gibbzer

Scottish screenwriter. Elizabeth Is Missing, Dear Frankie, Mayflies, Miss Austen. Gallus. Fidget. Tea Jenny. Ne'er Do Well. Queen of the Kitchen Disco. #MDANT

[gibbzer @gibbzer]

I wrote something about Friday's memorial and Simon and hunting bears.

https://t.co/UmvQ9pFwdz

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The President of the United States is asleep at his desk. Again.

Behind him stand seven grown adults in expensive suits, and not one of them is doing anything about it. One is mid-sentence. Another is gazing sideways with the haunted look of a man whose pension depends on never acknowledging what he can see in his peripheral vision.

The rest of the world is watching, and the rest of the world has noticed something. Americans are terrified of authority. That fear has settled over this administration like a fog, and it turns otherwise functional adults into warm furniture. Nobody moves. Nobody speaks. The paralysis is total.

In any European parliament, in any boardroom from Oslo to Ljubljana, someone would have leaned over by now. Tapped a shoulder. Said, quietly but clearly, that perhaps this isn’t the moment. Somebody would have done something, because the alternative, pretending a sleeping man is running a meeting, would have been too absurd to sustain.

Not here. Here, seven men have collectively decided that the correct professional response to the President losing consciousness in the Oval Office is to carry on as though he were a particularly demanding houseplant.

[Don McGowan @donmcgowan]

Over the last 36 hours, we have witnessed the very soul of Nigel Farage — his essence.

It has been over a month since he went into hiding, since serious questions began to be raised over his undeclared £5M donation.

A month since he appeared in front of TV cameras or underwent any questioning at all.

At 8am yesterday morning, Farage released a video, from a field somewhere, calling for rage. Calling for an end to the mythical two-tier policing.

Make no mistake, those were very carefully chosen words — he understood what he was unleashing, and his wish was granted last night in Southampton.

On Tuesday, the Home Secretary made a statement to the House regarding the murder of Henry Nowack. There was, as always, an opportunity to question Shabana Mahmood — was Nigel Farage in attendance?

No, of course not.

Today, Farage was granted a question at PMQs — the showpiece spectacle of the political week in which the country's news and politics fanatics tune in to watch — was Nigel Farage in attendance?

Yes, of course he was.

He had somehow found his way into work after missing 77 separate votes in Parliament because … he would, at least for three minutes, be the centre of the country's political attention.

His question was about the murder of Henry Nowack and the violence that erupted [on his command] last night, but he would not condemn it or call for calm.

Instead, he 'suggested' that this rioting might escalate.

This afternoon, he has performatively written to the BBC because someone on Newsnight dared to accuse him of inciting the violence — playing his perpetual victim card. Again.

And there we see the soul of Nigel Farage — a craven, desperate for attention, evil, petty and pointless man.

END RANT.

[Bushra Shaikh @Bushra1Shaikh]

Henry Nowak's mother has said:

"We are a family who have friends across faith and race, and so did Henry. We want his memory to help bring our society together."

And there you have it.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Alex Younger, with whom used to play toy soldiers with as a boy growing up in the Borders half a century ago, was an intensely moral man, perhaps unusually for a successful intelligence officer. Privately he was forthright in his criticism of those, such as Netanyahu, who were happy to slaughter the innocents among their enemies. This line in his obituary rang very true to the man I knew: "He was acutely aware of the corrupting powers of espionage and of the compromises it requires, but decried the “pernicious myth that, somehow, intelligence services are moral equivalents; that the end justifies the means, whatever the cost”. MI6 was not the same as the services of authoritarian states. “If we undermine the values we defend, even in the name of defending them, then we have lost.”"

[Ankor Inclán @ankorinclan]

Hoy 4 de junio de 2026, nos dejó Marjane Satrapi. Tenía 56 años. Su familia dijo que murió de tristeza, catorce meses después de que muriera el amor de su vida.

Hay muertes que tienen una lógica brutal que no necesita diagnóstico médico.

Nació en Rasht, Irán, el 22 de noviembre de 1969. Creció en Teherán en una familia de intelectuales de izquierdas. Su madre le dijo algo que aparece en Persépolis y que ella nunca olvidó:
"En tu vida conocerás muchos tontos. Si te hacen daño, recuerda que es porque son estúpidos. No respondas a su crueldad. No hay nada peor que la amargura y la venganza. Muestra tu dignidad y tu integridad."

Su madre tenía razón. Y Satrapi pasó toda su vida demostrándolo.

Sus padres la mandaron a Viena a los catorce años. Sola. Para que sobreviviera. Años después, instalada en París, tomó un lápiz y dibujó en blanco y negro lo que había vivido. Sin colores. Sin adornos. Con una línea directa que contaba la infancia de una niña iraní mientras el mundo que conocía desaparecía a su alrededor.

