Barely mentioned but that now notorious Trump Panorama *wasn’t made by the BBC* It was an indie production (as so much is) Even if was BBC, head of news or DG would wouldn’t have been involved in edits

We will examine attitudes towards immigration in a public hearing for our inquiry into community cohesion. Watch at 2.20pm on 12 November, with: @petergeoghegan.bsky.social | @britishfuture.bsky.social | @hopenothate.org.uk Find out more: committees.parliament.uk/event/24864/...

Donald Trump is not going to sue the BBC for $1 billion The real story today is both Reform/Farage and the Conservatives/Badenoch talking today about radically changing the BBC This is the real agenda

Andrew Lownie wrote an explosive book about Prince Andrew Then backlash came. Legal threats. Social media trolls accused him of visiting sex workers Journalists were told they’d lose Palace access if they spoke to him This interview feels very more timely today www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJHa...

"What I like about Barnett is his intellectual restlessness." It's one of the many things I love about @anthonybarnett.bsky.social too. Very much recommend this interview with Anthony in @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Incredible that Robbie Gibb - most influential person on BBC board by many accounts and from journalists I speak in BBC - was involved in setting up GB News. GB News of course has breached Ofcom rules on *multiple* occasions - no sign of resignations though www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Michael Prescott was ‘“shocked” that after an hour-long Panorama documentary dealing with Trump and the January 6 insurgency, there was no “similar, balancing” programme about Kamala Harris.’ More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes

Now listening to an *amazing* Stuart Maconie Post punk Freakshow and worrying that will happen if Trump’s press office start posting on X about hating Magazine and the Au Pairs 😬

And if we think it’s bad now, imagine what it could look like, say, two months from a U.K. general election? Could imagine huge sums in US far right cash flooding in, much of what would only be declared after the election (our electoral rules really are a jape)

Glad that someone has finally taken responsibility for the appalling assault on democracy that was the Jan. 6 insurrection. Slightly confused that it's the Director-General of the BBC, but what do I know?

This is absolutely nuts Trump did incite the January 6 riot. Splicing a video to make that point is shoddy editorial but hardly a resignation event When BBC is needed more than ever, Telegraph/Boris Johnson running the show www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

Would recommend this interview Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s biographer Andrew Lownie gave to @petergeoghegan.bsky.social on how power and secrecy work in modern Britain. Particularly interesting on the censoring of history and how the Prince was championed by Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair...

Great interview with Andrew Lownie about his book on the former Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson & the reaction to it by the palace. With a mention of the @fpalondon.bsky.social! We invited him for a press briefing in September when the UK media still tried to ignore the book.

“Lownie believes there should be a parliamentary inquiry into Andrew’s trade representative gig — a role which Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson pushed for, and which saw Andrew cosying up to Kazakh oligarchs and the Gaddafi regime in Libya.”

Andrew Lownie wrote an explosive book about Prince Andrew Then came the backlash. Legal threats. Journalists were told they’d lose Palace access if they spoke to him Anonymous social media accounts accused Lownie of visiting sex workers. This is how ‘the Firm’ works youtu.be/OJHaVsDVv-c?...

Andrew Lownie wrote an explosive book about Prince Andrew Then came the backlash. Legal threats. Palace sources told journalists not to speak to him Anonymous social media accounts accused Lownie of visiting sex workers. New on Democracy for Sale: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

Returned to Honey’s Dead by JAMC after what must be two decades. It’s still so incredibly fresh. The Reid Bros really had something

Denmark also has PR, which has been crucial to the entire Social Democrats' strategy for a long time, and the current Social Democrat government is a coalition with two centre-right parties.

Andrew Lownie wrote an explosive book about Prince Andrew Then came the backlash. Legal threats. Palace sources told journalists not to speak to him Anonymous social media accounts accused Lownie of visiting sex workers. New on Democracy for Sale: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

*Again* the top story on BBC 6 music is about immigration How is Shabana Mahmood wanting to introduce a ‘Danish style’ system for refugees the top story this morning?!? The obsession of 6 Music news on immigration and asylum is frankly bizarre

Was is Watson’s racism reported passively? In 2007, he had said some anti-Semitism was justified “Just like some anti-Irish feeling is justified. If you can’t be criticized, that’s very dangerous. You lose the concept of a free society.” Nah, mate. You really wouldn’t

While US polarisation predates social media it doesn’t really predate the end of broadcasting impartiality Basically the US has been living with social media style partisan bias for decades, and now Europe is catching up (with similarly disastrous consequences) Will policy makers now respond?

