#then again we know the tories have no morals

[brasskingfisher]

So I got this worthless junk mail toady

And honestly, after the tory party's performance over the last 14 years, I really don't think alleging corruption on the part of your opponents, and complaining about the lack of investment in infrastructure is a stance you can legitimately take.

[mixelation]

so i think the order of events in (a)synchronicity is this. btw this is going to fully lean into shinigami shenanigans incuding...... sexy shenanigans

minato saves tori and she decides she is going to kill him

tori makes minato soup

some other stuff happens including minato tracking her back down and her breaking minato's arm

minato is obsessed with her now

over the course of this tori has been killed a few times to really drive home what happens when she "dies"

jiraiya and kushina both promise minato they will help him get laid

minato is reporting on tori at the beginning but he lapses and fails to communicate adequately to anyone how deadly she is. he's in love, okay, and the only people he respects are egging him on

he kills a bunch of people at her request and tori decides she DOES like him back. this isn't even the "kill one thousand iwa-nin in one go" thing btw

the "kill one thousand iwa-nin in one go" thing happens and it's not even on konoha's orders. minato just does this to get his girlfriend back. he's super happy about it too because now they're together <3

konoha is finally like: wait. wait what the F U C K

hiruzen is like: drop yur girl and take this genin team and minato is like: no i can do both >:(

konoha goes to check out tori but she's just. some. lady????

and so konoha is like. oh my god, the yellow flash has completely lost it. let's wok him to death

and then that DOESN'T WORK

konoha decides the solution is to kill tori. but they want to send minato a lesson because he's actively ignoring direct orders to dump her and they can't let him realize they actually can't stop him from doing whatever he wants.

so the plan is: use jiraiya to distract minato with a mission. kill tori and physically cut the hiraishin marker off her skin. then move her somewhere and mutilate her corpse for the "lesson" part. thy'd prefer to mutilate her FIRST but also they don't know if she has a way to summon minato. so the priority is to kill her and get the marker off

however jiraiya is not stupid and also he's a nice guy who really does want to get minato laid. he realizes something is up after minato says something incongruent with something hiruzen said to him

minato show up just in time to see tori is freshly dead, and then all the konoha-nin still on the scene just. die? he didn't even do anything???

tori flips out bc the shinigami si still possessing her and it gets ~greedier~ every time she dies but she LIKES minato and NOT HIM--!

the shinigami is like: you know what. you're right. even though i'm perpetually starving, this guy is the only one who's ever filled me.

and then the shinigami is like: in want him inside us though, right now

tori: minato. fuck me. right now minato, confused and overjoyed and also sensing something is weird and terrible: you were DEAD??? tori: i'm fine. we want you to. minato: all the grass around you is dead

jiraiya has been completely ignored in this and he's run off to hunt down someone from the konoha team who went off as a messenger. jiraiya takes him captive to come back to tori alive again and doing. whatever the fuck that is

minato instinctively kind of knows what happened and he's freaked out but also. that's his cute girlfriend and someone stabbed a senbon through her neck. :<

they get the full story out of jiraiya's captive

this is some sort of moral turning point. tori decides she does want minato for forever, and to do that she'll have to end the war and maybe konoha itself. minato suddenly finds his faith in his own village tanked. jiraiya is beginning to suspect hooking up with tori is a bad idea

also

tori: please? pleeeease?

minato, in tears: no i'm NOT going to choke you to death in bed to have kinky shinigami sex

tori: i have never been hornier for you though :<

minato: (sobbing)

and maybe

tori: hey if the shinigami kills everything but you while we do it. do you think you're shooting blanks or what

minato: please stop trying to run experiments on my dick

[papayatori]

Don’t Blink!(P5)

LN4 x fem!reader

Warnings: none

Thanks again for keeping with me on this story 😁 I’ve fallen in love with it. Let me know if you have requests/questions! -Tori (i'm sorry this is out so much later than I anticipated, I got really caught up in a phone call, so I made it a little longer than it was initially was going to be...)

Life had a funny way of stringing me along recently, and after the longest week of my entire existence, Bahrain was finally here.

I had never been on a plane before, so that was quite the experience. I shook when the plane took off, to which Lando grabbed my hand for moral support. At least, that’s what I’m going to call it. It couldn’t have been anything more than that.

We eventually landed, much to my gratitude. If it weren’t for my new job, I would never fly again. I could’ve kissed the ground when we got off had it not been for my wobbly legs and self respect.

Now, we were in the hotel. All of our rooms were conveniently beside one another’s, if not directly near. Oscar and Lando had free practice today, regardless of being jetlagged more than likely. I suppose, however, they were used to this.

My room was breathtaking. It had a small balcony that I could lounge on if I desired. The room itself was a series of multiple rooms, a small main room that branched into the bedroom itself, with a mid sized bathroom to the left. Even with my freelance photography, I could’ve never afforded something like this, and I made a mental note not to think about it.

After getting myself situated, I decided to talk a walk around the hotel. I figured that if there was anything to do to pass the time, it was to get myself acquainted with my surroundings.

Opening the door, I saw Lando and Oscar walking past to their rooms beside me. I gained Lando’s attention rather quickly, taking Oscar a moment to take in what was happening.

“Fancy seeing you here.” Oscar joked. I giggled in response.

“I wonder why?” I heard Lando snort at my comment from beside Oscar, who gave me a deadpan before smiling again.

“Where are you headed?” Lando asked, head tilting to the side slightly. His gesture made my chest burn.

“Just to look around, I’ve already gotten unpacked.” I saw Oscar smile.

“Well, I’d show you around but I’ve got to unpack myself before practice, so I’ll catch up in a bit.” He reached to kiss my hand, a small gesture that had started to become more of a habit for him. I felt my cheeks redden, he’d never done it in front of anyone else, much less Oscar.

“I’ll show you around, mate. I'm sure Lando won’t mind.” He smiled after Lando was no longer in ear shot. I laughed, hoping to keep the air around us light.

I had never really spoken to Oscar outside of our conversations with Lan. He seemed wonderful, I had just never really gotten to know him. Though, he didn't exactly take long to open up to me.

“How long has that been happening?” He gave me a lopsided smile, reverting back to Lando kissing my hand. My gaze dropped to the floor, a small smile creeping upwards.

“I’m not really sure what you’re talking about, Oscar.” I tried to play it off, but the lack of eye contact told him exactly what he needed to know.

“I’m talking about you and Lando. He never stops talking about you, y/n.” His tone was playful, lighthearted; but my eyes lit up nonetheless.

“What is there to talk about?” I looked up to meet his gaze now, worried about what he was saying. I trusted Lan, I didn’t think he’d speak ill of me, but there was always a chance.

“Oh, you know, about how beautiful you are, how your smile is contagious, how you can’t stop looking at his eyes-“ I cut him off after that last bit.

“He said what?” Oscar laughed, almost toppling over. The people around us had started giving us strange looks. "Traitorous Bastard." I mumbled quietly, causing him to laugh a bit more.

“Don’t be too upset with him, I had to sit and listen to him ramble about yours at practice yesterday.” He had calmed his laughter, giving me a smirk as my face had started to give away my emotions again. “I think you should talk to him about it.”

“About my eyes?” He deadpanned.

“No, stupid. You two obviously have a thing for each other. You should probably say something before you don’t have a chance.” He was smiling, but I was not.

“You don’t genuinely think that, do you?” Oscar gave me a look that told me just about how slow he thought I was.

“I’ve had this conversation with both of you, and both of you act as if I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to love." This time, it was my turn to look at him like he was stupid. "What? I'm the one with a relationship here, and I'm willing to bet good money that I'm a better wingman than you think."

With a sigh, i gave in.

"Alright, so you're telling me that if I were to talk to Lan about my.. urm, feelings, that he would have those same sort of feelings."

Oscar's hand immediately went to his forehead with a loud groan.

"Yes! That's-" another groan followed by a small laugh, "listen, I'll help you out with it, just promise me you'll do it. I can only listen to Lando ramble for so long."

With much reluctance, I agreed, shaking Oscar's hand as if this was some business proposal rather than a simple agreement over whether or not he was going to help me with a boy.

After exchanging phone numbers and finding our way back up to our rooms, Oscar gave me a sideways hug.

"Don't worry about it too much. Just text me if you need help with the situation." At about that time, Lando had walked out of his room with a somewhat confused look on his face, which I'm assuming was directed towards the hug Oscar had just given me. He eyed Oscar warily as he walked past him, winking at me as he did so. I rolled my eyes. "I'm just going to unpack, then I'll be ready to leave."

Lando gave him a look, still untrusting, but nodded in his direction before letting him walk off and turning his attention to me.

