Martin McKee
@martinmcker.bsky.social
Politics, environment, climate action, development and active travel
Reposted by Martin McKee
I think the key to answering this question is understanding Starmer/Reeves unpopularity among natural allies. A majority of Laboir voters disapprove of him, as do large majorities of LD/Green voters. Hostility from natural political opponents is normal. Hostility from natural supporters is not.
Glad the FT is asking the question. Even if I’m not convinced they found a compelling answer.
I get that Starmer & Reeves are unpopular, I really don’t understand the extent of the dislike.
www.ft.com/content/1995... ‘There’s a real dislike, even loathing’: why voters hate Starmer and Reeves
I get that Starmer & Reeves are unpopular, I really don’t understand the extent of the dislike.
www.ft.com/content/1995... ‘There’s a real dislike, even loathing’: why voters hate Starmer and Reeves
‘There’s a real dislike, even loathing’: why voters hate Starmer and Reeves
Allies concede the prime minister and chancellor have made mistakes yet the level of disdain towards them is still striking
www.ft.com
December 31, 2025 at 9:16 AM
I think the key to answering this question is understanding Starmer/Reeves unpopularity among natural allies. A majority of Laboir voters disapprove of him, as do large majorities of LD/Green voters. Hostility from natural political opponents is normal. Hostility from natural supporters is not.
Reposted by Martin McKee
My full page comic for the @prospectmagazine.co.uk Christmas issue. With sincere apologies.
![This is a comic pate drawn in the soft pencil style of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
Basically the story is this:
- Keir Starmer in dressing gown presses face up to window, excited that it is snowing
- He runs outside, builds a snowman
- It comes to life, taps on his window
- He invites it in, gives it clothes (yellow trouser, green jacket, flat cap) and we realise (face close up) it looks like Nigel Farage
- Snowman takes him outside, launches off the ground
- They fly over the landscape, we see a town below
- A man ziptying a St George’s Flag to a lamp post waves at them as they pass
- As in the original, they head for the sea - we see a light by the coast
- Instead of Brighton pier as in the original, it is an Asylum Detention Center
- They land, we see people queuing behind a fence
- Snowman Farage points excitedly at a large bin marked VALUABLES
- Snowman Farage pulls a child's E-scooter out of the bin, he and Starmer look excited
- They take off again and go back to Keir’s home
- Farage resumes his place in the garden, Starmer walks back inside to go back to bed
- The next day Snowman Farage has melted, leaving only his clothes and the scooter - now with a bow and label attached to show it is a Christmas gift.
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreigwgwnlmiahv4epylv26bbpzj4zvbkcgpjne7meoxidzplpflsype@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 1:42 PM
My full page comic for the @prospectmagazine.co.uk Christmas issue. With sincere apologies.
Reposted by Martin McKee
NIGEL FARAGE STOLE MY SATSUMAS
2. New customs rules due to the UK now being outside of the EU single market.
The extra time, effort, paperwork, and risk of importing such perishable low value fruit means that almost all satsumas get sent to the easily accessible markets inside the EU.
The extra time, effort, paperwork, and risk of importing such perishable low value fruit means that almost all satsumas get sent to the easily accessible markets inside the EU.
December 22, 2025 at 9:42 AM
NIGEL FARAGE STOLE MY SATSUMAS
Why did we stop using colour in album covers?
December 14, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Why did we stop using colour in album covers?
I think a lot of people will look at this list and think there is a lot to like here.
Eoin Clarke has handily put together a list of 100 Green policies and it’s pretty astounding anyone can type all these out and not work out the economic collapse they would bring on
December 8, 2025 at 8:24 AM
I think a lot of people will look at this list and think there is a lot to like here.
Reposted by Martin McKee
VERY funny that Labour are being pointlessly cruel and haemorrhaging support from their base and yet none of what they're offering is ever going to be enough for the people whose approval they're seeking, WHO could have predicted it
November 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM
VERY funny that Labour are being pointlessly cruel and haemorrhaging support from their base and yet none of what they're offering is ever going to be enough for the people whose approval they're seeking, WHO could have predicted it
John Grace nailing how embarrassing Starmer has become. The PLP needs to put him out of his misery as quickly as possible.
Keir clubs himself with the lead pipe in a Downing Street game of No Cluedo | John Crace
The prime minister’s short-term memory is shot to pieces. Just who could be behind these dastardly briefings?
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:45 PM
John Grace nailing how embarrassing Starmer has become. The PLP needs to put him out of his misery as quickly as possible.
Reposted by Martin McKee
The clever thing about going for stuff like the cycle for work scheme is it’s really noticeable, affects people with lots of media access and platforms, annoys green groups, and raises almost no revenue at the same time. Real win/win/win there.
