More I think about it, the more that Mandelson comes to define the first 18 months of this government. Not just the obvious error that was bringing him back, but also that this was considered necessary in the absence of better ideas. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Hopefully it’s a public hearing

Here’s Steve Bannon meeting Orban in May 2018 during his European ‘Movement manoeuvres’, backed by Epstein. Oh, and who is that Brit joining him?

It’s like a Wikileaks dump of evil. Rich men getting high on transgression, and caught in a web of kompromat. Aided by women like Ghislaine. A dark dark moment when we have to question our humanity

Dead right: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/psychopath.... Which is why we need strong incentives/constraints to ensure they behave.

Epstein, Trump, Musk & the silence of self-appointed ‘protectors’ of ‘our girls’. tinyurl.com/4rrn2mkx

With Palantir and Mandelson both back in the news, it’s worth revisiting this — the Epstein/Mandelson/Thiel connection, and how Mandelson’s lobbying company introduced Starmer to the Palantir team bylinetimes.com/2025/09/12/p...

Out of interest, please define a “proper Brexit”, so far it’s been a lot of flag waving and little else

“The first hint that something untoward was going on surfaced on July 24,1987, just after Trump returned from the Soviet Union, when an article appeared in a highly unlikely venue, the Executive Intelligence Review, strongly suggested something mysterious was going on between the Kremlin and Trump”

There's to be a new 1st time buyers ISA… so what happens if you've a LISA or Help to Buy ISA! Plus... Is AI good for consumers? Section 75 Mastermind and more, all in my new podcast. Do have a listen podcasts.APPLE.com/gb/podcast/t... open.SPOTIFY.com/show/6tsU1yc... www.BBC.co.uk/sounds/brand...

👏👏

Two things Starmer appears to have on foreign but not domestic policy - a reasonable view of the situation (middle power needs to work with all, but can prioritise) and an effective, focused Number 10 team working with departments. As I say, doesn't extend to trade sadly...

Keir Starmer is as oddly surefooted internationally as he is directionless in domestic policy, his correct rejection of the silly "the UK must choose" takes - as a medium power in an inter-connected world sorry no - a refreshing change to drift elsewhere. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Add the role of social media to this. Cambridge Analytics did the data work to target people on social media. Russia provided the accounts, strategy and propaganda expertise. Social media companies looked the other way. Facebook famously took payment in rubles.

I think if you want to mark the moment for Labour’s series of problems in Government, it stems from the moment when Sue Gray was sacked in preference for Morgan McSweeney. Winning an internal or general vote is not the same as governing.

New YouGov poll gives Reform its lowest lead since last April. RFM: 25% (+1) LAB: 21% (+2) CON: 17% (-1) GRN: 16% (-1) LDM: 14% (=) Looks like hoovering up a series of deeply unpopular, disgraced former Conservative ministers isn't quite the massive vote winning strategy that was predicted

Full EU membership should be put to the public at the next election. It's time to return home. inews.co.uk/opinion/rejo...

The Telegraph’s political editor is saying, more subtly, what others are saying brutally.

But he is a racist, they make no reference to that

I see an outright racist is running in a by-election and I humbly suggest that is exactly the term we all use

The people of Gorton & Denton deserve much better than an opportunist extremist using their community as a platform for his own career. HOPE not hate will be actively campaigning to make sure Matthew Goodwin does not get elected.

He's the former Health Secretary, mayor of one of the UK's biggest cities and is currently the most popular Labour politician in the country. Whatever you think of Burnham, he pretty easily clears the hurdle for candidate for a winnable Labour seat.

Blocking one of the few actually popular politicians left in the party, on the basis of naked self-interest looks terrible, particularly if Labour go on to lose the seat Imagine if Cameron had done the same when Boris Johnson bid to leave City Hall for Westminster

Blocking Andy Burnham from standing in Gorton would not only look terrible for Starmer but it would also risk handing the seat to Reform, which could be enough to tip Labour MPs over the edge

This week, an X user created an AI video of me being chloroformed and prepared for rape. Victims are told it's not real and they're getting offended for no reason. But nudification tools are weapons of sexual assault, and the harm they cause is real 👇 jessasato.substack.com/p/ai-nudific...

No. Don't push for stronger UK ties with the EU because Trump is a narcissistic thin skinned bully increasingly showing signs of dementia. Making anything long term about him isn't right. Got to be a decision about the UK being an integral part of Europe. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Hilarious🤣 Bet Carney is heartbroken

Mark Carney's Speech Showed America and Britain the Sort of Global Leadership They Have Now Abandoned – my latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/01/21/m...

And if these thoughts are in any way interesting... well with ECIPE colleagues we are looking at further work, but here is the last written contribution on the current state of globalisation... bsky.app/profile/davi...

24% of people who voted Labour at the last general election now plan to vote Green or Lib Dem. 0% of those who voted Reform at the last election now plan to vote Labour.

Afraid Janan Ganesh nails it rather well. "Status-anxious countries have to puff themselves up. It is a rare superpower that takes decline well." Applies to both the US and EU. www.ft.com/content/014e...

"[T]his newspaper applauds Prince Harry for daring to confront one of the biggest, under-reported, ongoing, scandals of our time: that we have an entire power bloc in this country, which can impact all of our lives, that receives hardly any scrutiny. Not of its owners, intentions or consequences"

“We have embedded a notorious US military surveillance company whose founder is a close ally of President Trump into the heart of our military at a moment in which the US is threatening to invade our NATO ally, Greenland.” – @carolecadwalla.bsky.social on Palantir https://bit.ly/4sHG9al

Of course, if there was a painless, guaranteed way in which Europe could make Trump change course, then sure... but better to be realistic about the genuine options and not fall into playing according to the rules (or not) of others.

The only way to stop the spiral is to hit the US hard with escalating economic weapons from Europes side. The goal is to raise political costs for Trumps imperial project. Europe can win this game of chicken as there’s real opposition in the US to this Trump hobby.

All key European leaders now said they won’t go along with this. So if the objective was coercion it has already failed. (This is not a US miscalculation- its a very Trumpian one).

Now that’s a great deal 👏

So reciprocal tariffs and boycotts on all US goods until he stops threatening to colonise a peaceful European-owned country

Haphazard bans in a few sectors are not a security policy, once again Europe gives every impression it has no idea how to handle the fact that China is and will remain an economic superpower.

Existing US trade deals with the UK and EU are obviously now null and void just to add to the confusion.

How to deal with a superpower and security anchor gone mad? There is no good answer to US demands and threats over Greenland. Advantage China and everyone away from Europe and North America. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1...

What’s wrong with these people😞

'So we thought we'd give them a chance to do it again'

Pure class

Clear case of myopia

Might be one of the most important weeks in global developments for many years. But obviously some bloke changing political parties in the UK is more important... www.politico.eu/article/carn...

Yeah. Unfortunately UK media can’t see further than Farage😞

Mark Carney is explaining the new world in a way that is beyond any other leader I've heard speak. Hard to think of more than a handful of politicians with this level of awareness across Europe as a whole.

Do Labour need to win voters that are currently planning to vote for Reform? Of course. Do they also need to stop alienating the much larger bank of voters who their strategy has lost over the past couple of years? Also yes. Does the Blue Labour strategy help with either of these? Self-evidently not

This political era is not really about winning converts. It is about bloc equilibrium. Labour has more to lose shedding voters to the Greens than it does gaining voters from Reform. open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...