🚨 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (@tbij.bsky.social) and Investigative Simulations Lab are running a two-day simulation game on crime, corruption and corporate enablers from 26-27 May in London. Test your investigative skills! For more information, contact: [email protected]

A small point from the Mandelson/Robbins saga. Refom and many Tories argue for a civil service than can be more easily bent to the will and whims of their elected political masters. This is precisely what happened here.

Lots of discussion today about the White House Correspondents Dinner reminds me of this webinar on Journalism & Democratic Backsliding with @jayrosen.bsky.social, @panievsky.bsky.social, & @sambrook.eurosky.social. youtu.be/MrAnVd35bcE?...

The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia, on the risks to democracy of concentrated media ownership. Cambridge Disinformation Summit. youtu.be/BtXUcFBaErc

I now see what happened with the Mandelson vetting. Ollie Robbins treated it as a normal ambassadorial appointment, where he had sole discretion on vetting. In fact, he should have treated it as the equivalent of a Ministerial appointment, where the PM would expect to be told of any issues. 1/

How was an AI-generated rapper used in a far-right political campaign? We're discussing the rise of AI-generated content in politics with @tbij.bsky.social's @efwebb.bsky.social this Thursday at 5pm CEST/11am EDT and how you can investigate it. Join us live: discord.gg/qS6TJjr6?eve...

Great story from @tbij.bsky.social and @manchestermill.bsky.social Ai hallucinations come in various forms … www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Pre-inoculation - advance warning of false flag stunts and disinformation campaigns - seems to have been effective in Hungarian elections

Mathias Corvinus Collegium -which Orban used to fund Christian Right across Europe - has endowment worth *1% of Hungary’s GDP* This money has gone to Matt Goodwin, Frank Furedi, a Roger Scruton foundation run by Michael Gove + James Orr Magyar needs 2/3rd of seats to unpick this. Be huge if he can

🧵 New report just dropped 🚨 "Fractured Reality: How Democracy Can Win the Global Struggle Over the Information Space" — from the EU Joint Research Centre, led by Mario Scharfbillig and I. A landmark read for anyone working on disinformation, platforms & democracy. 👇 1/10

Don't miss this week's #TheGlobalJigsaw looking at the battle for #Hungary: #Fidesz Viktor #Orban faces a showdown as Peter #Magyar of #Tisza takes him on; polls placing him ahead of the incumbent. Yet victory may still prove elusive on this titled field www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w... #Fidesz #Tisza

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Britain is in the grip of the fed-up-niks

This quote from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell has been in my head the last few days

Excellent from Martin Wolf giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... What to do when the ‘public good’ of information goes bad

Also this webinar with @jayrosen.bsky.social, @sambrook.bsky.social, and @panievsky.bsky.social. youtu.be/MrAnVd35bcE?...

Some potential good news! AI chatbots may help correct some of the polarising tendency of social media - latest from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com www.ft.com/content/3880...

“A broadcaster has become the media arm of a political party, and nobody is doing anything about it.” Really good to speak to @arusbridger.bsky.social about GB News, Reform and regulatory failure on Democracy for Sale today democracyforsale.substack.com/p/gb-news-is...

In spite of all the talk of Claude Code and Codex meaning the end of humans writing code, software job adverts are actually going up, according to @jburnmurdoch.ft.com's crunching of millions of job ads for this week's The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/7325...

🔴 Reform donors cashing in on Iran war Analysis by Democracy for Sale shows that major Reform donors are benefitting from the so-called “war premium” driving up energy prices. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/farages-fo...

People seem too busy judging others to actually do anything themselves …

Useful analysis open.substack.com/pub/nadave/p...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

St Pancras Eurostar holding pen, sorry “lounge”, is the seventh circle of hell. So totally inadequate

"I got my PhD by writing prompts instead of doing research, I'm winning" got some bad news, there still no jobs and now you also know nothing

HOLY SHIT. A dark money group, hidden behind a bunch of shell companies, is paying influencers thousands of dollars PER POST to attack @katmabu.bsky.social on social media a month before her election. Thank you to the people who declined the money and went forward with this. So who's behind this?

The Cambridge Disinformation Summit will feature The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia, on "Concentrated media and platform ownership and the implications for democracy and accountability." He will be hosted by former head of BBC Global News, @sambrook.bsky.social.

A study of social media content 18-24-year olds see in #Finland, #France and #Romania shows that algorithms overwhelmingly feed them right-wing political content - whether or not the users are interested. Three country average for right wing content was 58% - in Finland, 67%! yle.fi/a/74-20214134

I’m not a political strategist but what is rhe logic of Labour not owning the falling migration numbers and saying ‘we’re controlling our borders’ rather than ever time repeating far right talking points Seems a very odd approach…. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Those paid a fortune to assess global risks say ‘not these global risks’.

How to Think About Trump’s War With Iran www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/o...

So sorry to hear my friend Paul Conroy has died. Great photojournalist -obviously in Ukraine, Syria and recently Cuba. Lovely man who lived life to the full, brave and principled. We worked closely on the board of The Frontline Club for many years. www.bylinesupplement.com/p/paul-conro...

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

A retired British primary school administrator with a British passport and a valid visa was shackled, chained and detained for six weeks by ICE www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

My news feed is all “speculation,opinion,speculation, speculation,opinion..” when what I want is “evidence,data,evidence,data, evidence…”

How war stopped working giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... How war stopped working

Former UK PM Gordon Brown is providing - voluntarily and not for the first time - information to the police about abuses of power relating to the Epstein files. As PM Brown was briefed against by people such as Alistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson as being ‘psychologically flawed’ ….1/

💯 www.linkedin.com/posts/rasmus...