“The left is going to lose these elections for us,” say the people who lost 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2024 — often because they were fixated on the “winning” strategy of punching left and wooing center right voters

"Britain has spent the post-war period trying to convince itself that proximity to American power is itself a form of power." ✍️ @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social subscribe.bylinetimes.com/edition/88/a...

"Prediction markets threaten to subsume the remaining parts of American civic and community life into a commercialised, cheapening logic – grief, death, war, elections, and culture all quantified and turned into products." ✍️ @mattmgallagher.bsky.social subscribe.bylinetimes.com/edition/88/t...

America: ”the financialisation of everything”, on steroids in the age of Trump, Musk and the other billionaires - the needs and hopes of ordinary people monetised, Elon’s suckers provide the ’dumb money’. And we are not immune.

🟡 MAGAZINE: The Casino Republic Matt Gallagher explores how the American Dream’s next evolution is selling a ‘permanent underclass’ a route out of a rat race they won’t ever win Read the full story below.

🚨 #PoliticalDonations ➡️ #MoreReform #Reform has so far raised more than £30mn in declared donations since 2024. 💥 It is vital that the party should be able to demonstrate exactly where all of that money originated from💥 Excellent piece! 🙏 @mattmgallagher.bsky.social FYI @rbrooks45.bsky.social

Nigel Farage’s party is now connected to multiple parliamentary and police investigations, as questions grow about its opaque crypto-connected funding... reports @mattmgallagher.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/07/10/t...

"Navigating the labyrinth of influence and financial connections beneath the surface of Reform UK, cryptocurrency really does seem to appear at every turn." - A great piece, this, by @mattmgallagher.bsky.social for @bylinetimes.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/07/10/t...

"A political movement promising to take on 'the establishment' has been unusually reliant on an industry built around borderless capital, fragmented regulation and financial opacity." ✍️ @mattmgallagher.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/07/10/t...

🔴 The Walls Are Closing In Around Nigel Farage’s Crypto Insurgency Nigel Farage’s party is now connected to multiple parliamentary and police investigations, as questions grow about its opaque crypto-connected funding, reports @mattmgallagher.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/07/10/t...

So they're all taking this really well

A six-month investigation by Byline Times reveals that with the support of Palantir's Peter Thiel, Reform's policy chief James Orr has used the University of Cambridge as a student recruitment ground for a hard-right, theocratic political project aimed at bolstering talent in Farage’s party

Does any other country get this swarm of Trump pardoned felons and fraudsters lining up to make political donations? Does any other party than Reform UK? Don Vito Corleone was revered for having politicians and judges in his pocket Now it seems dirty money can buy a whole party

🔎 From the archive: Robert Jenrick's Alleged £40k Donor Pled Guilty to Wire Fraud in California Ponzi Scheme — Matt Gallagher 🔁 Relevant again: Following news of a Met investigation

"Never before has a politician announced their intention to run for re-election on an explicitly pro-sleaze, anti-transparency ticket." ✍️ @adambienkov.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/07/08/n...

🔴 NEW: Nigel Farage’s ‘Pro-Sleaze’ By-Election Is A Sign Of Terminal Weakness The Reform leader's desperate decision to call a back-me-or-sack-me by-election is a sign of a politician who knows he is finally being exposed for the man he really is, argues Adam… Read the full story below.

In politics, we’re torn between ideals and practicalities, aspirations and realities, the world as we want it, and as we find it But one day a manifesto comes along that reconciles both in every pledge. A rare moment of clarity and hope

Le Guin on the idea that there is a secret to getting good at writing.

Hello, I am a centrist Democrat. I appeal to 'the center,' which is an ambiguous blob-like thing that exists only in the minds of Democratic strategists whose brains stopped working in the 1990s. Progressives keep winning. Feel my fear! My column: www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Very sad news - our great reporter David Hencke passed away peacefully yesterday evening at home with his family at his side. Will have more to say about this legend later but meanwhile - rest in peace, David

🔴The Real ‘Moral Bankruptcy’ That Brought Down Keir Starmer’s Premiership The Prime Minister promised to restore morality to our politics, but ended up falling far short of his own standards, argues @adambienkov.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/06/22/k...

We should absolutely do something about the growing, dystopian side of the internet – the parts where trillionaires fiddle with our brain chemistry for political clout. For so many reasons, this isn't the way. www.uglypolitix.com/p/why-i-dont...

🔴Revealed: The ‘Right-Wing Arms Race’ to Deport Non-White Britons – Backed By the Tufton Street Brexit Lobby EXCLUSIVE: A Reform UK donor is underwriting a dark money network that promotes the forced removal of ethnic-minority Britons, reports @nafeez.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/06/18/r...

More from me on why I think this will be a bad legacy for Keir Starmer www.uglypolitix.com/p/why-i-dont...

Chris Packham's petition calling for Government to broadcast a briefing on the climate and nature breakdown's impact on the UK (a National Emergency Briefing) has now triggered a response from government - in full at the link below.

