Experts question HMRC decision on Angela Rayner’s tax. Dan Neidle said "people are going to keep asking questions until Rayner is more open about what happened and why.” www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Experts question HMRC decision on Angela Rayner’s tax. Dan Neidle said "people are going to keep asking questions until Rayner is more open about what happened and why.” www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The ICO has produced proposals to cut the number of FOIs government gets. Some of these could be defended, but others would undermine FOI. The ICO should be focussing on defending FOI, not giving government the intellectual cover for a crackdown relightmyfoia.blog/2026/05/11/i...

The ICO has produced proposals to cut the number of FOIs government gets. Some of these could be defended, but others would undermine FOI. The ICO should be focussing on defending FOI, not giving government the intellectual cover for a crackdown relightmyfoia.blog/2026/05/11/i...

Following Starmer's Arts Council intervention we've found £2.8m going to those criticised for their approach to antisemitism or backing an Israel boycott described by some campaigners as a “Jew hunt”. But departments have also been funding many of the same groups... www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

A Green Party candidate arrested on suspicion of stirring racial hatred over alleged anti-semitic social media posts was elected, as was a Reform UK councillor has been suspended after suggesting Nigerians should be melted down and used to fill potholes. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

A Green Party candidate arrested on suspicion of stirring racial hatred over alleged anti-semitic social media posts was elected, as was a Reform UK councillor has been suspended after suggesting Nigerians should be melted down and used to fill potholes. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Following Starmer's Arts Council intervention we've found £2.8m going to those criticised for their approach to antisemitism or backing an Israel boycott described by some campaigners as a “Jew hunt”. But departments have also been funding many of the same groups... www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

A Times victory, following @alimitib.bsky.social b and my reporting with @occrp.org on British equipment ending up in Russian drones killing civilians in Ukraine, with a significant tightening up of restrictions on exports being circumvented via third parties. edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dyn...

A Times victory, following @alimitib.bsky.social b and my reporting with @occrp.org on British equipment ending up in Russian drones killing civilians in Ukraine, with a significant tightening up of restrictions on exports being circumvented via third parties. edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dyn...

Reform candidate praised crackdown on Hong Kong protests www.thetimes.com/article/8037...

Reform candidate praised crackdown on Hong Kong protests www.thetimes.com/article/8037...

In yet another attack on the public right to know, the Judicial Appointments Commission is seeking costs from a journalist who had the temerity to force it to respond to an FOI ruling he says it was not complying with by seeking court enforcement action. www.thetimes.com/article/8d9e...

Peter Mandelson defends lobbying Putin on behalf of Russian firm www.thetimes.com/article/c472...

Peter Mandelson defends lobbying Putin on behalf of Russian firm www.thetimes.com/article/c472...

I've written something a bit different this week, on how I used skills I normally use to get FOI responses to take on my former landlord You can read how I won back £1,100 and why people should appeal deposit deductions to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme here 👇 www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

I've written something a bit different this week, on how I used skills I normally use to get FOI responses to take on my former landlord You can read how I won back £1,100 and why people should appeal deposit deductions to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme here 👇 www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

The new chief executive of Stack BTC, the bitcoin investment firm backed by Nigel Farage, left his previous company as it paused a similar cryptocurrency strategy amid financial difficulties. With @jamesdhurley.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/business/com...

The Chinese company that spent millions of pounds with Lord Mandelson’s lobbying firm Global Counsel has been accused of taking intellectual property from a United States biotechnology company. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The Chinese company that spent millions of pounds with Lord Mandelson’s lobbying firm Global Counsel has been accused of taking intellectual property from a United States biotechnology company. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The new chief executive of Stack BTC, the bitcoin investment firm backed by Nigel Farage, left his previous company as it paused a similar cryptocurrency strategy amid financial difficulties. With @jamesdhurley.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/business/com...

The government is still pondering crippling the FOI act parliamentary questions suggest My latest blog at Relight My FOIA, on the government's refusal to put to bed speculation it still plans to kneecap the Freedom of Information Act in response to PQs relightmyfoia.blog/2026/04/17/g...

The government is still pondering crippling the FOI act parliamentary questions suggest My latest blog at Relight My FOIA, on the government's refusal to put to bed speculation it still plans to kneecap the Freedom of Information Act in response to PQs relightmyfoia.blog/2026/04/17/g...

Former environment editor of The Times Ben Webster has launched a legal claim against the Government for withholding documents pressgazette.co.uk/media_law/en...