"How was your walk?" He asked, eyeing me still. He wore an expression that I wasn't entirely sure how to read.

"It was interesting, nice hotel though." I smiled at him, hoping he would take the bait and smile back. Much to my satisfaction, he grinned back, though it didn't entirely meet his eyes.

"Well, seeing as we have nothing to do until Oscar is finished, care to join me for a few minutes?" He motioned for his hotel door with a more genuine look this time. I wasn't sure where he had been going previously, but he seemed to have forgotten all about it now.

"Lead the way, mate."

Shutting the door behind him, he gave me a look that I couldn't read, yet again. His eyes were swirling with emotion, which oddly, he was incredibly good at hiding. I sat on the little couch in his main room. His room was set up just like mine, only opposite mine. I tilted my head as he walked over to sit beside me.

"How do you think your practices are going to go?" I looked at him, not sure whether to be worried or not. He shrugged.

"It's either going to be really good, or really badly.. This really could be my season. Hell, McLaren's season for all we know. I'm just hoping it isn't completely dominant again, even if Max deserved it." I squeezed his hand this time, that must have been what he was thinking when I walked in. At least that's what I was telling myself. "I'm sure you're going to do great this season. Just don't beat yourself up over it. I have no idea what it's like to be in that position, but I do know that it is difficult to overcome hardship. I'm here for that if you need it." I smiled a small smile, looking deeply into his eyes. He chuckled lightly, breaking eye contact. "I wish it were that easy, mate; but I'll keep it in mind." I still held his hand tightly, not wanting to let it go. He had turned on the TV mindlessly watching while rubbing circles on the back of my hand idly.

The door opened, scaring both of us. Lando had stopped circling, but he hadn't let go of my hand. I looked up to see a smirking Oscar standing in the door. I made a mental note to explain what was happening later.

"I see you two are comfortable." Lando shot daggers across the room. Not only were his eyes beautiful, but they were deadly too it seemed. I wanted to smile at him, but I restrained myself. "Anyways, I'm here to collect Lando now. Zak says we're leaving." I felt Lando squeeze my hand one more time before letting go and standing up.

"Feel free to stay here if you want, we'll be gone most of the day." Oscar groaned at Lan's comment. "Free practices are boring." Oscar stated. "Maybe so, but they're useful." Lando said, walking over to the door.

As they walked out the door I couldn't help but miss the feeling of Lando's hand in mine. I missed the warmth, the safe feeling I had when he was around. I think Oscar had done something to me. I think he had implanted some sort of chemical in my brain that was causing me to feel all of this when I had met them the first time. There was no other viable explanation for my feelings. I let out an exasperated groan, falling dramatically back onto the couch in Lan's hotel room.

Without thinking about it, I let myself fall to sleep.

...

...

...

"Nah, she won't be home for a few hours.. She's watching some silly race at her parents house.. She left a few minutes ago." I heard faintly from the other room.

I was standing in the main room, I had left my phone in the house as I was leaving for my Dad's. We were going to watch the first race of the season together and I was absolutely stoked... At least until I heard what was happening in my bedroom. "Are you sure? I thought I just heard someone.." I heard a females voice ask. Was I losing my mind?

I picked up my phone off of the bar in the kitchen, realizing I must have left it there while I was getting ready and forgot about it.

"I'm sure, you're just paranoid, love."

I felt the blood rising into my face. My hands shook slightly. Without a second thought, I trudged into my bedroom to find my boyfriend with a blonde girl I had never even met before. I heard two collective gasps from the bed, one being my boyfriends. Well, I suppose now ex boyfriend. "I- y/n! I can explain I swear!" I heard him call to me, but I had already made up my mind.

"Out. Now." I murmured, deathly quiet. The two stood, gathering their clothes. "y/n-" "Go! And if I ever see your face again, I'll mess it up so badly that no female will be able to look at you long enough to fuck you again."

…

…

…

“Y/n..?” I felt a soft shake on my shoulder. “Are you okay..?” Why would anyone be asking me if I was okay? I opened my eyes, my eyes that had suddenly felt swollen shut and hard to open. I reached up to feel my face, it was puffy and wet.

Had I been crying?

I finally looked up to see Lando, who had concern written all over his face.

“y/n what the hell happened to you?” He was crouched in front of me, frantically searching my eyes for something I wasn’t even sure was there. Then I remembered the memory that I had repressed for so long, almost exactly a year now. I felt another tear roll down my face. Lando helped me sit up and sat beside me. I saw a look of remorse on his face and immediately started to worry about that too, causing more tears. As if not being able to take it any longer, he pulled me into his chest. His strong arms were wrapped gently around me, encasing me in his body. Lando was warm, he smelled like sweat, but he was warm. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner." He said, stroking my hair gently as I cried into his chest. "Please don't cry anymore, you have no idea how much it hurts me to see you cry, darling." I looked up at Lando, eyes watery and sad. He looked so hurt and confused. God, I couldn't even explain to him why I was crying.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled before falling back into his chest, too afraid to let him see me any longer. "You don't have anything to be sorry for, y/n. Please don't apologize to me." What he didn't realize is that I had everything to be sorry for. Not only did I fall asleep on his couch, but I had also made it inevitable that he would come back from practice, potentially upset and exhausted, finding me on his couch asleep. Somehow, it had managed to be worse than that. Without another word, he lifted my chin, not giving me another opportunity to look away. He caressed my cheek tenderly, wiping stray tears as he did so. "Who did this to you?" I saw the anger in his eyes as he asked me this, wondering who the hell had hurt someone he cared about. My heart skipped a beat as the warmth of his hand burned itself into my cheek. "It's been a year.." I managed to say softly. "..in my own bedroom." I choked, feeling the tears slide down a bit heavier now. His hand held firm, not letting me back away. My pulse radiated through my skull, beating so hard that I wasn't sure if it wouldn't explode. "Tell me everything.." He said softly, his eyes filled to the brim with anger. I nodded, doing my very best to choke out the words that I needed to. After some time, Lando had finally let go of my face. I explained everything to him, even what I had told him when I last saw him. "That's my girl." He had replied, making my heart skip probably ten beats. It was a miracle I was still living currently. We had lied there for God knows how long, just talking and crying everything out. Well, I was the only one doing the crying, but that's besides the point. I snuggled into his warmth. Despite having slept for so long, I wanted nothing more than to lay in his embrace. His touch was my comfort. I could feel every breath he took, every move he made, every beat his heart sounded. This felt better than anything I had ever felt before. Not to mention, this felt right. "Thank you, Lan. For everything." I gave him a sleepy smile, my eyes still watery and face still puffy from earlier. He gave me one in return. "Anything for you, darling." This time, I was fully awake and aware of what was happening as he bent down, kissing my forehead. Heat rose to my cheeks, and for once I was grateful for my swollen, red face. The last thing I remember was Lando's thumbs tracing circles on my arm and back, comforting me in any way possible. We lay there with each other, the only audible sound being our breaths. This bastard really knew what he was doing, didn't he?

For those of you who wanted to be tagged^^(please let me know if you would like to be tagged) @kapsylia

[turkey-sandwich]

I cooked some shuffle units

Murder mystery

Okay, this one is the one that prompted all this. Please this would be the fucking funniest thing ever (I think I already did this exact lineup somewhere)

Just. Consider Shu's beef against Eichi, then you got Eichi's beef against tomoya. All the while there's whatever himeru and tattsun got going on. Also meru's detective thingy

Steampunk

I just want mayoi on a big ass ship again serving cunt. Also mayoi and nii-chan interactions. Rei is there because of course he is (we ignore that they were both in la mort). Everybody in this shuffle at some point has to clown on sena because it's morally correct to clown on izumi sena

Fairytale

Very obviously not inspired by dragons flying over a nowhere forest by ao3 user 21397942794 (lie) (you should read it btw it's really good it has a dragon and midoyuzu)

Also naru is a princess and midoyuzu shenanigans. Also yuzuara. And sora going "I know what you are" to Midori. Nagisa is there because I need to further my "Midori having weird but wholesome friendships with everyone in Eden" agenda. But also the bridal march tour gave me brainworms for yuzuru and nagi friendship

Circus themed

It's actually just me making an excuse to put torikasa in a unit. And jun going "haha mini ohii-san" to Tori. Torikasa being insufferable to each other that Kanata looks at them and then plays clown music because they're fucking idiots (affectionate). Mika just vibes. Also momo and sumomo returns

Megane

That's it. That's the whole shuffle unit. Just the guys with glasses. And chiaki. He gets a new glasses card. This fanservice for the megane fans (me, I am the megane fans)

Also one of them loses their glasses at one point and they have to stumble around to look for it like Velma does (it's either keito or mugi)

Futuristic

Madaleo.

