The Parish Teller™️

This was my 4th Great Grandfather: youtu.be/kJ63BWut9sI?is=c0Fu…

Obama on Republicans: "These are not serious people. They don't have solutions to actual problems." Fair enough. Name one of yours. Mr Obama, five days out, what's the Democrat plan to cut the cost of living, beyond "the other lot are worse"? aje.news/6u3u49 via @AJEnglish

The Budget's been read, gherkins are 4p cheaper, and America votes in five days. 🇺🇸 USA UPDATE: A federal judge has let more parties join Trump's DOJ lawsuit to block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Dan Sullivan narrowly loses, after the NYT reported Mary Peltola's campaign helped recruit same-name candidates. Trump now says Peltola should be prosecuted and removed from the race → motions to throw the case out will be heard in the coming days, before polling day on Tuesday 3 Nov. juneauindependent.com/post/t… Trump was back in Ohio for the third time in a month, rallying for Senator Jon Husted against Sherrod Brown and defending Vivek Ramaswamy over the ad featuring his rival's estranged mother. Obama was in Georgia with Jon Ossoff and Vance was in North Carolina → it's the final weekend push in the swing Senate seats before Tuesday's vote. aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/2… Democrats lead the RealClearPolling national average 51.4% to 43.2%. Talarico edges Paxton 48.5% to 46.7% in Texas, and a CBS Detroit poll puts El-Sayed 7 points clear of Rogers in Michigan → the question for Tuesday is whether that national lead turns into Senate seats in states the Democrats haven't won for decades. aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/2… 🇬🇧 UK The verdicts on Healey's first Budget are in. The IFS says its "raft of fiddly measures" won't move the dial on growth and pushes back the plan to cut borrowing. Badenoch says the PM promised to end 40 years of neoliberalism "and instead, we got 4p off gherkins", and Jenrick calls it a "nothing burger" → the question now is whether the £100 energy payment and the end of gas standing charges actually reach people's bills this winter. independent.co.uk/news/busin… Burnham has ruled out a general election in the next 12 months, despite talk among economists and investors that he might go early to shore up his position → that means no early vote before autumn 2027, so the Budget's numbers will have to do the talking. theguardian.com/uk-news/live… Healey promises the benefits bill will fall before the next election but rules out "crude cuts". The OBR has welfare rising £19bn to £353bn this year → the Timms disability review and the Milburn review of young people not in work, education or training are both due in November, followed by a government response by the end of the year and legislation next year. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm5y…

£353bn on welfare this year. £431bn by 2031/32, says the OBR. John Healey now says the benefits bill will come down before the election, "in a Labour way". Chancellor, which year does that number actually fall, and by how much? bbc.com/news/articles/cm5ynw…

Budget day in Westminster, six days to the midterms, and everyone wants to know who's paying. 🇺🇸 USA Trump says he'll respect next Tuesday's midterm results "if they're honest elections", and won't commit unconditionally. He also says he'd use his veto a lot if Democrats take Congress. Meanwhile, the DOJ has told Washington state to strike about 400 alleged noncitizens off its rolls → the DOJ's deadline for Washington is noon local time today (7pm UK), and it's threatening "emergency relief" in court if the state doesn't comply. aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/2… Trump held back-to-back Texas rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock for Ken Paxton, who's in a tight Senate race with Democrat James Talarico, while the Iran war pushes up petrol prices and weighs on Republicans → Vance is working Michigan (Rogers v El-Sayed), and both Senate seats look like 3 November nail-biters. apnews.com/article/midterms-… Campaigns have now spent $11.21bn on the 2026 midterms, the most expensive cycle on record according to AdImpact → expect a final week of non-stop ads in the battleground states before polls close on Tuesday night (early Wednesday morning UK time). nbcnews.com/politics/trump-a… 🇬🇧 UK John Healey delivers his first Budget today. Gas standing charges are being scrapped for millions of households, fuel duty is being frozen and first-time buyers are getting a loan scheme. How he pays for it is still unclear, with a bank levy and higher taxes on online marketplaces tipped → watch for the OBR's numbers and how gilt markets react, with borrowing costs already near 20-year highs. bbc.co.uk/news/live/cq62y5xn… UPDATE: Farage says Burnham has "no mandate" to reopen Brexit, as UK and EU officials get ready to discuss "future options" including free movement → Burnham sets out his options at the UK-EU summit in Brussels on 20 November, and some Labour MPs are already pushing for rejoin to go in the 2029 manifesto. standard.co.uk/news/politics… On Burnham's 100 days as PM, YouGov puts Labour on 27, the Tories on 22 and Reform on 20, a second poll in a row with Reform in third. This comes just after Farage's alternative Budget played to a near-empty hall → the first post-Budget polls will show whether today's giveaways widen Labour's lead. independent.co.uk/news/uk/po…

James Woods makes a very good point.

