Farage ‘playing with fire’ over family voting claims @robfordmancs.bsky.social told @theobserveruk.bsky.social: "It is troubling that they do this when the sun is shining on them electorally. What does this imply if they underperform in a general election?” observer.co.uk/news/politic...

How Reform is starting to make inroads into universities around the UK - top reporting by the @ananditaabraham.bsky.social, currently interning in the FT opinion team www.ft.com/content/2104...

Threatening the drinking water and electricity of 93 million people because the IRGC whose control of Iran you accidentally made unshakeable won't agree to a protection racket deal with your son-in-law.

The prospective rules will be introduced in a period of unusually low immigration 2026-28. (Whether that is a new norm or an exceptional dip is tbc) If govt wants to control immigration, control immigration. (Don't damage + hurt integration for those who come to deter others).

Florida dumbs down some more www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

Perhaps, just perhaps, colleagues at the BBC might now have second thoughts about inviting him on all the time.

Well, after last night’s GBNews debate I no longer need to explain to students the risks of using AI to write papers since Matt G has done us all a favour by having a fever dream meltdown trying to justify it. And to think we thought his contributions to academia were over.

“Elon Musk participated in a phone call on Tuesday with President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, an unusual appearance by a private citizen on a call between two heads of state during a wartime crisis.”

This is great news: an immediate ban on political donations in cryptocurrency & a £100k cap on donations from UK citizens abroad. Yes, there's more that needs doing, & the door is left open to crypto in future. But we should celebrate (& applaud) the wins when they come. www.gov.uk/government/n...

"Russia is close to completing a phased shipment of drones, medicine and food to Iran, according to western intelligence reports that detail Moscow’s efforts to keep its embattled partner fighting" giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Morgan McSweeney had his phone stolen, along with every message he had with Peter Mandelson's, in a oddly "convenient coincidence". The News Agents are keeping "an open mind", but there are serious questions about the loss of such crucial evidence... www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/how-...

NEW: Morgan McSweeney did *not* tell the police that he was the prime minister's chief of staff when he called 999 to report its theft.

Former White House strategist and podcaster Steve Bannon said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers assisting with airport operations is a “test run” for the 2026 midterms. TAT: [Nationalism | Undermining democracy]

Trump’s sanctions against a UN human rights expert show free speech is dying |

Several ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer rescue organization were set on fire outside a synagogue in a neighborhood home to London's largest Jewish community, in what police are treating as an antisemitic attack. https://cnn.it/4bomIwM

While this Labour government has had plenty of disappointing moments, this really is huge. Campaigners and experts have always told me this is the quickest and most effective way to immediately reduce child poverty. It took too long to get here but this is big.

GB News has turned into the Reform channel. After a New World investigation found hundreds of breaches of the rules on accuracy and impartiality, Ofcom has failed to do its job and act. We've seen what Fox News has done to politics in the US. We can't let it happen here.

Sadiq Khan: "It's Muslims today, who will it be tomorrow? Jewish people? Who the day after, Hindu people? This sort of mono-ethnic, mono-nationalistic view is a carbon copy of President Trump. These guys are pound shop President Trumps, they should be ashamed of themselves."

it has occurred to me recently that black snot is no longer a thing in London. It used to be a standard feature of a day in town.

Things are not okay.

If this war shows *anything* it’s how badly needed the transition to renewables is That that conversation has been largely absent from UK media while nonsense like this is published shows just how much the media ownership tail is now waging the dog

NEW: In its call for Trump's $10bn lawsuit against it to be thrown out, BBC warns of "chilling effect" on reporting from such suits. Also cites Trump's failed attempt to sue CNN. BBC says the show Trump is suing over wasn't shown in US & did not defame him: www.theguardian.com/media/2026/m...

“Best supporting actress nominee Wunmi Mosaku (“Sinners”) in a cold shoulder glittering green maxi. And a baby bump. Elegance! Celebration!” writes style reporter Shane O’Neill. Follow our live Oscars coverage: wapo.st/4bgLmOo

www.glamour.com/story/wunmi-... Wunmi Mosaku Claims Her Legacy

7/ CRISIS THREE: A broader, regional war is breaking out as Iranian proxies in Lebanon hit Israel and those in Iraq target the U.S.. Israel is now threatening a massive ground invasion of Lebanon, which could become its own new crisis.