Fantastic expose from my friend George Turner in the Guardian. So good to see George back in print. The two of us also have a *very* exciting project due to hit the airwaves in late 2026... 🫣 www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

This would 💯 happen in the UK if the same political dispensation took power here I feel like a sizeable chunk of British journalism is in complete denial about that

And frying their brains in ways they don’t even realise, never mind understand

Charles Ross, @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and I had a look at what the shadow ministers in the House of Lords were working at. Turns out many of them are being paid to ‘advise’ the same industries that they’re supposed to be scrutinising. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-lords-...

🔴 MPs are banned from been paid to give 'political advice' - but Lords can. And guess what? Many Conservative shadow ministers in the Lords are being paid by the industries they’re meant to scrutinise. New on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-lords-...

🔴 MPs are banned from been paid to give 'political advice' - but Lords can. And guess what? Many Conservative shadow ministers in the Lords are being paid by the industries they’re meant to scrutinise. New on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-lords-...

Loving Mark Steel in Lerwick on Shetland on Radio 4 atm. Shetland one of my favourite places

Just checking this is Question Times’ ‘author and academic’ Matt Goodwin?

Anyone who will lie unapologetically about mass violent attacks to push their own profile and political cause is beneath contempt. There’s no need to book such people, to platform them, or to listen to them. That’s not because of their politics, or their views: it’s because of their dishonesty.

This is an absolutely lovely read. I used to walk past the Flatiron building every day for a year and often found myself dreaming about what it would be like to live in Also delighted to see my old urban sociology prof (and boss!) Sharon Zukin quoted at length. Legend 😊

Really interesting piece in Weekend FT on rise of Catholic right (something I’ve been following for a while) But shame to see ‘Leonard Leo’ misnamed as ‘Leo Leonard’…

I moved to the UK from the US (where was a student) on a scholarship that no longer exists aged 23 Doubt much chance if was 23 now I’d be moving here

On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.

This *very* well timed piece by Will Lloyd in the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social is well worth a read www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

It’s almost like if cast tracts of the media go down an anti immigrant k-hole and supposedly ‘mainstream’ parties follow them, it has a significant impact on public attitudes Who’d a thunk it? 🤯

Having a bad dose of Covid really sucks, not least as I missed bringing the youngest to see Benfica on Saturday night. But having neighbours call over with soup, medication and hot food while I isolate and rest really makes a huge difference 😊

“If there was a pandemic tomorrow, you could see another VIP Lane being set up.” A really vital conversation about COVID corruption with @russellscott1.bsky.social on latest Democracy for Sale. youtu.be/QkXu3-RanEo?...

Great to talk about all things Covid contracts, VIP Lane and more with @petergeoghegan.bsky.social for the brilliant Democracy for Sale. Watch the full interview here: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-covid-... 📖 available here: viplanebook.com

Thank you bluesky for encouraging me to take a covid test. Having tested negative three times two weeks ago, now testing positive - which is good to now Less good, was due to flu to Lisbon this evening for half term

Whatever this virus is going around London at the moment, it's brutal. Got it, was sick for two weeks, recovered for about three days, and now it's back. Take care out there, folks

‘Labour polled 11% in a seat that the party has held for 100 years’ is the headline news this morning. Feels like a headline going to hear a lot in the next year. (Also result - Plaid win - does show that the fissuring of British politics isn’t all to the right)

Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America

Exclusive: Two of Nathan Gill's fellow Ukip/Brexit Party MEPs used the same pro-Russia talking points in European Parliament, after joining him on a paid-for trip to Kyiv observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Wow! Democracy for Sale has been nominated for a British Journalism Award 🎉 Amazing to see how far we've come in such a short time. Am so proud of @jennacorderoy.bsky.social and @lucasamin.bsky.social (and me, tbh! 😊) Huge thanks to our supporters! pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...

Britain is in a really, really dark place. It also shows that once you start deporting people, you very quickly get to this place

Lol ‘professor’

Shame that Number 10 still hasn’t.