Do you remember when the USA used to be a democracy? When Congress at least expected to be consulted on waging wars abroad?

1/2 Nothing indicates the moral fibre of our right wing politicians better than this story. A former Tory Chancellor tax dodger … Nadhim Zahawi defects to Reform UK after peerage bid ruled out by Tories www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Yes Nadhim Britain is sick. How else would a vicious racist bully with no idea how to govern be leading in the polls?

Apologists for Trump’s right wing extremism in the UK have been producing justifications for past imperialism like Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. It seems they needn’t have bothered. Trump will take Venezuela & Greenland & likely squeeze Iran for oil with no need for moral pretexts.

If Trump, Musk, Farage etc want to learn how to bring down violent crime rates, London’s Mayor has some great lessons to teach them. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'Khan said addressing the causes of serious violent crime, such as the effects of poverty and lack of opportunities, had been key, as had the work of the Violence Reduction Unit covering London that was set up in 2019, which took a longer term approach.'

This is stunning. Listen to this in Philadelphia. Thousands singing “Hey-Oh, we won’t be silent while our friends are gunned down.” Really listen to it.

Many of the people currently supporting far right parties like Reform do so because they’re just wrong. About reality. They believe things that aren’t true. Mistaken, ignorant, gullible or stupid, call it what you will. They are just plain wrong.

@frasernelson.bsky.social, it’s not the immigrants who are the problem here. It’s fascism. This headline is like saying that Hitler’s extreme tactics show what happens when the Jewish presence gets out of control.

The Times today demonstrating how our media have normalised the perverse goal of reducing immigration for its own sake as common sense.

The Norwegian Nobel Prize committee has been forced to make a statement, declaring that the prize cannot be transferred. It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become

1/6 The White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller here shows exactly *why* the new brand of fascists are so intent on lying about the West’s imperial past.

Their rhetoric about their own citizens is almost indistinguishable

Worth reading www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Good luck to the protestors against extreme authoritarian government in Iran and the USA. Huge anti-government protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities, videos show www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

34 witnesses to Farage’s pathological racism & antisemitism now. But the most telling comment from Farage is about Reform’s core support base. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Any news outlet that values truth should state unequivocally that US government officials are lying when they say that Renee Nicole Good tried to harm the ICE thug who killed her. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Just in case you think I am somehow exaggerating, this was their framing at the top of the hour, all morning.

What does it do to faith in a government when everyone can see for themselves, on video, that its Homeland Security Secretary is blatantly lying to them? US immigration agent fatally shoots woman in Minneapolis www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Most Scots believe the Pope is a Catholic, the Earth is roughly spherical, the sky is normally blue, grass green and bears s**t in the woods, poll shows. www.thenational.scot/news/2572065...

Epstein seems to have been relegated down the news agenda.

@rafaelbehr.bsky.social is spot on with this analysis of Starmer’s quandry and the need at least to reintegrate with Europe. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The man who craves the Nobel Peace Prize is potentially responsible for warfare across the globe on a scale we haven’t seen since 1945. Trump is removing the guardrails that have prevented millions more being killed in war. The Great Unraveling Has Begun www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/o...

The text of the argument I made in a recent debate about ongoing colonialism is relevant here: alanlester.co.uk/blog/this-ho...

This is just as significant as Maduro’s seizure. The inability of governments to collect tax from multinational companies is a key factor in the relative poverty of the Global South. Trump’s USA has gained extraordinary exemption from a scheme to mitigate it. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Good review of an excellent book by @carriegibson.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

fascinating insights Alan. thanks. I'm intrigued with the contrast between how West Germans are taught about their colonial past and the british. It is interesting.

1/6 Some belated comments on 2024-5's YouGov survey of the British public's attitude to the British Empire: yougov.co.uk/society/arti...

This podcast in which my colleague @davidwearing.bsky.social and I discuss Trump's imperialism may be of interest: rss.com/podcasts/globa…

Cecil Rhodes, 1895, as he tried to overthrow Kruger’s South African Republic government: “in order to save the … inhabitants of the UK from a bloody civil war, we colonial statesmen must acquire new lands … The Empire … is a bread and butter question.” See Saul Dubow’s chapter in amzn.eu/d/6zBAy2u

'One of the most consequential changes [in the September 2025 Immigration White Paper] is the reduction of the Graduate Visa route from 24 to 18 months, which directly undermines the ability of international trainees to complete their Early Career Teacher (ECT) induction.'

