Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
@left-sharkey.bsky.social
Uphold Sister Smudge Thought. He/him.
Pinned
cake and violins for all, in civic abundance
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
If Epping Council won it'd have been disastrous. That doesn't mean hotels are an acceptable form of accommodation, only the other day @ramfel.bsky.social released a report into how bad conditions are in them. It's that this government's alternatives are worse 3/
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Rats, overcrowding and malnutrition common at UK asylum hotels, report finds
Home Office’s three accommodation providers made combined profit of £380m over five years, charity estimates
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
If Epping Council won it'd have been disastrous. That doesn't mean hotels are an acceptable form of accommodation, only the other day @ramfel.bsky.social released a report into how bad conditions are in them. It's that this government's alternatives are worse 3/
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
Two obvious issues are: planning reform isn’t necessarily about even more deregulation. Might involve more, rather than less, strategic planning and even zoning requires an awful lot of upfront investment; and the private sector will only build pro cyclically because it needs to make a profit.
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Two obvious issues are: planning reform isn’t necessarily about even more deregulation. Might involve more, rather than less, strategic planning and even zoning requires an awful lot of upfront investment; and the private sector will only build pro cyclically because it needs to make a profit.
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
by the by I've said before and I'll say again - I don't agree with the "we need them kids off them screens" values of the boomers. screens are great for a plethora of reasons.
But if you do want kids off screens and making friends offline then you need to address the reasons they've 'retreated'.
But if you do want kids off screens and making friends offline then you need to address the reasons they've 'retreated'.
ps. it is arguable that Brianna would not likely have turned to social media for friendships and transitional support had those things been readily available in her local area.
@charlotte2153.bsky.social you want kids like Brianna off her phone? then give them a better alternative.
@charlotte2153.bsky.social you want kids like Brianna off her phone? then give them a better alternative.
November 11, 2025 at 11:39 AM
by the by I've said before and I'll say again - I don't agree with the "we need them kids off them screens" values of the boomers. screens are great for a plethora of reasons.
But if you do want kids off screens and making friends offline then you need to address the reasons they've 'retreated'.
But if you do want kids off screens and making friends offline then you need to address the reasons they've 'retreated'.
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
It's the definition of capitalism! (good ole Kalecki). If you are a class defined by control of the means of production then production is a nice to have, but control is a got to have.
November 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
It's the definition of capitalism! (good ole Kalecki). If you are a class defined by control of the means of production then production is a nice to have, but control is a got to have.
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
To put it another way, *capital* is perfectly capable of organizing decarbonization. The problem is *capital-owners*, who are political actors and not just the embodiments of the accumulation process. Elon Musk is symptomatic here.
November 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
To put it another way, *capital* is perfectly capable of organizing decarbonization. The problem is *capital-owners*, who are political actors and not just the embodiments of the accumulation process. Elon Musk is symptomatic here.
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
The problem from their point of view is that rapid decarbonization requires public, collective decisions about the organization of production, in a way that threaten capital-owners' authority over both the production process and the political system.
November 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
The problem from their point of view is that rapid decarbonization requires public, collective decisions about the organization of production, in a way that threaten capital-owners' authority over both the production process and the political system.
Think you can explain a lot of the freakout about the "woke pmc" and subsequent reactionary turn from the tech industry guys as well with this
I think this touches a deep, often-overlooked point. In my labour law days, I saw some employers spend MORE money fighting unionization than they would have paid accepting it. Loss of control was driving them at least as much as profits! Control is vital – with environmental policy as well.
I should write the argument up properly somewhere, but I think this is fundamentally wrong. A decisive fraction of the capitalist class does oppose addressing the climate crisis, but *not* because it would be bad for profits. If anything, a green New Deal type program would raise aggregate profits.
November 11, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Think you can explain a lot of the freakout about the "woke pmc" and subsequent reactionary turn from the tech industry guys as well with this
one thing that does seem to come out of these reviews is that the public would apparently like more depth on issues like migration or economics, but the reportage is rarely able to engage with these topics on anything more than a surface level
this is the most aggravating thing - there are quite clearly issues! BBC reporting isn't satisfactory! But these do not stem from cocking up the editing to make an insurrectionist liar sound like an insurrectionist liar and will be made worse if it keeps going the way it's going.
