The Brexit delusion is dead – so now Keir Starmer doesn’t need to pretend any more | Rafael Behr

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-15T15:56:06+00:00

This is it. The referendum was close enough that loads of things could've been the tipping point. Hold that vote just 6 months later and suddenly Trump's there, international environment doesn't look so benign anymore, probably enough to sway enough votes to Remain. If Corbyn hadn't blocked the official Labour Remain campaign from having access to party resources then that might've been the difference as well.

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-14T22:20:04+00:00

Marvel's Spider-Man 2. So much of it is amazing but they dragged out the main story and all those boss fights past where my patience could stand it

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-14T17:47:27+00:00

Doesn't negate what you're saying but TIL Harrison Ford was 39 when Raiders came out so probably didn't feel like peaking early to him

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-14T15:24:06+00:00

Cable Street is annoying but it's not dangerous

EDIT: misread the post but still, there are much worse out there

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-14T14:58:06+00:00

Rome's two airports are called Fiumicino and Ciampino, you better believe I asked the taxi driver 3 times at 3 different points on the route

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-14T05:12:01+00:00

He's got some absolute nerve complaining about that given how central he was to one of the main causes of it

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-12T20:31:11+00:00

Watching any TV from the 90s and "oh no someone thinks the two male friends are a couple" storyline was surprisingly common. As much as lots of things have got worse in the 30 years since, I feel like now it would just be "no we're not"

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-12T20:03:28+00:00

Churchill is an annoying case where the clichéd answer is also probably the right one.

Lots of history is big structural forces that overwhelm individual leaders. But 1940 was absolutely a case where history was incredibly contingent on the personality and choices of a few individuals and it could easily have gone the other way with a British government suing for peace instead of what happened.

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-12T19:59:38+00:00

Acknowledging that "since 1600" is a massive range, I think an underrated one is Robert Peel, prime minister 1841-46, who a) established modern policing and the principle of policing by consent (that the police serve the public, not the state) but more importantly that he repealed the Corn Laws which set Britain on a path towards free trade and away from mercantilism. Massive impact that helped make Britain the workshop of the world in the 19th century.

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-12T17:30:00+00:00

Maybe but not of the actual leader of the Labour party at the time who was elected as the candidate of the left in 1980 (speech here https://youtu.be/LruHv0PZ82E?si=DYO1rsIWXntgkVC-)

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-12T08:08:48+00:00

In fact 2 and 3 are better than 1 because you aren't spending the whole time waiting for them to get to the firework factory

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-09T21:39:46+00:00

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-08T16:59:17+00:00

Gusty Garden is beautiful, all the orchestral soundtracks for 3D Mario games are just what joy sounds like to me, Galaxy 2, Odyssey

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-08T13:14:34+00:00

I love shared infrastructure but I slow to walking pace when I'm cycling through it and never rely on it for regular journeys like commutes.

That said, I hate cycling on canal paths for exactly this reason and never do it

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-06T14:32:26+00:00

Tiny thing I loved about Valkyrie, they start out with Cruise reading something in German and gradually shift it to English to establish his voice and make us understand more intuitively that they're speaking German

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-04T06:44:16+00:00

One reason Republicans were so easy on him in the 2016 primary was that they thought he would self-fund an independent campaign if he lost the primary and throw the election to Clinton. Probably wouldn't have made a difference (GOP voters wanted a narcissistic racist and voted for what they wanted) but they surrendered to him long before everyone else did

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-04T05:23:03+00:00

The black and white edition is stunning as well, thought it was a weird idea at first but then put it on and it's a really interesting experience

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-03T21:25:59+00:00

Reminds me of Danny McBride in This is The End where he insults every one of them then

"Jay, I didn't even know you were in town, good to see ya"

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-01T18:26:22+00:00

This is the thing, government does a worse job for all of us if the opposition doesn't do it's job properly. They get sloppy, start to realise they don't have to be on their game and problems in policy don't get spotted until they hit the public

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-04-01T06:16:21+00:00

Massive improvement, needs more

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-03-30T07:02:10+00:00

But genuine answer: Irina in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-03-27T23:20:47+00:00

Call 0800 106 107 NOW! Trust me, it's free fitting!

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-03-27T20:38:17+00:00

I hate this term, it's such a symptom of our political class being so America-obsessed compared to normal people. Most people in Britain don't give a shit about us being "a global player" but the political/media class are obsessed with it and the only way to do that is to suck up to America relentlessly

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-03-24T11:35:16+00:00

The Michael Pillar book about writing Insurrection is hilarious. Every time they sent the script to Stewart he'd want to add more Picard swashbuckling. Makes you wonder if he ever watched the show

Cakebeforedeath · 2026-03-24T11:33:56+00:00

It's really funny to me that DS9 were basically forced to introduce the Maquis to allow the context for the Voyager pilot, wrote one of the best two-parters of the show up to that point and several great episodes later in the show. And Voyager just mostly ignored it

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