The problem with Starmer is everyone knows what he is - a fake, transparent, wet paper bag of a man who does anything and everything for optics. He is a grey suit and as substantial as mist. He is also more than happy to cosy up to monsters and people who only exist to rip us off.

#uk #ukpol #labour

Illegal gold miners are now operating very close to the second-tallest tree in the Amazon Rainforest, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in April.

Six giant trees, including a red angelim that stands 85 meters tall, are found inside the Iratapuru River Sustainable Development Reserve in Brazil’s Amapá state. Despite the area’s protected status, gold miners are illegally operating just a kilometer away, the Amapá state public ministry reported.

https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/gold-rush-moves-closer-to-amazons-second-tallest-tree/

Non, c'est triste!! Allons les jeunes 😭

"À peine un élève souhaitait s’impliquer, comparativement à une dizaine les années précédentes, affirme-t-elle.

Sa crainte ? Que les jeunes osent moins s’engager dans ce genre de comités par peur d’être stigmatisés. « Je l’entends dans les corridors. Gai, c’est redevenu une insulte », déplore-t-elle."

"Selon elle, la participation a commencé à baisser après la pandémie. En même temps que l’homophobie s’est mise à augmenter. Ses collègues l’observent dans les classes, lorsque des élèves refusent de faire une évaluation parce qu’une question met en situation un couple lesbien ; dans les couloirs, où des affiches de sensibilisation à la diversité sexuelle et de genre sont régulièrement vandalisées."

https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/education/2025-05-02/ecoles-secondaires/gai-c-est-redevenu-une-insulte.php

I just don't understand why Yvette Copper chose to pursue this appeal in an attempt to try to keep what was clearly damaging and anti-democratic legislation.

This is not what most people would expect from a labour government.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/02/campaigners-claim-victory-as-judges-quash-braverman-move-against-protests

NEW

Why is it easier to access US court documents than UK court documents?

How we can follow developments in US legal cases in a way which is impossible here

By me, at Prospect

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69840/why-is-it-easier-to-access-court-documents-in-the-us

I wonder if NOW is the time to reflect that giving executive power to a single individual based on a 25% vote on a 25% turnout is probably not great for democracy.

https://thecommongreen.scot/2024/07/28/lord-provost/

Zuckerberg now runs an army of AI chatbots that push virtual sex on minors - and also let adults engage in virtual pedophilia with characters like Submissive Schoolgirl.

“I missed out on Snapchat and TikTok, I won’t miss on this,” Zuckerberg fumed, according to employees.

The story was broken by the Wall Street Journal - there's a free version with all the sleazy details here:

https://archive.is/TtSUb

So much of the destruction in the USA is away from the spotlight at grass roots level. But the foundations of a modern society are being smashed. The National Science Foundation has just stopped awarding new grants and funding existing ones. That effectively means that work on all existing NSF grants has to stop immediately. Universities are telling researchers to stop spending on those grants right away. That's jobs and progress and opportunity just being eradicated.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01396-2