🧵 @jburnmurdoch.ft.com is spot on about the conditions in his FT piece. Liberal democracy held it together thanks to growth, good demographics, and the promise of a better future. Those days are gone, and that’s the "why" behind the erosion. However...

The most impressive meeting in Davos is with the Ukrainian war heroes. They share experiences from the battle field. Their bravery and innovative capacity is outstanding. These are the defenders of freedom and security in Europe, and deserve our full attention and support! 🇳🇱🇺🇦

If Nigel Farage cannot keep his Commons register up to date (again), how could he run the country well. And when will find out how his partner had £850k to buy a constituency house? Standards Commissioner weak again. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

BBC R4 Six o'clock news analysis this evening was very poor. Chris Mason claimed British politics are 'fracturing' over Greenland, while it was only the outlier Farage who supports Trump's claim. Sarah Smith on the Trump's Davos speech ignored all the historical and other errors.

"The challenge is not to stay in business; it is to stay in journalism.” Me, last year. www.cjr.org/feature/thir...

Drax of Drax Hall paperback is published today. From all good booksellers, Pluto and Amazon. Please repost

It’s breathtaking the speed the the desperately seeking Regime Change Right (RCR) have gleefully fallen in with Trump over his u-turn over Chagos. A few months ago Trump’s people supported the handing over. We have been been warned what the RCR will do.

Not for the first time, it looks like Channel 4 just handed the keys to their socials to an evil genius:

Drax of Drax Hall paperback is published today. From all good booksellers, Pluto and Amazon. Please repost

Drax of Drax Hall paperback is published today. From all good booksellers, Pluto and Amazon. Please repost!

China has quietly mobilized thousands of its fishing vessels twice in recent weeks to form massive floating barriers of at least 200 miles long, showing a new level of coordination that could give Beijing more ways to impose control in contested seas - NYT.

‘Brazen’ political influence of rich laid bare as wealth of billionaires reaches $18.3tn, says Oxfam Governments opting for oligarchy while brutally repressing protests over austerity and lack of jobs, charity report says www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

It was one of Mogg's Brexit benefits, and just like the other benefits.

By careful selection of the 'facts', the desperately seeking Regime Change Right (pro Trump) commentators have been told to bang on about the 'hypocrisy' of opposing handing over Greenland by comparing to the Chagos Islands being handed over to Mauritius. But they fail to mention:

When I lecture to students about how the apparently thriving economy of the 1920s was really a house of cards just waiting to be knocked down, one of the points I stress is how much a small number of the very rich were essentially propping up consumer spending in unsustainable ways

Rights group says Palestinian children are 'increasingly targets' as Israeli military and settler violence soars.

Without wind on the grid, prices last year would have been almost 50% higher. eciu.net/media/press-...

Israel continues to block vital necessities, such as mobile homes, as Palestinian enclave is hit by harsh weather.

World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam

I generally think reporters at outlets like the Mail need some leeway: especially early career people need jobs and experience, so have to work places they might not want to. But genuinely, I’d quit my job rather than have my byline appear next to that headline. Surely any decent person would.

NEW: Bellingcat has identified the US munition that struck a residence in Catia La Mar on January 3, killing a 79-year-old woman named Rosa Gonzalez. It was an AGM-88 series missile, which is used to strike radar-emitting targets like air defense systems. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/01...

🔴 Donald Trump is suing the BBC for $5 billion, his legal team accusing the Corporation of "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively" doctoring his January 6th speech to claim he incited violence. Here's what the President actually said that day. You decide... www.youtube.com/watch?v=3629...

"Women trying to express an opinion online, take part in public debates, or simply do their jobs as reporters are deliberately degraded and turned into sexual objects. Grok will, and does, portray them covered in white fluid – much to the delight of the trolls who occupy and fund Musk’s network."

US chicken is chlorinated because America has no animal welfare laws where poultry is concerned. It has to be chlorinated because Salmonella and e. coli run rife The EU banned that practice in 1997 and as such the UK has among the highest welfare and standards in the world. 1/2

Russian strike on #Kharkiv killed 22-year-old Anastasiia Parkhomenko and her three-year-old son Maksym. RIP. Deepest condolences. Russian ballistic attack killed five people and injured dozens more.

BBC Radio4 Broadcasting House did not discuss (so far) civilian casualties in the kidnapping of Maduro which seems to be a big omission to me. Especially when you are talking about international law. It is one to kidnap another to kill the innocent.

There is some excellent analysis of the attack on Venezuela by Jon Lee Anderson from the New Yorker. Last item on R4’s Today Programme.

Israeli forces uproot olive trees and bulldoze land near Ramallah - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-forces-uproot-olive-trees-and-bulldoze-land-near-ramallah

At a time when billionaires and oligarchs own the majority of our press, when local journalism is in decline, and social media is rife with misinformation and abuse, there has never been a greater need for citizen journalism Who funds us? No one...except you. Become a friends of Bylines supporter:

The respiratory illness RSV is common and a risk to the vulnerable. It is advised that those who might be exposed either going in or coming out of hospital, to test. I went to my local chemists (plural). None had RSV tests (looked baffled) or masks. Surely, availability would reduce demand on NHS?

Glad to see what is happening to the BBC Written Archive getting a bit more coverage. Can I suggest people use the public consultation for the BBC Charter Review to raise this issue www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/9febe15...

More than 1,000 Palestinian patients have died while awaiting treatment abroad, amid collapse of Gaza healthcare sector.

All I want for Christmas is a Brexit benefit. Have you found one yet, Jacob? (Jacob Rees-Mogg was the Minister for Brexit Benefits).

On Trump v BBC. To see my full thoughts on this www.facebook.com/groups/39728... It seems to me that the BBC should team up with other defendants who Trump is suing on similar grounds. Especially the Pulitzer Prize Board who are this week demanding widespread discovery of the President.

Thanks to Bridport Literary Festival for organising the sell out 'Drax of Drax Hall' event with Professor David Olusoga and Alan Smith. Final event in the BridLit calendar 2025, Dr Paul Lashmar was in conversation about his book with Alan Smith, First Estates Commissioner of the Church of England.

Thoughtful words from Alan Smith of the CoE. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

📣 Today the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal will hear an application on behalf of Claire Gill, a partner at the libel law firm Carter-Ruck, to strike out proceedings commenced against her by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for allegedly making an “improper threat of litigation”.

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/s...

Donald Trump’s trade tariffs have failed to hold back China's export dominance, which scaled new heights in November.

Much appreciated review of Drax of Drax Hall by the editor of the late great magazine Straight, No Chaser Paul Bradshaw on his blog. ancienttofuture.com/2025/12/05/d...

Video footage shows Israeli bulldozers forcibly uprooting hundreds of Palestinian olive trees in Qaryut, a village south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Farage at Dulwich. Trying to protect the boss, Richard Tice has dug himself a hole. He has accused 28 people of lying, suggesting they have just made the allegations up. Any of them could sue him especially if this not the first time they have described the events to other people

Because of course Henry had got the full roll call from Dulwich College and of course Trevor Phillips couldn’t even be bothered to read the stories he’s writing about