Lo llamó Persépolis. Se publicó en el año 2000. Se tradujo a más de cuarenta idiomas. La película de animación que codirigió con Vincent Paronnaud ganó el Premio del Jurado en Cannes en 2007. En algunos estados de Estados Unidos intentaron prohibirlo en las escuelas, lo que garantizó que miles de adolescentes lo leyeran con más atención de lo habitual.

Lo que Satrapi entendió que la mayoría de los artistas políticos no entienden: que la intimidad es más subversiva que el manifiesto. Que una niña mirando al lector con el velo puesto y cara de no estar de acuerdo llega más lejos que cualquier discurso.

En 2022, cuando el régimen iraní asesinó a Mahsa Amini, coordinó Femme, Vie, Liberté, un libro colectivo de diecisiete historietistas de todo el mundo. Publicó la versión en persa de forma gratuita en internet para que llegara a Irán.

En 2024 recibió el Premio Princesa de Asturias. Ese mismo año fue elegida miembro de la Academia de Bellas Artes de Francia.

En abril de 2025 murió su marido. En junio de 2026 murió ella.

Persépolis sigue en las librerías. El régimen que dibujó sigue en pie. Y las mujeres iraníes siguen en la calle.
Ella les dio un lenguaje.

[David Yelland @davidyelland]

It has suddenly become quite ‘okay’ to use racist language and actually be overtly racist on this platform and in much of the media and in daily life; The Overton window is no longer even in its frame, it lies in smithereens, smashed upon the floor.

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French author whose graphic novel series “Persepolis” illuminated the struggles of Iranians during the Islamic Revolution, died at 56. https://t.co/WQWxavBm5l

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

One other thing as people try to sow division. We're constantly told migrant communities must do all they can to integrate, work hard, play by the rules and be loyal British citizens. There is no community in Britain that better exemplifies that ideal than our Sikh community.

[Greta Berlin @Truegreta]

I stood at this pool, at both monuments and saw both reflections…
He’s a God damn idiot, as are the fools that support him. The “Reflection Pool” wasn’t designed by American architect Henry Bacon a hundred years ago to look like a swimming pool. It’s designed to have a darkened characteristics that has reflective qualities to reflect the monuments.
That way, the Washington Monument is reflective to you when at the Lincoln Memorial, and when at the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial is reflective to you.
It’s designed to enhance the grandeur of monuments, create an illusion of reflection, and inclusion of expansive space of unity.
He’s a tacky vulgar person that vulgarizes everything he touches. America isn’t becoming great, it’s becoming vulgar.

Credit - Mathew Reed

[Prof Colin Talbot (rerum cognoscere causas) @colinrtalbot]

Angela Rayner - £40k underpaid stamp duty - repaid. Lost jobs in Cabinet and Dep. PM.

Peter Murrell - £400k theft from SNP - going to prison

Huge coverage of both

Nigel Farage - £5m undeclared bung (possibly more) - goes to ground for a month.

Media coverage? You judge.

[Sangita Myska @SangitaMyska]

I have close friends who are Sikh. Their community has been a credit to the UK. They’re devastated by the heinous crime committed by Vikrum Digwa. They’re vocal in condemning the brutal and senseless murder of young Henry Nowak. I stand by Henry’s family and the Sikh community as hard right forces shamelessly exploit this tragedy.

[nazir afzal @nazirafzal]

Murder of Henry Nowak is NOT our “George Floyd”

A jury found Floyd was killed by a white police officer, actions celebrated by some on the Right
Nowak was killed by a Sikh civilian, condemned by everyone & deserves to rot in jail

Sarah Everard was our “Floyd”
Never forget her

[gibbzer @gibbzer]

@SirTerence Yes. It’s a brilliant brilliant book.

[gibbzer @gibbzer]

The year of magical thinking

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

TRUST IN TRUMP.

"Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end - It always does!" - President Donald J. Trump. 🇺🇸

[gibbzer @gibbzer]

How the mucky have fallen (no offence to the Northern Line)

[Gerry Hassan @GerryHassan]

A fitting punishment for Lord Mandelson: that lover of fine things, wealth and status. Travelling on the Northern Line.

[Anfield Sector @AnfieldSector]

Kenny Dalglish has confirmed a cancer diagnosis. 😢

Dalglish: "As my inadvertent social media post has indicated, I am currently undergoing treatment for cancer," said Sir Kenny. "Unlike my mobile phone use, the treatment is going well.

"Ideally, this would have remained private because that's the way it should be, but my useless technology skills have forced my hand.”

[@LFC]

[Kevin Schofield @KevinASchofield]

Henry Nowak's father outside court yesterday: "We do not want Henry's murder to be used to create further hatred, division or tension."

[Liverpool FC @LFC]

Sir Kenny Dalglish has confirmed he is undergoing treatment for a cancer diagnosis.

Our support and love is with you, Sir Kenny ❤️

[GailRenard @GailRenard]

Farage is trying to make political capital from a tragedy; as well as putting around stupid distraction stories about Desert Island Discs. But let's cut to the chase. About that £5 million...

[Stuart Cosgrove @Detroit67Book]

Your regular reminder that broadcast policy is no devolved