Francis O'Toole

@SamCoatesSky @NickCohen4 This is why Keir Starmer will not and should not resign. The only people getting worked up about it are journalists whose job it is to drum this nonsense up when it makes literally no difference to the lives of the general public who have way too much to worry about as it is

What do I think really happened with Mandelson and vetting? In October, November and December 2024, No10 indicated it wanted to appoint Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to Washington. It was presented with an array of people telling them not to: Cabinet ministers, spooks, officials in a vetting report. All raised major red flags. Starmer and McSweeny made clear they weren’t interested in any objection, and this must go ahead at all costs. So Mandelson’s appointment was announced mid December 2024. The vetting we are focussed on today came later, in January 2025. Vetting of ambassadors is the responsibility of the FCDO and Olly Robbins. One bit of the system said no - the UKSV agency said don’t appoint Mandelson. We don’t know on what grounds, but probably the grounds No10 had seen and rejected as a reason to block. Olly Robbins cleared Mandelson. Very quietly, Mandelson didn’t get the very highest level of clearance when he got the job, but he got the overall OK because of Robbins. Robbins did No10 a favour. This is because Olly Robbbins knew that going to No10 post announcement, and saying the Mandelson appointment can’t happen, was politically impossible. And civil servants want to deliver for their political masters. So Olly fixed it for Keir: and is now paying a price. Olly Robbins has - incidentally - done No10 a second massive political favour. The really really toxic claim doing the rounds last night was that surely someone - anyone - in No10 DID know the UKSV agency turned down the vetting Olly Robbins is making clear he didn’t tell people the UKSV verdict because that would be inappropriate as part of the process he followed. It’s not even clear he saw it. No10 don’t seem to realise he’s done them a favour, and are releasing documents to challenge alternative versions of events. Let’s see how it plays out. The bottom line is No10 wanted Mandelson come what may. They rammed it through. One quango; post appointment announcement, was never realistically going to be allowed to stop Mandelson taking the job because the top of Government had publicly committed to it. They hadn’t wanted to heed the warnings earlier; and were in too deep That’s where I think we are

@FootballFunnys No it was not

This has to be the biggest bottle job in Premier League history....

Jim Carrey refused to film a happier alternate ending for Dumb and Dumber where Harry and Lloyd get on the bus, arguing it didn’t fit their clueless characters. So the scene was ultimately never filmed.

John McTiernan on the difficulties he faced during the filming of 'Predator' (1987): "The most difficult thing about 'Predator' (1987) was that I was coming into an organization that had its own notions and to some extent, its own corruption. The production designer worked for Joel Silver, one of the producers, and he insisted that we go to Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. I found out later that it was because he owned a house there or something. But the guy did no research and since that was my first studio feature I wasn’t adept enough to do his research for him. What the guy didn’t bother to find out was that the West Coast of Mexico is deciduous. The leaves fall off the trees at a certain time of the year and it happened to be when we were shooting. So it all turned orange on us. The cameraman and I wanted to go on the East Coast of Mexico that wasn’t deciduous. It was green and it actually had jungle but there were no resort hotels and it wasn’t trendy. We weren’t able to convince Mr. Silver that we should shoot down there. So the hardest thing was trying to pretend that there was jungle around Puerto Vallarta. Then, fortunately, the monster came in and it was bad. We shut down to get a better monster and by then I had a chance to cut the first portion of the film together. The studio saw it and so that gave me a little bit of credibility. When we went back to shoot we went to the East Coast like I wanted to in the first place. That’s where anything that looks like actual jungle came from. It’s a very odd thing. I mean, you so often wind up wearing other people’s mistakes. But they were mistakes that you saw going in but couldn’t stop it and so you try and maneuver out of other people’s mistakes, which is one of the hardest things to do." ("The Directors: Take Two", Robert J. Emery, 2002)

You know what would be amazing if Vance and his team can negotiate an agreement where Iran doesn't enrich above 3.67% (far below weapons grade); gets rid of 98% of its stockpile of enriched uranium; has weekly inspections by the IAEA; keeps the straits open without charging anyone; and commits to all of this for at least ten years. Oh, yeah, that was the Obama Iran deal.

“You can see the surface of the Moon…we just went sci-fi.” On flight day seven, images from our @NASAArtemis II crew amazed, turning science fiction to reality. From the lunar far side to a solar eclipse from the Moon, the views are EVERYTHING. No pressure to pick a favorite.

Alexander Isak is set to return to team training on Thursday, Arne Slot has confirmed ℹ️

Addressing thousands of people in St. Peter's Square, Pope Leo said God “does not listen” to leaders who start wars and have “hands full of blood,” warning Jesus cannot be used to justify conflict. As the Iran war enters its second month, he renewed calls for a ceasefire.

A lesson in how to make an entrance. On this day in 2006, filming took place for CASINO ROYALE, where Bond (Daniel Craig) and Vesper (Eva Green) first meet onboard a Pendolino train.

(1/10) @realDonaldTrump cited me as supporting his attack on Iran and expressing regret we didn’t do it during the Biden Administration. Except I didn’t.

Predator (1987) is still one of the coolest action movies ever made. A squad of walking 80s biceps gets hunted by the slickest movie creature of the decade, and every rewatch hits with the same jungle-sweat intensity.

"Get To The Choppa" scene from Predator (1987) This is Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal favorite catchphrase of all of his films that he appears in.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Ronnie Delany - an iconic figure of Irish sport and a thorough gentleman. My deepest sympathies to his family and close friends.

The Corrs on TFI Friday, 1998, demonstrating the art of miming… x.com/Television80/s…

I’m deeply honoured to receive the Royal Television Society 2026 Special Award. Thank you RTS and many thanks to the great BBC team in Moscow. @RTS_media

Chinese New Year! #london #ChineseNewYear

From 2002 to 2026 📆 James Milner has set the all-time appearances record in the Premier League!