They also probably use the VR thing again. And the closest thing we'll ever get to DF comeback. Mao and yuta are there because I think it's funny if they got to witness the insane chaos in the front row while kohaku's like "first time?"

Vibing at the zoo

Peachy and Thunder returns and is featured in a card that's higher than 3✩. Please HappyEle bring back the frogs....

Also wawa's birds are here, and Leon. Subaru would be here, but that would mean 3/4(?) of ANIMALS are in this unit. And I need hiiro vibing with kuro. Maybe a sparring session between them

Beach day

BEACH DAY!! Kaoru teaches mitsuru to surf and Niki grills food on the beach. Everyone is having fun. Subaru and mitsuru race with daikichi on the beach. Life is good

Obligatory someone gets hit by a volleyball in the head (it's kaoru)

Survival-esque horror

Halloween I think? Think zombie apocalypse and these are the main characters tying to survive

And also because literally any interaction with rinne is fucking funny as hell. Also remember in the main story when the bees were causing trouble? Yeah. The whole fiasco with tricking Akatsuki, kicking koga off the stage, the ryuseitai being called fake heroes incident (and rinne and niki running off on a motorcycle only for Kanata and chiaki to catch up with them and tie them up to bring them back to es). Yeah. Rinne gotta deal with that. Interesting things. And rinne gets to make fun of aira about hiiro's marriage proposal in matrix

[ayeforscotland]

WRT the news headline about Labour and the barges, have you considered updating your post w/ information from the article itself? Because I found the headline to be quite misleading, and I fear that you may have been mislead by the headline, and picked up on things implied by the headline that were actually not in the article itself, and I worry that misinformation is being spread.

Thanks,

Anon

I love anonymous messages like these because they’re always sent under the guise of being helpful but anyone with half an insight into Labour’s politics over the last decade can read between the lines and know what Labour’s going to do.

“Ahhh but if you read the article the Labour spokesperson said X”

Yeah that’s their job, they’re a spin-doctor.

Time and time again, Labour start to reduce their opposition to conservative policies. They alter their language to appeal to the English right-wing, while trying to maintain their dwindling left wing support.

From an ethical and moral perspective their opposition should be clear as day, but instead it’s all hand-wringing and ‘oh we’ll run things a bit more competently than the Tories’.

School meals for kids?

“We just can’t see where the money is going to come from.”

Helping people out of poverty?

“We just can’t see where the money is going to come from.”

Will you reverse cuts to critical services?

“We just can’t see where the money is going to come from.”

Low Emission Zones?

“Our own political incompetency lost us a by-election so we’re going to blame an eco policy for our loss rather than get our shit together.”

Gender Recognition Reform?

“We’ll make sure Scottish labour follows our orders and we’ll do fuck all to advance it in England.”

So no, I’m not going to go back and update the post just to echo what a labour spokesperson says. I don’t trust them, and I don’t think they’ll do right by people if they enter government.

If you want a pro Labour Party blog, go find someone else. Can’t imagine there’s many that aren’t complete suitcases.

[dogwatch05]

Human: The Space Dog Chapter 6

First Previous Next

Very short chapter six as I am getting back into the swing of writing this series. I am working on plotting a few chapters out, but I really don't know where this is going to go so any and all suggestions welcome. Enjoy this snippet of content and I should have some bonus content coming out later today.

Dear Diary,

I just...I can't with this anymore.

I mean come on, why'd she have to startle me like that? She's lucky I don't have a pre-existing heart condition. That could have killed me for God's sake!

Shaking my head I sat down and took a few deep breaths and glared at Momma. She jotted down a few more notes on her pad before walking Sounder and I back to my room. They sat with me for a while longer before both walking out.

I sighed as they exited and watched the door for several minutes before stretching and sprawling out on my bed area.

Frustration bubbled up in my chest as I stared at the ceiling. Everything that had happened up until now seemed to be useless. I never asked to be picked up by tiny cat people. I never asked to be studied or have someone attempt to train me. And I never asked to be stuck in a room, as nice as this room was, only to be taken out just to have tests run on me. And to top it all off, I'm always being ever so slightly underfed no matter how much I show that I need more. I was always hungry but not to the point that I would starve. I imagine that after a while my calorie needs will balance out with what they are giving me but definitely at the expense of my current good condition.

"What else can I do to show you that I am intelligent??" I growled at the blinking red light in the corner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He's intelligent all right. I mean who could doubt that. That Beast Master is more of a beast than Frantal. He recognized himself in a mirror. That's pretty telling that he's at least sentient. Not that that was in any doubt. Not only did he recognize himself, his reflection seemed to trigger a response to groom himself. A sense of self is really telling for what level of intelligence we are dealing with here.

He easily figured out how to use a tool to get food out of a hard to reach place, although it appears he's already done this exercise or a similar exercise before based on how quickly and easily he completed the task, so this test probably does not showcase his natural abilities.

He recognized that the treat was moved from the red box and didn't try to open the red box again simply because it was there the last time. In hind sight, probably not the best test to run but I was running out of ideas. At least we know he can recognize that the pattern of putting it in the red was broken.

And lastly he can recognize fear expressions and follow a pointing appendage. He's empathetic at least to a point. He spun around to face whatever had scared me. Probably just to face it so he wasn't taken from behind, but from what I could tell, his body language was defensive so he was probably preparing to fight."

Montressa leaned back in her chair and looked at F'rangel across her desk.

"Makes me wonder what world he grew up on to develop these traits. And his eyes. You can see something going on behind them. Almost like you can see the intelligence he has through his eyes. Sometimes I look over my shoulder and see him staring at me. Something else is in his eyes in those moments. Something beyond intelligence. Bah, I'm probably just anthropomorphizing him. Anyway, look." Montressa leaned forward and turned her monitor toward F'rangel. A live feed of Frantal was displayed. "He's got manufactured textile clothing on. Maybe he was a pet of some sort. The probability of a mammal being sapient is almost 0. Every lifeform that has been sapient so far has been reptilian, avian, or some other egg laying creature. The only reason that the Tori are sapient is because we uplifted them and you can see how that went. Monsters with no moral compass that perform tests in horrible ways on innocent wildlife and dispose of them when they are done with them by killing them in mass executions. Hopefully the Council doesn't make that mistake again.

Anyway, maybe his master taught him these behaviors and clothed him. The environment may have been too cold for his furless body or maybe there's some sort of ceremonial or traditional value to the clothing."

F'rangel sat still and watched her talk animatedly about Frantal. He shook his head in amusement and chuckled.

"What?" Montressa questioned, trying to decide if he was laughing at her or at their situation.

"Oh, nothing." F'rangel responded nonchalantly. "It's just that you seem to like this creature so much. Don't get me wrong, you have my leave to like this creature. You've taken a liking to far worse creatures before. Do you think this Frantal has the potential to be socialized? To be trained?"

Montressa glared at him before thinking. "Yes. I believe he does."

F'rangel stood up and walked around to the other side of Montressa's desk. Pecking her lightly on the cheek, he whispered into her ear "Well, I guess you've got your hands full with his training then."

To be continued...

[mariacallous]

I wrote about the results of the English local elections for the Spectator today, and looked at how Labour was defying some of the cliches about centre-left parties.

The left assumes that their leaders will betray the noble cause because they are evil or weak and allow themselves to be corrupted by capitalism.  Their moral failings lead them to abandon left-wing policies. 

In their own way Conservatives agree. Even when they are defeated at the polls, they want to believe they have won the battle of ideas. Centre-left parties will abandon radical policies when they learn the hard way that Margaret Thatcher was right when she said that the “facts of life are conservative”.

But that’s not what is happening with Keir Starmer’s Labour party, as I explain below….

Labour people are used to defeat. Before every election they wonder if the Tories will defy expectations. Real votes are not the same as opinion polls, after all, they say. 

And yet ever since Boris Johnson broke his own lockdown rules, disastrous performances for the Tories in opinion polls have been replicated by disastrous results in real elections. We are only beginning to grasp the consequences of an inevitable Tory defeat.

Not all the results of the 2024 local elections are in by any means, but come on now. At the time of writing, Labour has taken the Blackpool South parliamentary seat. Conservative support collapsed by 32 per cent. 

This was not a one off. As the unstoppable electoral stats machine, Rob Ford, professor of politics at Manchester University points out, Tony Blair achieved four swings of 20 points or more from the Conservatives when he was opposition leader. Starmer has now achieved five – including four of the five largest swings ever recorded in British political history.

Barring divine intervention by a Tory god, Labour will win the next election. And that knowledge is making Labour more left-wing than many Westminster correspondents acknowledge. 

