@Denny the UK courts just jailed five protesters for 21 years for saying much the same and “causing a nuisance”.

@val although now I wonder if the grass on the pitch is artificial?

@val The football pitch looks like it’s being looked after and in use?

@samjc Corbyn’s policies were undoubtedly popular even with some of his most ardent opponents within the Labour Party. But thanks largely to the media’s portrayal of him (including during his many years as a backbench MP) as a “left-wing loony”, he was deeply unpopular with voters. Starmer successfully targeted Tory voters, and he’s certainly more popular with them than Corbyn!

@Denny I read somewhere that more aid entered Gaza before the pier was built, too.

@Miraz Almost like a Van Gogh!

@odd Eek! Must be nearly ten years since my last one. Luckily I don’t miss them and now find the smell repulsive.

@ronkjeffries Does this help?

@ayjay Beautiful!

@andyc ETH OFF?

@mattypenny Agree about VAR. It doesn’t make sense to me to train referees to sit in VAR studios. Get some kids in (haha), or at least some experts in video and sports technology? The TV companies are usually very quick and good at telling viewers what the decision should be. I’m a United fan, but that semi-final win over Coventry was a VAR disgrace, imo.

@Denny Domination and supremacy under the guise of “freedom and democracy”.

@mattypenny Just read the transcript. What a superb read! Roberto Rosetti has it about right, I think: ‘Too often, said Rosetti, it’s being used to “investigate every single detail” of matches. Using VAR in this way is “dangerous”, he continued, because good refereeing means accounting for the “spirit of the game”, which technology cannot do. Once, when Rosetti experimented with using VAR to review every incident in a single match, he found seven penalties and three red cards, according to a strict reading of the laws of the game.

@ayjay The most Spurs thing would be to lose to City, but Arsenal win the title anyway. The most City thing would be to beat Spurs and West Ham (and not have any points deducted). The most Premier League thing would be if all the drama happens in the dying seconds of the final games.

@exador23 I guess the really significant point is that Shireen was Palestinian.

@elmussol Fair comment, although, I should have made it clear that the words in my post preceding Starmer’s response were actually put to him as a question by an ITV reporter (I paraphrased a little).

@OliverNoble Labour postal votes here.

@steevc I’m sure that’s exactly what it is. No one comes out looking good.

@steevc According to this, she’s not standing at the next election anyway.

@steevc Anything to keep their jobs!

@andyc It’s excruciating to watch. The worst one for me was when he answered “The Dreamboys” instead of “The Full Monty”.

@ukplissken Get The Tories In!

@andyc I don’t know if you watched the recent Channel 4 documentary Defiance - Fighting the Far Right, but quite a few of the people involved in defending the Southall community then are our community’s leaders today, and they were understandably very unhappy with it.

@andyc you should search for Monty’s Celebrity Mastermind appearance…

@andyc my Labour MP has been consistently rubbish for 17 years, and can barely speak English, so it must have been difficult to find someone who could have been worse had he actually won.

@andyc the HA, for gritting our road and pavements (I think I’m the only one who has ever used it, though).

@andyc I had one of those in the office (although not leather). For elf and safety, obvs.

@andyc Grit. Black bin is for compost.

@andyc it’s a communal garden, so No Mow April and May is down to the Housing Association.

@andyc I agree that ETH must go, the sooner the better, too, imo. But Tuchel inspires no confidence in me whatsoever. I think he would be yet another expensive mistake. I also think a better manager could do significantly better with this squad (even ETH did better with it last season). Palace manager looks decent so far. So does the Ipswich gaffer.

@Gabz In the office, I have to pretend to work. At home, my boss can pretend I’m working. He gets paid more than me. (H/t to Bill Hicks.)

@andyc Tuchel seems to be the favourite at the moment?

@andyc I got a new phone and now I can’t login to my LinkedIn. I don’t get any notifications…

@elmussol Striding backwards and to the right. Not just the UK, though.

@frak @wyliecoyoteuk We converted to stainless steel from non-stick last year. It took a little while to get used to, but I’m sure the food tastes better as well.

@alexink Yeah, I hope so, too, haha! Although I’m sure he’d be up for it if it was an option!

@alexink Wow!!! My nine year old is going away next week for a school trip where one of the activities he’ll be doing is called the Leap of Faith…

@matt it’s not a public holiday, which may explain why no one was there! Although I suspect there may be a low turnout, in any case. If it was a public holiday all those public servants personning the polling stations and counting marquees would want the day off work!

@pratik 🤞

@pratik Unless City get a points deduction for financial foul play…

@morph it’s definitely a balancing act to get everything right. I don’t remember making much effort last time and it was a disappointing crop. Hopefully my kids will help!

@morph Any tips? It must be six or seven years since I last tried.

@basil presumably you didn’t even get a private hat tip?

@andyc Wife was well prepared. “He was delivered at home by two brilliant midwives, who were fully protected courtesy of customised #tinap bin bag aprons, unused clean air protest dust masks, and disposable gloves my wife stocked up on back in February when – without any scientific advice whatsoever – she somehow accurately foresaw the current coronavirus global pandemic somehow reaching the UK’s shores (and airports).”

