"A conservative network led by Michael Gove and Nigel Farage’s senior adviser James Orr has spent more than half a million pounds pushing far-right and anti-trans voices – some of it fuelled by profits from Russian oil."

It's almost like being fabulously rich doesn't make you happy or well adjusted. It's almost like it makes you sad and lonely. And leaves you forever casting about for scapegoats to offset your deep self-loathing. Thank you Jim Ratcliffe and Elon Musk for these important life lessons.

Someone told me lately "Bluesky is just like Twitter." I argued that was untrue on the basis that last time I had a Twitter account most times I got a new follower their bio said "single & looking for fun" & here when I get a new follower it tends to say something like "professor of rare moths".

Ratcliffe again providing a reminder that the real group that doesn’t integrate and doesn’t live up to ‘British values’ like tolerance and honesty’ are the billionaires.

The Lib Dems suffer from being too worthy and unexciting. It might a hang-over from being in government and feeling the need to be more sensible than Reform or the Greens, but the party needs a stronger story about how it will change people's lives for the better, told in a more compelling way.

Jim Ratcliffe, himself a migrant to Monaco to avoid paying his fair share of UK tax, and who supported Brexit which has so damaged the British economy, is yet another millionaire oligarch backing the far right to further line his pockets

In the last few years we lost Luke Perry, Shannen Doherty, Michelle Trachtenberg, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, now James Van Der Beek. I’m sure I forgot someone but it hurts seeing so many names I grew up with leave us at such a young age.

James Van Der Beek was part of one of the most influential shows of a certain era, a show that loomed large to a certain generation of critics. Beyond that, he was talented, willing to poke fun at himself & seemed like a good man. Extremely sad news. Way, way too young. 💚 people.com/james-van-de...

This couldn’t be clearer. Bannon’s texts to Epstein in mid July 2018 - “overthrowing May right now” and in “London with Boris” as well as his appearance on LBC with Nigel Farage are prettying damning evidence of a cross party plot with foreign backing

NEGUSE: AG Bondi, that man works for you now, right? The man in that video from J6 yelling 'kill them!' at cops. His name is Jared Wise. BONDI: He does work for us, yes. I believe he was pardoned NEGUSE: And you expect hard-working police officers to believe you take law enforcement seriously?

Epstein survivors raise their hands to signal they've been ignored by Trump's DOJ as AG Pam Bondi refuses to look at them (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty)

Farage, Johnson and Mogg need to be investigated and held accountable for working with foreign actors to subvert British democracy. Not just with the US but with Russia too. Treasonous, duplicitous, amoral charlatans.

Nigel Farage thinks Britain isn't productive because nobody goes into the office anymore. Which will come as a blow to one particular MP ... called Nigel Farage.

Reform by-election candidate Matt Goodwin, who has spent years talking about free speech and all that crap chickened out of a hustings today. As you can see - ALL the other candidates turned up

Reform UK approached Bangor University to ask whether Sarah Pochin (Reform MP) could come to debate. They said no, and this is the response they get Reform would behave exactly as Donald Trump. Don't agree with them, and they will penalise, threaten, defund, and cancel you. They are proto fascists.

Farage also wants to replace the civil service with political appointees, FYI.

For someone who wants to end working from home, Cameo Nigel can be strangely productive if there’s an easy payday in it for him 😬

No-one seems to have noticed, but many of the core developments in the Mandelson/Epstein story these last few days have been broken on this website. @pickardje.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social are both posting each breaking development on BlueSky, not X.

So basically, the TL;DR for Reform policy is misery: * Misery if you’re a migrant/non-white; * Misery if you’re Muslim; * Misery if you’re young/on minimum wage; * Misery if you’re a woman; * Misery if you’re disabled/a parent/a carer or otherwise need flexible working. Vote Reform, be miserable.

v1.116 is rolling out now! For all the overthinkers and perfectionists out there, we're launching Drafts.

You know who can also testify as to what was happening with Epstein and don’t need clemency? His victims.

🎯

The party that just want to love and protect women and girls strikes again

Since Labour has been in government the lack of preparation and depth of thinking has been apparent but I think one of the biggest mistakes was going to war with the PLP so early. It stunned a lot of MPs to be told they could not even table amendments. This resentment is a massive part of the story.

Hate-filled fake videos about London are everywhere. We've obtained a recording of a TikToker confessing to secretly filming Londoners in their homes for clicks. He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger. Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...

Pls read whole piece. Neither Mandelson or Mosley were asked about Mandelson’s role in fixing Starmer’s visit to Palantir & subsequent £240m deal. It finally made headlines on Weds when a q was asked in Parliament. But honestly, BBC also has qs to answer open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

McSweeney didn't win the election for Starmer - we did! McSweeney has done everything in his power to alienate us ever since. If Starmer chooses his new advisor well he could become the leader we thought we were voting for.

I enjoy the way that in this photo our cats look like a hip-hop duo quite a lot of people quite liked in 1996 who have made a comeback record, done an interview with a broadsheet newspaper and are attempting to prove they are still serious and relevant.

[watching curling] after 1 min: ugh this is dull 10 min: spin on that stone is off 30 mins: three in the house means nothing if your centre guard is ripe for a pick and roll 1 hour: SWEEP BITCH SWEEP

Just had a fringe cut in for the first time in a decade, worried I look slightly like Pob.

Goodwin is two announcements away from ranting about 'childless cat ladies'. We have to ensure these alt-right views so beloved of Trump stay out of all our lives here

Another column from Marina Hyde in which she urges everyone to focus on the real Epstein scandal - the mass abuse of women by powerful men. Spot on. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

That £240m contract Palantir won after Peter Mandelson took Keir Starmer to visit them? Government asserts "there were robust processes in place to ensure that government contracts are awarded fairly and transparently" but the award notice says it was a "directed award", ie without any competition.

BREAKING: Gordon Brown defends Keir Starmer "I can look in his eyes and see he is a man of integrity. "He wants to do the right things. Perhaps he has been too slow to do the right things. But he must do the right things now. "Lets judge what he does"

The Trump administration is creating a "slush fund" to turbocharge MAGA groups in the UK and EU, according to the FT. This is code fucking red for democracy.

Watched “My Mom Jayne” on the way home, Mariska Hargitay‘s documentary about her mum, Jayne Mansfield. What a brilliant film about a talented and hugely underestimated woman - and about the power of family, in all its forms. I cried like a baby on the plane.

1. It was not an accident. 2. It was not a staffer. 3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia. 4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares. 5. His base agrees with him. 6. He will do it again. 7. No one in power will hold him accountable.

Just a word of thanks to our fantastic media. Despite my racist bullying at school, having a senior colleague imprisoned for being a traitor, breaking the MP’s Code Of Conduct 17 times, my dodgy house purchase and even being in the Epstein Files, nobody is demanding I resign!

Mamdani: "I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her were, 'I'm not mad at you.' I speak of Alex Pretti who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. ICE shot him bc he did something they could never fathom ... let us offer a new path: one of defiance through compassion."

Powerful white men once equated Black people with monkeys to justify their abduction, deportation, enslavement, lynching and segregation. The heinous image that Trump shared is explicit racism. There is no nowhere for his supporters to hide. Supporting him is incompatible with basic human decency.

Why is every scandal existential for Starmer? Because he has actively worked to eradicate his own support base. And that, along with the Mandelson decision, can be laid at McSweeney's door iandunt.substack.com/p/starmers-m...

Bang on the money: “Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history.” Trump is determined to be remembered as a 'great man'. His curse is that he won't be. www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

I was working with @direthoughts.com when he broke the first stories about Labour Together's funding way back in 2021. Now it turns out they were paying private investigators to investigate him for reporting on them and Morgan McSweeney knew about it democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...

Remember the controversy when Obama was accused of intervening in UK politics? This is the current US government openly seeking to undermine liberal democracy in Europe.

What’s even the point in watching then

It’s possible to understand why Starmer hired Mandelson (Trump), still think it was a really bad idea AND also think he doesn’t need to resign over it. When did a bit of circumspection become so unpopular? It’s supposed to be a Very British Quality.

It’s his game

The behaviour of those British people associated with Epstein was absolutely despicable - but where are those Americans associated with Epstein being held accountable for their behaviour? There’s something very big missing here.