November 11, 2025 at 11:01 AM
one thing that does seem to come out of these reviews is that the public would apparently like more depth on issues like migration or economics, but the reportage is rarely able to engage with these topics on anything more than a surface level
others have noticed this as well but it's very telling that official reviews into the editorial processes around, say, economics and migration have consistently raised issues that affect impartiality (though not bias) but because there's no meltdowns from our media about those, they aren't crises
Why is the only resignation-worthy issue at the BBC one which succinctly but slightly lazily told a basically accurate story about the right? Can we count the number of times "misleading editing" misrepresented the left?
November 11, 2025 at 9:58 AM
others have noticed this as well but it's very telling that official reviews into the editorial processes around, say, economics and migration have consistently raised issues that affect impartiality (though not bias) but because there's no meltdowns from our media about those, they aren't crises
Not the most important part of the piece but one little aside stands out: "On another occasion, a BBC executive forbade me from writing for the New Statesman, imploring me to ask The Spectator instead, saying that would be perfectly fine."
This is a very good piece, but Lewis is still too (understandably) scared to contradict his colleagues on air about the anti-trans stuff
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
November 11, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Not the most important part of the piece but one little aside stands out: "On another occasion, a BBC executive forbade me from writing for the New Statesman, imploring me to ask The Spectator instead, saying that would be perfectly fine."
the one commonality in the vast majority of the verbiage around trans issues in the media is that trans people rarely get to speak on their behalf, and at least some of the people talking Very Loudly About Balance were involved in that editorial choice.
How many trans people have the BBC had on this week discussing the BBC's pro-trans bias?
Zero.
Zero.
November 11, 2025 at 9:32 AM
the one commonality in the vast majority of the verbiage around trans issues in the media is that trans people rarely get to speak on their behalf, and at least some of the people talking Very Loudly About Balance were involved in that editorial choice.
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
I guess we'll just have to keep people born in 1955 in every single position of authority for the next thirty to fifty years. I can't see how that could possibly become unsustainable.
November 11, 2025 at 8:50 AM
I guess we'll just have to keep people born in 1955 in every single position of authority for the next thirty to fifty years. I can't see how that could possibly become unsustainable.
yet again this seems less like an "impartiality crisis" and more like a "not believing grandpa simpson when he tells you one day you won't be with it any more crisis"
If old farts have gone mean as fuck and viciously reactionary with age, then it’s not clear to me that young people are to blame for this or that it’s obviously them who should shut the hell up.
November 11, 2025 at 9:16 AM
yet again this seems less like an "impartiality crisis" and more like a "not believing grandpa simpson when he tells you one day you won't be with it any more crisis"
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
It's sort of interesting to me that for a lot of British journalists, "success" largely means reducing people's access to essential services
Emily Maitlis admitting she worked at the bbc to try and get healthcare for trans people shut down
November 11, 2025 at 8:49 AM
It's sort of interesting to me that for a lot of British journalists, "success" largely means reducing people's access to essential services
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
When Rosie Duffield is in on it I think we can safely say the anti-phone campaign in Brianna's name is actively at odds with tackling transphobia
November 10, 2025 at 2:25 PM
When Rosie Duffield is in on it I think we can safely say the anti-phone campaign in Brianna's name is actively at odds with tackling transphobia
A similar, balancing program about Kamala Harris would be about 5 seconds of "Kamala Harris has never encouraged an insurgency to try to overturn an election", but that's not what he means, is it
Michael Prescott was ‘“shocked” that after an hour-long Panorama documentary dealing with Trump and the January 6 insurgency, there was no “similar, balancing” programme about Kamala Harris.’
