Five Quick Things: The Bell Tolls for Keir Starmer | The American Spectator

Yes, yes — welcome one and all to the triumphant return of the 5QT after a one-week absence. Every once in a while, I’ll start to do one of these and find that my first item simply must take up the whole of the column, and that spells a 5QT hiatus.

I could do it this week. This first thing is one of my favorite topics — in the specific AND general sense.

1. Don’t Let the Door Hitcha Where the Lord Splitcha, Keir!

At this point, it’s pretty inevitable — Keir Starmer isn’t going to be the prime minister in the U.K. much longer. Last weekend, the Brits went to the polls for local elections, and Starmer’s party took a cataclysmic beating — mostly at the hands of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which seems to be catching the public zeitgeist of the country despite many of its closest and longest supporters taking to griping about Farage as just another shallow politician. (RELATED: AI, the Amelia Meme, Revolution, and the Future of Celebrity)

In the aftermath of Reform blowing up Labour in all the councils, Starmer’s fellow Labourites are having the proverbial cow…

🚨 BREAKING: It is finally over. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has officially resigned and delivered the final blow to Keir Starmer.
In a brutal resignation letter, Streeting told the Prime Minister directly that it is now clear he will not lead the party into the next election.…
— David Shaw (@David90shaw) May 14, 2026

Wes Streeting is the Labour government’s health minister, and apparently, one of the few successes that government has had is its progress in knocking down the interminable wait times Brits endure in trying to access the National Health Service. Streeting’s resignation letter to Starmer was heavy on taking credit for that before it blew up the PM…

pic.twitter.com/9qI2Bj35ZK
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) May 14, 2026

Read that letter, and… oof.

This was particularly brutal, after a detailed section puffing himself up for the accomplishments of his department…

“These are all good reasons for me to remain in post, but as you know from our conversation earlier this week, having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded that it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to do so.”

I’ll admit that I’d never heard of Streeting before Thursday. What I’ve found out about him seems to be that nobody else has as high an opinion of Streeting as Streeting does.

Other than Starmer, that is. This was… unusual…

🚨 BREAKING: Keir Starmer responds to Wes Streeting’s resignation pic.twitter.com/5biAEAGySx
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 14, 2026

That comes off as a guy who is either blind and deaf to the vast extent of the hole he’s dug for himself, or utterly clueless as to what to do about it.

Other than to blame it on Tommy Robinson and to close the borders to the Americans.

Wait what? Oh yeah.

Seven people hoping to attend a far-right rally in central London on Saturday have been blocked from entering the country by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood.
Keir Starmer, the prime minister, promised on Monday to block “far-right agitators” hoping to attend the Unite the Kingdom event on 16 May organised by Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Joey Mannarino, a US-based commentator, and Valentina Gomez, a Maga influencer, had their authorisation to enter the UK withdrawn on the grounds that their presence “would not be conducive to the public good”. The identities of the other five banned people are not known.
In a speech aimed at resetting his premiership, Starmer said he would ban extremists from coming to Britain to speak at the nationalist march on Saturday. “This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation,” he added.
An estimated 100,000 people attended last year’s nationalist event, thought to be the largest far-right rally of its type in British history. The event was addressed remotely by Elon Musk, who was condemned by Downing Street for using “dangerous and inflammatory” language.

Imagine being so insecure that you’re afraid of Joey Mannarino and Valentina Gomez. Which is not to throw shade at either of them, but let’s face it — we’re not talking about Napoleon and Lenin here. You would imagine a first-world government could survive a 15-minute speech by Valentina Gomez at a rally in London. (RELATED: The Fall of Britain — and the Warning for America)

But apparently not.

Starmer is threatening to call a snap election in the event that his Labour colleagues in Parliament make a move on him, which is something like a dead-man switch that blows up his whole party. And it’s entertaining as hell, because the threat has turned more of them away from him than toward him.

That government is going to fall. If Robinson gets the 750,000 people to turn out in downtown London, as it’s rumored he will, then it’s not impossible that the government falls in the next few days.

