Shaun Masterton

I released chapter one on May 30th 2020. It's been almost 5 years of trying to get better and self-teaching. I still have much to learn, but I'm proud of A Town Called Tool, which has now been released for $7.99. #VisualNovel notretsam.itch.io/a-town-called-…

@Raasclark I must admit, when I get myself up and running with a new PC in the future. I'm considering doing modding instead of doing content creation. I want to do both, but that would be very demanding on time. I can't wait to see the World Builder in action. Map-making will be fun.

Second this. Already seeing some creative ideas, that I'm really looking forward to testing in-game. Whilst it's a beefy file size, the devkit is super easy to pick up(and will prepare you a bit for world creator later this year). Filthy plug, but here's me learning to make a mod in 24hrs in a much earlier version youtu.be/BKOmX9bE1n0?si… Point being tho. If I can pick it up, anyone can. #playARK

@byMorganWright Hiya Morgan, hope you're doing well. Glad you got a new dog friend.

Sorry I haven’t been online but: Say hi to our newest family member, everyone❤️.

@KarlTurnerMP @UKLabour @AndyBurnhamGM No, what makes people despise you all is not respecting democracy and the people's vote.

FYI: I’m going to be calling out @UKLabour MPs that now apparently think it’s a good idea that @AndyBurnhamGM be allowed to stand when in fact many said nowt when he was blocked last time and plenty said he shouldn’t be allowed. This is the stuff that makes people despise us all.

@JohnRamsbottom8 @Peston Take a look at Threads; I have more likes there for pro-Starmer posts. Take a look around Twitter; there is much evidence of support for Starmer. Finally, over 100 Labour MP's supported Starmer, which is more than those that don't.

@Notretsam @Peston They still support him ? Where is your evidence for that exactly ?

The consensus at the top of the Labour Party appears to be that Keir Starmer won’t announce a timetable for his departure until Andy Burnham fights the Makerfield by-election. But that makes very little sense to me. Because, as I said on ITV’s News at Ten, the probability he can survive as PM, even if Burnham were to lose the by-election is low. This is what his cabinet colleagues and trade union leaders have made clear to him (and to me). So the timing and manner of his exit are now at the mercy of events, which makes him a lame duck prime minister - whose utterances about policy will barely be heard above the racket of speculation about how and when he will go. This would be humiliating for any PM, but perhaps doubly so for Starmer given that his genuine success in taking Labour to a landslide victory after the nadir of the 2019 election would risk being forgotten and ignored if his last weeks in office are spectacularly chaotic. The limitations on his power are already conspicuous. As his closest colleagues tell me, he was only powerful enough to do the most limited and unambitious of reshuffles to fill the vacancy at health created by Wes Streeting’s resignation - although the disaster of last week’s elections would have been the trigger for a more comprehensive reshaping of the Cabinet if the PM were stronger. Starmer lacks the authority to force any of his ministers to move or leave the government. It’s telling that the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood kept her job even after her allies briefed she told the PM his time is up, and that Streeting dictated the timing of his own resignation, even though his enforcers were actively briefing against the PM. In the Cabinet, the prime minister is supposed to be the first among equals. In Starmer’s case, scrap “the first” and maybe insert “second”. Also, resignations and sackings have over months left his Downing Street team depleted. As even his friends tell me, few want to take a career risk by working for him, partly because of the open secret that he won’t be in post much longer (and partly because the Whitehall zeitgeist is that he is the worst kind of delegator, one who insists on delegating but then shows little loyalty or understanding when things go wrong). So what’s the alternative to him being in office but not in power, as it were? Perhaps he should emulate Tony Blair, despite many in his party having repudiated the Blair years. In September 2006, Blair announced he would resign within a year and he stood down the following June. This longer timetable meant Blair wasn’t tainted by the chaos of unexpected immediate elections. And because the election schedule was dictated by him rather than by factors beyond his control, he looked commensurately stronger. He appeared to be the master of events, not the victim. The “will he? won’t he?” about Starmer last week was exhausting just to narrate, as I had to do. Goodness knows how bad it was for the main protagonist, Starmer. To be clear, any PM that says he’s off is weakened by that very pledge. But Starmer might actually have even less authority in today’s limbo, where everyone but he acknowledges the reality that he is a short-dated stock.

@DferBfer @Peston take a look at America and tell me that "Party Politics" is the way to go. We should ALWAYS vote for the person, not the party.

@Notretsam @Peston I agree with your criticism of Peston's opinion. But GE's are ultimately about electing a Party not a leader. So replacing leaders without a GE is democratic under the UK Constitution.

