The extreme Right are very loud rather than very popular. But as long as the media mistake loudness for popularity, the extreme Right will keep getting more airtime than their rivals. That’s not to underestimate the very real frustrations with politics that many of their supporters feel, but it does give us the first very real sign that the march of the Far Right is not as relentless and unstoppable as they would browbeat us into believing. It’ll be hard work and demand full attention, but they CAN be stopped. And that gives me hope.
Take it in. The first female chancellor. The first housing secretary who's actually lived in social housing. The first education secretary who was on free school meals. An energy secretary who actually believes in aggressively fighting climate change. Not a bad afternoon.
Some personal news: I'm giving up running @theweereview. It's been ten years since my first review on what was then @tvbomb and that's a decent enough shift.
Saw Kwasi "mini budget" Kwarteng on my commute today. I recognised his voice instantly from @RestIsPolitics Leading. Not content with smugly trashing the economy, he's now got his feet on the seats of a @Se_Railway train.
Nearly 300 years ago, the first Black performer to play Juliet was Rachael Baptiste, an Irishwoman also hugely successful as a singer.
She performed in Lancashire in the mid-1700s.
Please support @FluteTheatre's amazing work with autistic individuals. The BigGive campaign will double any donations made in the next 5 days... Even a small amount counts -
Word of the Day (because it’s about time) is ‘respair’, from the 16th century. It means fresh hope, and a recovery from despair. One of too many lost positives we could do with bringing back.
Wishing everyone a gruntled, gormful, ruthful and feckful New Year, full of respair.