If only someone could have predicted that as a third country the UK would lose between £65 billion and £140 billion in lost GDP/tax revenue, translating to hundreds of millions daily. #customsunion

Today, we fined X for non-compliance with transparency obligations under the DSA. We're holding X accountable for: 🔹Deceptive design of its ‘blue checkmark’ 🔹Lack of transparency of its advertising repository 🔹Failure to provide access to public data for researchers link.europa.eu/bcmC87

This is the guy who gave Boris Johnson £1 million and then won a big MoD contract....

Crypto-investor who lives in Thailand gives record-breaking donation to Reform UK, to help it win power in a country he doesn't live in. Britain's political funding laws are a charred and smoking ruin. Ducking change was a catastrophic mistake by Labour. www.ft.com/content/db73...

The super-rich rightwing are pouring money into Reform. Do ordinary voters really think their aim is to even out social inequality and make their lives better? Do they think they’re doing it so Farage invests in infrastructure and public services? Ffs. Democracy being beaten to death in plain sight.

Cold War Steve spot on as usual

I wish more people were aware of this. Considering the scale of the threat, the media's near-silence is both remarkable and culpable. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Spoiler alert. All juries to be replaced by AI!

Though it was ever so slight a step change, he did manage to say ‘Brexit’ without the word ‘mishandled’ in front of it.

Although Starmer is now more critical of Brexit, he is still couching it in terms of it being implemented badly, rather than inherently unworkable. This is a gift to Reform, and makes it clear that Labour's Brexit position, if it's shifting at all, is doing so with the speed of continental drift.

Plain speaking on immigration from Fintan O'Toole (1/2)

Defence Secretary John Healey stands shoulder to shoulder with Doncaster Reform councillors in opposing his own government's flagship green energy policy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🪖🇷🇺 An image of 17 captured #Russian soldiers in the #Dnipropetrovsk region shows the real state of the Russian army. Many don’t even have proper military uniforms, and the ones who do likely took them from dead comrades. #Ukraine #Russia

Remember we also exited the European Investment Bank… With catastrofic results. 1/2

Whatever happened to the transition to a green economy? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is botched Budget, from a government that is hiking taxes on ordinary families instead of going for growth by fixing our trade with Europe.

We would have thought this is obvious. If Europe fails Ukraine, and Russia wins (with something like the Witkoff-Dmitriev proposal), European democracies will have to spend much more on defence in future to deter an aggressive Russia. Appeasement of aggression just encourages further aggression.

I hit peak proud to be British around the time of the London Olympics. It's been downhill ever since. 8 year old girl denied a visa to join her parents in the UK. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Black-headed gulls are having a hard time with avian flu in South Yorkshire, UK. The remains of some 100 birds were removed from a local reserve last week. #birds

The best thing about Lidl is no music... oh wait. Noooooooooo!!!

Trial by Jury has been used in Britain since the 12th Century. It takes one man, who should definitely know better, and one government 900 years later to get rid of it in order to save some money. #criminal

Back our campaign to fix our trade with Europe: www.libdems.org.uk/trade

Who remembers that Brexit campaign slogan from 2016? 🤔

Black-headed gull. #birds

“If Britain wants to recover, the first step is to stop pretending everything is fine. The second is to recognise that reconnecting with Europe may not be a political choice anymore, but an economic necessity.” Brexit disaster. eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/brexit/...

Curse of Private Equity. Four of UK's biggest dental firms have raked in £1.2bn gross profit over the past two years, Market controlled by My Dentist, PortmanDentex, Rodericks Dental, and Bupa Dental Services. Prices 3.5 times more than NHS dentist. No govt curbs profiteering.

As Trump and Putin work to crush Ukraine and destabilise Europe and Farage’s ally gets sentenced to 10yrs for taking Russian bribes, it’s a good time to revisit this excellent report on how the British rightwing has betrayed us all. Brexit was their weapon of choice. bylinetimes.com/2022/03/08/p...

Putin's ambitions to conquer Ukraine and recreate the Russian Empire pose a once-in-a-generation threat to the whole of Europe. We cannot allow Trump to reward his aggression. The Prime Minister must use this opportunity to call for Russia to be removed from the G20.

Ex-leader of Reform UK in Wales sentenced to 10.5 years in prison for taking bribes for pro-Russia interviews and speeches. Who else was involved,? Party can now add treason to racism, misogyny, islamaphobia, economic illiteracy as its electoral credentials.

😂

BREAKING: Republican Senator Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, attacks Trump’s “peace plan” to end the Ukraine war: “Ukraine should not be forced to give up its lands to one of the world’s most flagrant war criminals in Vladimir Putin.”

Rachael Johnson: "Boris did his best". Only because his best has always been fucking awful. Let's consider Boris Johnson, a moral man and a great politician: I'd love to talk about all three of them, but I only have space for Boris.

Whose side are they on?

"Nigel Farage urged to root out Reform links to Russia after jailing of Nathan Gill." What a joke of a headline. The first person Farage would have to root out would be himself. Next would come Arron Banks for his Russian embassy visits and shilling for Putin. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Lib Dems to force vote on creating new customs union with EU Ed Davey’s party believes the move is the best way to ‘turbocharge’ economy, rather than tax rises www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in its roof | Jonathan Freedland

Richard Tice told The Times in March he had “never met Nathan Gill” Tice - "Please welcome to the stage, Nathan Gill." searchlightmagazine.com/2025/10/refo...

Is Farage a Russian asset or just a useful idiot? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

#ReformAreNotYourFriends @reformexposed.bsky.social

"NHS leaders, senior doctors, and the GMC warned that the increased denigration of and abuse directed at migrants in the UK was a significant reason for the rise in foreign medics leaving." www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The National Bureau of Economic Research published research this month showing that Brexit has reduced the UK economy by 6-8% far worse than originally thought. Investment has reduced by 12-18% and employment by 3-4%. Useful info to throw at cloth eared Brexiters.

The Liberal Democrats are forcing a vote in parliament on creating a new customs union to put pressure on Labour MPs to take a more pro-EU stance. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Woodlands remind me of church windows. A tracery of branches filled in with panes of colurful leaves.

Autumn gold this morning.