Sting slams Brexit as an ‘act of folly’ during French TV appearance 'We're only just beginning to understand how stupid it was” www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/sting-t...

Most of the replies are complaining that he limited his deportation demands to Pakistanis rather than all Muslims. Utter utter cesspit.

Trump fails to overturn $5m damages award to E Jean Carroll for defamation

Hearing this from quite a few people in Reform UK-controlled councils. From a local reader: "There are rumours as in other Reform UK controlled councils that a number of those elected stood to ‘make up numbers’ & never thought they would be elected & now don’t feel able to commit the time required"

Things aren't going well for Reform...

The reporting has been abysmal by the Brexity brigade. Alastair Campbell - “It is quite something that the chief minister of Gibraltar is having to spend much of the day rebutting distortions and fiction in our media.” Brexiteers and pro-Brexit media sharing misleading claims? Whatever next…

“They (Reform UK) voted against •stronger SSP • the right to guaranteed hours • protection from unfair dismissal • stronger protections for pregnant mothers • a package worth £600 for poorest workers.. We’re backing British workers, they vote against them at every turn” PM Keir Starmer #PMQS 👏

Vietnam was the first so-called “living room war,” watched on TV and seen through remarkable photography. Photojournalists captured the war’s most personal moments, the best and worst of human nature. See the photos, 50 years after the war ended. nyti.ms/4iG1Kd0

'The biggest cause of hospital admission for 5 to 9 year old's is to have their decaying teeth removed' Health Minister Stephen Kinnock explains a scheme for schools & nursery staff in the most deprived areas of England to supervise young children while they brush their teeth 👏

“That’s why Tate got the following he got. So maybe I’m part of a similar phenomenon..." Nigel Farage, July 2024.

I'm quite surprised that Farage has opened himself up to being attacked on Ukraine again. He's said it all before but he and the party know it damaged them at the end of the election campaign and he had been being fairly careful over the last few weeks.

Priti Patel goes studs up on Nigel Farage’s critique of Zelenskyy - proper shift in gear in Tories criticising Reform, and Patel v much leading that charge

Dear Sir Keir – an urgent request for you to lead a European response to America’s betrayal of Ukraine | Paul Ryder @westenglandbylines.co.uk

Delighted to present CAC report at #WestMids #Labour Conference this morning - and to meet up with many friends, old and new, from across the Region

“Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what needs to be fixed? Does it keep you awake at night?” @vicderbyshire.bsky.social asks Health Secretary Wes Streeting about the scale of challenge his department faces to improve the NHS. #Newsnight

Spot on from @privateeyenews.bsky.social?

It’s impossible to convey how bad it is in US. No agency, or programme spared. Administration bulldozing the constitution. Congress supine. Courts too slow. Officials terrified, their life’s work trashed, careers ended, expertise gone. Damage around world. US reputation and partnerships destroyed.

There are no basic standards in the modern Tory party. Not of respectability, or intellectual consistency, or mortality. So it will now say anything - anything at all - if it echoes what that madman in the White House is doing.

What a lovely evening at the Future Coops conference here in #Lichfield. Great opportunity to network with fellow cooperators & to turn local challenges into opportunities. Thanks #FC2025

Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers. This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

NEW: Trump has just signed an Executive Order to declassify the files related to the JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations. Presumably Trump’s new love of transparency will mean he’ll release the files held by the US Government on Jeffrey Epstein. Right?

Never been a more important time to stand up for the last remaining honest media. @bylinesnetwork.co.uk @theguardian.com

Never has the fake 'patriotism' of the British right-wing tabloid press been more powerfully displayed than this week

100% worth a read 👇

🔴All the Big Government Reforms the Media Hasn’t Been Telling You About Why you won’t have read much about these announcements over the past few weeks bylinetimes.com/2024/12/20/l...

Do it!

Takes a few seconds to vote. No need to tick boxes or add emails

‘Fiscal Nimbyism Makes It Far Harder to Fix Public Services’ Fed by an irresponsible media, neither voters nor political leaders are willing to accept the trade-offs inherent in fiscal choices, writes Chris Grey in his monthly column for the Byline Times print edition

New Christmas lights just went up in Clacton. (Farage is still the MP who makes most money from second jobs. By a long way.)

What a surprise… As water companies are set to hike our bills by 21% Annunziata Rees-Mogg comes out to bat for… Their shareholders.

Fascism always starts subtly—until it doesn’t. Billionaires funding radical politics aren’t just a threat; they’re an attack on democracy itself | Natacha Kennedy

"Thames Water’s accounts shows that there has never been a year since privatisation when shareholders contributed more cash than they took out." 💩

Shelter condemns ‘shocking’ 14% rise in homelessness across England Charity says soaring private rents, rising evictions and lack of affordable social housing are to blame www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

Farmers protesting to help preserve an inheritance tax loophole that’s led to them having to compete with the ultra-rich for farmland, at the expense of tenant farmers. The new system gives them a vastly more generous inheritance tax system than everyone else, plus ten years to pay.

This will probably come as no surprise to anyone but… www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/media/o...

Border blunder: French pupils denied entry to the UK due to a trivial post-Brexit form error. A 500-mile trip wasted, children disappointed, tourism lost, and goodwill gone. Is this really what we voted for?

County council set to hand residents across Staffordshire a 4.99% council tax hike

13 complaints, whether from "middle class women of a certain age" or anyone else, is huge. One is more than enough 🤨

Lichfield MP votes in favour of bill to legalise assisted dying

Since when did "pled", as in "pled guilty", become past tense for "pleaded", BBC news and others? #AskingforEnglishteacherfriends 🤔

This move is a reversal of successive Govts’ policy since 2010 which has in effect removed deprivation-based formula. Although change= winners & losers, there’s a clear rationale & detail to bring forward wider measures to stabilise funding is good overall... www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

Boris Johnson promised farmers that “subsidies would stay 100% guaranteed”. The National Farmers’ Union council was overwhelmingly in support of ‘Remain’, but decided not to campaign, as it would upset some of their larger farmers who were cheering Brexit.

Ever been Royally had? Even the farmers own union knew it would be a disaster and still it was supported. #VoteSmarter

"...more than a million older people say they go over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member." 😥

KemiKaze her own worst enemy after another scattergun PMQs | John Crace

Don’t miss your last chance to buy tickets to see London’s dazzling fireworks this NYE, in partnership with the London Eye. The last remaining tickets will be available from Monday 2 December at midday 🗓️ Remember: the only way to enjoy this spectacular show in person is to buy a ticket.

🔴The Sheer Scale of the Conservative Local Government Auditing Scandal Is Only Now Becoming Clear Billions of pounds in spending remains unaccounted for, with the National Audit Office unable to sign off the nation’s accounts, reports @davidhencke.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2024/11/27/t...

Now this is an interesting story via Reuters. Quietly, without fanfare, several British police forces have largely withdrawn from X as concerns over the promotion of violence & extreme content persist. Reuters surveyed Police & found 8 different forces have hugely scaled back presence on X.