🔴 Nigel Farage’s Reform is more reliant on super-rich backers than any major party in modern British political history 75% of *all* Reform donations *ever* have come from just three rich men Is this what democracy looks like? New on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/75-of-refo...

Though it's a very alarming document I also think it highlights the widening splits within the GOP that will get more profound as Trump loses control. samf.substack.com/p/maga-meltd...

The Trump National Security Strategy is bonkers in many ways but this objective stood out: "Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" Making their strategy of supporting radical right and extremist parties explicit.

A supposedly grassroots anti-migrant movement led by 'ordinary' women, which is backed by Reform and Conservative politicians and is regularly invited onto news channels to promote their views, is funded by a far-right group and has platformed a Neo-Nazi activist bylinetimes.com/2025/12/05/t...

"Our experience is not an outlier. Countless studies have documented exactly what we saw: the algorithm disproportionately favours right-wing content," writes Laurena Rodrigues about the experience of going undercover on TikTok. Here's what we found: https://bit.ly/3KGT7Ec

The new National Security Strategy is a propaganda document, designed to be widely read. It is also a performative suicide. Hard to think of another great power ever abdicating its influence so quickly and so publicly. It will be worth following the reactions around the world, not just in Europe.

Free speech news

The One Where Alex Loses It Over Dungeons & Dragons

Surprise!

Why does Marco Rubio care about our immigration policy? the US is trying to export its nationalism to its allies. youtube.com/shorts/CYn48...

Acute analysis, including this neat observation: "Starmer and his shadow chancellor bound themselves with pledges best suited to help Neil Kinnock beat John Major in a hypothetical rerun of an election 32 years previously"

🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...

Bellingcat's latest, which has a very cool interactive map used to tell the story, which is worth the price of admission alone: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/12...

If it were steel works we would have a government bailout plan, yet losing thousands of jobs at unis is met with a shrug. & unlike steelworks universities were profitable when they had foreign students. You are killing the golden goose… one of our best exports… HOW IS THIS HELPING GROWTH?!

Government racks up £100m bill responding to Covid inquiry www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #R4Today

It's all bad but hadn't seen the bit where Farage says: "The European Union is the prototype for the New World Order." That is a seriously, deeply problematic term that taps into Illuminati and antisemitic conspiracy theories. How the fuck did this man direct the course of our politics?

Useful paper on EU economic security ahead of tomorrow's expected "doctrine"... not sure an approach to prioritise interventions and resist protectionism is in line with the politics unfortunately www.bruegel.org/policy-brief...

Islamophobia is rampant domestically, but the West's withdrawal from the international stage - in terms of military, but also aid and soft power - means more and more countries succumbing to militant Islamist regimes. How do we square that circle? Absolutely fascinating discussion.

So this is a bit weird. The Guardian has done a big ‘Who owns the UK media?’ graphic that includes all national titles + Unherd, Statesman etc. But *not* the Observer. 🧐 Cock-up? Or implicit acknowledgment that we still don’t actually know who *does* own the Observer.

"'The Base' is known for its neo-Nazi militant accelerationist ideology and advocates achieving the goal of white supremacy through terrorism, creating an international network of paramilitary cells that self-train militarily in training camps, with the ultimate aim of carrying out attacks." 🤢

This is an excellent, level-headed, informative piece. I'd kill for a government which could discuss the issue with the same sense of objectivity and calm.

My latest for @prospectmagazine.co.uk, in which we see what the US government’s own courts-martial rules say on unlawful commands.

Also: Ukrainian sea drones disabled one of Russia's most important oil terminals www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/202...

Meanwhile, Ukrainian sea drones disabled two of the "shadow fleet" tankers carrying Russian oil. No doubt the start of a campaign kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-na...

Includes a DOUBLE-WHAMMY of Wokey Dokey x2 and Grin And Share It x2. Because we all need some lightness.

Also in this category is Flint Global taking on Tim Montgomerie to help their clients do the cosying up to Reform. Expression of individually rational behaviour, but also of behaviour that will contribute to our collective submission to authoritarianism.

“Byline Times can reveal that Farage’s benefactor is a pro-Trump political lobbyist embedded in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 ecosystem – the US conservative plan to dismantle climate policy, rights for women and ethnic minorities, and democratic safeguards” bylinetimes.com/2025/11/24/n...

Really bad news. And completely irresponsible given where we are.

Lord Lebedev maintains his father doesn’t support Putin and has no links to his regime, but this photo (taken around the time Johnson was partying with the Lebedevs) suggests differently, as do Lebedev emails to Surkov about hosting conferences in Crimea www.occrp.org/en/news/chan...

Time to ask: In whose interests is American foreign policy being conducted?

A reminder of my new blog post on Brexit reminders

Takes a few seconds and this is definitely needed so please do your bit. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...

I joined @cwarzel.bsky.social on the Galaxy Brain Podcast to explain some of the reasons why America, and a lot of other Western democracies, are sliding into authoritarianism and why it's probably inevitable www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvFh...

Recommended

She has a point, given how our terrorism laws are framed.

I guess this takes care of the "icebreaker" question, next time @willhaycardiff.bsky.social is on @quietriotpod.bsky.social. Bravo! nation.cymru/news/reform-...

Brexit reminders. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog. Brexit may not be in the headlines, but many current news stories carry reminders of it, including the Hallett Inquiry report, the Gill scandal, the Budget & the latest net migration figures: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/brex...

Yay!! I couldn’t be there but Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring just won gold at the APA podcast awards!! Whole thing was crowdfunded by @the-citizens.bsky.social to highlight 5-year legal case to get an investigation into Russian interference in UK politics. Power to the people!

Listening to a podcast suggesting Starmer wants to go for an election before mid 2028 Which is *crazy* Why? Because it’s before a US election that will likely be incredibly dark, and will see Farage’s US friends and allies doing things will go down very badly w/UK voters

Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.

Absolutely withering by Rafael Behr, describing Starmer and Reeves as splashing futilely in the shallows, unable to take the plunge, and speak honestly about Britain’s travails. Good policy cannot be built on such obfuscation. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Nigel Farage has spent £1m taking out adverts in the papers to distract from the Nathan Gill Russian bribe scandal. We can't let him buy himself out of this. We need an investigation into Russian influence in our politics.

“Also for legal reasons, we’re not able to tell you what that line is.” From a media law perspective: BS. There is no "legal" reason for not publishing that line. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith Lecture www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

Net migration to UK drops 69% www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

"a Russian military victory in Ukraine is not inevitable, and a rapid Russian seizure of the rest of Donetsk Oblast is not imminent" and the US officials who keep saying so are repeating Russian propaganda

- A 100,000 drop in net migration costs us £7bn - Scrapping the two-child benefit cap costs us £3bn What gets more attention? James O’Brien says 'we have become a ludicrous country'.

'This isn't an opinion. This is counting.'

Today we’ll get latest net immigration figures - They’ll show immigration for work is plummeting. Why is this not part of the discussion on Rachel Reeves balancing her books & stalled growth? For every 100,000 drop in net immigration, the OBR adds £7bn to the deficit. #r4today

Sorry, everyone. I think we've gone and done a thoughtful, balanced episode on #Budget2026, that is more about the economics and the politics, rather than the gossippy nonsense that gets hacks excited. #NotSorry