2/ CRISIS ONE: Trump believed Iran would not close the Strait of Hormuz. He was wrong. And now oil prices are spiking. If the Strait stays closed, a global recession will result. It actually may already be too late. Gas prices are the first to spike, but food prices are next.

There are other reasons for the UK government not to award or continue Palantir contracts but this statement of intent by its CEO must surely be decisive?

39 Sudanese Chevening Scholarship finalists ejected this week from consideration for the scheme, for being Sudanese.

I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public. I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are. 1/ Here's what I can share:

Reporter: “You said the war is "very complete." But your Defense Secretary says "this is just the beginning." So which is it” Trump: “You could say both.”

WE STILL DON'T HAVE A CLEAR ANSWER ON THE MOST BASIC QUESTION ABOUT THE IRAN WAR WHY did the U.S. go to war? A Popular Information review of public statements over the last 9 days found 17 DIFFERENT EXPLAINATIONS. Many of which contradict each other. 🧵

Trump's decision to bomb Iran is now the greatest windfall to the Russian war effort on record. If it continues, it might save the Russian war economy.

I'm out of words here

I wonder if a drone has hit Dubai Marina. Or whether it was just debris from a successful interception. If only loads of Dubai based accounts, including Isabel Oakeshott's, could tell me.

UN humanitarian chief: “This is a moment of great peril” www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Hitting desalination plants is so bad. Not just evil but strategically incomprehensible. Without desalination 75% of the entire population of the Middle East will be refugees. Israel and Kuwait depend on desalination for 90% of their water and other Middle East states aren’t far behind.

Multiple news outlets are reporting a US attack on an Iranian #desalination plant. If verified, this violates international law protecting #water systems during wars, and it sets a dangerous precedent, given intense dependence of Gulf countries on desalination. timesofoman.com/article/1691...

Obama: Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible. Each day we’re told by those in high office to fear each other. Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength.

Pretty difficult to refute a single thing in this perfect assessment of where the f**k we are, from @iandunt.bsky.social:

Last week, UK lobbying regulator closed investigation into ex Tory MP Ben Howlett We offered Howlett money to work for a fake Chinese investor. He introduced us to a dozen Labour MPs Regulator didn't even speak to us. Our system is broken New, by me: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/we-paid-an...

I’ve spent years, decades, obsessing over the Bush Administration’s Iraq WMD lies, writing about them, debunking them. I can think of no lie about Iraq WMDs told by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al that comes even close to the enormity and absurdity of this lie from Donald Trump.

Invoking the NHS by mentioning doctors and nurses as being people who are more deserving whilst bashing migrants is breathtakingly cynical, frankly. Moreover, low-skilled workers also contribute, often in jobs that are not easy to recruit to:

Your regular reminder than a large majority of voters - and overwhelming majority of Labour voters - favour giving settled migrants access to the welfare state after five years or less. The Home Secretary is not reforming rules in line with public opinion. She is doing the opposite.

Labour chair Anna Turley has privately warned her party it must tackle immigration – but only “in a way that stays true to our values” In remarks to campaigners following the Gorton & Denton by-election, obtained by PolHome, she said her party must find "the right language" to combat the Greens

So, in launching a huge bombing campaign on Iran they apparently didn't plan for: - Who takes over; - Interceptor shortages from sustained drone retaliation; - How to defend US bases in the region; - Threats to ships in the Strait of Hormuz; and - How to evacuate Americans with airspace closed.

Hegseth: "We are only four days into this and the results have been incredible." - Middle East engulfed in regional war - 11 countries attacked by Iran - Oil & gas prices skyrocketing - Strait of Hormuz now a conflict zone - Terrorism threat raised across the world - No sign of Iran regime collapse

‘British expats, he claimed, were refusing to fill out evacuation forms provided by the British government “just in case it somehow turns into a tax form instead”.’ No notes. as.ft.com/r/65cf2b43-6...

All I can think about is Jeff Bezos saying that he slashed jobs at the Washington Post — including those of foreign correspondents in the Middle East — based on "the data," and a few weeks later a whole war breaks out in the Middle East that these laid off folks would have covered as true experts.

Thank you @Debbie_abrahams for chairing our discussion on the module 2 report in Parliament today. Its vitally important we get the @covidinquiryuk recommendations implemented in full. Doing so will save lives.