HMRC then has to play whack-a-mole - when it sees abuse, it legislates to block it, but as fast as they do that, new wheezes emerge. No wonder the assembled text of statute and regulations has grown from 12,000 pages when I started to about 40,000 pages now!

Remember if you ever consider doing a fraud, don’t buy amusingly naff stuff with the money, it sticks in the memory. Embezzle £10m and shove it in crypto? Cheat HMRC out of a few million through phoenixing? People will soon forget! Buy an overpriced wine coaster and a gaming headset? You’re stuffed.

😂 thanks for this one Tom

I also associate it with "we're in financial difficulties and attempting to hide some sales from HMRC for a lower tax burden" they will inevitably go out of business in a few short years

Message from son who is an ED doctor in Australia: “What do you know about diphtheria?”. Sorry son, I qualified in 1983 and I’ve never seen a case. Looks like you might though. Another vaccine-preventable disease on the rise. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

Farage claims his phone was hacked by Russia and that this highlights the “threat they pose to British security”. Which is odd because 7yrs ago he had the chance to strengthen laws against Russian interference but he voted against it, saying the claims were “baseless” The man is never, ever right.

bringing this one back because they just keep doing it

It's full on rewriting of history. Soon, they will push for changes to textbooks like right-wingers did circa 2010, seeking to replace the civil rights movement with Phyllis Schlafly and Newt Gingrich.

In the first three weeks of May 2026 we’ve had eight bits of positive economic news announced under Rachel Reeves & Keir Starmer. This follows 9 such announcements in April. Labour are consistently improving the economy. #DoingTheMediasJob #FixingBritain #LabourAchievements

The real-life counterparts of Tom Burke and Steve Coogan's characters in Netflix' LEGENDS, found in Milo Book's THE BETRAYER by Guy Stanton and @petemilo.bsky.social

Barrister boasts that HMRC are too intimidated by him to prosecute his clients. HMRC prosecutes him instead www.ft.com/content/a97b...

Coming soon, inspired by our true story THE BETRAYER by Guy Stanton with Peter Walsh (Milo Books)

🚨🚨Breaking: @bsky.app Says #Kremlin Is Hacking Its Platform to Spread Propaganda. The company said it was fighting Russian efforts to hijack real users’ accounts to post fake content, an apparently novel tactic. 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/b...

The price of fish has gone up in no small part because of Brexit. We import the fish we eat and export the fish we catch here. Extra costs around logistics. Some of us did say this would happen but it's not getting mentioned at all in articles like this. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Nostalgic memories of Working From Home, from the day when Boris Johnson said we all had to get back in the office. exofficerx.blogspot.com/2021/03/work...

terrible. 20 years ago, the internet was full of hobbyist blogs and forums. over time, these have been replaced by paywalled substacks and private discord channels, each a walled garden. google's decision to prioritize AI just makes it less likely people will create free, public info

I was sitting at home on my laptop working for UCSF co-authoring an entire COVID contact tracing training curriculum for disaster service workers with no public health experience and our team of 300+ folks contacted every 1 in 3 San Franciscans. I worked 10 hour days for months. Eat a dick, JD.

We'd spent years and $$ setting things up so we could work from anywhere in the world, saving $$$ in real estate and operations costs, had global teams we worked with online or by phone, so the pandemic just meant the office cafeteria was closed when I had to install a new box in my lab.

I can't believe we turned "Laptop Worker" into a term of derision. We now have the tech and business models to allow millions of people to make a living in ways unthered to a farm plot, assembly line,, or cubicle. That's very cool! Do not project your weird yearning for the mines on to me.

I promised our analysis of the £5m gift to Nigel Farage would annoy everybody. The verdict? He probably doesn't owe any tax. Why? Because "campaigning for Brexit" isn't a taxable trade, and genuine gifts aren't income. But there are risks for him. Thread:

How come so many unelected members of the House of Lords have so little self-awareness as to keep going on about being governed by unelected politicians in the EU? As delusional & deranged as Brexit. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Real LEGENDS - The Betrayer by Guy Stanton with Peter Walsh. exofficerx.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-...

Been watching 'Believe Me' on ITV? The only reason a judicial review was allowed on the behaviour of the police in the Worboys taxi attacks on over 100 women was because of the Human rights act. And the Conservatives and Reform want to get rid of the Human rights act.

Iran energy crisis enters new phase as peak summer season looms ft.trib.al/QmMifa5

"Franco was also backed by very wealthy elements of Spanish society. The 1930s, like today, were a very unequal time. Some extremely wealthy people across Europe saw the rise of working-class politics as a threat to their power and wealth." A moving, personal story.

