Nigel Bell 🍉

Very charming photo essay about the overnight pedestrianisation of Oxford Street from London Centric's @pollysmythe.bsky.social - the last image is glorious but I'm not going to steal it for here, go and have a look.

This week, I've written about parliamentary time, which we think about a lot @histparl.bsky.social. Spare a thought for the clockmakers on the parliamentary estate, who have some 2,000 clocks to turn back. *remembers the cooker clock*

Dr Paula Bartley will be speaking at the next IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar on her new book, Trailblazers: The First Women Elected to Government. 📍 Senate House, London / Online 🗓️Tuesday 3 November 2026 ⏱️5:30-6:30pm Find out more about the paper and how to attend below.

By-election billed as ‘neck-and-neck’ ends in thumping defeat for Reform www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/ref...

The essential roots of Monty Python & the Beatles’ on screen humour starts here with Spike Milligan and Richard Lester’s thrilling TV shows.. BFI screening and intro Sat Dec 4th..

This is important to know.

David Shoebridge calls out Jillian Segal after she admits she failed due diligence with CAM—hosts of the antisemitism summit she’s speaking at—as Shoebridge reveals CAM awarded a racist US Republican who called for Gaza to "overflow with blood” Who is she partnering with? 🚩

“I'm not sure we've processed the trauma of the pandemic as a society; the ripple effect of the terror and paranoia that we all felt the first few months; how frightened we were for our loved ones. I don't think we have reckoned with it at all. People just don't want to talk about it - or hear it.”

#NiqueLaPolice.

UK Bell Review Confirms Only Anti-Israel Attitudes Are Rising, Not Antisemitism | Israel Palestine News #palestine #israelpalestinenews

Our autistic cat Max (Maximus Catulus) wishes you a goodnight miaow.

Andy Burnham’s government has privately given up on reaching Labour’s target of building 1.5mn new homes by 2029, and ministers will refer to the goal less and less, according to government figures www.ft.com/content/285a...

Labour now briefing young people won't get the same minimum wage uplift. Even Starmer didn't break this pledge. Workers rights mean same rights, pay & conditions, same rate for the same job. What does this Labour government have against young people? inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Planning for 3°C doesn't make it survivable - but it makes it seem so As Ben Shread-Hewitt and I explain in this recent article...

Sadly, it's not just plonkers in the Tories & the further-führer-Right grasping at some long decomposed delusion of English-(not UK)-supremacy, but Labour MPs, too. Where do these petty isolationists come from? - the MPs, I mean. We know why the media proprietors want it.

We are the world’s great BBQers. Let’s cook a few…

What happened to the NACC? It got Albo’d What happened to the Murdoch RC? It got Albo’d What happened to the Statement from the Heart? It got Albo’d What happened to action on climate change? It got Albo’d What happened to ‘nobody left behind’? That got Albo’d ALP voters have been Albo’d

A person who overstayed his visa - one he didn't abide by - and conducted business illegally while not abiding by said ignored visa, while repeatedly lying about non-existent qualifications but White, Male & Monied seems to have fixed all that. 🫤

Older people have been saying this for months. Labor's automation of aged care assessments has been a disaster, under-assessing need and priority, denying care and driving up waitlists. It's past time to bin the whole thing and put humans back in charge of decision-making.

Neither of the people in this photograph are qualified for an academic job (see also "Professor" Bill Shorten). I like Ardern a lot, and creating a role using her experience for mentoring is great, but hospitals don't say "we've hired Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman to do heart surgeries this month."

That's right, Prime Minister Sanchez. Tell that orange dipshit bully to go fuck himself. Spain doesn't negotiate with terrorists.

"The report found Israeli authorities and forces had continued to 'commit genocidal acts' even after the so-called ceasefire in Gaza, 'with the intent to destroy the Palestinian people'." No surprise that this got hardly any mainstream coverage. #GazaGenocide www.nine.com.au/world-news/m...

The Govt's new aged care algorithm has been assessed as neither fair nor consistent. The Govt must listen to experts and ensure they don't pursue another robodebt-style automation designed to cut costs at the expense of desperately-needed support #auspol

Absolutely. If they are by law responsible for what they publish. Then open to legal action.

"Another one of eastern Europe’s authoritarian leaders has been vanquished by an upstart movement, with Serbia’s long-term president Aleksandar Vucic unexpectedly losing out to a student-led campaign," writes CNN's Tim Lister. | Analysis https://cnn.it/4A0OfOl

Discworld QOTD, from Maskerade “Nanny Ogg was basically a law-abiding person when she had no reason to break the law, and therefore had that kind of person’s attitude to law-enforcement officers, which was one of deep and permanent distrust.”

It's not just political rhetoric that's boiling over Cartoon by @fionakatauskas.bsky.social View the cartoon on The Point: https://sbrew.link/ok1x3HwZ

Punishment of critics of government policy is a shift towards totalitarianism. The Crisafulli government retaliates against Queensland's Youth Advocacy Centre with a $3M funding cut. It provides counselling, medical assessments, housing, food & clothing. #qldpol www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...

Support Hannah Ferguson who's running against #ArsonistAlbanese in Grayndler. Support @cheekmediaco.bsky.social substack.com/@hannahfergu...

Banger of a last line: "The Court earlier stated, “I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.” The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law."

#auspol & at Senate estimates, only ONE Party will be asking about: • shackling female prisoners AS THEY'RE GIVING BIRTH • Aged Care Assessment & Wait Lists • UNLAWFUL C/link payment suspensions • the Reinstatement of ROBODEBT • Private School Accountability • Price Gouging by Woolworths & Coles 💚👍

RFK is of course correct, it has been *checks notes* an entire year since an Arab has won a Nobel Prize

The only reason I can think of for this news not being absolutely everywhere is that large media orgs don’t want to be seen as putting their thumbs on the scales a week before election day. And that’s cowardly as shit.

"The Wooorm - - The WOOORM!!" 😧

Post your Arab colleagues/predecessors "Muawia was born to Badeah Sukkar and Muhamed Nor Al-Deen Barazangi on 14 September 1941. He grew up in the city of Damascus, Syria, and graduated in 1965 from the University of Damascus with a bachelor’s degree in physics and earth sciences with distinction."

I’ve spoken about this before: yes, get out there and speak to regular people. Really listen to what they have to say, you will find it very enlightening about which parts of the public can and cannot be swayed with reasoned arguments bsky.app/profile/flyi...

McConaughey’s point there is “don’t be snooty wankers to people for no good reason”, it’s isn’t “if you crawl on your knees to the public asking ‘Sir, sir, does this patriotic flag please you, I too hate the fucking immigrants’ then they will vote for you”.

You can read the rest here (I've removed the paywall, in the hope it persuades five or six people to subscribe to my newsletter): tomcox.substack.com/p/31-notes-i...

This Halloween we're talking about Goosebumps! And I would never had guessed which book cover scared @eleanormorton.bsky.social most as a kid. Eleanor & Alasdair Read That out now: linktr.ee/readthat