the mural should also show the judge with a gun held to his head by UKGov, and the police top brass on the bylines trying to hide their eyes in horrified disownership.

Recently, I think this was one of the best...

For your early morning entertainment and delight...
The merry band of brothers...
Autocrat war criminals, murderers, and crooks.

Posted to the White House’s official social media accounts on Sunday (May the fourth be with you).
Already an international laughing stock. Can't his handlers have a word?

Just heard that Zelenskyy has been obliged to remind Trump what his previous US administration committed to.

The geographic proximity argument works for me as a general principle, but I'd like to add a *weighting* according to a country's democracy GDI rating.
That would mean you might have to exclude Belarus +maybe Hungary, but add in the much less proximate, eg AU, NZ, JP+ maybe Taiwan + S Korea.

Reaction to the increasing accusation that the US President is a Russian asset.

If it walks like a duck,
And it quacks like a duck...

It must be Donald.

Maybe Zelenskyy should have dressed like a US Government official... And brought the chainsaw.

The Independent says Starmer needs to find an extra £13bn for defence, but also quotes percentage of GDP and GNI gained and lost for defence vs foreign aid respectively, which, by my arithmetic, accounts for only 6 billion quid.

Erm... mind the gap, Rachel.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Sorry, a bit "wordy" today, so had to fit this into an image. Hopefully, if you just double-click on it, it'll expand into something readable.
It discusses Richard Murphy's views on defence...
youtu.be/a2GPhQI-_9E?...

Mr Starmer knows already that being UK PM isn't entirely about winning a popularity contest.
So, even if this is, as promised in Labour's manifesto, the subject of an independent evaluation, he should not be cajoled into delaying emergency restrictions.

"Clinging on to quiet desperation is the English Way"
Pink Floyd

A few thoughts, ...
it might not all be about avoiding inheritance tax...

A clip with full acknowlegement to HIGNFY...
Hislop: "That's not how it's done..."

A bit beyond 300 chars limit for a response, so I hope planting an image of text works here.

1/2 Nice one...I'll need to revisit this a few times, and see how each part can correlate with the graphic of a "political compass".
In this (hypothetical) "compass", I look at examples of the velocity in which the needle moves in one direction for countries like the UK and US....
...