On this day in Rabun County, Georgia 1891: Revenue men raided Aunt Fanny Smith at the foot of Sinking Mountain near Tallulah Falls and poured out 300 gallons of illicit liquor. Widow of a distiller, she'd kept the still going. Lady visitors got buttermilk, the gentlemen got the other stuff. She was also once a schoolmate of Senator Joseph E. Brown! Rabun was never dull it seems 😉

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Interesting idea, see how it works for you.

The Justice Department criminally charged former FBI Director James Comey for the third time. Comey is charged over allegedly leaking a sensitive national security document when he was FBI director in October 2016, according to court records made public Monday. Link: cnn.com/2026/10/26/politics/…

I have to say @elonmusk Grok Bot is something else. I’m not a technical person at all but my Chief of Staff Bot has been working in the background with the British library to find a photograph printed in the News of the World in 1975. It has found said photo and I am currently waiting on it being sent to me. I’m pretty astounded actually!

The government held meetings with 137 businesses about AI datacentres. Meanwhile 38 ministers, senior civil servants and spads went off to jobs at AI companies. I'm all for datacentres and growth. I'm less keen on policy written by people lining up their next job. Prime Minister, will you shut the revolving door, or is this just how it works now? theguardian.com/uk-news/2026…

Budget eve and Labour's already under investigation for counting MI5 as artillery. Ben Wallace says strip out the £5bn intelligence pot and the MoD gets 2.3% of GDP, not 2.7%. John Healey, you quit over defence once so tomorrow will you actually fund it, or just relabel it again?

One week to the midterms, one day to the Budget and the freebies are going out before the bill comes in. 🇺🇸 USA Trump rallied in Corinth, Mississippi on Monday for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, saying "I can't take a chance" in a state he won by almost 23 points. → Expect more ruby-red stops in the final week, and a test on 3 November of whether safe seats really are safe. apnews.com/article/election-… A Reuters/Ipsos poll closing Monday has Trump's approval at 32%, one point up on his record low, with Democrats leading the generic ballot 47% to 36%. → The gap tightened by a point, so watch the last polls of the week to see if Republicans can claw back more before polling day. investing.com/news/politics-… UPDATE: Trump offered a $1 million reward for voter fraud tips that lead to a conviction, while late Monday the 9th Circuit refused the DOJ's request to stop California counting some 20,000 mail-in ballots it says may be from non-citizens. → California keeps counting, so watch whether the DOJ goes to the Supreme Court before Election Day. pbs.org/newshour/show/candid… 🇬🇧 UK Chancellor John Healey unveiled five "everyday fixes": tariffs scrapped on over 100 products including baked beans and chocolate, a taper ending the Carer's Allowance cliff edge, permanent 55p mileage rates, and parental pay for 150,000 more parents a year. → The full Budget lands tomorrow (Wednesday) at about 12:30pm UK time, straight after PMQs. gov.uk/government/news/every… The Telegraph reports Healey is poised to raise the surcharge on bank profits above £100m from 3% to 8%, and has drawn up plans to tax family businesses passed to the next generation, with debt now at £3tn. → Watch whether both survive into Wednesday's red book, and the City's reaction if they do. telegraph.co.uk/money/budget… UPDATE: The BBC says Healey will confirm a new tax allowance so low-income pensioners aren't dragged into income tax when the state pension rises 3.9% to £13,036.40, as the Tories and Reform pitch rival budgets with deep welfare cuts. → The Treasury still hasn't said how many pensioners it covers, so look for the detail in Wednesday's documents. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ck98…

Anyone who says it isn’t happening is very misguided…

When good intentions backfire spectacularly. The comments 🤣😂

I missed this. Disagree with ICE all you like. Molotovs at a federal building aren't activism. They're a crime. justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/dou…

Probably the best argument for the death penalty to be reinstated I have seen.