Dave Bridges RDT RDH🙂

Today presents an opportunity for the people of Clacton to turn their backs on a joke candidate with ridiculous policies, and vote for the bin instead. Good luck, Count Binface! #Clacton #CountBinface #ByElection

Dear Adam, I have taken time to think about your apology. Mostly because, having made a mistake publicly before, I was keen to accept yours. It hurts when people don’t understand that you are sorry for messing up. I get that, probably more than most. But here’s the thing… I’m not sure you understand what you did wrong. And so you don’t really understand what you are apologising for or why. With that in mind, I want to help you. I didn’t know Ann, except as a powerhouse in politics and that so many people have spoken of her friendship and great loyalty. How lovely, I wish I had known her. I am utterly disinterested in her sexual prowess or the state of her virginity. But I would have enjoyed hearing you speak of her great accomplishments. Not as a woman, but simply as a human being. Here’s a list. She served in the House of Commons for 23 years and won five general elections. She served as a government minister in Social Security, Employment and the Home Office, where she was Minister of State for Prisons. She rose to become Shadow Health Secretary and then Shadow Home Secretary. She was appointed to the Privy Council. After leaving Westminster, she built an entirely new career as an author, broadcaster, documentary-maker, stage performer and television personality. Then, at the age of 71, she returned to elected politics and became a Member of the European Parliament. She was a longstanding advocate for Britain leaving the European Union and, when the political establishment failed to deliver the referendum result, she left the Conservative Party after more than 50 years and stood for the Brexit Party. She was elected as an MEP and took the argument for British independence directly into the European Parliament. She was also an unapologetic defender of free speech. She continued to speak openly on difficult and unfashionable subjects when others chose silence, it was easier to do that, she accepted the criticism and hostility that came with it rather than surrendering her convictions. Her Catholic faith was central to her life. She converted to Catholicism, met Pope John Paul II in Rome and was later made a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI for her service to politics and public life. She remained a powerful public voice well into her late seventies, defending her beliefs despite decades of ridicule and hostility. That is an extraordinary life of public service, courage and reinvention. Yet, when asked to speak about her after her sudden and violent death, you chose to tell the country that she was a “spinster”, an “old maid” and a virgin. You discussed a failed relationship and suggested that afterwards she simply dedicated herself to other activities. Do you understand the reduction involved in that? You took the life of a highly accomplished woman and assessed it according to whether she had married, whether she had sex and whether a man had wanted her. That is what was wrong. That is what you should have known. It wasn’t simply that your words were poorly chosen or badly timed. It was the instinct to view a woman’s entire life through her relationship with men, even when her achievements should have rendered that completely irrelevant. Nobody discussing the death of an accomplished male politician would think it necessary to tell viewers whether he was a virgin, speculate about his sex life or describe him as an ageing bachelor whose romance had failed. I don’t want you cancelled. I don’t believe that people should be denied forgiveness when they make mistakes. But a meaningful apology has to identify the actual wrong. Ann was murdered after a lifetime of public service. At the moment her achievements should have been remembered, you diminished her to an unmarried woman who apparently hadn’t had sex. She deserved better than that. And I’m still not sure you get it. But every woman who watched you speak of her and then read your apology does. Bernie.

Dan Hodges, you snivelling, self-important hack: While you're busy clutching your pearls and screeching "sick tweet" at anyone daring to point out that Nigel Farage needs actual protection in the violent shitshow you've helped create, Ann Widdecombe lies murdered in her own home. A Reform figure, a serving voice for millions sick of your establishment bile, slaughtered while you and your media mates spent years painting targets on their backs with your sneering columns, Farage-bashing, and demands that he shouldn't have a penny for security. You didn't just "criticise" – you demonised, dehumanised, and delighted in the hate mob you fed. Now the blood's real and you're suddenly all delicate sensibilities? Spare us the performative outrage. The same man who mocked private donations for Farage's safety now recoils in horror when the consequences of your rhetoric stare back from a Devon crime scene. Hypocrisy so rank it could curdle milk. Delete your own account, Dan. The public doesn't need more smug commentators who incite the climate then clutch their fainting couches when the storm hits. The "dangerous world" your side helped build just claimed another victim – and you're still too busy attacking the people calling for basic protection to notice you're part of the problem.

Twitter is a handy and constant reminder that socialists are disgusting people.

Rob Kenyon has missed his first meetings as a councillor in Makerfield because he refuses to sign the paperwork to have a DBS check done. What is he hiding? Never Vote Reform

To all the Labour members and volunteers who have supported local campaigns across the country: thank you. Together we will build a stronger and fairer Britain 🌹