The gains of the Green party in the local elections and Muslim boycotts of Labour candidates because of the party’s pro-Israel stance may not have had a great impact this time round. But it is easy for any clear-sighted Labour politician to see how left anti-Labour forces might build in the future.

As a result, Starmer is not following the Tony Blair playbook of appeasing conservative opinion, or at least he is not following it to the letter. Here are a few examples of his thinking that deserved more notice than they received.

Last week, the New Statesman reported a political rumour that Labour would carry on with the government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to the corrupt, militarist and quasi-dictatorial Rwandan state, which have outraged liberal opinion. ‘We cannot just come in, tear it up and have nothing to put in its place,’ an anonymous adviser told the magazine. 

All the criticism shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock have poured on the waste of public money Rwanda has prompted was to be forgotten, apparently. 

The only template modern Labour leaders have for winning an election is the punitive strategy of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in 1997, and it seemed they would follow it again in 2024. Readers old enough to remember the 1990s will recall an arms race on crime and asylum policies, as Michael Howard and Tony Blair outbid each other with gimmicky authoritarian stunts.

Today, the Blairite model of refusing to allow Labour to be outflanked on the right would have mandated accepting deportations to Africa. Nothing of the sort happened, however. Keir Starmer thought it worth his while to personally crush the story. ‘I don’t think it will work, I know we have to stop the boats and I want to get going with our plan on day one,’ he said. ‘What I’m not going to do is flog a dead horse.’

The Greens, the SNP, and whatever Corbynite movement emerges after the next election would all use a U-turn on Rwanda to attack Labour, and you can see the political damage that would flow from changing course. 

But to highlight the political threat is to miss a wider point. Most Labour politicians are not ‘desiccated calculating machines’ to use Nye Bevan’s putdown of Hugh Gaitskell. They do not just weigh electoral consequences. They believe the Rwanda policy is a cruel stunt, as does Keir Starmer. That is why it will die with this government.

We are moving into a new Britain where the old calculations do not apply. Ever since the Brexit referendum of 2016, all who criticised right-wing populism were dismissed as elitist fools who did not understand the beliefs of ordinary, honest people. Now that right-wing populism has failed so utterly it is no longer even popular, new concerns will dominate. The attitudes of renters, young home buyers, Muslims, and the supposed out-of-touch progressives will matter.

Another episode from earlier this week made my point for me. The Financial Times claimed that Labour was about to unveil a weakened package of workers’ rights. Its promises to deliver higher sick pay, end employers’ use of  ‘fire and rehire’, and reverse anti-strike legislation would be watered down or forgotten, apparently

The story tallied with the easy, fashionable view that Starmer’s Labour will say and do anything to win, and with Margaret Thatcher’s rather complacent Tory assumption that ‘the facts of life are conservative,’ and Labour must follow conservative policies when it is in power.

Starmer blew both assumptions away. He categorically denied the FT story saying, ‘We will not be watering down the New Deal for Working People’.

The biggest test for Labour is yet to come. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has gone into full Liz Truss mode and has pushed forward unfunded cuts to National Insurance. On the one hand, Hunt and Sunak, have been politically naïve: by saying they want to abolish NI they have allowed Labour to engage in the populism of the left and claim that the Conservatives are threatening the state pension.

But eventually Labour will have to declare whether it will accept the huge spending cuts Hunt’s uncosted proposals will necessitate. In 1997, Gordon Brown accepted the incredibly tight fiscal programme Ken Clarke left him. Better to do that, he reasoned, than allow the Tories to hang the ‘tax raiser’ label around Labour’s neck in the general election campaign.

Do not be shocked if shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves refuses to do the same. Instead she may well point out that Hunt is trying to play a trick and say that she will not go along with the charade, and nor should the voters.

If you look ahead to 2025, you can see a Labour government under attack from the left by the Greens and Corbynistas, from Scottish nationalists in the SNP and English nationalists in the Conservative party. To hold the centre ground, it must treat all its opponents with equal seriousness.

The idea that it will only make concession to conservatives, that it will give ground to them on asylum, human rights, workers’ rights, public spending, and indeed Brexit, because Labour has no other choice is a delusion born of the long years of Conservative rule, which I can say with certainty, are now over.

[qqueenofhades]

Ok I seriously hope you don’t take this as bad faith but I’d like to genuinely understand this, and I’m not even sure if I’m articulating this thought well, but I don’t understand why it’s not also considered inhumane to allow a ton more people into a system so broken that it can’t even support the poorest that are in that nation…? I understand it’s important to hella reform immigration and that’s in the works, and that these people are fleeing far worse conditions, but I also feel like the rich are just looking to make yet another slave class out of these desperate people. Is it yet again a case of multiple broken systems in a trench coat? If so, I’d like to know the most prominent areas so I can try to start fighting it (the rights abuses, not the immigration)

Okay, but I'm not entirely sure what your point here is. It sounds like "we shouldn't allow immigrants into America until we can help every American first," which is probably not what you mean, but still. Yes, America as a culture, society, and economy has many, MANY problems. Nobody is denying or disputing that. But it is also literally a nation built on immigrants, and why is it "inhumane" to let them come here when they are so desperate to reach it that they will risk their lives in any number of ways...? Is it just that you're afraid you aren't being Socially Aware Enough on any particular economic or social issue, and need to find something else to worry about?

People come to America, or want to come to America, for many reasons. They are being persecuted, or their country is politically unstable, or they have few job opportunities, or they have family here, or whatever. They are not coming here because they're being passively manipulated "by the rich to make another slave class." The way we treat them can often be disgraceful (see: Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott), but there are also many, many communities and resources for welcome and support. Immigrants can often get jobs and save money. They can build new lives. This is something we should welcome, and because the right wing in America, with all its racism and xenophobia, has so long dominated the immigration debate as "scary brown people," this is long, LONG overdue.

Any strategy that wants to reduce "illegal immigration" must offer valid and safe pathways for legal immigration. That's why the UK is in the middle of such a clusterfuck: the hardline Tories who want nobody to move to Britain ever are trying to stop the small boat crossings across the Channel by being even more cartoonishly evil and deliberately unhelpful to the poor souls who do make it. They feel that if they can make a "hostile environment" (their own words) for refugees and asylum-seekers, eventually none of those irritating brown people will ever bother to try again, problem solved. Which of course, hasn't worked, not least since Britain refuses to allow any pathways for safe and legal immigration/resettlement from unsettled and/or third world countries. Even highly skilled workers have lots of trouble getting a UK settlement visa these days, so your average refugee/economic migrant? Forget it.

Because Biden is allowing generous quotas of legal migrants, that cuts down on the chaos and brutality of people-traffickers and other criminal enterprises who make their money by extorting desperate people who have no other option. Also, lest we forget, we are less than four years removed from the Trump policy of tearing children away from their families and putting them in literal cages, under the same "make it so bad for them that they'll stop coming!" fetish for institutional cruelty that drives the Tories.

There is also an additional moral responsibility for former empires to be open to immigration, given that they built their political systems' wealth and power by moving to OTHER people's countries and invading, exploiting, and enslaving them. Now when the descendants of those people want to come to your country in turn, the racist white conservative pearl-clutching is both depressing and predictable. But yes, let's not read people making the choice to come to America, for one reason or another, as either an attempt to siphon overstretched resources from Real Americans, or as helpless dupes manipulated by the capitalist class to just live more lives of drudgery and misery. They are real people making real choices, and the fact that they're still so eager to come to America, even with all its problems, is something that should be supported, in a sustainable way, as much as possible.

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

You normally understand my anger so I am gonna vent a moment.

My friends are pissed at me because I berated them for not voting when every single one of them had the time and resources to and are deeply affected by how this presidential outcome goes.

"people lifes have to come first before we think about the world right now esp when it comes to the election like the slogan its your right to vote its cool if u dont wanna" - Quote from my friend that couldn't be more untrue. I fear none of them have a brain cell to rub together to form a thought. No reason the majority of them are majoring in art and yet are somehow failing some of their classes cause they clearly don't understand subtext, nuance, or any form of understanding. I know I am being very harsh, but they do not understand the severity of their actions.

The vote count will take a few days, but I do know if Trump wins, I am going to abandon my friendship with those folks. They are showing that they don't care about others and their community of Queer and POC folks. Probably gonna do it anyway cause a lot of their excuse was "We are all just starting adulthood🥰 please be easy" when we are all almost 2 years out from high school and the majority could have still voted in high school.

They can't "uwu I am just a little guy" their way out of this. They aren't even showing self-preservation at this point. Apparently ignoring the sharks will make them go away in their mind.

I get this sentiment so much.

I’ve also been holding a lot of disdain to third party voters in America recently. Because all voting third party does in America is make themselves feel better, honestly. A vote not for Kamala Harris in this election is a vote for trump, and I think people don’t understand the repercussions this will have *across the world*.