It must be so cool to live in a functional republic.

"If Reform were to exercise power nationally, decisions on planning rules, environmental regulation, infrastructure investment and development policy would directly benefit many of the companies that currently fund the party." ✍️ @iainoverton.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/06/17/t...

There’s been an enormous furore over plans to introduce mandatory age verification for social media. While many people think it’s a good thing but policy experts oppose to. To help explain why; the online gaming platform Roblox has provide us with a very timely case study. Brief 🧵

The decision to go ahead with this 'debate,' even after Robinson is questioned under anti-terror laws, following his return from Moscow where he helped stoke racist riots on the streets of the UK, is utterly shameful from the Oxford Union bylinetimes.com/2026/06/17/p...

The UK's youth social media ban will require *all adults* to submit their biometric and personal data to a host of third-party ID verification providers. Some have questionable privacy records – and ties to the Israeli Govt and Peter Thiel. 🧵 bylinetimes.com/2025/07/31/t...

"The idea that white people are destined to become a minority in Britain, which Farage appends to his essay, heralds from a long tradition of Anglo-American eugenics and race-science." ✍️ @nafeez.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/06/16/n...

Matt Gallagher (quoting uglypolitix): The US is seven times wealthier than Britain by GDP, but it spends 115 times more on elections. That deluge is coming our way

Die UK-Pläne für eine Überwachung aller Internetnutzer sind gravierend. Mit angeblicher Jugendkontrollen im Netz wird in Wirklichkeit nur ein noch weitergehendes Netz von Profiling für antidemokratische Unternehmen aufgebaut.

I cannot read my DMs when I’m in the UK cos I refuse to give bluesky my passport to verify my age

SCOOP: So remember Dialog, Peter Thiel's private society that doesn't have a public website and no public list of members? I (along with a number of other journalists) have just been tipped off that embedded in the code of their closed off website there IS what seems to be a list of some members.

THIS, READ THIS. Starmer's government ie either entirely complicit in the Tech Bro's desire for surveillance or so naive as to not understand any of the security and privacy implications. (Probably both)

"Removing anonymity from the web, which will inevitably happen when tech companies are required to identify and ban children, allows for easier government tracking and censorship of journalists, activists and whistleblowers, who rely on online anonymity."

If you're in the UK you should read this.

On 23 June, I'll be part of the company of actors – including Joanna Scanlan – bringing to life @peterjukes.bsky.social's new play 'Trojan Horses' in a rehearsed reading at The Cockpit theatre. Hugh Grant says it's "brilliant & terrifying". Info/tickets: tickets.thecockpit.org.uk/sales/shows/...

"Only the largest tech companies have the resources to shoulder the extensive costs of age verification systems. Non-profit and indie platforms could be forced to close, consolidating big tech’s power further." @taylorlorenz.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

if the government want to do this, and they do, they should be forced to implement their own ID verification systems with all the liabilities that come with it, rather than just offload it to literal cartoon villains with a shrug of the shoulders

(10/13) But as it stands, none of the following exists in Britain: – A public register of approved age assurance providers, - A requirement for providers to meet any specific privacy standards - A requirement for platforms to choose trusted or certified providers.

The UK's youth social media ban will require *all adults* to submit their biometric and personal data to a host of third-party ID verification providers. Some have questionable privacy records – and ties to the Israeli Govt and Peter Thiel. 🧵 bylinetimes.com/2025/07/31/t...

For many, one of the key issues with the government's regulation attempts. HM Gov are easily impressed by the accents, and the blather, and the money, but these companies do not have the best track records and some are politically very dodgy.

🔎 From the archive: The questionable data privacy records of online ID verification companies – @mattmgallagher.bsky.social 🔁 Relevant again: New social media age restrictions will reportedly require all adults to verify their identity to access social media. bylinetimes.com/2025/07/31/t...

Farage trying to erase LGBTQ communities by removing books from libraries in Staffordshire. Everything is a blueprint so watch this space, it’s in the post at a library near you.

The amount that Elon Musk, humanity's first trillionaire, spent to get Trump elected is more than double what all British political parties spent during the entire 2024 General Election period (£94.5 million).

🔴 Reform Councillor Who Slammed Angela Rayner on Tax Owed HMRC Over £250,000 Through Failed Firms EXCLUSIVE: Wigan Reform councillor David Bowker railed against the former Deputy Prime Minister, whilst repeatedly leaving taxpayers out of pocket himself bylinetimes.com/2026/06/09/r...

Farage’s White Lives Matter rhetoric marked a dangerous escalation in Reform’s race to the bottom with Restore Britain. What began as dog-whistles has become something much louder, uglier, and harder to control. Read the full piece over on Ugly Politix

More from @NafeezAhmed on Bannon, Epstein and the crypto power European movement here bylinetimes.com/2025/11/14/s... And from @peterjukes on Farage’s role in the scheme bylinetimes.com/2025/11/19/d...