Emotional Fascism discontinuednotes.com/2026/05/16/a...

Burke’s son Tom (a very good actor) was 3 at the time - his wife Anna Calder-Marshall got work at the RSC & Burke managed to as well. He figured it was best for them to all live together at Stratford for 18 months. He recommended they hire Edward Hardwicke to replace him.

I'm sorry to hear David Burke has died. An actor of great charm, intelligence, & good humour. Besides restoring Dr Watson to his proper place, he created the role of Bohr in COPENHAGEN. A hell of a legacy.

Just patriots who want to show their love for country latest. If communities want to fly the flag great but it shouldn't be down to far right thugs whether they do. Those who vandalise community property and threaten and harm people should be arrested. Basics. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Sorry for the plug but I feel obliged to reshare this. Farage told a podcast before running for election: “There’s no money in politics, there’s no money if you’re straight [i.e. not corrupt]." Around the time he got £5 million from a crypto billionaire before going on to back crypto deregulation.

The ECHR has protected British people from abuses of power by its own government. Nigel Farage wants us to leave it. Please think about that youtu.be/Fhrb5Z7ScME?...

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

Incidentally, while confident Burnham wins Makerfield, I think this from @stephenkb.bsky.social is right about the impact of a defeat. Would make the last few weeks for Labour seem like happy times. www.ft.com/content/9e91...

It says “Mine is bigger than yours”

If Starmer were Machiavelli… Rayner announces her tax problems are over. Streeting pre-empts her putative leadership bid, resigns & hits the start button for the leadership contest. Burnham declares for Starmer, as does Rayner. Starmer thrashes Streeting in the leadership contest… 1/2

Reading 'The Betrayer' by Guy Stanton and @petemilo.bsky.social - book that inspired Netflix' Legends. Fascinating detail about #HMCE Investigation Division, the varied attempts to develop undercover training, and the fiendish tests that the real Stanton was put through.

I don't know how many different ways I can say this but I'm not stepping aside for Andy Burnham, and it's both very tedious for me and very demoralising for my staff to keep seeing it reported that I might be about to go when there's never even been so much as a conversation with Andy about doing so

In which sense this @chrisgiles.ft.com column is an under-statement of the political problem. Inchoate rage is very difficult to satisfy, requiring a sense of direction based on a deep understanding of politics, economics and society. www.ft.com/content/9b35...

What I'll find interesting in the near future, will be the attitude of those who got their arses in their hands about Starmer's appointment of the sleazebag Mandelson and how they will greet the 'Sleazebag's Protege', Wes Streeting. Donations to him are an eye-opener, with ݣ304k from one source.

“Farage facing a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards over £5m gift from Harborne…weeks before announcing he would stand in the general election…MPs are required to declare any potentially relevant gifts in the 12 months before entering parliament” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Wes Streeting and his Fleeting Meeting has such a Viz vibe to it as a phrase I feel compelled to put it here as it popped into my head

#SpotTheScammer @francisco016.bsky.social another "an honest and trustworthy person", exclusively following women. Using pics of a man whose images are in such prolific use on social media/dating/scammer exposing sites I can't trace his real account. See pimeyes.com & facecheck.id screenshots

Colour me impressed with Neil Forsyth's Legends, a gritty six part series about customs officers infiltrating heroin smuggling in the early 1990s. This just dropped on Netflix ,and it's a British answer to True Detective; Steve Coogan and Tom Burke star. 4 out of 5 film-authority.com/2026/05/13/l...

Btw all I'm now watching Legends on Netflix, which is a British show a bit like an English Narcos. Based on the true story of under cover customs agents from 1990s. Stars Steve Coogan, Tom Burke and Numan Acar; who are all amazing. Highly recommend!

"It's like Phil Collins's triangle player walking out." - Mark E.Smith

Recommend Legends on Netflix. Written by Neil Forsyth who made The Gold. Few eps in, well paced and involving. Tom Burke and Gerard Kyd are a strong pairing.

Highly recommend "Legends". I'm binging it on netflix. Took me faaar too long to recognise Steve Coogan. Comedians make amazing straight actors.

In need for a distraction from this increasingly Labour psychodrama I am back at #legends Unbelievably well made. Dialogues, plot, and then Steve Coogan. What an actor.

Sad to report that this garage doesn’t have another sign on the way out that says “to see you nice”.

It has been a wait but at last I can spill exciting news. Six years ago, I sat down with investigator Guy Stanton to pen THE BETRAYER, his story of an HM Customs undercover unit set up to penetrate the drug world. Today I can reveal it has inspired a major Netflix series that will stream on May 7.