@manton or a decrease.

@basil Never heard of him. He’s having it large now, presumably?

@manton Israel could simply allow enough aid to be brought in by land, but it refuses to do so. Puzzle solved.

@mattypenny My wife won’t eat in a restaurant that doesn’t have a five star food hygiene rating, but she sent our son to a school rated good because it was clearly better than other local schools (some of which were rated outstanding).

@mattypenny Brings back ‘fond’ memories of a couple of Town away games in the early 90s and 00s. Pretty sure the club strategy then, regardless of who happened to be the manager, was eleven men behind the ball and don’t concede. My limited data says it worked. 0-0s at Burnden Park and Oakwell. Not fun to watch.

@ghostdancer It was pretty gruesome.

@andyc What a shitshow! My local non-league club have been homeless for 32 years! Such a shame, as their old ground is literally around the corner from my home, and was at one time one of the best non-league grounds in the country.

@exador23 Not libertarian, but good old fashioned neoliberal “New Labour” in the UK.

@exador23 “… the WCK leadership’s decisions were not made to maintain neutrality, did not increase effectiveness, and, as April 1 demonstrated, did not protect personnel. The leadership’s failure to honestly portray the dire reality in Gaza, and its attempt to influence the genocide in Gaza via its status and close ties with the Biden administration, means that they bear responsibility for its outcomes.” mondoweiss.net/2024/04/i…

@andyc @matt @luke Indeed. And not just processed meat! Every time I make toast, my wife opens all the windows in the house to blow the cancer out.

@mattypenny An ode to better times?

@matt @luke Cancer… it probably was the sausage rolls (according to my missus).

@luke How did people make sausage rolls (and also apple turnovers) before this magical invention?

@benwerd Love it!

@andyc Did the earth move as well when you tagged your org-roam?

@pratik Stunning shot!

@marxistvegan Better than being acknowledged as the arsehole of the country?

@amerpie Wth is ‘mustard covered sausage biscuit’?!

@pratik a rare highlight in ten years of dross!

@pratik Do we really need softening up any more?

@amerpie Beautiful!

@ayjay Monet-esque!

@ukplissken Ah, yes, of course. They all look the same to me!

@ukplissken Is that the same one that got stuck in the Suez Canal?

@mbkriegh The Institute for the Study of War appears to be a particularly war-happy lobby f.or arms manufacturers…

@clorgie @pratik I’d never heard him speak before, so had a quick listen and chanced on a bit where he claims to work 16 hour days, 7 days a week. He looks and sounds like it!

@drandrewv2 It’s as if we’re expected to believe that people choose poverty and ill-health by voting for governments which hate them (or by not voting at all). And that this shitty government (and any future government) will listen to reason.

@andyc I managed to watch the first half before my kids lost patience with the “same old United” and switched the TV off. As my wife said, I “should have gone to the pub!”

@luke

@luke have you tried cricket?

@wyliecoyoteuk fake news is charged extra.

@mattypenny The Speaker broke convention to allow Labour’s amendment on the Gaza ceasefire vote, preventing a potentially awkward rebellion for the Labour leader. Now the Speaker sticks to convention, preventing a potentially awkward question from Britain’s first Black woman MP, who the Labour leader removed the whip from because she complained about a hierarchy of racism….

@V_ I thought it was a Banksy at first glance!

@benwerd I tried something similar (but with Bard) with my blog posts. Initial feedback was very positive (and welcome), but the more I gave it the more critical it seemed to be. I know I could potentially use that criticism to improve , but it felt like being trashed by the toaster (not so welcome, especially when it pops up warm bread or cinders with no toasty in between).

@Denny I can’t imagine a discussion like this would be allowed on mainstream TV in the UK.

@samgrover @Annie The Dispossessed is one of my all time favourites. I should really get around to reading more of her books!

@kimberley_rose @Denny ‘Two cheeks of the same backside’ here, too!

@Denny Similar here in the UK, of course. The UK Labour Party has deliberately moved to the right to win the ruling Conservative Party votes in the upcoming General Election. The whole political spectrum has moved so far to the right over the past forty years (and especially it seems in the last fifteen) that the UK Left is now more right wing than Margaret Thatcher! I work from home, but when I have to go to the office, I have to clamber over homeless people and their beds to get in.

@evan Thanks.

@Denny @pratik @davidmarsden @samjc @kimberley_rose The Israeli occupation of Palestine is illegal in international law, and an ongoing violent action for 75 years. So, no there wasn’t a permanent ceasefire before Oct 7th. I already mentioned it, but Palestinians have tried peaceful resistance and been met with the same overwhelming Israeli violence from bullets and bombs funded and provided in the main by the US.

@pratik @davidmarsden @Denny @samjc @kimberley_rose Biden hasn’t bypassed Congress? For what it’s worth, I’m in favour of a permanent ceasefire and an end to the illegal Israeli occupation.

@Denny @pratik @samjc @davidmarsden @kimberley_rose Biden could start by upholding the “rules based international order” we hear about so often. He could stop funding Israel all together, or at least stop sending Israel more arms while they are committing plausible genocide. He could stop vetoing United Nations votes for a ceasefire. Just a couple of ideas off the top of my head. In international law, the Palestinian people do have the legal right armed resistance against the Israeli occupation of their land.

