This. Unfortunately, one of the most societally damaging aspects of social media is also one of the simplest: the fact that you can directly monetise your activity means that grifters are incentivised to spam whatever will maximise attention, regardless of truth, ethics or anything else.

Men saying *now* they have the women as their priority. No. It was a transaction - they knew #Mandelson friends with Epstein. They decided to risk a dodgy bloke who could swim with other dodgy blokes in the White House. Women weren’t the priority then. We rarely are unless it’s politically useful.

The House of Lords is at the heart of our democracy. It urgently needs reform. Whether it be assisted dying filibustering or the fallout from Mandelson’s treacherous behaviour, this isn’t an academic debate. The lack of adequate procedure & accountability in the Lords is damaging our democracy.

Reform-run Kent council accused of fabricating £40m net zero savings

So as I struggled with miscarriage after miscarriage before having my 🌈 baby, Reform would seriously think I should pay more tax during that agony. This policy isn’t just a slippery slope to a handmaids tale dystopian future - it’s a deliberate step towards it www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Shared by Forces News. Everyone should watch this and insist your friends watch it too. Putin’s mind games: How Britains Enemies are Weaponising Fake News. youtu.be/DoisL5Qa6b0?...

A petition has been started by assisted dying campaigner Sophie Blake - who has incurable secondary breast cancer - to stop the Lords from frustrating bills approved by MPs. Peers are currently debating the assisted dying bill at a snail’s pace. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75...

Reform’s Matthew Goodwin’s big idea would punish millions of women and strip them of their basic dignity to choose.   Even more dumfounding is that Nigel Farage appears to agree with it.   This is the kind of divisive politics we must stand against.

🚨 🧵 1/ The Peter Mandelson affair reaffirms that Britain still has major issues around undue influence and peerage processes. So today we have called for a clearout of other peers who have behaved egregiously, and for wider reforms to the House of Lords.

They genuinely thought it would be some mad conspirational council mass producing LGBT+ propaganda or something, when in fact they'd just taken over a massive adult and child social care firm.

Reform councillors in Kent told the FT that they were surprised not to find lavish spending on wokeness from their predecessors Another councillor has resigned from his role lesding "DOGE", regretting his comments to the newspaper acknowledging the challenges www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...

Reform councillors where either naïve or dishonest- so ran on the idea that there was lots of waste & that they could freeze council tax with no cost. Instead once in power they have increased council tax & cut key services.

This quote from a Reform UK councillor sums it up beautifully. Cross-boundary moral outrages, exported online and sold (especially, but not exclusively) to generations that grew up before the internet, are such a central feature of radicalisation today. www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...

Another really chunky subject today, that it is great to see being raised in Westminster. Can’t promise any singing, from me* or any of our expert witnesses *for which everyone will be grateful. Some of my colleagues can definitely sing a lot more skillfully

The money that the government is using to lift the Two-Child Cap is technically the gambling levy - Remote Gaming & Remote Betting duties This partly offsets gambling’s harm to the poorest kids We need to support pubs much more, but this is perverse and incoherent www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

So his “lapse of judgement” seems to be that he said: “we haven’t cut front-line services other than what the Conservatives had already planned to do” So Kent-Dodge was itself a waste of money and effort? Everyone told them that before they started

Lesley is an incredible campaigner. It’s a privilege to know her. He love for Aaron shines so brightly and his loss is heart-rending We’ve got to fully shift to a public health lens as the core policy model when managing online systems that cause this level of harm www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Chaotic carnival of chancers latest: - Jenrick and Braverman vote FOR the abolition of the two child limit while the other four Reform MPs vote against - and of course Farage doesn’t even bother turning up to do his job

My broad view is there is as big, or bigger, issue with older adults and social media as with young people - and that social media bans are just a sticking plaster that allows us to ignore the wider issue. Ultimately we need proper regulation and enforcement, not bans which allow us to ostrich

We'll question Baroness Merron, the Women’s Health Minister, and senior officials during the final evidence session of this inquiry. It's likely to cover online information for girls and young women about menstrual and gynaecological health and other topics. Tuesday 3 Feb, 2pm.

How is it that a church warden behind an interior design firm originally incorporated in the BVIs & tied to a Kazakh billionaire can make a £200,000 donation to Reform UK? Source of funds not disclosed. Farage has questions to answer. The Electoral Commission must investigate.

It is quite striking that Konstantin Kisin simply denied (falsely) on BBC1 that he had said what he said, word for word, on his podcast.

