Beheaded Queens

❤️ #ShakespeareSunday Proceed, sweet Cupid: thou hast thumped him with thy bird-bolt under the left pap. LOVE'S LABOUR 'S LOST IV:3

Sea and sky #Shetland

Tokuhiro Kawai

@TimesRadio Hear, hear.

“@TimesRadio listeners are amongst the most clued up, politically literate people in the country, and I bet even most your listeners are as sick of this nonsense as I am.” Labour MP Patrick Hurley says politics is being treated almost like a “branch of the entertainment history” as he insists on “a level of manufactured salience” around the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal. @JPonpolitics

good night, friends art: Jane Morgan

@PolitlcsUK Are any of those really Labour MPs, though?

🚨 IN FULL: The 15 Labour MPs who rebelled against Keir Starmer and voted to refer him to the Privileges Committee Apsana Begum Richard Burgon Ian Bryne Mary Kelly Foy Imran Hussain Brian Leishman Emma Lewell Rebecca Long Bailey Andy McDonald John McDonnell Graham Morris Luke Myer Kate Osbourne Cat Smith Nadia Whittome

@miriam_cates My goodness, I'm agreeing with Miriam Cates. Will wonders never cease?

Agree. The Mandelson saga is intriguing but ultimately a massive distraction. I want our political leaders to take risks - it’s the only way Britain is going to get fixed. Yet if we persist in trying to destroy them every time a risk backfires, we will continue to be led by unimaginative, uninspiring, fearful and indecisive politicians.

@SamCoatesSky Ain't that the truth, though.

In the middle of the King's state visit, at the most sensitive time in the special relationship for decades, the new UK ambassador tells something to schoolkids he wouldn't say in public - and gets caught Christian Turner said that America’s only “special relationship” is “probably Israel”, not the UK, and said the phrase is “quite nostalgic, it’s quite backwards-looking, and it has a lot of baggage about it”. “I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States — and that is probably Israel.” Read the FT scoop ft.com/content/d4bfac…

@EmmaLewell If you think voters will thank you for this, you are mistaken. We are heartily sick of the Mandelson nothingburger. We have to put up with broken processes every single day of our lives that it is parliament's job to fix, but MPs like you are fixated on petty political games.

My speech in today's #PrivilegeDebate 👇

We’re protecting all of this together. 💙 The decisions being made now will shape the health of our oceans for generations. Oceana is winning real victories for marine life and habitats, but we can't do it alone. Join Oceana in making a real difference for our oceans — and our shared future — today: oceana.ly/40M0Kh4

Relatively little attention outside Israel given to the expose by the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz that another ship carrying grain stolen by Russia from occupied Ukraine arrived in Israel last Sunday. The EU is considering sanctioning the people involved.

@matthewsyed Thank you for saying that. So, the vetting process is broken. Fix it and get on with life. It is not a resigning matter.

The bandwidth sucked up by the Mandelson non-story is embarrassing. A minor appointment taken in what was perceived to be the national interest. Astonishing that the Westminster bubble is still obsessed but then tittle tattle started to define British politics a long time ago

@BethRigby WE DON'T CARE! MOVE ON...

What I am finding genuinely surprising and perplexing from these hearings is there appear to be no notes of meetings regarding the decision to make a political appointment, to make Mandelson the ambassador, or records of meetings between Robbins and officials on the developed vetting. You can see why Thornberry incredulous about that given the importance of the process and the red flags raised!

Cardoons at the Moat Oil on Canvas Timothy Evans (British artist born 1943)

Für uns ist es nur Holz, für sie war es Leben...

A pleasure and an honour to plant one of the Sycamore Gap saplings. A small act of resistance and togetherness. An antidote to the stupidity. #ATreeOfHope

The Dutch National Ballet Florine variation - The Sleeping Beauty

Neil Kinnock: The British people know Brexit has failed them. They also know how to fix it “No amount of political noise can hide the fact that leaving the EU has been a disaster. Britain rejoining is a case of when, not if” observer.co.uk/news/opinion-a…