I'm delighted to be speaking at Dataharvest this year in Mechelen, where we will be showcasing how we put together Bad Practice, a cross border investigation that exposed how banned doctors were continuing to work in other countries. dataharvest26.sched.com/event/2K5M5/... #EIJC2026

Angela Rayner could find herself liable for tax on the legal advice the Labour Party provided to her over her stamp duty saga as a benefit in kind, experts say. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Angela Rayner could find herself liable for tax on the legal advice the Labour Party provided to her over her stamp duty saga as a benefit in kind, experts say. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

I’m big enough to say when I am wrong. To that end, I’m delighted to announce the launch of the Campaign Against Freedom of Information (ANTIFOI) We must roll back this terrible piece of legislation that has allowed lazy journalists to distract government for the last 20 years

Media organisations have written to ministers to ask them to reconsider floated plans to kneecap the public right to know. “Clearly, a reduction in the cost limit would restrict access and weaken scrutiny, and risk undermining the Government’s own commitments to openness and transparency".

A firm run by a Labour council appointee once convicted of defrauding BBC Children in Need received almost £1m in public contracts despite failing to pay staff the minimum wage, The Times can reveal. @constancekampfner.bsky.social Tom Duffy and me in today's paper. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Curbing our right to know would be a blow to democracy. My Thunderer in today’s Times on floated government plans to kneecap key anti-corruption legislation by weakening FOI. www.thetimes.com/article/77a1...

Curbing our right to know would be a blow to democracy. My Thunderer in today’s Times on floated government plans to kneecap key anti-corruption legislation by weakening FOI. www.thetimes.com/article/77a1...

Excellent Sunday Times leader on the kneecapping of the public right to know currently being floated by officials Our secrecy-addicted state is at it again. It must be stopped www.thetimes.com/article/82a9...

Make no mistake that any weakening of FOI is an attack on all of our civil liberties, and would be a clear example of democratic backsliding. It is clear that the government is now seriously considering an attack on your right to know. www.ft.com/content/2c34...

Make no mistake that any weakening of FOI is an attack on all of our civil liberties, and would be a clear example of democratic backsliding. It is clear that the government is now seriously considering an attack on your right to know. www.ft.com/content/2c34...

Officials have been anonymously briefing about the threat of FOI laws to national security in the FT. I've written a blog on Relight My FOI as to why a crackdown on transparency using the vague excuse of China would be a bad move. relightmyfoia.blog/2026/03/18/p...

Officials have been anonymously briefing about the threat of FOI laws to national security in the FT. I've written a blog on Relight My FOI as to why a crackdown on transparency using the vague excuse of China would be a bad move. relightmyfoia.blog/2026/03/18/p...

An Iranian tycoon alleged to be a proxy for the Ayatollah was given permission by Barnet Council to build 33 luxury apartments in north London - without any affordable housing being required. www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

Last year Barnet Council granted planning permission for 33 luxury flats to an Iranian banker linked to Mojtaba Khamenei. He was sanctioned soon after. This being Britain, the council exempted him from affordable home rules, but made him complete bat and newt surveys www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

An Iranian tycoon alleged to be a proxy for the Ayatollah was given permission by Barnet Council to build 33 luxury apartments in north London - without any affordable housing being required. www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

Dirty money, golden postcodes: Iran’s £200m London empire. @yeomans.bsky.social and I delve through the London luxury property linked to the regime. www.thetimes.com/article/7f4d...

Dirty money, golden postcodes: Iran’s £200m London empire. @yeomans.bsky.social and I delve through the London luxury property linked to the regime. www.thetimes.com/article/7f4d...

I've been digging through the first tranche of the Mandelson files so you don't have to. You can explore the key documents here 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Andrew is to give up yet another lease, this time on East Lodge near Windsor. FOIs show he was enjoying a favourable rent there, a property used by his staff. But the Crown Estate is still refusing to say which of Andrew’s staff was living there… www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-fam...

Andrew is to give up yet another lease, this time on East Lodge near Windsor. FOIs show he was enjoying a favourable rent there, a property used by his staff. But the Crown Estate is still refusing to say which of Andrew’s staff was living there… www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-fam...

You can watch my talk at this year’s FOI Fest here! Ten FOI tips in ten minutes. youtu.be/1Vu7MYx5jyo?...

Civil service ethics head hired by civil service ‘in breach of its own ethics rules’ www.thetimes.com/article/32df...

Civil service ethics head hired by civil service ‘in breach of its own ethics rules’ www.thetimes.com/article/32df...

@georgegreenwood.bsky.social is going to give us ten #FOI tips in ten minutes. #FOIFest

I'm speaking at this today because obviously I am!