Brett-Butler

Saw someone saying the other day that the best thing Keir Starmer could do in the by-election is go and canvass in Makerfield, telling the voters that "a vote for Andy Burnham is a vote of confidence in me". Looks like he's going to do just that. If Burnham wins, he can take the credit for it. If he loses, then Keir can keep going for another year. BBC NewsStarmer says he will campaign for Burnham in MakerfieldThe prime minister says Labour needs to "all pull together and fight", after a revolt against his leadership.

There have been arrests in Greater Manchester in relation to Labour's sole win in the Tameside Council Elections. In an exposé by local newspaper the Manchester Mill, it is alleged that people tied to the Labour campaign invented two independent candidates to split the indie vote to allow Labour's candidate to win in the St Peter's Ward. I'm surprised that the returning officer didn't notice something was up given that one of the "stooge" candidates was literally called "Muhammad Ali", but it's in the hands of the police for now.

I wonder why Wes Streeting would suddenly and unexpectedly want to put the EU back on the news agenda and suggest that Labour would want to bring the UK back into it, just before Andy Burnham is about to take part in a by-election in a constituency that voted 66% to leave. 🤔

Don't tell me they've got André Rieu ready.

Has Eurovision started allowing non-live vocals in the performances? Seemed like the UK & Norway had vocals that weren't coming from people on stage.

Norway's quite decent in a "rock song written by someone who has been told what rock music is about but has never listened to rock music in his life" kind of way.

A better staging than I expected. Still feels like a last place.

Australia doing the "putting female on top of big pole" trick again.

Good. Delta.

Not a bad song from Austria, superfluous guitarist aside.

Czechia wanted to be a moment. It was barely a glimpse.

Three songs in and I think this semi-final is better than all of Tuesday's. Romania's a pretty strong entry.

The song is called "Choke Me", and the singer has a pet chicken. Hmm.

Let's admit Bulgaria to the EU. 2 minutes research later. Let's admit Bulgaria to the EU again.