As I said last week, if you've reached a position which logically implies "Shirley Bassey isn't Welsh" then you need to go back and check the working until you find the logical error

When you pass a report banning Conversion Practices at the Council of Europe 👏 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺 🔥

The Reform Party chair of Warks County Council has been exposed as a slum landlord. He let out two HMOs that had no central heating or hot water - amongst other problems. They were so bad that Tamworth Council closed them with emergency prohibition orders. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today’s Prison Capacity Statement reveals the truth. Without Labour’s prison building and sentencing reforms, our law and order system would be in crisis. Criminals left to roam the streets. Victims abandoned. Reform & the Tories are not credible in opposing our changes. 👇

Do women have enough information about the process and possible health impacts of egg donation and freezing? We're taking evidence for our new inquiry. Find out more about the public hearing with experts and academics: committees.parliament.uk/event/25662/...

Today marked the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. A moment to remember the millions murdered in the Holocaust, to listen to survivors, and to renew our commitment to “Never Again” through action, education, and compassion.

We promised in our manifesto to “tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rent charges”. We’re honouring that commitment today by legislating to cap ground rents at £250 per year, changing to peppercorn after 40 years.

Arguably more significant than defections, internal party politics and the Beckhams… In 2024 there were around 3,600 suspected cases of measles. We need to challenge the nonsense spread by anti vaxxers and ensure children are protected. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... news.sky.com/story/uk-los...

Victims *must* be at the heart of the Service Justice System and we are strengthening protections and improving accountability to do just that in our Armed Forces Bill. This is a no-fail mission for me. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

A lot of total nonsense being talked on graduates today. Here’s the facts: 1) there was a rise in graduate inactivity UNDER the Tories 2) graduate inactivity has FALLEN under this government 3) The result is the graduate inactivity rate is currently the LOWEST on record

#OnThisDay 168 years ago the East Kent Railway (predecessor of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway) opened between Chatham and Faversham via Rainham, Sittingbourne and Teynham (Gillingham and Newington opened later). Sittingbourne is the oldest surviving LC&DR building (Google).

Donald Trump’s comments on our brave military and armed forces are disgraceful and he should apologise. 457 British service men and women were killed in Afghanistan, the second highest number of military deaths during the conflict, while thousands were injured in the line of duty. (1/2)

I stopped today at the Afghanistan panel of the Brothers in Arms memorial wall in Sunderland. British forces fought on the front line of Afghanistan. 457 were killed, including those from #Sunderland who we will never forget. Donald Trump’s comments are as appalling as they are wrong.

Having actual veterans of Afghanistan like @louisesandherjones.bsky.social and @alcarns.bsky.social as ministers in our British government, telling it like it is, will hopefully remind our allies exactly how much NATO countries have need to have each others’ backs, in the past and the future

I worked very closely with the US on my tour in Afghan & our national partnership is deeply rooted in personal bonds formed in experiences that only soldiers know. In today's world, our allies matter more than ever. We need to value our partners, focus on the challenges ahead, & rise to meet them

NATO Article V has been triggered only once: by the US after 9/11. When our ally called, we in the UK didn't hesitate to stand with them. 636 British men & women paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan, with many more living with their injuries today.

To hopefully reassure Alison, certainly in Parliament there are people like me and @chionwurah.bsky.social who are calling for the evidence to be reviewed properly (including understanding gaps) and to not move to a knee jerk response. Young people's evidence must be part of this.

Will be starting this session in less than 30 min So far this inquiry has been really powerful and frankly refreshing. More great, open, blunt and matter of fact conversations today hopefully

We're grateful to @kevinmckenna.co.uk MP for organising yesterday’s debate and for his continued support for families bereaved by gambling-related suicide, including his constituent Lesley.

Our thanks to @kevinmckenna.co.uk MP who has been a brilliant & supportive MP to one of the GwL families & a strong advocate for gambling reform. Kevin has secured an important Westminster Hall debate on gambling harm, taking place this afternoon. www.bigissue.com/opinion/gamb...

🗞️Read my recent article in the Big Issue here: www.bigissue.com/opinion/gamb...

Really looking forwards to some fantastic expert voices coming along and giving us their insights into young people and community cohesion Starting now

We're assessing the role of youth services and community sport as part of our inquiry on community cohesion. Joining us at 2.20pm on 14 January are senior representatives of youth services and sports organisations. Find out more and watch online: committees.parliament.uk/event/25660/...

For Sittingbourne and Sheppey this means 💷 Money Cheaper bills ✅ More British jobs ✅ More power for growing industries ✅ 🇬🇧 Security Increased energy resilience ✅ Less overseas gas ✅ Reduced sea rise risk to Sheppey and our coast ✅ Don’t let greedy oil funded anti-Net-Zero obsessives threaten this

We’ve just secured the largest amount of offshore wind in any auction ever in Britain - enough to power the equivalent of 12 million homes. In Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 the first offshore wind project in three years has been successful - a landmark moment demonstrating our commitment to the whole of the UK.

Utterly horrifying news from Iran, and it sounds like the information we’re getting internationally may well only be the tip of the iceberg. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Remarkable that these people apparently want to trumpet the UK’s independence while appearing to wish that Germany had successfully annexed it in 1940