*bun frenzy*

[Hm. The baby thoughts you see expressed that Mandelson was sent to Washington because, as he was as corrupt as Trump, they'd get on... sigh. Absolutely no idea what an ambassador does or what resources they have access to.]

Keir Starmer and his team repeatedly ignored and stonewalled questions about Peter Mandelson's relationship with Epstein, pushing ahead with making him ambassador anyway. Here's my report on it from last year bylinetimes.com/2024/01/04/k...

Facepalm... On Facebook where so many AI images are used to illustrate clickbait stories, I now click the 'X' then 'I don't like the creator' *every time*.

It's another case study for how market based solutions often involve destabilising knock-on effects not properly anticipated by those hostile to state ownership

There today, here tomorrow...

so happy to find Byline Times available in my news outlet bundle

Are you also concerned about the role this company is playing in our own country …? This from @bylinetimes.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/01/29/d...

Some governments, you know BEFORE they are voted in, they will use power to get rich and screw the nation Boris Johnson Tories. Trump. Farage, the tool of Putin, Trump , privatisation and crypto interests SCREAMS 'I am a crook'. Why would ANYONE vote for his Reform Party? #GortonandDenton

Who leaked this Number 10 discussion to Jeffrey Epstein? And are there consequences for the leaker? It’s an internal discussion re. getting markets moving in the aftermath of the financial crisis. No doubt of great interest to Epstein and his financial market clients.

Then I'll be back to impenetrable tax policy pieces that only interest tax nerds, political obsessives, and assorted weirdos. If you're in any or all of those categories, please subscribe to our free newsletter: newsletter.taxpolicy.org.uk/subscription...

Is this just scandalous? Or is it criminal? Here are the CPS guidelines for prosecuting "misconduct in public office", a common law criminal offence. More on that soon.

And someone who was - around the same time as the leaked emails - sending money to Mandelson's then-partner:

He is leaking confidential discussions to someone who paid him $75,000 back in 2003 and 2004

Set aside, for the moment, Jeffrey Epstein’s appalling criminality. Even if these communications had been with an entirely uncontroversial Wall Street executive, Lord Mandelson's behaviour would still be scandalous.

And more here on how, two months after the first leaked email, Mandelson secretly gave JPMorgan advice (through Epstein) on how to lobby and "mildly threaten" the Government, to reduce JPM's tax bill: taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/02/01/e...

It could still all be fake. In the same way that Lord Mandelson suggested his emails proposing using a Panama company to acquire Brazilian real estate could be fake. More on that here: taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/01/31/m...

And the Epstein files have zero evidence of the other recipients (or others in Number 10) emailing Epstein. But that could also be coincidence. And of course the emails could be fake (although impressive fakery to get hold of real Number 10 emails).

Don't jump to conclusions. Keep an open mind whether Peter Mandelson leaked one or two Number 10 emails to Epstein. It could just be coincidence that the length of the redacted name in the first email is identical to the length of the redacted name in the second email.

The memo talked about the UK having "saleable assets in hand". Epstein asked what they were, and Mandelson helped him out... Again, Epstein and his clients have an obvious interest.

On a completely different subject, here's Peter Mandelson (a few months later) leaking an unrelated policy discussion to Jeffrey Epstein.

[*wrestling with giant straw goat who is quite happy where he is, thank you*]

Remember in England you have a right to claim trial by owls. In Scotland it's different. You can also demand trial by combat with badgers (don't do this). In Australia this is trial by wombat (slightly different, but ditto).

Unreal. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

I'm guessing that the "Jes" in this message is that other moral paragon, Jes Staley, though I can't be sure. A Labour government minister, channelling the demands of his finance-bro chums. This, my friends, is how it happens. This is why we don't get what we want, or what we vote for.

Here's the context: When Mandelson was Business Minister, Epstein wrote asking him to make only the cash portion (ie not equity etc) of bankers’ bonuses taxable. Mandelson's answer: “Trying hard to amend as I explained to Jes last night. Treasury digging in but I am on case.”

It's rare to see how lobbyists operate. But the Epstein-Mandelson correspondence shows us what happens all the time: plutocrats and government ministers conspiring against the public interest. This is why all lobbying should be in the public domain, but despite Labour and Con promises, it's not. 🧵

“I went around the corner to see if spring was there.” “Did you find it?” asked Toad. “No,” said Frog. “There was only an old worm asleep on a tree stump.”

…to avoid possible investigations, prosecution and imprisonment, surely…

Further evidence that neo- liberalism is destroying itself. Privatisation has resulted in less house building, more expensive infrastructure and public transport, generated inter - generational inequality and hollowed out state capacity to respond.

Remember, today is the last day of wOLmas when it is traditional to take down your owl decorations and give festive buns to your local owl (with fresh tea).

Simon Jones is the BBC's Mr Versatile. One day, enthusiastically counting dinghies in the Channel. The next, reading out partially correct and misleading Buckingham Palace press releases about a former prince and a paedophile.

[meanwhile, in another part of the foetid oligarch-media-politics ecosystem...]

Idea for new TV crime series. Mandelson - A detective goes back in time to investigate crimes that he may and may not have committed.

[lol]

Hm.

[10. Ultimately anything based on propaganda always fails, because it's false and reality doesn't care (cf. 'Brexit') so dictatorship needs to happen fast. You don't have long.]

[Mob boss ver 1]

[tea]

[Hm. Now the humans think it do they? *massive eyeroll* All the worst people, all 'men of the world' networked by... Daily Fail link with gruesome images.]

Hm.

We've been saying this for nearly a year - since over 1,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grants were summarily terminated in April 2025, affecting every cultural corner of the United States (and then the same for most of our jobs as civil servants). #NEH

Alphabet had revenues of 385 billion in 2025. 68 million is 0.01% A slap on the wrist with a feather

In between all the fascism, it's also a MASSIVE crime wave.

In case you had forgotten that time is fleeting & we will all die, this fellow from 1531 is here to remind you. Painted by Barthel Bruyn, whose day was today.

Oh, okay, yes. Of course you could sleep in my tea. 🫖✨

📷🐦 #pareidolia #pareidoodle

Frog and Toad jumped into the water. They swam all afternoon. Frog swam fast and made big splashes. Toad swam slowly and made smaller splashes.

[And, of course, Spain...]

If asked to describe the major features of the Epstein archipelago looming out of its offshore dark money and billionaire kompromat - I’d say Putin, Trump, Musk, Bannon and Thiel And with that you have a map of our current political era