Third party voting itself isn’t inherently evil. It happens a lot in the UK, and it’s a good thing it happens. It puts a lot of pressure on the main parties to get their shit together. HOWEVER, even this year, everyone was saying not to vote third party because no one wanted the fucking Tories again. And the best way to ensure we don’t get Tories is to ensure we got Labour. And Kier Starmer can suck a fat cock, but he’s better than Kemi ‘I think people aren’t having kids bc we’re too generous with maternity leave’ Badenoch.

And studying politics at a time like this is STRESSFUL bro because I see people saying shit all the time about how impactful voting third party is, and I am screaming at the screen because the impact it has is making you feel like a moral and good person for ensuring a trump win. Same goes for non-voters. Like this election, the emphasis shouldn’t be on ‘oh but voting Kamala makes me feel like a bad person’, it should be ‘hey so if Trump is elected people will fucking die and I can put my personal feelings aside to ensure that doesn’t happen’

But no

Everyone is just fucked.

[wehadwildflowerfever]

So it’s both “Mermaids” release day and the day I can finally unwrap my “Daffodil” tattoo.

I’m staying up until midnight to hear this last Dance Fever song, so I’ve spent a large part of today thinking about the whole album.

I’ve worked through a lot of it academically this year, but I haven’t really let myself sit down and think about what it means to me personally. I saw someone write that the build up of “Mermaids” feels like a scream waiting to be released (@veronicaofosea), and that’s so close to how Dance Fever as a whole feels to me. Listening to it has felt like letting out multiple screams that have been building up in my body since girlhood.

Florence isn’t close to the first artist to remind women that we don’t have to be good, seek approval, be desirable, and keep the peace. Within my own pantheon of favorite artists/musicians/poets, I have heard it so often. Mary Oliver has told us (“You do not have to be good / you do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles through the desert repenting”). Tori Amos has told us again and again in more ways than I have room to write down (“She’s been everybody else’s girl/ Maybe one day she’ll be her own”). Each instance has felt like a small revelation to me. An idea I could intellectually know to be true, but couldn’t feel in my body when needing to go out into the world to assert myself. My voice is always quieter than I mean it to be. I apologize for myself when I don’t want to. I have a really hard time making eye contact. Dance Fever marked the first time that I could fully hear this truth. Right now. In my late thirties.

I don’t know what did it, exactly. I think part of it was lockdown and being on my own so much. Probably having the space to retreat into myself, being responsible only to myself and my partner. Having very few external expectations placed on us. And then coming out of that, Dance Fever was the first piece of art to shatter my grief-induced numbness.

“Oh bring your salt, bring your cigarette. Draw me a circle and I’ll protect…” The ferocity of the circle drawn in “Heaven is Here.” The dark magic and intentional monstrosity of it. How it made a protected space for our rage and mourning and reclamation of self.

The tender, funny anger of “Girls Against God.” (Which actually made me feel conflicted at first. Growing up going to an Orthodox Hebrew school, we didn’t write God’s name on anything that wasn’t sacred and meant to last, even in English. Writing down that title was literally the first time I spelled out “God” which was scary but also powerful.) The permission of being able to own our anger, even if it’s just us, in our pajamas, alone in our bedrooms.

And it took me a while to notice what was being sung during the “Dream Girl Evil” bridge, but once I figured out that it was a reversal of Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What does it mean to look at our world on the verge of collapse and respond-- at least for a moment-- by essentially saying well fine, this wasn’t a world built for us. If it’s dependent on women being the world’s angels and dream girls, just let it all burn. “I am nobody’s moral center / it cannot hold.” Again, this intense permission to claim our rage and independence.

The part of the album that has probably made me cry the most is a lyric I still don’t fully understand. It’s toward the end of “Choreomania,” when the music slows down a little and Florence sings, “And do they speak to you? Because they speak to me, too. The pressure and the panic you push your body through.” I’m not sure who “they” are for her, but there is something so comforting in how the fourth wall breaks down here, how she sings “they speak to me, too.” The vulnerable confession that we all carry unwanted voices with us born of mental illness, or intergenerational trauma, or gendered social expectation, and the recognition of what those voices do to us and our bodies. The anxiety and the panic attacks.

This album feels like a release of those voices or an attempt to live with them in a way that allows us to fully reclaim ourselves.

Even just posting this feels like something I wouldn’t have done before. I would have checked with multiple people to make sure it wasn’t too much, or too pointless, or too intense, but I think of “Restraint” and post it anyway. “And have I learned restraint? Am I quiet enough for you yet?” Saying “yes, but I’m unlearning it” feels like a source of power.

[chthonicgodling]

okie dokie well as threatened over here, behold beneath the cut a quick - ok no. COMICALLY LARGE AND LONG summary of some choice events of Elysium!Loki’s past that had taken place not only long before his formal entrance into Elysium, but also long before [coughing fit] the events of uhhh 2012 - AND EVEN, ALSO, long before the events of [LONGER COUGHING FIT] 2011, if yyyaaaa knowwwww—

[tw I guess for. well a multitude of things but child death is a big one.,, also uh, regular murder, and. such.]** actually that’s all in part TWO?? yeah this ended up having to be TWO PARTS UHHHHHH—-

basically uwuwuwu the summary rundown of this entire post is that the ~*famous*~ stories of Norse mythy have very much taken place for Elysium!Loki, just like. all long beforehand!!

first! some additional background. we know that in the Elysium’verse when Loki ended up down there fresh off his attempted world domination the agreement for him to be allowed to stay was if he was able to be rehabilitated and like. get fuckin therapy. no supervillains allowed;

we’ve done a similar sequence of events in Elysium a couple times, been calling it Dream Theater or Memory Theater where by recruiting the assistance of dream gods and sleep gods (Epi, Hypnos) and eventually some therapy gods (accessory background character Epione, literal therapist of Elysium, tho she wasn’t around in the beginning Loki era), the memories of events past can be “entered” and viewed like a movie, relived by an audience. okay yes the Loki show did a smaller scale version of this which is truly hilarious but we did it first in 2012 ahahh. Dream Theater is initiated if the owner of said memories finds it too difficult to talk about any of it and finds it easier to just Show™ (like Maci, flashbacking with Tory about Thanatos like 3 years ago)….. or if the owner, again fresh off a streak of villainy, petulantly refuses to open his goddamn mouth about a single thing to try to fix himself and thus sends everyone forcibly spelunking (you know who. LOKI. AHHH).

this is maybe not the best of therapy methods. tbh. but it….. kinda worked I fuckin guess lmAO???? we love our dubious morality here in the palace!! Well anyway so collectively indeed, a decade ago Tory, Epi, Pasi to keep the peace, and actually the Elysium!version of Thor too, did gather round to learn some interesting and horrifying things about Loki’s past prior to where he was then in that moment, via prying Loki’s memories open and just watching it all unfold! I’ve certainly discussed many of those events over the years but here is a cute compilation because my brain is in Loki mode lately and yknow what maybe some of you don’t know all this! BEHOLD-

firstly yyeahah that ye old actual M/CU fanon thing of “:(( aww Thor’s friends hated Loki and always left him out and bullied him since childhood so of course he would snap” with no real textual evidence of that in the— okay whatever but that IS actually canon in Elysium lmao oops. per my Brand ™ this fits our trend of All Olympians Are Evil, samesies re the Aesir and Odin/Frigga being actual assholes on purpose - so that’s first things first

(Worth mentioning I guess Thor was oblivious to all of that and particularly how Loki FELT about all of it, as well as some events that will follow, until all these dream sessions)

next - Sleipnir! all of Loki’s kids very much exist in the Elysium!verse - although Sleipnir is one of just two remaining who have NOT been freed in some capacity into Elysium by the modern day ;(( the story is basically mythologically accurate and idk, Loki as a late teen?? Just vanished off the face of the planet and then returned nine months later with a little spider foal. which Odin promptly was like…. Ok sick, free horse. confiscated! Cool dad very traumatizing!! Sleipnir remains to this DAY imprisoned in odin’s stable, he IS fully sentient just. horse shaped. scream.

