It’s the 111th anniversary today of the birth of Harry Rée, who was a teacher and conscientious objector when the Second World War broke out, and by the time it ended, when he was 31, had invented ‘blackmail sabotage’ and got a DSO, an OBE, a Croix de Guerre, and a Medaille de la Resistance

As I was speaking on panels at Labour conference last week I began to describe the Britain I know exists and love. In the end I gave it a name: Mr Blobby Patriotism

And I’ve written about it for @renewaljournal.bsky.social here bsky.app/profile/rene...

Government needs to argue for immigration not because it will make liberals happy, but because in 2029, there will still be 200k people a year coming to the UK, and the position can’t be “the experiment is now only a little bit squalid”.

He's essentially saying 'I didn't agree with the 1993-2016 economic model, and I didn't agree with Boris Johnson's either'. Okay, but you didn't agree with Corbynism either. What is yours, to hope that it turns out that 'the easiest route in every poll' turns out to drive growth?

more than anything else, this is *the* biggest problem in UK politics, because if there isn't a clear cordon sanitaire between centre right and far right then your only bulwark against fascism is 'the left (here very, very broadly defined) wins elections forever', which is quite a big ask

I wrote for the Guardian’s Saturday magazine about my son Max, who changed how I see the world. Took ages. More jokes after the first bit.

Thanks Merope Mills for being the most patient and generous editor.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

I'm going to defend McSweeney here in that your Downing Street setup absolutely does need someone who goes 'we are not gonna get thanked for doing this', just as it does need a Chancellor who goes 'well, that's a BIG number'. It just also needs another thing, I think it rhymes with 'prime minister'?

this is, i suppose a scoldy piece by nature...but that's not really my point. i'm interested in how the online dynamic leads people to accept circumstances they'd never, ever tolerate in the physical world

Column, on the prime minister who had room to manoeuvre and chose to besiege himself instead. Again. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Totally whacking the Doomer (and even non-Doomer) hornets nest here. But I have to give an honest read. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump...

Alarmists were largely right about Trump, anti-alarmists badly wrong, some sorta admit it, but @polphilpod.bsky.social is unimpressed.

"None could hide their contempt for the alarmists, even in their big ‘my bad’ moments... All of them seemed unable to say what they got wrong."
@liberalcurrents.com