@CarolineLucas Greens should contest the by-election. Lib Dems and Starmers' government should support the Greens. The left vote will be split between Labour, Greens and Lib Dems. Then Reform wins as Tories are not in play. Rally around the Greens, and that keeps reform out

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter dire threat of a Reform UK government theguardian.com/politics/2026/…

I think this is the plan. I believe Makerfield is Pro-Brexit, which means Reform is probably in play. It's either "I can beat Reform" or "We're going to lose to Reform and Starmer must resign" @10DowningStreet @Keir_Starmer @LaindonFEMINIST

I don't believe Starmer is safe if Burnham loses. Burnham wins, then it's a leadership contest. Reform wins; Rebel MPs within Labour use that to attempt to prove that Reform can win the General Election and that Starmer must resign. Over 70% of people DIDN'T vote for Reform

@louderry I don't believe Starmer is safe if Burnham loses. Burnham wins, then it's a leadership contest. Reform wins, Rebel MPs within Labour use that in an attempt to prove that Reform can win the General Election, and Starmer must resign. Over 70% of people DIDN'T vote for Reform

If Burnham wins the by election Starmers weakened, if Burnham loses Starmers safe. Either way i will be campaigning for Burnham and labour to win the seat. Its what labour supporters do. Changing leaders, or not, doesn't change my support for the labour party.

@TomLondon6 @TheGreenParty Sounds like you think the Greens will win the by-election If Reform wins the by-election, then the fault of that is with those who decided to force Burnham on Makerfield Makerfield SHOULD vote Greens, as an election shouldn't be about some guy trying to force his way into NO10

I think @TheGreenParty should not put up a candidate in Makerfield but should say they support Burnham It is absolutely crucial that Reform do not win Burnham already supports Proportional Representation. He should make a pledge to the Greens to pursue this as prime minister

@supertanskiii Oh stop it You're using Reform as an excuse to remove Keir Starmer. Over 70% of people DIDN'T vote for Reform in the local elections Makerfield can't trust Labour. The election should be about them, not about some people wanting a new Prime Minister. Makerfield must vote Greens

I back Andy Burnham as a prime ministerial candidate. Don’t agree with some of his past actions but he’s our most popular politician and has a rare positive rating. He’s a solid communicator, he supports PR, his vision is broadly progressive and he could see off Farage. Do it.

@RichardBurgon Oh stop it You're using Reform as an excuse to remove Keir Starmer. Over 70% of people DIDN'T vote for Reform in the local elections Makerfield can't trust Labour. The election should be about them, not about some people wanting a new Prime Minister. Makerfield must vote Greens

The single biggest challenge facing the Labour movement is stopping Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister. Labour’s NEC must allow Andy Burnham to stand in Makerfield. Blocking him again would weaken Labour even further in the polls - and we may never recover.

@wesstreeting Everyone in Makerfield should REJECT Labour as your vote should be about "you", not because "some people" in a party have decided to hell with the people's vote, they want someone else as Prime Minister. You can't trust Burnham to represent you, but you can trust the Greens.

We need our best players on the pitch. There is no doubt that Andy Burnham is one of them. The Makerfield by-election will be tough. Votes will need to be earned. Andy is the best chance of winning and that should override factional advantage or propping up one person.

@labourlewis Over 70% of people DIDN'T vote for Reform. It's utter insanity. Your actions and those of other Labour MPs are using a biased media towards Reform as an excuse to remove Starmer You're essentially saying the people's vote doesn't matter, that democracy doesn't matter.