And yes, I’m watching this, and I’m laughing, because it looks uncannily like the scenario envisioned in From Hellmarsh With Love (find it here at Amazon), which was a heckuva good book not enough of you have bought.

2. Go Home Kamala, You’re Drunk

I can’t find it now, as I’m writing this, but there was a poll somewhere on Tuesday or Wednesday which had Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pete Buttigieg as the top two contenders for the Democrats’ 2028 nomination, with Kamala Harris dropping down to 14 percent, well back from the lead.

I guess that would explain this outburst of hers…

Kamala Harris is now calling for Democrats to hold a “No Bad Idea Brainstorm” where they discuss:
– Abolishing the Electoral College
– Packing the Supreme Court
– Making Puerto Rico and D.C. states
“We’ve got to neutralize these red states from cheating!” pic.twitter.com/23MPJxn7fN
— Pat Adams (@PatAdams96) May 14, 2026

Let’s be honest — it’s a bad idea for Kamala Harris to use the word “brainstorm.” To do this induces far too much snickering for the proper maintenance of decorum.

And also, what brainstorm? She’s simply regurgitating all the same stupid ideas the public has rejected for three decades now. (RELATED: Kamala Finally Says Something True, And Now She’s Truly Cooked)

You’re never going to get a national consensus to make D.C. and Puerto Rico states. The only way that happens is if the rural areas in Washington and Oregon get to split off from Seattle and Portland and form West Idaho, or Cascadia — or if Chicago gets made its own state so that the rest of Illinois could go its own way.

Or perhaps Alberta might want to come on down. (RELATED: Alberta, Not Canada, Would Be a Great US State)

Oh, if Kamala Harris wants to make more states, we can accommodate her. We’ll make 10 more states if she wants, and D.C. and Puerto Rico can be part of that conversation.

But that isn’t what she’s talking about, and she sure as hell hasn’t gamed out the pattern once we start thinking about abandoning the number 50 as our state count.

Or the number nine as the Supreme Court Justice count. What if Republicans agree we don’t want nine anymore, and we’ll just go ahead and pack the court now?

Yesterday’s column talked about how the Democrats have chased excellence right out of their party, and the effect has been a severe dearth even of competence. Kamala Harris, whose national political relevance comes solely from her identity as a black (sort of) woman who presents well on cursory (and only on cursory) examination, is a perfect example of this. A reputable political party would never let itself be led by her. (RELATED: If It’s Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer in California, Just How Depressing Is That?)

To be fair, that poll does suggest the Democrats are finally coming around to the idea that they shouldn’t be led by her. That AOC and Gay Mayor Pete are their preferred solutions to the Kamala problem is an indication, though, that they haven’t learned a thing.

3. Welp… Never Mind

Those DEI apartheid congressional districts that left-wing federal courts imposed on Southern states are going away. This you can bank on.

But they aren’t going away as fast as they could, however. This is happening…

Mississippi already has ‘dozens’ of redrawn maps ready to eliminate Democrat Bennie Thompson’s seat — and every single one gives all four congressional districts a Trump margin of 15 points or higher.
But Gov. Tate Reeves just pulled the plug on a special session that would have… pic.twitter.com/gAkv9r4eiL
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) May 14, 2026

In South Carolina, Republican state senators killed a redistricting plan that would have gotten rid of Jim Clyburn. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp called a special session to redraw the state congressional map, but not to take effect until 2028. In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey is pushing a 6-1 map instead of the 7-0 map many of the state’s conservatives were clamoring for.

