Ben Mitchell

Painfully nostalgic for the 90s.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

I'm not surprised by how few so-called 'progressive' (another meaningless word) male writers/commentators have sided with feminists over their gender self id concerns. To be blunt, a sizeable chunk of Lefty men just don't care enough about things which affect women.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

Time to start thinking about going to sleep. I'll be happy with a 2 hour snooze. Gonna feel awful when waking up at 12.40am. And please no extra time.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

They're always happy to give it out...
Wretched, vile party.

[Danny Kruger @danny__kruger]

The hounding of Nigel Farage and his family over their personal finances and living arrangements is a transparent attempt by established power - in the government and the media - to disable Reform because of the threat the party poses to their privileges. All these attacks haven’t revealed a single incidence of wrongdoing. They’re playing the man and not the ball. The British public will see that, and see it is unfair, and it won’t work.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@residentadviser I certainly do. I've always thought a change in PM should have to mean they call a GE within 3 or 4 months.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@residentadviser I think one of his biggest issues is that voters are fed up with GEs! A chance they could punish Labour for calling another one. He'd need quite an eye catching manifesto. At least one or two headline grabbing pledges. Can't be having another campaign like 2024. Bored us rigid.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@alexmassie Wonderful.

[alexmassie @alexmassie]

Guaranteed to add joy to your day on every viewing.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

Dreamt the other night we'd be away at Lincoln last game of the season. Dream didn't reveal our opening game.

[Bristol City FC @BristolCity]

It's #FixtureReleaseDay tomorrow!

Who does everybody want first? 👇

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

Just remember. PM Burnham's most important act won't be on climate change, growth, public services and the rest. But on whether he's good on his promise to scrap VAR (not that he actually can or will but let's live in hope).

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@BristolCityFM Intrigued by Skubala. Know zilch about him bar what you've written a piece or two elsewhere. Do you expect a lot of long ball? Hope not. But clearly the stats with Lincoln are extremely impressive.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@BristolCityFM Thanks for this. Let's see shall we. I'm pretty confident Bell will play a minor role next season and god knows re: Yu. From what I've seen over several seasons with Bell, he's not up to it. One thing that concerns me more are the same v gd players getting long term injuries.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@BristolCityFM Wasn't Yu injured for a lot of his time there? Hull actually want him in the Prem?!! Can you seriously see him succeeding there? Bell may have had a decent end to the season but we've got countless games by which to judge him by and his finishing is poor.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@BristolCityFM need to see him to know he's not good enough at this level. The fact he went on loan to L1 and hardly set it alight tells you everything. Yu is a headless chicken.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

@BristolCityFM Hirakawa is hopeless. As is Bell. Disappointed Bell got a new contract but I suspect that was out of desperation/we've got nowt else right now. In fact, you could use both as examples of an at times confused and flailing transfer strategy. Re: Bell, how many more times do we

[Nick Cohen @NickCohen4]

If Starmer had followed Carney and Meloni by taking on Trump, he could have mobilised British patriotism and isolated Farage and other MAGA bootlickers. Let's hope that Burnham will stand up to the thug

[Ben Judah @b_judah]

We’ve heard a lot about what Keir Starmer got wrong. We’ve heard less that he got unlucky. Donald Trump has played a big role in derailing his premiership. 

1️⃣ Trump’s return fuelled a surge in support for right wing populism. Reform was at 19% on November 4th 2024. By his inauguration they were at 25% and neck and neck with Labour. In between: non-stop media coverage of Trump’s agenda.

2️⃣ Trump’s victory emboldened Musk who incessantly attacked Starmer over grooming gangs and promoted far right accounts, memes and politicians such as Rupert Lowe through his algorithm. Since then the X and Facebook algorithm have rewarded right wing political content since has fuelled the loathing of Starmer. 

3️⃣ Trump’s win turned Net Zero from a common Western cause championed by the White House with major cross-party support in the UK into a wedge issue. This opened the way for right wing media and politics to crusade against Net Zero as a Labour eccentricity.

4️⃣ Trump’s interventions in UK politics to humiliate the Prime Minister over his issues from Net Zero to immigration hurt. Not to mention the painful images of Starmer’s interactions with him as he pursued British interests. These genuinely weakened his authority as the Greens hoovered up disgruntled progressives. 

5️⃣ Trump made the world economy worse from his misconceived tariffs to his Hormuz-blocking war on Iran, knocking out the green shoots of better growth. This has together brought higher inflation, more expensive gilts and lower growth than had the Democrats won.

▶️ Starmer’s political mistake was not to pivot. This should have happened when JD Vance upbraided Zelensky in the White House and brought in a freeze of military aid on Ukraine. When Zelensky flew to London afterwards to seek the embrace of his closest ally — the UK — it was a top most watched moment of the year.

▶️ Starmer should have addressed the nation like a war leader and announced though we remained allied with the US we had heard loud and clear they expected us to be able to face Russia alone and that we must now prepare for such a war.

▶️ Starmer should have announced a war readiness package of higher taxes on the super rich and ending the triple lock to pay for rearmament. He should have said a trade war was becoming and he was immediately restarting talks with the EU to forge a “customs alliance” that would see us rejoin their customs union to prepare for a tariffs war. At that moment the media would have clapped and so would the PLP.

▶️ But the pivot never came. And that is a warning to Andy Burnham as he takes over Number 10. More on what he should do next to deal with Trump on @ArguablyMag.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

By the way, think of the civil servants. I know a few. Feel utterly demotivated, fed up and exhausted by this chopping and changing. And the thanks they get is to be publicly trashed by all.

[Tom McTague @TomMcTague]

That we are forced to endure people blasting music over such moments of national significance is indicative of our wider problem. It is - quite obviously - preposterously antisocial and rude, but we just allow it to continue with a shrug as if there is nothing we can do about it.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

It's not freedom of speech to try and drown out others' freedom of speech. Bray is a monumental pain in the arse. The police know what's coming so why not move him before or better still, stick him in the stocks for an hour.

[Ben Mitchell @bmitchellwrites]

I love this tweet. And it's so so true. Low-level disorder is a blight. Not serious enough for the police to intervene or have the resources to. But it makes life just that little bit shitter for everyone else. I'm fed up that we just shrug and accept this type of behaviour.

[Ellie Cumbo @EllieCumbo]

Steve Bray epitomises the low-level contempt for others that so many voters are tired of- he's every public blarer of music without headphones, every fly-tipper & litter-dropper.

Beyond the damage he does his own cause, he is the symbol of a problem that the next PM must solve.

[(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges]

Small thing. But I’m sick of people like Steve Bray and other protestors being allowed to disrupt any national event they feel like.