I know the news Andy Burnham has a route back to Westminster will divide opinion. So, before anything else, I want to speak plainly – to Labour members and voters, to those who have left us, and to anyone on the centre-left, whether you vote Green, Lib Dem, or are simply looking for a politics that hasn't given up on you. Last week's local election results were, for many of us, existential. Not disappointing. Not a setback. Existential. Look across Europe and beyond at what happens to social democratic parties that refuse to step outside the economic orthodoxy of the last forty years – the one that hollowed out our public services, privatised what was ours, drove inequality to indecent levels, and cleared the ground for the authoritarian right to march into. That is the path we are on. Keir Starmer has refused to see it, and the country cannot afford another general election spent finding out the hard way. So let me be direct. The Prime Minister should set out a timeline for an orderly transition. I have said this before. I say it again now because the stakes have changed. Reform is not a protest – it is a project. And it will not be beaten by a Labour Party that mistakes managerial caution for strategy. As regards Andy, I want to set down here that I do not see him as some kind of messiah. Far from it. As someone who has been around frontline politics for more than twenty years, he has made his fair share of mistakes. But for the last ten years he has been a serious, grounded, and effective Mayor of Greater Manchester. The party and the country need their strongest players on the pitch, and he has a great deal to offer at a moment when the national stage has rarely mattered more. I hope the NEC will listen to the overwhelming view of the Cabinet, the PLP, the membership, and the unions, and let Andy stand. And I hope and believe the people of Makerfield will send him back to Parliament. But that is not a given. We know Reform will throw everything at this by-election. We must do the same and then some. Reform have spent a year being told they are inevitable. Makerfield is where we find out whether that is true. Every advance has a limit. This is where we set it. Millions of people, including my constituents in Norwich South, need this government to succeed. They need housing, working public services, secure jobs, water and energy that serves them rather than extracts from them. That work is not finished. But the honest truth is that stopping Reform and rebuilding the country is bigger than any one party. It will take a progressive politics willing to listen, willing to cooperate where the public interest demands it, and willing to drop the tribal habits that got us here. The country is ahead of us on this. It is time we caught up. Makerfield is one of many places where Labour has lost trust. It is an area Andy knows and has lived in for many years. If selected, he will work hard to win that trust back and make the case for a Labour Party worth voting for again. That case has to be made not only to people who once voted Labour, but to everyone who believes the answer to Reform is a serious, democratic, social alternative – not a paler imitation of the politics that created the problem. This by-election is not about one seat. It is a test of whether Labour understands the moment we are in. No single party is going to stop Reform on its own. The progressive majority in this country is real – but it is scattered across Labour, the Greens, the Lib Dems, nationalists, independents, and millions of people who have stopped voting altogether. Our job is not to demand they all come back to us. It is to earn the right to work with them, on shared ground, for a shared future. To former Labour voters: come and talk to us again. To Green and Lib Dem voters: we are not enemies. To Labour members and MPs: this is the fight. Let's get on with it. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@AndyBurnhamGM It's sad to see that @UKLabour no longer respect democracy or the peoples vote People didn't vote for Simons so he can step aside in a political stunt that will be rewarded later People didn't vote for you to be Mayor until a better offer came along People voted for Starmer

I can confirm that I will be requesting the permission of the NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election. I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years. I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics. Ten years ago, I decided to leave Westminster. Why? Because, after 16 years, I came to the conclusion that our national political system does not work for areas like ours. I learnt this fighting its failure to invest in the Wigan borough, for justice for the Hillsborough families and against its treatment of Greater Manchester during the pandemic. Over the last decade, I have been challenging this failure from the outside and building a new and better way of doing politics. We have built Greater Manchester into the fastest-growing city-region in the UK and put buses back under public control, introducing a £2 fare cap to help people with cost-of-living pressures. However, there is only so much that can be done from Greater Manchester. Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again. This is why I now seek people’s support to return to Parliament: to bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people. Millions are struggling and they need the Labour Government to succeed. It has already made changes to make life better for them in its first two years. After this week, we owe it to people to come back together as a Labour movement, giving the Prime Minister and the Government the space and stability they need as the by-election takes place. I want to recognise the difficult decision taken by Josh Simons and the sacrifice he and his family are making. I have worked closely with him as Mayor on issues like flooding and illegal waste dumping and have seen first-hand how effective he has been. He has put the communities of Makerfield first, made a real difference for them and should take great pride in that. Finally, I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times. We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again. ENDS

After @wesstreeting betrayed @UKLabour and the people today. I will repost this message to Labour MPs Also, over 70% of people DIDN'T vote for Reform in the election. There is no chance Reform is winning the next General Election Lib Dems, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SNP will do well

I was waiting for someone to update the pie chart after the May 7 elections. So here it is. ReformUK have a long way to go.

@jeremycorbyn You lost to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, two people who were removed by their own MPs. Keir Starmer won an election. You didn't. The reason why Labour is in such chaos and is not united is because of YOU Keir Starmer is not the problem; you're the problem Jeremy.

The Prime Minister says his government has got "the big political decisions right". Let's go through them. The government chose to cut welfare so it could spend even more on weapons and war. The government chose to demonise the sick and disabled. The government chose to keep children in poverty until it was dragged kicking and screaming to finally scrap the two-child benefit cap. The government chose not to bring water into public ownership, not to tax wealth and not to implement rent controls. The government chose to arm Israel and participate in genocide. The government chose to let the US use British air bases for its war crimes in Iran. The government chose to let Palantir get its hands on our NHS. The government chose to scapegoat migrants and refugees for its own failures. Poverty, inequality and genocide. Those are the government's big decisions. And that is how this government will be remembered.

@MichaelRosenYes When I (and others) said the good thing about Reform winning seats is, they can now show exactly why you shouldn't vote for them. I didn't expect it to be so quickly and so over the top insanity like this. Farage has to resign, their is literally no other option but resigning.