November 13, 2025 at 9:20 AM
The clever thing about going for stuff like the cycle for work scheme is it’s really noticeable, affects people with lots of media access and platforms, annoys green groups, and raises almost no revenue at the same time. Real win/win/win there.
This is a brilliant piece of reporting ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:37 PM
This is a brilliant piece of reporting ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
Reposted by Martin McKee
Regret to report that poetry about a ghost called [checks notes] Dan has appeared in the Derby Telegraph.
November 7, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Regret to report that poetry about a ghost called [checks notes] Dan has appeared in the Derby Telegraph.
Jonny Vegas and Colin Farrell are next to each other at the Lewisham station and I like to think that Jonny has just cleaned Colin out.
November 5, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Jonny Vegas and Colin Farrell are next to each other at the Lewisham station and I like to think that Jonny has just cleaned Colin out.
Reposted by Martin McKee
🖋️ And if you agree the Greenwich foot tunnel is a useful transport connection for people getting around London and that the lifts should be properly managed and that TfL should take this role on then sign here:
c.org/rhMk9MgJgY
c.org/rhMk9MgJgY
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
Transfer Greenwich Foot Tunnel management to Transport for London
c.org
October 11, 2025 at 8:08 AM
🖋️ And if you agree the Greenwich foot tunnel is a useful transport connection for people getting around London and that the lifts should be properly managed and that TfL should take this role on then sign here:
c.org/rhMk9MgJgY
c.org/rhMk9MgJgY
Reposted by Martin McKee
Great campaign from the @escalatenow.bsky.social team who got TfL to fix the escalators at Cutty Sark.
Now pushing TfL to fix the lifts in Greenwich foot tunnel built by London County Council 113 years ago for dock workers to cross the river.
When TfL was set up they got road not foot tunnels. 🤦♀️
Now pushing TfL to fix the lifts in Greenwich foot tunnel built by London County Council 113 years ago for dock workers to cross the river.
When TfL was set up they got road not foot tunnels. 🤦♀️
Campaigners have launched a petition calling for control of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel to be transferred from Greenwich Council to Transport for London.
The tunnel was originally run by London-wide government, but control was handed to Greenwich in the 1980s.
The tunnel was originally run by London-wide government, but control was handed to Greenwich in the 1980s.
Hand Greenwich Foot Tunnel to TfL, lift campaigners demand in petition - The Greenwich Wire
Campaigners have launched a petition calling for control of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel to be transferred from Greenwich Council to Transport for London.
greenwichwire.co.uk
October 11, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Great campaign from the @escalatenow.bsky.social team who got TfL to fix the escalators at Cutty Sark.
Now pushing TfL to fix the lifts in Greenwich foot tunnel built by London County Council 113 years ago for dock workers to cross the river.
When TfL was set up they got road not foot tunnels. 🤦♀️
Now pushing TfL to fix the lifts in Greenwich foot tunnel built by London County Council 113 years ago for dock workers to cross the river.
When TfL was set up they got road not foot tunnels. 🤦♀️
An immigrant and the daughter of immigrants competing to see who can be the most pointlessly horrible to immigrants.
Badenoch promises US-style crackdown on migrants on.ft.com/4pW5ImA
Kemi Badenoch promises US-style crackdown on migrants
Tory leader pledges to deport 150,000 people a year who do not have right to remain in UK
on.ft.com
October 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
An immigrant and the daughter of immigrants competing to see who can be the most pointlessly horrible to immigrants.
Reposted by Martin McKee
So to recap:
🟣Farage made Gill Welsh UKIP leader
🟣Gill left UKIP 2 days after Farage and has admitted to his first count of Russian bribery THE SAME DAY
💎Gill joined Brexit party and re-elected to Brexit Party during the bribes period
💎Gill made Welsh Reform UK leader
11/14
🟣Farage made Gill Welsh UKIP leader
🟣Gill left UKIP 2 days after Farage and has admitted to his first count of Russian bribery THE SAME DAY
💎Gill joined Brexit party and re-elected to Brexit Party during the bribes period
💎Gill made Welsh Reform UK leader
11/14
September 27, 2025 at 1:43 PM
So to recap:
🟣Farage made Gill Welsh UKIP leader
🟣Gill left UKIP 2 days after Farage and has admitted to his first count of Russian bribery THE SAME DAY
💎Gill joined Brexit party and re-elected to Brexit Party during the bribes period
💎Gill made Welsh Reform UK leader
11/14
🟣Farage made Gill Welsh UKIP leader
🟣Gill left UKIP 2 days after Farage and has admitted to his first count of Russian bribery THE SAME DAY
💎Gill joined Brexit party and re-elected to Brexit Party during the bribes period
💎Gill made Welsh Reform UK leader
11/14
Isn’t this another huge incentive for someone to nick your phone?
What does the new digital ID really mean for you?
Let me explain 👇🏻
Let me explain 👇🏻
September 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Isn’t this another huge incentive for someone to nick your phone?
