Stuart Pike

Publications @UsdawUnion. Freelance writer for @snookerscene. Chelsea FC fan. Views my own.

[Nick Metcalfe @Nick_Metcalfe]

Brighton v Manchester United is on Sky Sports Tennis.

A chance for me to repeat an absurd TV line, that 12,000 viewers watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth on Sky Sports F1.

[Phil Haigh @philhaigh_]

Panchaya Channoi beats Reanne Evans 6-2 to win the Women's World Championship.

Really impressive from the 18-year-old. Two centuries in the final and a nerveless 59 in the last frame.

Beat Bai and Mink along the way and will get a tour card. What a few days for her!

[Stuart Pike @StuartPike78]

@ArchRose90 @GNev2 Across Salford as a whole, Reform got 33.7%, with Labour clear in second on 27.5 and Greens clear in third on 20.4. Any semblance of tactical voting at a GE puts Reform in trouble even on these numbers.

[Labour🌹Unions @labourunionsuk]

Heading to work? #VoteLabour on the way.🌹

[UsdawUnion @UsdawUnion]

ADaM got up to some serious mischief today at Usdaw's ADM 🤨

We hope they let him back in tomorrow 🤞

#UsdawADM

[Sanderson Lam @sandi147]

I really hope not 💀 🙈 @BBCSport

[Nick Metcalfe @Nick_Metcalfe]

It's not something I'll be losing much sleep over, but FWIW I'd like to see the 2029 World Snooker Championship in Manchester.

It's a great city. Superb transport links. Snooker history - WC was there a number of times just before Crucible era.

It's Manchester for me.

#Snooker

[UsdawUnion @UsdawUnion]

"Politics is just a difference of opinion" 💜

Councillor Lebo Phakoe discusses her journey from growing up in Southern Africa to becoming a Labour Councillor in Redbridge on our International Women's Day edition of the Talking Shop podcast 🎙️

Watch here
➡️ https://t.co/Rx5I5S3az3

You can also listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts 🎧

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer over the last week deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics.

1. Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues.

2. Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence.

3. This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness.

4. The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives.

5. There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting.

6. None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals.

7. A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

[Stuart Pike @StuartPike78]

From today. Looked surprisingly fresh considering

[Ava-Santina @AvaSantina]

Labour source texts:

“Reform don’t know where it is. The Greens can’t spell it. Only Labour will stand up for Gorton and Denton.”

[Out Of Context Snooker @OOCSnooker]

When you’re running late for your match but you’ve got to get your cue arm going 😅

[Nick Metcalfe @Nick_Metcalfe]

I’m not even going to pretend it’s all going to be ok. The world is crumbling around us. The human condition is bleak and painful. This is a vale of tears.

But… but… we still have Hazel Irvine saying hello to us and welcoming us to a week of great snooker.

[UsdawUnion @UsdawUnion]

Employment Rights Bill passed - Joanne Thomas chair of TULO and Usdaw general secretary welcomes the important upgrade to workers’ rights #NewDeal4Workers https://t.co/29KqlaiKu7

[Stuart Pike @StuartPike78]

Top content

[PA Media @PA]

Factory worker becomes fastest person in the world to peel and slice a pineapple

[Snooker Chat 🔴⚫🔴 @Snooker_Chat]

ITV paid an emotional tribute to the late Clive Everton in its 'farewell' montage clip.

It finished with "the voice of snooker" saying: "It's the storybook ending."

Everton used those very words in commentary when Ronnie O'Sullivan made his 1,000th century break ❤️#snooker

[Stuart Pike @StuartPike78]

"Britian, Britian, Britian"

[Natasha Clark @NatashaC]

Tories want to run the country...
Can't spell it

[Matt Forde @mattforde]

🚨 A BRAND NEW EPISODE OF SPITTING IMAGE IS HERE 🚨

We’re making it ourselves so we shouldn’t get Kimmeled.

https://t.co/Upb9W2Qk4b

[Bee Network @BeeNetwork]

⚠️ Industrial action is taking place on Friday 19 to Monday 22 September.

🚌 Many buses will not operate, including school services in Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.

Please check our travel advice before you travel - https://t.co/7EbJzuo5MY

[Stuart Pike @StuartPike78]

Huge congratulations @annaturley on your appointment as @LabourParty chair x