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
The departure of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness means the BBC is leaderless when it needs leadership more than ever. Where are the people at the head of the BBC standing up for it?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 10, 2025 at 10:22 AM
A similar, balancing program about Kamala Harris would be about 5 seconds of "Kamala Harris has never encouraged an insurgency to try to overturn an election", but that's not what he means, is it
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
No more noble British tradition than resigning over some nonsense everyone is only pretending to be angry about rather than all of the actually bad things you've done.
November 9, 2025 at 6:10 PM
No more noble British tradition than resigning over some nonsense everyone is only pretending to be angry about rather than all of the actually bad things you've done.
look I made the "the first jobs to be automated will be the ones at the racism factory" comment as a joke
Oh yeah, part of the problem is going to be that some lucky local governments official is going to have to sift through these things to find out what regulations and precedents have been fabricated. Also 🤨
November 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
look I made the "the first jobs to be automated will be the ones at the racism factory" comment as a joke
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
Worth remembering as ever that within the life time of most of our political class, the 'whacky' idea of abolishing landlordism was cross party consensus
November 9, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Worth remembering as ever that within the life time of most of our political class, the 'whacky' idea of abolishing landlordism was cross party consensus
the "this will mobilise voters against them argument" is clearly true and needs to be taken into consideration when running a campaign, but at the same time the opposite is also true, and none of this happens in a vacuum!
OK great, then the poll-obsessed moderates will support the next leftist mayoral candidate rather than trying to tank their candidacy, right?
November 9, 2025 at 3:40 PM
the "this will mobilise voters against them argument" is clearly true and needs to be taken into consideration when running a campaign, but at the same time the opposite is also true, and none of this happens in a vacuum!
Reposted by Re-elect Sister Smudge for Secretary-Treasurer
They’re wearing masks so they can’t be prosecuted later. As long as they think they can’t be prosecuted, their crimes will intensify. They will torture, starve and kill, as they have already, on greater and greater scale.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
I’ve come to believe that we need to gather considerable forces and a campaign to demand the removal of face masks by ICE, Border Patrol, FBI and police.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
Video on social media shows an immigration agent pulling a gun in Little Village and holding it to the side — which is not an appropriate or safe way to hold a gun. (Among other issues.)
November 9, 2025 at 2:36 PM
They’re wearing masks so they can’t be prosecuted later. As long as they think they can’t be prosecuted, their crimes will intensify. They will torture, starve and kill, as they have already, on greater and greater scale.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
I have various quibbles with EUV's UI, which seems even more obtuse than usual, but managing to partially dismantle England as Scotland, or other similar shenanigans, remains very entertaining
November 9, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I have various quibbles with EUV's UI, which seems even more obtuse than usual, but managing to partially dismantle England as Scotland, or other similar shenanigans, remains very entertaining
this reminds me that I should probably join the National Trust for Scotland in part to ensure the Restore Trust kind of dickhead is kept away from wrecking heritage bodies
If you want an explanation for How It Came To This, then stuff like this - the national heritage body having to fight off an infestation of feral wingnut cranks who were deliberately set upon them by the Mail, the Sun, the Times, the Telegraph and the Express - is a helpful microcosm.
November 9, 2025 at 2:36 PM
this reminds me that I should probably join the National Trust for Scotland in part to ensure the Restore Trust kind of dickhead is kept away from wrecking heritage bodies
also love that what's being reported as "BBC censorship" by the usual suspects appears to be "any form of editorial process or discussion whatsoever", which I'm sure will be applied across the board and will have no repercussions
November 9, 2025 at 2:21 PM
also love that what's being reported as "BBC censorship" by the usual suspects appears to be "any form of editorial process or discussion whatsoever", which I'm sure will be applied across the board and will have no repercussions
a lot of the focus is often about elite competitive sport because that is where they think they can make the case best, but it becomes very clear when you look a little closer that it's just about trans women participating in anything, at any level, down to charity fun runs
My god this BBC criticism report is by a man who thinks professional wrestling is a genuine competitive sport.
November 9, 2025 at 2:15 PM
a lot of the focus is often about elite competitive sport because that is where they think they can make the case best, but it becomes very clear when you look a little closer that it's just about trans women participating in anything, at any level, down to charity fun runs