In 2001, Niall Ferguson made a similar “I told you so” assertion, making the same case for a new American imperialism inspired by the British Empire & surmising that it would be easy to occupy and govern Afghanistan in the West’s interests. www.theguardian.com/world/2001/o...

In 1887, British forces kidnapped & exiled the King of Opobo in today’s Nigeria. British Palm oil traders had persuaded the government that the tariffs he imposed restricted their profits. It was a milestone in the Scramble for Africa and indirect rule by Britain. alanlester.co.uk/blog/antisla...

With other leaders one would never entertain such considerations l, but aside from ideology, oil, drugs & migrants, two plausible factors in Trump’s “thinking”: 1. Machado won my Nobel Prize so I’ll take over her country & deny her the opportunity. 2. I’ve got real soldiers I want to play with.

What a joyous programme (and a far right propaganda myth buster). Good on you Sadiq Khan for overseeing the introduction of wild beavers to London. Wonderful! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Nigel Farage & compliant right wing media are directly responsible for this surge in crime. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Reform and the Tories must be outraged by the two tier health system. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Farage chose Greenwich as the green screen backdrop for his divisive pitch because of its naval and imperial associations. Between 1824 and 1841, 45 Black sailors were admitted to its hospital. From Africa, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, they are an integral part of British history & identity.

Important corrective to self-destructive right wing populist diagnoses and prescriptions: Europe’s recovery depends in part on doing the opposite of what the anti-immigrant nationalists demand: integrating economies and utilising universities’ research capacity. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Probably. It’s part ignorant and part disingenuous anyway: 1. A key subplot is that Caine’s Lt Bromhead starts out as a fop, but transitions to the main hero of the battle. It’s not true that his relationship with Chard remains tense ‘throughout’. They develop mutual admiration.

Chris Mason displays the lack of that critical self-awareness we try to cultivate in our students. It isn’t just turbulent times that make Starmer more vulnerable than he should be. It’s a media ecosystem led by right wing press campaigns, of which Mason is a part. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Brilliant article that not only paints a more honest picture of this human rights defender but puts our right wing press to shame. The arc of this story proves their willingness to foreground racist far right activists’ propaganda. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Interesting survey on how the Australian public feels about history. I suspect that in the UK too, there are contradictory desires for a story of national pride and also for truths about colonialism. compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

Good to see people whose words and actions have been twisted by pernicious right wing culture warriors recognised. Hilary McGrady and the @nationaltrust.org.uk are not ‘woke’. They just believe in inclusivity & transparency. These used to be seen as virtues. www.thetimes.com/article/new-...

1/2 Although this report suggests a jump in belief that you have to be born in Britain to be British, from 19-36% in 2 years, the 2024 NATCEN survey of actually gave the figure as 39%, so the change isn’t as dramatic. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

1/2 Over the last few decades, most Britons have come to accept a civic rather than ethnic/racial definition of Britishness. Cases like this, so easily manipulated by racists, put that definition under strain. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Let 2026 be the year small ‘c’ social conservatives here realise that the threat to their civilization is not from the ‘woke’ or Islam, but from a resurgent, international fascism whose UK face is Nigel Farage. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Dan Wootton & friends lied SO MANY TIMES in their rant about me! "Lucy Connolly never incited riots" Yorkshire police say yes. "Femi didn't join Greens" Did in October "Remainers ruined Brexit" Farage & Boris backed deal "Femi never had job" LinkedIn

It’s not that Trump doesn’t understand that if a ceasefire were to be broken, it would only be by Putin; it’s that he doesn’t care. His motivation isn’t a lasting peace. It’s what resources he can grab and a Nobel Peace Prize. Normal diplomacy doesn’t apply. www.thetimes.com/world/russia...

if they're so concerned perhaps funds can be recovered from the (vast) sums tendered in this exercise? api.parliament.uk/historic-han... www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/