And everybody is screaming at Louisiana because this map passed the state Senate on Thursday…

The Senate has PASSED the 5-1 map, SB 121, on a party-lines 27-1 vote. Bill will next be discussed in a house committee, likely sometime early next week. #lalege #lagov https://t.co/keHDSNzx1H pic.twitter.com/eAWpJ4EUrM
— Piper Hutchinson (@ByPiperHutch) May 14, 2026

I’ll defend Louisiana’s legislature for not drawing a 6-0 map, though there are lots of people who disagree. In principle, I would happily go 6-0 — assuming that it’s a real 6-0 map and not a 4-0 or 3-0 map with two or three purple districts. But the demographics of the state make that tough to do, because the city of New Orleans, which is 92 percent Democrat, is right about half the size of a congressional district. You could cut up Orleans Parish, which is the city, and put the pieces in a couple of different districts, and they’d be red — but just purplish enough that the Soros machine would firebomb those districts with $30 million in dark money, and who knows what happens then. (RELATED: ‘Right Here, Right Now’)

This is a real concern, by the way. On Saturday there are primary elections in Louisiana for Bill Cassidy’s Senate seat (he’s going to lose, by the way; the GOP primary runoff, per the latest polls, will be Julia Letlow and John Fleming with Cassidy in third, and Letlow and Fleming are trading bombs and ignoring Cassidy already), and also on the ballot are five constitutional amendments — four of which are very good policy changes which need to happen. Based on the early vote, ginned up in no small part due to an organization called the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, which is a Soros front somebody dropped $8 million into a year or so ago, the amendments might be in trouble when they otherwise shouldn’t.

Meaning that there is an argument to draw the kinds of maps that are advantageous but sustainable.

Not to mention that if you’re a Republican congressman from a conservative area and they ask you to rep an Antifa-infested communist shithole like New Orleans, you might very well push back against that. Let’s not forget it was one of those types who damn near killed Steve Scalise back in 2017; if you’re a legislator in Louisiana, do you really have the heart to tell him he’s got to provide constituent services to them?

But where it can safely be done, it should be done. Tennessee is a perfect example — they had the ability to draw a sustainable 9-0 map, and they did it, and when the Democrats in the legislature acted the ass in response, they threw all of them off their committee assignments.

Good for them.

Winning the midterms is certainly a worthy goal. Locking in the best opportunity for a GOP majority that lasts for decades is the most important goal. Ghettoing the Democrats into as few possible districts in red states, just as Democrats do to Republicans in blue states, is the intelligent move — so long as you don’t overreach and give the other side the opportunity to overwhelm you with out-of-state money in an unnecessarily purple district. That can happen, you know.

4. Who’s Trying to Bomb Mobile’s Drinking Water Supply?

Here’s something rather sinister…

A routine dive repair at a federally recognized Mobile dam led to an unexpected discovery as divers found a hidden explosive device Tuesday, according to the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System.
After the grenade type-IED was located at the Converse Reservoir dam, MAWSS contacted the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office which facilitated a multi-agency response to retrieve and detonate the explosive.
The Gulf Coast Regional Maritime Response and Render-Safe Team performed a successful retrieval and detonation of the IED.
“Our top priority is keeping your drinking water safe,” Bud McCrory, MAWSS director, said.
“This is an unprecedented threat, and we are fortunate that this device was discovered before it could cause serious damage to our water supply or harm to individuals. We are grateful for the professionalism and competency of our law enforcement partners — as well as the quick thinking of our contractors and divers — in identifying this device and safely destroying it.”

You’d say this is probably a jihadist thing, except jihadists tend to want to go out in a blaze of glory, and leaving a time bomb or a remotely detonated IED isn’t really that.

Unless it’s part of a pattern of such bombs, and THAT’S scary.

You might also think it’s a left-wing thing, since we’re more or less overrun with those right now, and with Alabama dumping its second majority-minority Congressional map, that would be a somewhat timely scenario.

But Mobile is a city that has a very large black population, so blowing up the dam, which holds the city’s drinking water, would hurt a lot of black people. Doesn’t seem smart.

Who knows? Maybe this is one of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “informants” trying to keep the game going.

Anyway. Worth watching.

5. The Odyssey Might Just End Hollywood

When Christopher Nolan cast Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in his upcoming cinematic treatment of Homer’s The Odyssey, it was a bad sign. When he cast Zendaya as Athena, things didn’t get a lot better.

Now, apparently, we’re going to get Ellen (Elliott? Really?) Page as… Achilles? What?

