Something worth noting, sadly, is that TSG Consumer Partners - the Private Equity firm Watt/Dickie sold 22% of BrewDog to - have crazy preferential rates. If the company doesn't IPO, but instead gets sold, they get a vast percentage of the profits before any of the "Punk" crowdfund investors.

Zelensky hinting that, once again, the US might be delaying the supply of anti air missiles to Ukraine, so as to help Russia.

Student debt is a generational injustice. Why are we squeezing graduates harder than the super-rich? | Gaby Hinsliff

A prefect distillation of what privatisation gets you. A poorer, more costly service, staff treated badly and the profits going to Czech billionaire populist Daniel Křetínský. Another aspect of our critical infrastructure sold to private interests who don't give a toss if it works for us or not.

Ukrainians trust no one because we had the Budapest Memorandum Zelensky said. We gave up nukes and dozens of aircraft for security assurances. Then Russia came and nobody stopped them.

There are reports that ICE was at South Station in Boston, taking photos of everyone coming off the trains. Photos. Of everyone. When we get rid of this administration, we must also insist on destroying whatever sinister database these fucks are feeding.

I never really sign stuff. But this was different. It's not about trying to facilitate or block a particular party's route to power. It's about an electoral system that's unsuited to the political realities we face today and risks giving us government after government with no convincing mandate.

ICYMI: The big FOSS vendors don't eat their own dogfood – they pay for proprietary groupware

Dear ScotRail, why the heck do you have 1007 "advertising partners"... on a site... with no... adverts?!

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

We don’t have a functioning democracy when the people who lied to our faces to ‘get Brexit done’ are never held to account for the damage they’ve caused… and, worse still, are rewarded for life, for cynically or moronically selling our country out. They deserve nothing but our contempt. Forever.

Totally normal democracy we have here, 10/10, no notes thehill.com/homenews/med...

Sir Jim Ratcliffe lives in Monaco, which has been colonised by immigrant tax dodgers.

The UK Government has refused to consider public calls for MPs who defect or change party to automatically face a by-election 👇

National Insurance (NI) dodges. Companies pay employers' NI (ENI) on director wage. Partners of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) get share of profit, instead of wage No ENI paid. Big 4 law firms alone dodged £4bn. Billions more lost in other LLPs. No govt plugs this perk for the rich

Cities will micromanage an e-bike, but are fine with multi-ton cars being beta tested on our streets by remote workers overseas. Make it make sense.

I want a PM who when fascist cunts show up less than a mile from my house to harass refugees, making my wife (who is black) worried to walk our streets, has my back. I didn't get that from Starmer in what has been a long grinding summer and autumn of the scum gathering here.

The bottom line is that if you depend on AI to create your "art," you are beholden to a technology that is being extended to you under the mother of all bait-and-switch schemes. When your sugar daddy's bills come due and the VC cash stream dwindles, you are going to be well and truly fucked.

Funny we have enough for AI slop farms…

@mrjamesob.bsky.social See below re the Reform letter in G&D - my reply to Rob Ford's post. This is a bigger story than not having an imprint. I believe it was a deliberate attempt to deceive voters, and then the printer had to come up with a story to cover for being found out. It's not an error.

kind of funny that an olympian said they are here to represent "compassion, respect, and love for others" and some people automatically knew that was a statement against them

Trump negotiators don’t approach Russia-Ukraine talks as “if we can get Russia to stop attacking, then there will be peace.” They approach it as “if we can get Ukraine to surrender, then we can make a lot of money.”

Three years ago we made an early News Agents on the student loan scandal and the sky high marginal tax rates it creates. Three years on, govts since have made it all worse still. We’ve made a special follow up, centred on our listeners own experiences. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

UK has regressive taxes. National Insurance is no exception. Employees pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on earnings above £50,270. Net result is that basic rate taxpayers pay higher proportion of their income in NIC than those on higher incomes. No govt listens to the people

this is the question.

Quite funny that Starmer's allies are waking up to this point now … Cuts to Winter Fuel… not in the manifesto Disability benefit cuts… not in there either Cutting jury trials… also not there Digital ID… no mention Raising employers NI… nope Freezing tax threholds… nah Contracts with Palantir… no

BREAKING: Peter Mandelson just sent this secret notice to all UK media, demanding they leave him alone. He uses IPSO clauses designed to support grieving families in a bid to stop scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein We have published it in full. www.thenational.scot/news/2583451...