Loki’s choice rebellion to follow was flouncing off to hook up with random Jotunn giantess Angrboda whomst I have actually drawn one time somewhere in here - she was kindave a dick <3 but when Loki ended up pregnant he continued to secretly see her for his own ulterior motives (COLLECTING CHILDREN) - the three that Angrboda sired were, in order; Hela, Fenris (Fen) and Jörmundgandr (Jör),,

Loki by that time had picked up the habit of just fuckin fully disappearing every time he ended up knocked up, traumatized by the loss of Sleipnir and hiding pregnancies/ the babies from his family who would prob whisk them away as well. yyyou might or should know the trio’s deal from Norse mythos?? Hela, a regular little girl EXCEPT half of her body was deceased and decomposing away; Fen, giant wolf - Jör, giant sea serpent. they at least started small…ish ;0; after Jör was born Angrboda was like holy shit can you stop with these fuckin KIDS what IS THIS and peaced out officially. Loki was fully hiding from the palace and kept and raised them “out of the eyes of” Odin and co.,, Thor did eventually discover them and kept them secret too tho he was uh. alarmed and slightly grossed out but ok bet whatever Loki wanted to do he was supportive iggg

To keep up appearances once Thor knew about the kids Loki would pop back up in Asgard again here and there just solely so no one else went out to look for him. also now since Thor could babysit. lmao. around this time he met SIGYNNNN-

yes >:)) Sigyn DOES exist in Elysium!! she has never made a real appearance in the Elysium’verse other than in these flashbacks at the time. Sigyn was also a sorceress and befriended Loki when he caught her defending him to people being bitchy in the palace; he eventually snuck her out to his secret house and introduced her to the three kiddos whomst loved her <33 Hela was like seven or eight ish?? obv soon after Loki and Sigyn began hooking up and became a couple

aaand then around then Odin (who, knows everything, and of course had known about the three since. Day one.) Sent a notice of first warning to his son that the three Monsters were a direct threat to Asgard and needed to be peacefully surrendered for imprisonment or else be seized by force. bc that’s what great grandparents do 🙃 furious obv Loki went straight to Odin to plead his case and refuse to his face to give them up but that conversation went 💞badly💞

a second letter of warning was sent instead - Loki devoted all of his energy to convincing Odin that they were not a threat, recruiting Thor to try and argue in his favor too. this also did not workkkk. a third letter - sent, shredded - as Loki began to plot a way to fully hide himself and the three forever IT WASSS TOO LATE and an ambush was orchestrated on their house~ the literal only thing that stopped Loki from slaughtering the guards sent to imprison them away was the looming threat of violence to the kids and to keep them physically safe Loki surrendered, though Sigyn still had to hold him back. Hela was like 15 years oooldddd

So again, this is now Norse mythos, the fates of Loki’s children, literal children at that time - Hela was cast into isolation in Niflheim to become Queen of the Dead. she’s still there actually!! she’s the other one of Loki’s kids who have not moved into Elysium :(( Jör was thrown into Midgard where he resided in the oceans as an ouroboros circling the world; Fen was imprisoned in special chains in (god I don’t remember where and I don’t feel like looking it up) the faraway island of Lyngvi. anyway. all scattered away. and taken--

for thefirst time literally ever i have RUN OUT OF SPACE IN A TUMBLR POST???? I MAXED MY CHARACTER LIMIT OUT?!!!!! this will be continued in a. Part two wtf!!

[magentas-dystopia]

Hiii it’s me and I’m gonna rant about the transphobic state of the UK so content warning for transphobia, depressive negativity etc

Not to be a little worry wort again but I’m genuinely miserable how the UK has just welcomed fascism with open arms. As a transfemme person it feels like every news story I hear is just another warning signal that I’m gonna be dead in the next few years thanks to our horrific laws and how many roadblocks that are put in place to stop people like me from existing/ getting HRT and surgery we need. It’s Vile how the UK government has also just been slowly influenced by the clearly fucking deranged state of US politics too. Not a day goes by where I’m worried for the other trans people I know, my girlfriend, my best friend. It’s the worst and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, partly because the UK people are so politically inactive that it requires a manufactured moral panic made by the Tories to actually rile them up enough to care about things that don’t affect them to conveniently ignore atrocities committed by our government. Every waking moment I live here is hell and I want things to get better desperately but I’m scared that they wont.

There’s a part of me that always will believe that humanity is inherently good, yet who can stand up to the people who proactively choose to close off their empathy and understanding for their fellow human? I wish we could but clearly none of us actually can do anything to do it. So we’re just left here to fester in our misery, knowing that there’s nothing we can do to stop this. It hurts, I really wish there was a world for me and all of the trans people I know to be ourselves fully.

This is gonna be a little personal, but for about almost a decade (I’m 19) I’ve known I was trans. And through all the time I’ve told my parents they did their best to help me, but at the same time my mother is clearly in denial still and my dad only this year admitted that he was trying to “repress” my feelings through misgendering/ uncomfortable language about me. I know they mean well and they want to help me. But it hurts knowing what they did in the past and my mother insulting my partner and myself constantly. She constantly says “we didn’t bring you up in that community” or “it’s not in our culture” (I’m half Indian). But clearly it was at one point, when I learnt about the GNC Hijra people in India it opened my eyes, trans people are part of the asian world and very much always have been, the pre colonial Philippines had trans people, Japan had trans people etc. It hurts that I’ve been led to believe that there’s a separation between my race and my gender identity, when in actuality they’re more linked than I’ve e known initially, it doesn’t help that the majority of trans people I know IRL are basically all white. Not once have I met a trans person who’s the same colour as me, the same culture or faith as me, or any other melanated person outside of my own race who as also trans, even though I know they clearly exist. All leading to what I believe is a feeling of pure isolation for me and possibly other Trans people of colour in the UK. Most of us don’t know that the other exists and it’s painful that we are told that it’s “not part of our culture” when we know that people of our cultures have historically been trans (or at least another lost word to describe the feelings we feel). All I want is to know more people like me and hopefully have our rights to live freely upheld.

Anyways I’m gonna go back to marathonning Yu Gi Oh byeee

[eaglesnick]

“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.” (Andre Malraux)

When Keir Starmer was campaigning for the leadership of the Labour Party in 2020 he made ten pledges. Promising to,  “advance the interests of the people our party was created to serve…based on the moral case for socialism”, his first pledge was:

“ Economic justice

Increase income tax for the top 5% of earners, reverse the Tories’ cuts in corporation tax and clamp down on tax avoidance, particularly of large corporations. No stepping back from our core principles.”

Nothing remotely radical about this, increasing taxes for top earners and corporations is standard Labour party policy, and cutting down on tax avoidance is just common sense. Tory Britain, after all, is one of the few countries in the world to encourage corporate tax avoidance.

“The UK is by far the world’s biggest enabler of corporate tax dodging, helping funnel hundreds of billions of dollars away from state coffers, according to an international investigation.

"Of the top 10 countries allowing multinationals to avoid paying billions in tax on their profits, four are British overseas territories.”  (Independent: 28/05/19)

In order to rescue our cash-starved, failing public services  - the NHS, education, social care, etc - taxes have to be increased, and it is only fair that corporations and the wealthy, many of whom have been avoiding paying tax for years, contribute their fair share.  We all know that in Britain work is taxed while tax relief is given to those on unearned income: tax on earned income is twice as much as tax paid on unearned income.

Despite this Starmer has now abandoned much of his first pledge. There is to be limited economic justice only.  Rachel Reeves, Starmer’s Shadow Chancellor, now tells us there are "no plans” to increase income tax for the rich and there and "no plans” to increase capital gains tax.

According to Reeves, it is Labour and not the Conservatives, who are now the party of business.

“Labour is now ‘pro-business', vows Rachel Reeves." (Financial Times: 19/01/22)

 Keir Starmer’s pledge to look after  "the interests of the people our party was created to serve” has now been abandoned and replaced by  the interests of big business.

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm the leaders of the downtrodden animals are the pigs who lead a revolution against their human exploiters. Over time the pigs become corrupt and betray the animals they promised to liberate, making deals with the very men who treated them so unfairly.

"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

I think the same can be said of Keir Starmer: he is man who is becoming more Tory than the Tories themselves, and when we compare his economic policies with those of the Conservative Party it is impossible to say which is which.

[rosietrace]

Glorious Masquerade, crimson flames (8/?)

Summary: Victoria has been graciously invited to attend the symposium hosted by Noble Bell College in collaboration with Night Raven College. Unfortunately, it seems she has a couple adversaries attending, specifically a certain prince of thorns...

( This does not apply to any of the main stories. )

Author's note: Ngl the Shard's have fucked up and ambiguous morals, but they know how to dress AMAZINGLY

{ Apologies for any out of character moments }

"YOU'RE TELLING ME VICKY KISSED A FUCKING DRACONIA!?!"

Zen felt nauseous when Camilla began aggressively shaking him back and forth, but not to the point of feeling his insides wanting to flood out.

Looking to the side, Victoria sent Mercury a look of worry, taking note of how quiet the boy had been.

Sighing, Victoria walked over to Camilla and gently tapped her on the shoulder."Milla, you can stop shaking Zen back and forth. I fear that he may grow nauseous." Was all she had to say for Camilla to stop.