Ace of Spades lit into this on Wednesday, and it was even more epic, probably, than the movie will be…

The Odyssey is every bit as woke and gay as we were fearing.
First of all, it’s based on a revisionist translation of Homer’s text, by a radical feminist who used the tale to critique masculinity, “the patriarchy,” and to center female voices.
You know, like the 3,000 year old war and adventure tale The Odyssey was always meant to be.
Jon Root @JonnyRoot_3h
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey movie was doomed from the start…
It”s rumored that the screenplay is based on a woke, feminist retelling of the story by Emily Wilson*
1. The language is dumbed down (modernized)
2. It downplays masculinity & male hierarchy.
3. It shames violence/war
4. Odysseus is emasculated & less of an inspirational hero. He’s more “complicated” (vulnerable, arrogant, manipulative)
5. Woman are made more prominent & impactful at the expense of male characters.
This retelling infuses modern, liberal ideology into the story, turning the epic into political propaganda.
This movie will no doubt have elements of identity politics throughout.
*Nolan has mentioned Wilson’s version in interviews.
This is why Odysseus’ son says “My dad is coming home,” too. She translates ancient Greek for (say it with me) The Modern Audience.
Nolan is not using the standard cinematic music for epics, the orchestral score, saying that the orchestra did not exist in ancient Greece and so the movie shouldn’t have an orchestral score.
DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilmMay 12
Christopher Nolan instructed Ludwig Göransson not to use an orchestra for ‘THE ODYSSEY’ score.
“It’s not like the orchestra existed back then. It was a challenge and also an opening to try to make something unique.”
So, you may think: Oh he’s using period-accurate music for the film.* He just wants to make the most period-accurate epic of ancient mythic Greece ever made.
But then… Why this?
He plays “a bard.” You know, those famous African bards of ancient Greece.
Did they have rap in ancient mythic Greece?
Two of his beancounting casting choices — complying with the Academy’s demand for precise levels of overrepresentation of actors from Marginalized Groups in any movie in order to be eligible for an Oscar — are now confirmed.
Variety:
The all-star cast is rounded out by Tom Holland as Telemachus, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, and Benny Safdie as Agamemnon.
Note that Nolan is selling his race-swap-crazy feminist take on The Odyssey as hyper-accurate.
Anyone who’s been following Nolan’s career knows the British filmmaker is painstaking when it comes to accuracy. On “Interstellar,” he hired a team of scientists to get the physics to be as accurate as possible. He took a similar approach to “The Odyssey.” “For ‘Interstellar,’ you’re looking at, ‘What is the best speculation of the future?’ When you’re looking at the ancient past, it’s actually the same thing,” Nolan said. “‘What is the best speculation and how can I use that to create a world?’”
He added, “Hopefully they’ll enjoy the film, even if they don’t agree with everything. We had a lot of scientists complain about ‘Interstellar.’ But you just don’t want people to think that you took it on frivolously.”
I care less about the race-swap of Athena. She’s a “goddess” and I guess can take whatever form she likes. I don’t see much wisdom in Zendaya’s blank eyes, though.
But Lupito Nyong’o as Helen of Troy?
Helen of Troy was born in… Sparta.
Does Lupito Nyong’o have that classic Spartan look?
Is this the most accurate speculation about what the ancient Greek world looked like?
So he ostentatiously avoids orchestral score for the sake of “accuracy” and “realism and immersion,” and then relocates Sparta to sub-Saharan Africa?
Why?
And of course it’s now essentially confirmed that Achilles, greatest warrior in Greek legend, the ideal of hypermasculinity, will be played by Ellen “Elliot” Page because of course, this is a realistic and immersive retelling of the Odyssey which gets all the details right.

Definitely go and read the whole thing. Though there are people who say the Ellen (Elliott? Really?) Page thing is a rumor and not real. Achilles appears in The Odyssey as a dead man in Hades, so… nah — even then, it’s horrific casting which should destroy this abortion at the box office.

But if you don’t have the time for Ace’s magnum opus, I’ll just leave this here for you…