Sid Dipper

Exeter and the South West is home to some of the very best food and drink producers in the country, so it was fantastic to see them showcased in Parliament yesterday at the Taste of Devon event 🍎🧀🥂

Exactly! #Pinks #USDemocracy

People seem to be buying baked beans and drinking water in response to the advice to stockpile. However nobody is talking about what to do when you’ve eaten vast quantities of those baked beans and there’s no water to flush the toilet 🤔 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

JD Vance concedes that Trump is a tinpot dictator.

Here's an idea for editors, let's do a little roleplay. Writer: "I have a contrarian take!" Editor: "Is it fucking stupid?" Writer: "Well yes, but it bucks the consensus. No one else is saying it." Editor: "Is that because the consensus is correct?" Writer: "... yes but... " <hang up>

This is just the maddest argument. These people would trap us in poverty to keep a decade old commitment, which no one ever actually made, to an electorate which no longer exists.

bad

And now baked beans! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Freedom of movement’s a two way street Mr Farage..many currently unemployed people in the UK could apply to work in EU countries. #r4today

PHP knocks PIP off the headlines.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/.... Evening stroll soundtrack: this powerful, spooky, poetic feature @bbcsounds.bsky.social

"Talking to them about what’s actually troubling them at least opens the door to exploring either alternative solutions, or getting into the mechanics of why their proposed solution won’t help in the way they think it will."

It's the Year of our Lord 2026 and people are still talking about "Not Poking the Bear" when it comes to Putin and the far right. I hate this idiom more than words can express, but I thought I'd write some words to express it anyway.

Denmark’s PM Mette Frederiksen: “If Russia wanted peace, they could simply stop. “They are the ones attacking. Nobody else is attacking in Europe right now except Russia.”

Producer: “Who can we get to represent the views of voters in struggling working class towns?” Researcher: “How about a London born privately educated banjo player who is the son of the billionaire who owns GB News?” Producer: “Perfect!”

Let’s have another look at the time Nigel Farage went to the US to bad mouth Britain, but ended up getting his arse handed to him by the US Senate.

And more betrayals on the way. Why would anyone try and aid THIS America? bsky.app/profile/whit...

Another triumph for Starmer. I think firing Robbins without cause was the moment Whitehall completely lost faith in him.

Trump is telling us as loudly and clearly as he can: he’s not our friend and he won’t protect us. Time we got the message - and acted accordingly. Latest column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Farage/Johnson/Brexiters hate the Brexit Russia connection… this is why… “Isolation from the rest of Europe is the result that Britain’s enemies wanted in 2016. Sticking to that path is the route they would choose for Britain again today if they had a vote.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

New post: "Drowning in slop" Large parts of the state are being increasingly overwhelmed with complaints, appeals, objections.... written by AI. It's gumming up every process. Britain is particularly vulnerable. How bad has it got and what can we do about it? samf.substack.com/p/drowning-i...

Trump started a stupid & illegal war in Iran that has driven up diesel prices. Now he wants to bankroll Putin's illegal war against Ukraine by buying diesel from him.   One strategic disaster after the next. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

Many reasons this is dumb including that there was no way of knowing what Musk would become when he applied for his visa at like, 23 or something. This is like that Onion Article: "China waives one child policy as long as all extra children grow up to be Yao Ming."

I mean, this was LITERALLY the example I invented. They're doing the thing!

I’m on a flexible Super Off Peak, but for the first time tried Seatfrog - and successfully upgraded to 1st class, £20 northbound, £18 coming back. Result…

It is now official. The British Conservative Party is the champion of inherited wealth at the expense of those who try to achieve things on the basis of their own merit. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Drax “must be held accountable,” says US Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen, after The Times and Land and Climate Review reveal the bioenergy company violates US regulation an average of five times per day. www.landclimate.org/drax-usa-110...

As a child, I used to watch the Wizard Of Oz and wonder how someone could talk if they didn’t have a brain. Now that I’m older and I have social media… I wonder no longer…

Every day we see Trump and his acolytes make shit up, lie and just invent nonsense that they think makes them look good. Then the BBC reports something that “the Secretary of State” says like it’s gospel truth. We have no idea if Marco Rubio knows what he’s talking about. Trump certainly doesn’t.

This reporting is basically 15 paragraphs of "chinny reckon".

I am a barrister who once spent time seconded to the CPS serious crimes unit making charging decisions. Today, you can pretend to be one too and work through the decision-making framework in a very serious case. The police have multiple suspects in custody and the phone just rang. 👨 👨 👨 👨 👨 📱 👮‍♀️ 🚨

One obvious problem here is that both sides are led by bullies who believe the only time anyone would ever make a concession is if they were weak. Therefore any overture or attempt at compromise is interpreted as proof they've got the other guys on the ropes and are close to claiming total victory.

You know that saying about how the way they treat asylum seekers is the way they’d treat everyone else if they thought they could get away with it? Well,

Starting on the Arts Council bid today for our 50 Years On project looking at the impact of five decades of neoliberalism on six towns in Britain.

Around 40% of the world's dirty money, proceeds of corruption and crime, is laundered through the UK, its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. Successive govts promise new laws and enforcement but they make little impact. Why do govts continue to fail? Watch the Minister's reply.

“In attempt to calculate the loss of trade with the EU after Brexit, the IPPR thinktank said many companies have given up selling goods to the EU…governments failed to secure a mutual recognition agreement that would avoid the extra administration costs” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

reform spouted it tories broke it and profited from it labour are solving it Nobody is looking. Especially if you like to wear black short and a balaclava - LOOK at the facts!!

UK food and drink trade deficit largest since 2000 at £21bn. Brexit, Trump tariffs/wars and deindustrialization add to woes. Exports to the EU fall, cheaper imports control inflation but reduce food security. Must support local production, rejoin EU.

We lost our closest trading partner with brexit, covid, putin invaded Ukraine, trumps tariffs and Iran war. Maybe time to face the reality that we are not such a big player in the world, other countries are not falling over themselves to make 'special' trade deals with us.

If only we had employed someone with experience in our food and drink sector to negotiate our exit terms.

His 2016 Love and Hate LP remains an all time favourite of mine and his gig at Exeter Phoenix that year was absolutely spectacular. Wishing him all the best.

“trade with Europe has become a maze of red tape…Small businesses which are central to our local communities…have felt this burden most acutely…essential we have frictionless trade with our nearest & largest market…by joining the single market...” #Brexit disaster www.cityam.com/brexit-has-h...

“Between 2019 and 2025, export volumes slumped 31 per cent as Brexit added border checks and trade complexity, pushing up costs for businesses” … and threatening our food security. Why TF would *anyone* want this for our businesses and our country? giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

I like how Dave managed to squeeze these protests into his not at all made up hours.