Patrick Gilbert

Lib Dems winning- Liberal Democrats have won more council by-elections than any other party in 2025. Bar chart showing the number of council by-elections won by each party in 2025: Lib Dem: 105 Reform: 104 Con: 45 Lab: 36 Grn: 24 Number of seats won by each party in council by-elections held in 2025. Source: Andrew Teale.

🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Liberal Democrats have won more local by-elections than any other party in 2025.

In real elections up and down the country, only the Lib Dems are taking on Reform and winning.

Tory MP criticised after demanding legally settled families be deported Katie Lam said move would make UK ‘culturally coherent’ and that a large number of people ‘need to go home’

The @libdems.org.uk and I have written to the Conservative leader urging her to condemn the comments by one of her MPs who said large numbers of legally settled families must be deported, in order to ensure the UK is mostly “culturally coherent”.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I will never, ever, be 'culturally coherent' with Katie Lam or anyone else who thinks like this

BBC rapidly entering wrong side of history territory

If I were the BBC political editor, I would, maybe, mention some of the things said at the conference.

Windows Notepad, the native simple text editor, now has formatting options and a Copilot button.

Look what they did to Notepad. Shut the fuck up. This is Notepad. You are not welcome here. Oh yeah "Let me use Copilot for Notepad". "I'm going to sign into my account for Notepad". What the fuck are you talking about. It's Notepad.

I worked with Janet at the DfE - she was my fellow policy adviser (supporting Lib Dem ministers). She was brilliant and cares more about local government than anyone I've ever met so if you happen to live in her ward do vote for her.

I'm not suggesting it warrants its destruction, but the chair is hideous

Democratic senators need to stop pretending that GOP senators are their “good friends across the aisle” and realize many of them are just lying sociopaths who are actively fanning the flames of violence against them.

It looks awfully like the government intends to raise the costs of care provision councils are legally required to organise, but fail to fully fund the increased costs. Which will mean voters again paying more in council tax for worse (non-care) local govt. Which will again encourage Reform voting.

Arresting Quaker women for non-violent protest and breaking into a meeting house to do so. The first time anyone has been arrested in a meeting house in living memory. Despicable behaviour from a Labour government’s Home Office/the Met Police.

I don't care what side of the Israel-Palestine conflict your sympathies lie on, snatching up people with a valid student visa for the crime of writing an OpEd is naked fascism and if you don't oppose this you are a threat to this country's most basic values

Yes, if there's one thing our murderously divided polity needs at this point, it's a trusted brand feeding it news tailored to confirm their own biases.

you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.

I’ve been consistently surprised that Canada’s Commonwealth status hasn’t been put to UK govt ministers more. The King (about whom Trump claims “great respect”) is head of state of Canada. Trump is saying he should be head of state of Canada. Is the UK govt neutral on that?

"it's difficult, difficult, lemon difficult"

IR is such a US-coded discipline that you have loads of analysts and journalists with IR backgrounds still churning out wordcount about what Trump will do with US hegemony even as the geopolitical reality looks more and more like this:

New Liberal Democrat members of the House of Lords Two Liberal Democrat appointments to the House of Lords have been announced today - Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed MBE and Dr Mark Pack, they join Caroline Pidgeon who was appointed to the House of Lords in Ju...

So pleased for Shaffaq that he will be joining Caroline and the rest of our Lords team, and very humbled that I will be joining them too:
www.libdems.org.uk/news/article...

"Is Borish Johnson autistic" - the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 12,239 pages of heated debate,

I think Starmer needs to get rid of this bloke. It's unacceptable for someone in a position such as Hendy was to dismiss someone for raising safety concerns.

Opinion | I Have Been Studying Poker for Years. Kamala Harris Isn’t Bluffing. So far in the 2024 election, the party known for aversion to risk has been making better risk-management decisions.

Nate Silver shows his whole hand (some might say ass) in this guest column for the @nytimes.com. He’s been hanging with “like minded” folks in Silicon Valley, Wall St, the high stakes poker circuit and crypto—a group he calls the “River.” 1/x

Bluesky is the political wing of Strava

I think a sign of me getting older is the amount of sheer respect I have for airport dads now. A man there in a polo shirt with his family and his clear plastic wallet, in awe, so happy for him, etc

Reading a few FAQs on 'r/butteredtoast' and less than a week later, finding myself torn between spending more than $100 on something called the 'Butter Basics kit' vs. something three or four times as much, 'Toast of the Town Complete Kitchen Set'

If you’re in line to have your wallet inspected, stay in line

Am I following too few people or are there only Financial Times journalists on here?