Zen dramatically collapsed onto the ground, quietly singing an equally dramatic musical number. Which resulted in Mercury calling him a prick-

While they were bickering, Victoria had to explain quite a bit to Camilla.

"Hmm…"

"I know you're upset-"

"Words cannot describe how bewildered and- And ANGRY I am after Zen said you kissed a Draconia!"

Victoria seethed in embarrassment."I didn't kiss him. At least not on the lips…" She said before assertively crossing her arms.

Camilla's eyes widened and Victoria noticed a vein in her forehead."Then where in the seven did you fucking kiss him???" Camilla interrogated, demanding an immediate answer from her cousin.

Sometimes I forget how protective she can get… Especially when a Draconia is involved. Victoria huffed.

"Milla-"

Camilla pouted and turned her head away from Victoria."I'm very disappointed in you, Vicky. Weren't you the most committed to our 'I fucking hate the Draconias' club?" She reminded her.

Victoria smiled fondly at the memory of the club they made when they were younger.

"Yes, vividly," Victoria replied.

Camilla stopped pouting, and Victoria noticed her lips twitching upwards. And her smile widened at that observation.

"Are you still mad at me?" Her voice sounded normal, bordering on unnaturally casual, but Camilla knew that this was Victoria's way of teasing her.

She held it in. She tried to stay mad at her for something so precarious.

But Camilla gave in and whined."I can't stay mad at you for too long…" she rested her head on Victoria's shoulder and hugged her tightly.

After pulling away from the hug, Victoria decided to change the subject."Why are you and Mercury here?" She asked.

Camilla placed a finger over her chin to try and recall the moments that happened before this. Based on her immediate change in expression, Victoria could imagine a lightbulb floating over Camilla's head.

"Mercy came here to represent his school. He said he came here with his counselor and the headmistress's daughter I think."

"I see…. And you?"

Camilla grinned."Aunt Vivian heard that your dad had some sort of hunch and called me over here to help!" She exclaimed, but this time she sounded more gleeful.

I'm guessing my father had the same feeling about Rollo-san… Victoria hummed, looking to the side intently.

But her thoughts came to a close when Zen suddenly hid behind her, in fear for his life."Eh-"

"TORI HELP, MERCURY'S TRYING TO KILL ME-"

"I'M JUST GOING TO PRICK OUT YOUR PRICKS LIKE ANY OTHER CACTUS."

"THAT DOESN'T SOUND COMFORTING."

In a matter of seconds, Victoria grabbed the two of them by their ears and smiled in irritation.

"You two, we. Are. In. Public. I don't care why you're here and who you're representing, we must appear and act dignified, not act like preschoolers." She sent the two of them a look that had both of their souls disappear from their bodies for ten minutes.

When she finally let go of their ears, Zen fake cried and began acting dramatically again, just to a lesser degree. But for Mercury, we looked unfazed.

When in doubt Victoria, Zen, and Camilla knew that he was probably shitting his pants at the idea of angering her.

"Sorry, Ane…" Mercury muttered, looking at the ground awkwardly. Victoria pats his head gently with a subtle but soft smile.

"It's okay. But I need you to be careful with how you act and what you say. Even if you say them out of anger, our enemies could be anywhere. And they might use your words against you." She warned, crouching a bit to reach Mercury's level of height.

Mercury bit his lip before exhaling."Okay… I'll try to keep my sarcastic comments to a minimum." He promised, smiling a bit.

She giggled."If you say so." She responded, "Shall we go look for my parents?"

The rest nodded enthusiastically as they walked alongside one another and began looking for Vivian and Florian. Not to forget the bickering they were all having.

"Where is Aurelie?"

"Ugh, don't get me started on that tramp."

"I'm still not over what she did to my hair!"

"Oh come on, Camilla, having snake hair isn't THAT bad!"

"Oh, would you SHUT THE FUCK-"

"You two. Don't start."

♜ ♛ ________________________________♛♜

"VICTORIA? CAMILLA? MERCURY? ZEN?"

Florian awkwardly watched his wife as she was essentially hollering their names like her life was depending on it.

"Darling, please keep your voice down-"

"Not until I find our daughter, her brother, and her cousins." Vivian insisted, continuing to scurry around the city of flowers and search for them.

Florian let out a sigh." I know you're worried about Flamm, but-" he was cut off by a gasp from his wife.

"MY DARLING GIRL!"

Vivian cheered as she hugged her daughter tightly. When she eventually pulled away, Vivian began relentlessly doting on her daughter. And even though Victoria was somewhat embarrassed, she wasn't complaining.

"Oh, I can't help but say you look so beautiful! My darling girl, isn't she just ethereal?"

Zen snickered."With how doting auntie is, she's practically the equivalent of an overly positive anime mother!" He joked, earning a snort from Mercury.

Victoria chuckled a bit before sending Zen a look. Don't tell them what I did… I won't hear the end of it if they find out. She pleaded to him internally.

Zen immediately understood and sent her a nod, a grin, and a thumbs up in response. Which was enough to relieve Victoria of any stress she had.

Knowing Milla and Mercury, they're likely going to hide what they found out from my parents as well. Especially my father… Victoria sighed heavily, holding onto her mother's arm while they walked together.

"Victoria," Florian called, and the cousins and Zen stiffened a little. Victoria held in her emotions and raised a brow at her father.

"Yes, father?"

"Do you happen to know what Rollo Flamm intends to do?"

When he finally let out his question and it wasn't the one they were anticipating, Zen, Camilla, and Mercury audibly sigh in relief.

Victoria shakes her head."Unfortunately not, father. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am unaware of what that man plans to do." Florian's expression softened before he nodded.

"It's okay, dearest. It isn't your fault."

She hummed, continuing to walk.

I'm more scared of what's going to happen. Whatever that man is going to do… He could do it any minute.

[46ten]

Let’s talk about Samuel Adams, Father of the American Revolution

Stacy Schiff published an acclaimed biography last year (2022), although it’s certainly not “a revelatory biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winner about the most essential Founding Father—the one who stood behind the change in thinking that produced the American Revolution.” IOW, it’s not a work of scholarship, and I don’t recall a discussion of the “change in thinking” (what does that mean?) that Adams supposedly inspired. 

This is definitely a hagiography, but with the focus on the Nation-state builders, it’s good to see some focus on the “original” fighters for liberty. Samuel Adams, at various times, gets thrown back in the bin when it’s deemed that we shouldn’t be talking about people working to overthrow the government - see popular historian take on Lincoln masterfully shifting the focus of the American founding from the resistance fighters and revolutionary firebrands (the folks the early 19th century THOUGHT of as the Founders) to the architects of the American state, a shift that has stayed with us because it was deemed not a good to champion challenging the government (though Schiff herself is a bit all over the place about respect for Adams at the end and immediately after his lifetime). But Samuel Adams is the RIGHT kind of trouble-maker, which Schiff describes from the very beginning - “moral,” “principled, “humble.” Ah, for the day when one doesn’t need to meet the definition of a moral paragon to be acclaimed in American history. I realize I’ve just written to go read this book, and then stated that books like this are of limited value, but my point is it does have valuable information, but be aware of the undercurrents in this approach. 

Schiff’s prose is appealing, and she tells the real story of Paul Revere better than I’ve seen it anywhere, so the book may be worth it for that alone. But like all popular biographies of this type, beware the lack of context.

Petty point 1.

First, what’s with the makeover on these guys? This guy:

THIS GUY: 

Becomes THIS GUY??!!

I complained about this with Alexander Hamilton, too. 

(And I got distracted by this picture of James Watt, as he seems to be a model for some of this re-working.) 

Petty point 2.

The back author blurb is a long paragraph praising the book by Ron Chernow, so I should probably have thrown this book in the trash.  "A glorious book that is as entertaining as it is vitally important.” —Ron Chernow. Why is it vitally important? I still don’t know. 

Real point 3. 

Adams deliberately destroyed a lot of his correspondence - folks really did want to kill him and issued posters with a ransom so that the Tories could hang him, and took to the grave the stories of lots of events about the American revolution, “Dryly he noted that some individuals enjoyed every political gift except that of discretion.” 

Petty point 4. 

The hardcover has deckled pages, which makes it really hard to find the picture sections (it has two). 

Petty point 5.

To avoid citing in-text, Schiff’s end notes reference the phrase and then provides the citation. While I understand stylists like to do this for readability of non-fiction for a general audience, it also makes it hard to determine an actual fact/reference from stuff the author just pulled out of their ass. I don’t want to flip back and forth to figure out whether you’re making something up. 

Real point 6. 