Once again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”

This is why we say there can be no science-as-usual now. This passage is from Peter Drucker’s essay in the Atlantic about the crossroads that science stood at during Nazism. Science doesn’t just need funding — it needs the fundamental freedoms that come with democracy. Freedom of speech. (1/3🧵)

Also, the fundamental problem, as has been pointed out time and time again by experts, is that we (in the UK) apportion road space backwards. It should be pedestrians (and disabled people) first, then people on bikes, then public transport/deliveries. And only if there is room, private cars.

I’m not sure we’ve properly addressed how profoundly disturbing it is that America can largely shrug at the stashing of human beings in giant warehouses.

ICYMI: 'The EU runs on Microsoft' – and Uncle Sam could turn it off

Officially, Boris Johnson was brought down by Chris Pincher. In reality, it was PartyGate and utter moral failure of his project. Officially Keir Starmer will be brought down by Mandelson. But he'd survive this easily if his project hadn't been so piss-weak, disappointing, and morally spineless.

Zack Polanski, "Palantir.. £240 million contract last month" "That was lobbied by Global Counsel which is Peter Mandelson's lobbying group" "The idea that a defence company from the US has its fingerprints all over our healthcare system, alongside Peter Mandelson"

Something that unsettles me here lately is that I have to look elsewhere for any sense of what’s happening in Ukraine, and what’s happening in Ukraine is very bad indeed.

Now Michael Weinberg, who spent years overseeing trust and safety at a major 3D printing service, has published a detailed technical breakdown of why this simply cannot work. blog.adafruit.com/2026/02/04/w...

I get the compromise behind a seasonal bike lane. Skeptics might be more open if it’s removed when least used. The problem: it makes it very difficult to build a culture of winter cycling. You reinforce the seasonal disparity. No winter lanes → no winter cyclists → no need for lanes in winter

In this week's column I seek to explain Keir Starmer's flat refusal to change our electoral system, even though its gross unfairness could put Reform UK in power on <30% of the vote. The reasons, I believe, are deeply cynical and disturbing. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Meanwhile, in other news. Driver travelling at 190km/h among 3,500 found speeding www.rte.ie/news/ireland... Hope that helmet and vest keeps you safe.

Just sent out this. There is a debate about whether the guardrails protecting democratic institutions in the USA are holding. Sadly they are not. When it comes to protecting against corruption, the guardrails no longer seem to exist. It could destroy the US system. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

1. In 2009 I wrote this. I argued that Peter Mandelson's department “functions as a fifth column within government, working for corporations to undermine democracy and the public interest.” This thread explains what I saw, and reaches a startling conclusion.🧵 www.monbiot.com/2009/05/04/m...

It's 1998. Peter Mandleson has resigned in disgrace from Labour. It's 2001. Peter Mandleson has resigned in disgrace from Labour. It's 2025. Peter Mandleson has resigned in disgrace from Labour. It's 2026. Peter Mandleson has resigned in disgrace from Labour.

“You cannot make a return on investment if you don’t have access to the U.S. market...” We were just starting to develop ways to harness the power of vaccines in cancer treatment. "Kennedy’s policies are 'almost like a religion' and 'anti-science.'” 🧪 www.cidrap.umn.edu/misc-emergin...

Not enough reflection on why UK economy is so much less dynamic. Nor a willingness to take a hard look in the mirror. Far too much complacency. It’s not just political leadership. Our media and universities also propagate the myth of how innovative we are. Truth: the Chinese are eating our lunch.

I am hearing that RFK Jr.’s minions are going to go after HPV vaccines. I’ve got problems with these people and now you’re going to hear about them, first from a personal perspective and then from a professional one. It all boils down to this: WE HAVE A SAFE VACCINE THAT PREVENTS CANCER.

They invaded a city with a force five times the size of the local police department, where the crime rates had been steadily declining, claiming to be restoring law and order, and killed two people in the process. If Biden did it in their town they would have been storming the US Capitol.

ICE's decision to just leave cars abandoned in the roads is one of those dystopian things that makes you recoil in shock when you encounter it.

This is absolutely shocking. Something has to be done about this appalling situation in which so many now find themselves. The government needs to act