Violent, racist, tax dodging, far-right resident of Dubai says that, if he doesn't win the next contest to be Mayor of London, he will advocate for civil disobedience to overturn the democratic outcome of the election.

Typical households would save £138 a year under forecast drop in energy price cap

The Tories’ Shadow Attorney General, Lord Wolfson, is representing Roman Abramovich in a legal case that is delaying the transfer of £2.5bn of assets to benefit the people of Ukraine. I’ve written to Kemi Badenoch about the conflicts of interest this raises. 👇

Keir Starmer should simply say that he inherited the Abd El-Fattah case from the Conservatives and made the mistake of assuming that previous Tory governments, who had given him British nationality and asked Egypt to release him, had made the necessary basic checks before doing so.

So after the Conservatives spend years accusing Keir Starmer of betraying Britain in his work as a former Human Right's lawyer, Kemi Badenoch's own Shadow Attorney General in the Lords takes a job representing a sanctioned Russian oligarch

This just in: Shopping footfall was up by over 4% this boxing day compared with 2024. It’s almost like all the media doom and gloom is made up.

This was the government's position on "human rights defender" Abd El-Fattah in 2023, while Robert Jenrick sat in cabinet, Cleverly was Foreign Sec, and Sunak was PM - a position confirmed no fewer than ten times on the floor of both the Commons and the Lords. Did Bob object back then? Thought not.

Less than one minute, this took.

📝 The one from Substack I’m most pleased with from 2025. Primarily because people rarely make the comparison between Farage and Johnson, despite the fact they share the same brand of elitist, chaotic, egomaniac politics 👇🏻

Morning all! Ivor remained asleep until 6am, bless him. Just had a look and we tipped 20k, which is magnificent. I’m going to repost some pix that I missed while slumbering. Thank you thank you #DuvetKnowItsChristmas www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

A reminder - the BBC charter renewal process has begun! The government have opened up a consultation on it and you can all have your say. I've already responded. Don't miss out on this opportunity. open.substack.com/pub/warrenoa...

Tomorrow evening it’ll be my annual duty to vaguely shepherd the activity on the #duvetknowitschristmas hashtag and urge people to give small sums to charity. 7.30pm? Something like that?

This is what Reform UK does. “These closures are nothing short of a betrayal of local people and staff.” “Derbyshire county council did not stand before the electorate last May pledging to shut care homes." https://bit.ly/4pOeD9h

An email by "A" from "Balmoral" asked Jeffrey Epstein's then partner Ghislaine Maxwell for "inappropriate friends", new documents released by the US Department of Justice show The sender asks: "Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?" and the sign-off reads: "See ya A xxx"

Email from "A" in "Balmoral" asked Ghislaine Maxwell for "inappropriate friends" 🤢 www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3...

Simon Jones BBC: ‘Six immigration officers have been charged with offences after an investigation into thefts from migrants+money laundering. Five of the officers are facing charges including conspiracy to steal+misconduct in public office. All six have been charged with money-laundering offences.”

I really think this borders on disinformation. Someone actively thought: "NAH. Too positive. Let's feed the discord angle."

Imposed against the council’s will, Lord Houchen’s MDC has collapsed, leaving wasted millions and unanswered questions | Andy McDonald

A little stocking filler for the they're-all-the-same crowd.

This is and always has been a pointless quango. Made no difference to the Tories’ decisions, prioritises lifeboats for the few rather than material improvements for the many, and is now criticising a Labour government with a substantial evidenced child poverty strategy

shout out the guardian photo editor one time

You don’t have more than 25 teachers and pupils talk about your racist conduct if there isn’t something to it Time for Farage to clean house - get rid of the racists and the Russian money

You might miss it, mainstream media aren’t talking about it - but Labour have delivered a shed load of things already - more to come.