Not petty, but grim. I’m about to delve into women and maternity again, so these numbers recall the 17th century admonishment to women that with pregnancy, death awaits you. Elizabeth Checkley, Adams’s first wife, gave birth to six children, of whom only two survived past the age of 2. She likely died of complications from her last childbirth. She was the tenth child that predeceased her own father. Adams had 11 siblings, of whom only three survived their own father. 

Petty point 7.

Every description and scene with John Hancock is petty. “The pomp and retinue of an Eastern prince,” Hancock would revel in glory as he did in frivolity,” “thin-skinned,” Hilarious. 

Petty point 8.

Schiff making stuff up about the use of “esquire.” 

Petty point 9.

“The portraitists arrived only after he had gone gray; Boston was, however, a fair-haired city, and the coloring suggests he had been a blond youth.” Um, what?

Real point 10. 

The aversion to discussing cultural/religious matters in these communities. Schiff points out the high literacy of Boston, but makes no mention of what that can be attributed to. Adams is pious, and a Calvinist, and no discussion of what that means. “It is impossible with Adams to determine where piety ended and politics began; the watermark of Puritanism shined through everything he wrote.” Well, what does it mean, and what do you mean by that comment, Schiff? Adams’s first wife was a pastor’s daughter, but don’t look to any further explanation from Schiff about any of what that could mean. Don’t look to her to provide any explanation of the Adams quote I provide below, either. 

Real point 11. 

Schiff reminded me that Massachusetts only barely ratified the Constitution; Adams was one of those who in the end supported it, but was hesitant to ever again be under a national government. And yet he was a Lt. Gov, but his career was clearly in decline. Schiff treats this topic as if it’s baffling - well, maybe the shifts in national politics may explain it? Changes in Boston commercial and political interests? But we already know that popular biographies don’t have time for stuff like that. 

Finally, a quote from Samuel Adams:

“The truly virtuous man and real patriot is satisfied with the approbation of the wise and discerning; he rejoices in the contemplation of the purity of his intentions, and waits in humble hope for the plaudit of his final judge.”

[to-pick-ourselves-up-7]

I posted 1,021 times in 2022

That's 141 more posts than 2021!

8 posts created (1%)

1,013 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fromtheboundlesssea

@dedalvs

@wildestheart4ever

@genevievedarcygranger

@greghouse

I tagged 669 of my posts in 2022

Only 34% of my posts had no tags

#celiaverse - 151 posts

#a marked queue - 146 posts

#jonsa - 85 posts

#jonsa fic - 82 posts

#house of the dragon - 48 posts

#hotd - 42 posts

#family duty honor - 40 posts

#celia tully - 39 posts

#jaime lannister x oc - 37 posts

#jaime lannister - 37 posts

Longest Tag: 122 characters

#because the targaryens have been preaching that they are different thanks to king jaeharys for like 70 years at this point

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

The Marks of Running Ink pt.89

The Walking Dead [Soulmate AU]

Pairing: Negan x Tory Miller (ofc)

Summary: Peace had a way to be boring and exciting at once, for Tory Miller, it was lonely until it was not. Her life was about taking it slow, one day at a time.  

Warnings: SLOW BURN, angst, swearing, death, violence, fluff, hurt/comfort, child endangerment, general trauma, drama, mentions of infidelity and polygamy, general lack or morals, mentions of nudity, graphic sexual scenes (nsfw), mentions of blood, apocalyptic world. As always, I don’t want to give the story away in the tags, read at your own risk.

Author’s note: If you haven't read chapter 88, you should, I'm updating the last three chapters at once. This is the official ending of The Marks of Running Ink, but a short epilogue comes after with major warnings. Thank you so much for being here.

•••   •••   •••

Peace

Alexandria, VA.

She was waiting for him outside the cell.

A little, wry smile on her lips as she set her eyes on him.

"Hey, old man," she greeted him.

"I'm your father's age, Tory."

"And I call him old too."

He chuckled and she did too.

"What now?"

She made a gesture for him to follow.

"We go home."

Negan had not been or felt at home in so many years. He'd lost the people he considered home, over and over, but now he was being offered another chance, probably the last one. The summer breeze was kind, fall would come soon enough, considering the color of the leaves.

"There will be rules, Negan, important rules to follow," Victoria told him as they walked. He was in no hurry, and she didn't seem to be in a hurry either. "I have a child."

He stopped, frozen, right in the middle of the street, his feet glued to the dusty asphalt.

"A child?"

Tory looked at him and nodded.

"You said that you and the good doc–"

"She isn't Rhodes' kid," his soulmate interrupted.

He blinked, feeling like a fool as he did, watching Victoria as she looked at him.

"Her name is Ella," his soulmate said. "Ella Henry Jones."

"You gave a girl a boy's name?" He asked, not hating it.

"I thought I would die, you know? No epidurals at the end of the world, Negan. Lots of blood, I was stupidly scared."

He laughed and was finally able to move again.

See the full post

1 note - Posted November 23, 2022

#4

The Marks of Running Ink pt. 88

The Walking Dead [Soulmate AU]

Pairing: Negan x Tory Miller (ofc)

Summary: Peace had a way to be boring and exciting at once, for Tory Miller, it was lonely until it was not. Her life was about taking it slow, one day at a time.  

Warnings: SLOW BURN, angst, swearing, death, violence, fluff, hurt/comfort, child endangerment, general trauma, drama, mentions of infidelity and polygamy, general lack or morals, mentions of nudity, graphic sexual scenes (nsfw), mentions of blood, apocalyptic world. As always, I don’t want to give the story away in the tags, read at your own risk.

Author’s note: I thought I'd never finish this story, but I guess it's time to close this chapter of my writing life. I hope you'll enjoy it. Much love to you, who helped me get here.

•••   •••   •••

Peace

Alexandria, VA.

The children were running free again.

Tory smiled and sat down on the steps, on the spot that she was wearing down after almost a decade… Even when her Dad was alive, Tory had sat down on the same spot. God, some things never changed.

“Mama!” her eyes turned up from the book she had on her lap. Ella had come up all the way to the bottom of the stairs, her tiny hands were full of tomatoes.

Again.

“Did you raid another garden, Peanut?” she asked, wondering who she’d have to apologize to later in the day or in the morning.

“No, mama, Vera!”

Ah.

“Aunt Vera, Peanut,” she told her daughter, knowing her words would fall in tiny, deaf ears. 

Her daughter nodded with a radiant toothy smile that was eerily similar to her father’s smile, making Tory’s heart ache. Standing up, she set her book down and went to her little girl’s side.

“Should we make some tomato sauce, Peanut?” she asked her little girl, knowing she wouldn’t say no. Tory had been planning on making sauce for a few days now, she had been gathering the jars to boil and the spices to use. She had Carol’s homemade pasta recipe too. 

“Yes!” the tomatoes fell from her hands and Tory sighed. “Are we gonna give some to Luc and Martha?”

“Yeah, Peanut, we will.” Good Lord, she needed to break Ella’s habit of calling the adults by their given names, then again, she didn’t have much interaction with the children in Alexandria, who weren’t many either, despite Vera and Chase moving to Alexandria after the whole Whisperers debacle.

“Come on, Ella, let’s get these tomatoes crushed.” 

At times, Tory missed Gabriel and the sort of camaraderie they had formed when he had lived under her roof. They would never see eye to eye in certain things, but they were friends, even if not the best of friends.

"Mama, are you going to tell me about Papa again?"

She chuckled at her little girl and nodded.

"Of course, Peanut. He was the biggest jerk I ever met."

Her little girl giggled at her words and Tory smiled, knowing she would get that reaction no matter what. Sometimes, Tory dreamed of a different outcome, she dreamed of a different life. She wondered the what ifs of a life where the dead never rose. 

Maybe one day, she would grow out of it.

"That's a bad word, Mama."

"It is, but the word I was thinking about is worse, Ellie."

See the full post

1 note - Posted November 23, 2022

#3

All for you, every time

Joanna Lannister knew things. She liked knowing things, as did all of her siblings, they were like that -according to her father- thanks to their mother. She had certainties and one of them was that she was in love. There was absolutely no way she'd ever reveal such feelings. Absolutely not.

@fromtheboundlesssea

For FDH Week 2022

Prompt: Oct-18—Favourite Ceime Child.

It's technically October 18 since eighteen minutes ago my time. I hope you enjoy it.

There are so many time skips, lol.

5 notes - Posted October 18, 2022

#2

●●Masterlist●●

The Walking Dead

The Marks of Running Ink (AO3)

So it goes

The tiny tomato

Far from my arms: One, Two, Three

The silence around it

The only way that I can be

From the Raise Hell and TMoRI universe: Both sides now

A Song of Ice and Fire

See the full post

5 notes - Posted October 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I say this with all my love @fromtheboundlesssea

11 notes - Posted December 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →