www.thesun.co.uk/news/3678572... The link

Decent Sun article from Keir tbf

In which, remarkably, while talking about the fiscal bind, and even after Jeremy Hunt goes on about acting in the interests of the country, no one brings up the TWO NI cuts carried out largely if not solely for narrow party political ends. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

Spectacularly good Substack article by Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social, whose work during the COVID pandemic was so essential, logging Trump’s 172 actions against perceived enemies since Jan 2025. open.substack.com/pub/christin...

Here's a funny thing: during Trump's first state visit, Home Secretary Sajid Javid was not invited to the banquet, though more junior ministers were. What might Javid and Khan have in common, I wonder? 🤔

Disappointed that this BBC news piece about Trump not wanting Mayor Sadiq Khan at the State Banquet doesn't once mention Khan's race or religion. If you leave out that Khan is a brown Muslim man, you gloss over why he's targeted by Trump. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

you know I wouldn't say I had high hopes for "the Spectator interviews the Tate brothers" anyway but somehow the piece is worse than I thought it would be

Is the “Waitrose effect” real? Such a great piece - and fun to read! area360.uk/blog/17-the_...

🚨 NEW: Britain’s most powerful people are still 5x more likely to have been privately educated than the general population. Our brand-new research reveals that jobs in the media, business, charity, creative and public sectors remain dominated by those from private schools ⤵️🧵

I’m beginning to think they lied about liking free speech…

In London, hate will never win.

Kemi Badenoch refusing to acknowledge that Tommy Robinson is "far-right", now on LBC, and refusing to condemn Elon Musk's words. In fact she says what Musk said *isn't* incitement. So what would be incitement then? How violent would his words have to be before he was deemed a threat to this country?

"it’s material deprivation, not social diversity, that threatens to tear the social fabric. Perhaps it’s harder to have trust when you’re competing for resources. Whatever the cause, the solution seems to lie less in measures to limit immigration than in investment to tackle poverty and inequality"

Keir Starmer tells his Cabinet that scenes of police under attack at a march "led by a convicted criminal and egged on by a foreign billionaire calling for violence" sent "a chill through the spines" of British people. Says UK in "the fight of our times" against "toxic division" and "we must win"

"Elon Musk, not just supporting Tommy Robinson, but calling for violent revolution in Britain.” A billionaire encouraging people to “fight or die” via video link - is this the clearest sign of the Overton window moving yet?

Sadiq Khan has said a record number of Americans have applied for British citizenship following the election of Trump. “It’s also our liberal values that make us stand out – celebrating our diversity in London as a strength, not as a threat to society.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This, from The Londoner yesterday, also features people on the march who claim not to be racists. Though the things they say prove otherwise

Bear with me, I anticipate your disagreement. There is a clear pattern to the advice given to those who want to press back against rising racism. What it boils down to is that if you point out that racism is often being dressed up as “legitimate concerns” you will alienate people. /1

Racist views were something agreed to be shameful. For the people pushing racist views today, the reluctance to call them out is a tremendous boon. Even as social media brings them together, it demonstrates to them that they can be bolder without consequence. That’s why they’re now more explicit /4

Their aim is to create the impression that they speak on behalf of a much larger group - a group of people still cowed by fear of social cost - and ultimately to suggest that the social cost will be incurred by those disagreeing with them. /5

That’s why they try so hard to identify points of shame: if you disagree, you support grooming gangs, rape, child murder, whatever it is they are trying to panic people with this week. If the anti-racist response is a quiet word and an agreement to agree to disagree, they’ll be delighted. /6

In just under 9 months, Trump’s 2nd term has racked up 230 nationalist actions - 75% occurring in the past 3 months. From executive orders to mass detentions & political violence, the darkness is spreading. Can we hold the line? My latest Substack ⬇️ christinapagel.substack.com/p/nationalis...

Great to discuss the flagrant disinformation peddled at the Reform conference by Malhotra with @garethiacobucci.bsky.social As @LawrenceYoung11 et al agree, the 💩 re mRNA vax and "turbo cancer" (anyone taking that name seriously?!🤦‍♂️) is pure, insidious fiction designed to ⏫️ hesitancy.

It was my sons 21st birthday party yesterday and his girlfriend and her sister, both Muslims of Arabic descent, stayed over at my house the night before and after, because they were so fearful of travelling across London by tube to get to us. Angry doesn’t cover it.

Encountering the fascists outside Waterloo iandunt.substack.com/p/encounteri...

I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday. As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.

5 parties on more than 12%, winner gains seat with under 30%. Results like this used to be rare, freak outliers. Now they are routine (there was a second just like this yesterday). Electoral chaos.

We're close to reaching a chilling moment; the first time in history where the single largest group of people arrested by ICE in the interior and held in detention are people with no criminal record. The gap is now down to fewer than 300 people.

Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Funny how this keeps happening?

This feels like the biggest story from the Guardian's Boris leaks... he took £240k from a Venezuelan hedge fund after meeting Maduro. And having denied he was paid. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

EXCLUSIVE - Today the Guardian is publishing the Boris Files A trove of leaked data from the office of Boris Johnson. It reveals how Johnson is using the relationships forged in the UK’s highest elected office to facilitate his personal enrichment. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

A solar farm that could have powered “all the households in Witney” has been refused permission by West Oxfordshire District Council. Councillors were concerned about the risk of fire, one drawing parallels to the 1966 Aberfan disaster: “Until someone can guarantee it is safe, I can’t support it.”

Lucy Connolly was convicted of inciting racial hatred, and her tweet was part of the tinder that lit violence, intimidation, looting, and thuggery across England last year. The fact Reform conference gave her a standing ovation says everything about that movement. bylinetimes.com/2025/08/27/l...

This is exactly the kind of despicable scaremongering that Aseem Malhotra has made his modus operandi. Insinuations, hearsay, anti-vaxx, non-evidence-based, lurid, self-enriching, anti-scientific claptrap. Of course Reform UK lapped it up. 1/4

Please know that there isn’t a shred of scientific evidence suggesting Covid vaccines cause cancer. Please disregard this man’s rubbish - he doesn’t work for the NHS & why the GMC hasn’t struck him off long ago baffles innumerable NHS doctors like me. 2/4

"Reform has touted its plan as a “legal reset”. But it is better understood as a total rejection of the UK’s postwar international commitments to protect the human rights of everyone within its jurisdiction."

Turbulent week in politics but for the 1st time the 3 big offices of state below PM - Home Sec, Foreign Sec and Chancellor are *all occupied by women*. And two by people of colour.

This is the thing: the political exploitation of migration is entirely cynical and not related to reality. Both Immigration and net migration fell from 2023 to 2024 - net drastically from 860,000 to 431,000. Did you notice people calming down about it or saying it now felt under control?

I've read Sir Laurie Magnus's conclusion and Rayner's resignation letter. Rayner did breach the ministerial code, but in a very minor way. Under previous governments, we saw more serious breaches on a daily basis without consequence. I hope her absence from government is short.

I am hardly a natural Rayner cheerleader, but genuinely furious that she's gone. Laurie Magnus's verdict confirms she acted on advice, she just missed the disclaimer saying she should get extra advice. Not just an honest mistake - a mistake literally anyone could make. There but for the grace etc...

Yes she should have gone to experts. But she tried to rectify it as soon as she realised. There is no suggestion of deliberate wrongdoing or tax avoidance. Our politics should be able to handle ministers making mistakes, and take account that they are human, with family challenges just like anyone

🚨Challenge Trump and you’ll be punished. My new substack looks at how Trump’s weaponisation of government has rapidly escalated. Judges, journalists, officials, politicians, business leaders, celebrities - even whole cities - are all in his sights. christinapagel.substack.com/p/trumps-war...

"750,000 voters registered ahead of the 2024 General Election"! 💪Delighted to have contributed to this work through research and advice. With all the online misinformation and disinformation, and mainstreaming of far right propaganda, our democracy is at risk! www.jrrt.org.uk/powering-par...

Fash music festival in Great Yarmouth called off www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/2543569...

Your periodic reminder that mRNA vaccines are a scientific and public health game-changer. Those that have been approved have passed stringent efficacy and safety checks. They protect you and your child against potentially fatal diseases. You may, however, get a sore arm.

"UK council tax is based on 1991 property valuations, grouped into eight price bands and paid by tenants. It is probably the world’s most unfair property tax: the poorest pay the highest tax as a percentage of property value and the richest the least."

“If we want a healthy, thriving and more equal economy, we must fund childcare properly. Anything less is a broken promise to parents, providers and the next generation.” – Sara Reis, our Deputy Director in the Observer observer.co.uk/news/busines...