🚨 The DOJ appears to have redacted Donald Trump’s name from the allegations made in this exhibit in the Epstein files. Trump’s name was in the original release. Now, it’s blacked out. See for yourself.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 21 Artist: CF Tunnicliffe (What to Look for in Winter, 1959)

Favourite Stations Meet Andreya, a dancer & photographer who features in many of my Tube Mapper photos. Her favourite station is Piccadilly Circus. I've started a new branch of the Tube Mapper project exploring people's favourite stations or stops on the London Underground Tube Map.

This is the most monumental construction - wonderful to see it progress week in, week out

“The New York Times contacted Ms. Farmer about a report stamped with the date of Sept. 3, 1996. She broke down in tears. “I’ve waited 30 years,” she said. “I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar anymore.”

Epstein victims broke down in tears after newly released files showed the FBI ignored a child pornography complaint decades ago.

Entertaining as this spat is, it contains not-a-flicker of recognition as to WHY this might be happening. For 16 months, a tax-exile-oligarch-owned, mostly right-wing press, has abused the privilege of these exclusive private sessions, to misrepresent the gov't on every issue. This is the FO stage.

Tommy Robinson confronted by Muslim boxer in Dubai.

Tommy Robinson gets embarrassed in Dubai. It's so funny, he gets banged to rights.

HUGE NEWS from the new Epstein files: Records show that Maria Farmer, who worked for Epstein, filed a "child pornography" report to the FBI in 1996. The FBI has never before acknowledged that complaint. The case went nowhere, and mass abuse followed. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...

I think this is well established. See para 3 here (a nice summary of the evidence) www.gov.uk/government/p...

Jeffrey Epstein & David Walliams leading all the bulletins but Kemi Badenoch knows that only men from ‘different cultures’ pose a threat to women.

Here's my review of 2025. It's a story of how collective action helped lift over half a million kids out of poverty, and how even in the toughest of times a better future is possible. medium.com/@DanPaskins/...

An inevitable outcome of monetizing social media content and prioritising engagement

"Kemi Badenoch has to use people like me to give her any kind of relevance," @jessphillipsmp.bsky.social tells @lewisgoodall.com, responding to Badenoch's criticism of her handling of violence against women & girls. "She should probably apologise to the girls who might have been raped."

Powerful and brilliant from Jess Phillips. Badenoch is a bone idle, dog-whistling, rabble rousing charlatan, devoid of scruple or knowledge, addicted to Twitter and entirely unfit for public office

This is an inspired appointment. He is the complete professional. For the last three years, he’s been at the epicentre of constant crises as FCDO Political Director, always calm, resilient and constructive. No wonder he is highly respected by his international peers 1/2 www.gov.uk/government/n...

Uh, Kemi, I went to a secondary with three non-white kids in it and when I was 11 I was regularly surrounded by all but one of the boys in my class, shoved up against a wall and groped. Of course it is possible that British boys’ behaviour has improved since the late 80s. I hope so!

A third of 16-18 year olds girls say in surveys that they experienced unwanted sexual touching at school. There are several hundred rapes reported in schools every year.

Suspect some female Tory MPs are quietly dying inside at this. When you’re so desperate to get in a bit of gratuitous foreigner-bashing that you find yourself arguing *against* preventative strategies that try to prevent sexual violence, ffs, what have you become?

Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence

The BMA are offering their own staff just 2%. All as they are taking their members out on strike over a deal worth more. It's hypocrisy: pure and simple. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My suggestion to the BBC has been that every day in prime time they broadcast a 10 minute extract of a recent Trump speech, unedited, in all its shambling incoherence, until he agrees to withdraw his lawsuit and pay costs. And he has to hand the cheque to Sadiq Khan.

Adam, who asked Reuters to withhold his surname for privacy reasons, is part of an emerging network of mainly right-wing videographers both stoking and profiting from widespread anger in Britain over the use of the hotels to house asylum seekers reut.rs/4pI88Fb

So in the past 24 hours ‘blue’ Labour have delivered: The employment rights bill The planning and infrastructure bill Rejoining Erasmus The Johnson/Farage Russian investigation Inflation at 3.2% It’s all over the headlines but Starmer or something