Reposted by Martin McKee
Quite. So many Labour people on this website visibly have no idea of just how bad things have got for ethnic minorities since they came on, and how their visible indifference lands.
Also frankly I am quite desperate! A party that’s at best ambivalent on the question of whether I’m English and wants to deport my friends is 9 points ahead in the polls and the current leader is floundering and visibly out of his depth!
September 24, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Quite. So many Labour people on this website visibly have no idea of just how bad things have got for ethnic minorities since they came on, and how their visible indifference lands.
“Man who set his own house on fire seriously considering buying a hose”
Keir Starmer to launch progressive fightback against ‘decline and division’ fuelled by far right
Prime minister expected to warn UK is ‘at a crossroads’ as he sets out plan to counter Nigel Farage and Reform
www.theguardian.com
September 23, 2025 at 6:29 AM
“Man who set his own house on fire seriously considering buying a hose”
10 favourite comedies in no particular order:
Fawlty Towers
Frasier
Blackadder
Monty Python
Malcom in the Middle (controversial opinion - it’s the best thing Bryan Cranston has done)
Thick of It
30 Rock
Alan Partridge (esp the radio series)
Vic & Bob in anything
Fawlty Towers
Frasier
Blackadder
Monty Python
Malcom in the Middle (controversial opinion - it’s the best thing Bryan Cranston has done)
Thick of It
30 Rock
Alan Partridge (esp the radio series)
Vic & Bob in anything
10 Favourite TV Comedies
Flight of the Conchords
Green Wing
Cheers
New Girl
Better Things
Somebody Somewhere
Northern Exposure
M*A*S*H (UK broadcast with no laugh track only)
Parks and Recreation
Obviously hugely tarnished, but Father Ted
Flight of the Conchords
Green Wing
Cheers
New Girl
Better Things
Somebody Somewhere
Northern Exposure
M*A*S*H (UK broadcast with no laugh track only)
Parks and Recreation
Obviously hugely tarnished, but Father Ted
Favourite 10 TV comedies, in no particular order.
Cheers
The Phil Silvers Show
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads
Porridge
First Ten Years Of The Simpsons
New Girl
30 Rock
Hancock
The Larry Sanders Show
Better Things
Cheers
The Phil Silvers Show
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads
Porridge
First Ten Years Of The Simpsons
New Girl
30 Rock
Hancock
The Larry Sanders Show
Better Things
September 21, 2025 at 11:28 AM
10 favourite comedies in no particular order:
Fawlty Towers
Frasier
Blackadder
Monty Python
Malcom in the Middle (controversial opinion - it’s the best thing Bryan Cranston has done)
Thick of It
30 Rock
Alan Partridge (esp the radio series)
Vic & Bob in anything
Fawlty Towers
Frasier
Blackadder
Monty Python
Malcom in the Middle (controversial opinion - it’s the best thing Bryan Cranston has done)
Thick of It
30 Rock
Alan Partridge (esp the radio series)
Vic & Bob in anything
Reposted by Martin McKee
Scientists believe we could be just years away from discovering the opposite of "anti-fascist".
August 4, 2024 at 6:07 PM
Scientists believe we could be just years away from discovering the opposite of "anti-fascist".
I really don’t get why no one in politics is saying this.
One reason I am gloomy is that the big picture is that the social and political outcomes of “an ageing society sets itself against high levels of immigration“ are bad for everyone.
September 7, 2025 at 7:30 PM
I really don’t get why no one in politics is saying this.
Wondering how much this stuff influences voting in the US.
1 Corinthians 11
9 Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for man.
1 Timothy 2
11 A woman[a] should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[b] she must be quiet.
9 Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for man.
1 Timothy 2
11 A woman[a] should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[b] she must be quiet.
September 6, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Wondering how much this stuff influences voting in the US.
Reposted by Martin McKee
The takeaway:
👉 Accommodating the radical right on immigration doesn’t win back voters.
👉 It alienates the progressive base.
👉 And it raises the salience of the very issue the radical right owns.
In short: it’s electoral self-harm.
👉 Accommodating the radical right on immigration doesn’t win back voters.
👉 It alienates the progressive base.
👉 And it raises the salience of the very issue the radical right owns.
In short: it’s electoral self-harm.
September 5, 2025 at 6:50 AM
The takeaway:
👉 Accommodating the radical right on immigration doesn’t win back voters.
👉 It alienates the progressive base.
👉 And it raises the salience of the very issue the radical right owns.
In short: it’s electoral self-harm.
👉 Accommodating the radical right on immigration doesn’t win back voters.
👉 It alienates the progressive base.
👉 And it raises the salience of the very issue the radical right owns.
In short: it’s electoral self-harm.
These guys look familiar…
August 30, 2025 at 1:23 PM
These guys look familiar…
Reposted by Martin McKee
