Michael Abrahams

@labourlewis The issue is not who leads the labour party, it is more existential than that. What is required is a fair voting system rather than FPTP. Labour MPs have the power to change this now.

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/…

@Layo_FH I think Putin is probably counted as pro Putin by most people.

Putin was not ‘pro-Putin’, he’s much better understood as a ‘useful idiot’

@Londonist You might want to look inside the British Museum. Statues from the parthanon and from ancient Egypt.

Is this statue of King Alfred in Southwark the oldest statue in London? Well, partly. His legs originally belonged to a statue of the goddess Minerva, dating back to Roman times. But his top half is only 18th century.

@Londonist Canada Water. Allow for more than one escalator from northbound Windrush Line to Jubilee. And longer platforms to accommodate the full length of the train (ideally even more than the current 5 carriages).

If you had the power (and funds) to completely redesign one Tube station, which would it be and why? South Kensington is top of our list (if you've passed through during school holidays, you'll know why...)

@daveyw73 @ChildericSchool @DeptfordGreen @Dawnieatkin @rosiemparry Great work @daveyw73. What do you think @SakinaZS, @paschoud , @susanmariawise ,@fhsoc doesn't this remind you of Perry Vale and the railway underpass? A pedestrian crossing at this location would be of real benefit to pedestrians.

@mjxa @ChildericSchool @DeptfordGreen @Dawnieatkin @rosiemparry Hi Michael, suggest you ask your ward councillors. I can only speak for Deptford. Thanks

Really pleased to confirm a new pedestrian and cycle crossing on Pagnell Street #Deptford by Fordham Park. Good news for residents, commuters and ⁦@ChildericSchool⁩ ⁦@DeptfordGreen⁩ pupils ⁦@Dawnieatkin⁩ ⁦@rosiemparry⁩

Over £3,000 raised so far for Forest Hilll library. Please keep supporting their wonderful work.

@JewishChron I remember when I was a student and Edinburgh and @tonydanker was chair of UJS.

Edinburgh Uni student becomes president-elect of the Union of Jewish Students buff.ly/4iFdjmc

@RandomlyLondon @Londonist Oh deer.

@mjxa @Londonist Unfortunately deer aren't there anymore.

What's the most underrated park in London? 🤔 (If you say Hyde Park then you lose)

@EllieChowns @UKLabour Congratulations on being elected. I hope you will also call for @DarrenJohnson66 to be reinstated to the Green Party following his suspension. x.com/DarrenJohnson6…

⁦@UKLabour⁩ has reacted totally disproportionately to their 7 MPs who voted with their consciences instead of submitting to the ⁦whip. This sort of control-freakery bodes ill. What happened to ‘country before party’? theguardian.com/politics/artic…

@Layo_FH While I think the treatment of Abbott has been quite pathetic, I also suspect that the Labour Party know that being seen to purge the left will be a vote winner in the centre - so all the 'negative' headlines may actually be quite positive for them.

I simply don’t get these tweets? LOTO are equally promoting lots of LGBT/Black/Muslim candidates and baring cis-white-men like Corbyn. It’s motivated by factional disputes. It’s deeply disingenuous to suggest it’s being pursued for discriminatory reasons.

@LewisSJ @Londonist You should see where Cyprus is located (it's not near Beckton)

@Londonist Abbey Road on the DLR is an awfully long way from where most people think of as “Abbey Road”.

Every trivia fan knows that Mansion House station is the THIRD closest to Mansion House, but which tube station is furthest from its namesake? londonist.com/london/transpo…

@MichaelSnasdell @VincentStops The balance seems to be cram in as many houses in as possible. I think there are better solutions: theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

@mjxa @VincentStops Yeah definitely wouldn't consider it much of a garden, but I guess there is a balance to strike.

For the avoidance of doubt this was a former car park with garages.

@MichaelSnasdell @VincentStops Well sort of a community garden. I've seen nicer community gardens, but then I've seen nicer new build homes with nicer back gardens.

@VincentStops Why do people have to lie when it's so easy to go back and look.

@jonfrewin It's still early days. Could you imagine judging the 20th century in 1924?

Is there anyone in the 21st century who will be as well regarded in the 26th century as Shakespeare is today?

@lfeatherstone It is the electoral system that keeps him out of parliament, and that doesn't make it a good thing. The price of PR is accepting that Farage probably should be in parliament.

Just watched Trevor Phillips. Shocked by Farage blatant racism this morning. Thank goodness the sudden call for the election put him out the running for a seat.

@chriscurtis94 Teachers must refer to poverty as a "lifestyle choice" Copernican theory must be referred to as a "contested view"

@LewisSJ @nicolelampert That's what some people said about giving the working class the right to vote.

@nicolelampert Gerrymandering of the highest order, adding 2 million to the electorate who are almost all on his side of the political divide.

Bad idea.

@HornimanHeights @hornimanheights is the centre of the new constituency and will be expected to signal the July 4th results from The Hill with traditional fireworks. Ideally this should be done before polls open since there is no doubt of the winner.

Such a joy that new boundary changes mean The Horniman Heights now forms part of a constituency comprising East Dulwich and the nice bits of Nunhead. Forest Hill and Sydenham too unfortunately. But let us rejoice as we imbibe of this half full glass.