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.

Josh Simons, who has definitely resigned because he wants to put country first, and not because he reported unfavourable journalists to intelligence services claiming them to be pro-Putin stooges. Anyway, the constituency in question is Makerfield, which had a 5,399 Labour majority over Reform UK in 2024. It forms part of Wigan council, in the most recent council elections Reform UK won 24 of the 25 seats up for grabs (including two in Ashton-in-Makerfield), so will fancy their chances here, even with Burnham running.

Now to see how long it takes until we see posters with “Wes He Can” in it.

Still don't like that the performances have a frame rate of 25 fbp whilst the rest is in 50 fbp. At least it's an improvement of the year that it was all in 25 fbp, but I prefer it when it's not shot like that.

He's probably getting 50 grand a word for that.

Looks like the radiators will be unbothered for the next 3 minutes.

Finland do feel like winners.

There will be two by-elections in Scotland following elections to the Scottish Parliament by two SNP MPs, in Aberdeen South and Arbroath Broughty Ferry respectively. In 2024 Labour were only 859 votes behind the SNP in ABF, so if Andy Burnham were to attempt to get back into parliament in one of these, that one would be his best bet (SNP's majority in Aberdeen is a healthier 3,758), although I very much think it'll be a double SNP hold. Fun fact about Arbroath - it is one of the few cities/towns in the UK that has a street with "Battenberg" in its name, alongside Belfast, Bolton, Romsey, Portsmouth, Abercynon, Leicester and London.

Sweden is a bangery banger let down by a singer who just can't hold a note. Would probably dig the instrumental.

So after Labour's historic losses in the local elections, apparently the antidote to reviving Starmer's reputation of being out-of-touch with what the voters want is...to bring back Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman (the latter being an strange one given Starmer's problems started due to the appointment someone p****-adjacent). Catherine West (who?) has said she will challenge Starmer for the leadership if no minister does by Monday, which could lead to the first leadership challenge of a sitting Labour since Jeremy Corbyn was challenged in 2016 by Owen Smith (who?). I think we'll see manoeuvres with someone else before the end of next week.

That is some top tier lineup. There’s not as many “big dogs” as last year (although Richard E Grant’s probably the biggest name), but lots of household names, and a few “I’m sure I know that face from somewheres” too that people will get to know over the series à la Cat Burns. Feels a lot more comedian heavy that last year though.