@mattypenny It’s Kieth!

@manton 💯

@kimberley_rose @pratik @Denny This is also very good: For almost 20 years Hamas has repeatedly offered Israel a peace process and effectively a two state solution, based on an Israeli military withdrawal to its 1967 borders, the establishment of a Palestinian mini-state on the West Bank and Gaza, with a ten year truce to negotiate other outstanding issues, such as the right of return for refugees.

@pratik @Denny Hamas, in their own words, on the background and rationale (link to pdf in article). Palestinians tried peaceful resistance and were met with bullets and bombs, just the same. Any solution surely must involve talking to the democratically elected Hamas government, but the US and Israel will not allow it.

@pratik yes what?

@pratik and the PA is a corrupt puppet regime that serves Israel and US interests, not the interests of the Palestinian people (which is why it’s so unpopular and why the US resorts to financial blackmail to prevent democratic elections).

@pratik If by tit for tat you mean that Hamas took Israeli hostages in order to negotiate for the release of thousands of Palestinian “prisoners” (many of whom are children, and held without charge or conviction, some for years before October 7)? Hamas proposed a permanent ceasefire](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68225663.amp).

@pratik Thanks to the US!

@pratik Israel rejected a proposal to release all hostages (including Palestinian children held in Israel without charge), because Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire. Israel wants to carry on with their campaign of plausible genocide (which has also killed as many as 50 Israeli hostages).

@Denny @pratik Back in November, an Israeli government minister suggested dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza, and it’s been estimated that the total Israeli bombardment of Gaza at that time was the equivalent of the two atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A few years ago, a UK parliamentarian suggested relocating Israel to the US as a “solution”, which wasn’t particularly well received. I have a friend who was forcibly removed from his home in Palestine in the Nakba when he was a baby.

@JohnPhilpin @jthingelstad I watched it at the weekend. It’s beautifully made, and brilliantly acted and directed. That said, for about two thirds of it I was wondering if I would make it to the end. But it was strangely compelling. Such a lot to process.

@Gabz I didn’t even ask Google Bard (now Gemini) to do anything. I simply pasted some of my blog posts to it and it wrote a generous critique and added its own creative rewrites. It transformed my own “talking to you” stream of consciousness into something worthy of a children’s story book, and certainly left me wishing I could have been even half as imaginative. The only consolation is that it would be nothing without us!

@ghostdancer I should really get an extra point just for reading the article and scoring myself.

@ghostdancer just from your answers so far I would say you have 3/12. Seriously, though, I think it’s a load of pseudo-psychological neo-liberal self-help bullshit.

@ghostdancer I did better (or worse) than I thought I would. I’m halfway to being (un)successful!

@adders @ChrisJWilson tbf, there is conflicting evidence for the environmental impact of low emission zones. Ealing Council stated in their air quality action plan that they may not be very effective at lowering emissions and may in fact lead to increased emissions outside the zones. They also tend to be implemented in areas with relatively good air quality (i.e., more affluent areas). I suspect the conspiracy aspect may be related to the "

@ner3y have you tried jetaudio?

@luke @ghostdancer the US is built on violence, 250 years of it.

@wyliecoyoteuk I read that they are counting as antisemitism “hate marches” and Palestinian flags.

@luke The American Dream.

@steevc my grandpa used to eat them raw. Iirc, he mixed them in a glass with Ribena!

@kimberley_rose that’s brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

@khurtwilliams a picture tells a thousand words…

@samjc @Denny You’re in good company. Israel accused the ICJ and South Africa of antisemitism.

@methoddan look forward to hearing this and witnessing some of your creative process getting there. I wouldn’t worry about sounding depressed or angry, though.

@amerpie beautiful!

@ghostdancer Minecraft…

@Denny what a surprise! Not…

@JohnPhilpin I’ve been using Beeper for a few months. It works pretty much as advertised. Occasionally I have to open up WhatsApp if I need to search for a particular message.

@andyc the inane drivel makes you very relatable, imo.

@andyc ‘No one noticed’ would have been a better tagline, with hindsight ;)

@evan bombing Sudan created a convenient distraction from his marital infidelity. John Pilger describes Clinton as the most violent US president in modern times. He’s a pathological liar. Surely there must be better options? (The ghost of Henry Kissinger, perhaps?)

@evan true, but first they must acknowledge their own failing. Afaik, Clinton’s an unrepentant mass murderer.

@evan Clinton was responsible for several tens of thousands of deaths in Sudan. He had a few failures. Maybe not the best counsellor.

@methoddan coincidentally, I read these two retrospectives on The Ramones (and The Clash) only last week.

@odd I hope so, too! No sign of anything else…

@odd I think it’s a hi-vis work jacket.

@cliffordbeshers Mountains in the sky.

@methoddan Thanks for sparing me the gruesome details.

@methoddan Bits of Kids by Stiff Little Fingers? Sorry, I couldn’t help it. You cut your own finger off?! How? Why? (Actually, I don’t want to know.)