Happy New Year. I was hoping to post an early photo, but it’s still pitch dark. Nevertheless, the light will come. My wish is that this is a metaphor for the year, for all of you.

As we look forward, we should also look back on the year gone. 2025 , the year when scandals blurred into background noise and escalation became routine. The Bear reflects...

In case you were wondering, Jack Smith's testimony was the *opposite* of "total exoneration."

Peterborough City Council: fourth arrest in separate police investigation – News for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire share.google/sUSjaYqSkfHo... Just what has been going on?

’Tis the season for presents and goodwill. In Westminster, especially over the Christmas period, the giving of gifts, freebies and swanky receptions for MPs, their advisors and colleagues go into overdrive.’ Clive Lewis, MP, is concerned.

From Christmas “feelgood” stories to year-round rolling crises: here’s how newsrooms quietly shape our emotional landscape. @eastangliabylines.co.uk @peterthurlow.bsky.social

Alice Willitts’ shortlisted poetry collection explores the beauty and fragility of the Fens as rising seas threaten their future | Aidan Baker

🔴 REVEALED 🔴 The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. 📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇

Drip, drip, drip...

The Witkoff plan made headlines for demanding Ukraine give up Donbas. Less noticed: Washington would pocket half the reconstruction profits, hand Moscow a $200bn investment vehicle, and stick Europe with a $100bn bill. Using assets Europe froze. EU, you ok with this? Use them first.

Norfolk received 139 complaints about the flags but removed only one. Residents stepping in themselves have faced confrontation and even violence. eastangliabylines.co.uk/politics/loc...

The UK economy faces a worsening outlook due to a significant decline in working-age immigration, exacerbated by Brexit, according to experts A 'brain drain' is evident as 90% of the 252,000 British nationals who emigrated during the same period were of working age brexitcarnage.org/2025/12/06/b...

When the Telegraph admits Brexit is a disaster, the ground is moving. The question is: why isn’t Starmer? @eastangliabylines.co.uk @peterthurlow.bsky.social

A former teacher's letter to the editor: These children were keen and hardworking. They had big dreams. They’d be assets to any workplace or profession they joined. But I feared they would come up against brick walls... eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/educati...

Global issue that trade is becoming increasingly difficult for small companies. No small changes can fix that, would need governments to deprioritise the largest investors, and that's very unlikely. If anything, the situation is likely to get worse. www.ft.com/content/451e...

Our Land, a new documentary, interrogates the connections between land, power and a sense of belonging following the Right to Roam movement in England and Wales. It captures the tension between public campaigners fighting for greater access to nature and landowners.

It's finally happened. Christmas cancelled in Kent because Operation Raise the Colours tatty lamp post flags prevent the Christmas lights going up. www.harrietshamparishcouncil.gov.uk/community/ha...

Disappointed a politician won’t make an extreme and hasty decision in the immediate wake of a shockingly unusual event

What’s life without knee jerk legislation?

Will the RW media remember the driver and conductor of the Huntingdon attack, and how many lives they saved, the next time train companies try to eliminate staff and they strike, citing passenger safety?

Every flag left flying and every case quietly dropped tells extremists they’re winning. The authorities’ fear has become the far right’s fuel – and it’s ordinary people who pay the price. Read Peter Thurlow's analysis ⤵️ @eastangliabylines.co.uk @peterthurlow.bsky.social

The UK police and govt, local and national are a disgrace. But nothing new there. @norfolkpolice.bsky.social

Tackling it means admitting a problem. The powers that be, and that doesn't even necessarily mean the government, are not it seems so keen on drawing attention to problems, especially since many share common roots pointing at them.

The current ‘reset’ with the EU is pathetic! “By the government’s own estimate the reset of EU-UK trade will deliver just 0.3 per cent uplift to UK GDP by 2030 — less than one-tenth of the 4 per cent long-run hit to GDP that Brexit will cause, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility” FT

Italian police seize €1.3bn from Campari owner over alleged tax evasion. Won't happen in the UK? City of London Police funded by Lloyd's Bank, UK Finance. HMRC makes sweetheart deals with corporations/rich, which parliament can't examine. NAO said HMRC underestimates tax abuse by wealthy.

Without the freedom to pack up and live elsewhere else, most of us are stuck here in the UK however bad it gets. Stuck to be treated like the captive workforce we are. A capitalists dream! Thanks to Starmer, who opposes freedom of movement, that’s where we’ll stay. Workers party my arse! #RejoinEU

Brexit was, is and will always be an ongoing disaster and I will never vote for any party that doesn’t have a manifesto promise to reverse it. #RejoinEU

🚨 Here’s what Farage Doesn’t Want You To See…👇 him and Nathan Gill saying the same statements about Russia 🇷🇺 #Brexit #putin

40?! In 4 days? That’s 10 a day! Fair play to him, for all his faults, nobody could accuse him of being idle.

🔴 NEW: High levels of faecal bacteria were recorded at dozens of Scotland’s best beaches this summer. Campaigners say swimmers and paddlers could be at risk, but ministers and regulators insist water quality remains high. Our latest: theferret.scot/scott...

Bots, AI memes and Reform councillors: How foreign Facebook pages are hijacking UK patriotism

Great investigation of the Nazis, racists and criminals mobilising the flag-on-lamp-posts movement. This is the kind of journalism that the national media could and should have conducted: manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

Farage brags about “helping tourism” in Jaywick, Led by Donkeys light up Clacton, and Pecksniff reaches for a stiffer drink. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/pe...

Street flags meant as “patriotism” are causing attacks. A man was beaten after trying to take one down, and police dropped the investigation despite evidence. eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/co...

A few more days to respond to this:

"I’ve learned that the best books aren’t written to sell – they’re written to explore. The adventure is the writing itself." Robert Ashton tells his story

Can citizens and journalists unite to hold back authoritarianism and protect democracy? On 4th November at 7pm, join our live online event with: - George Monbiot - Nafeez Ahmed - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown - Nick Lowles Book now: bit.ly/BylinesHope

This looks really good 👍🏼

From Great Yarmouth’s legendary Hippodrome to Hertfordshire’s Halloween Haunt Fest – autumn shows are in full swing, writes Kate Viscardi. See what’s on near you ⤵️

Fake orders, fierce rows and a fractured council – Attleborough’s troubles show no sign of easing soon | Owen Sennitt, Local Democracy Reporter

At the Heverlee cemetery in Belgium, the names on the headstones speak of a shared sacrifice that must never be forgotten. Here’s how the British Embassy marked the occasion. Martin Banks reports.

When people are asked about issues affecting them and their own community, immigration was ranked only seventh – behind the cost of living, health, the economy, crime, housing and the availability of jobs Pecksniff's Diary eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/pe...

Violent mobs are intimidating communities across the region – waving flags, harassing women, and beating a man almost unconscious. Police, councils and government all look the other way. When did fear become policy? @peterthurlow.bsky.social

The wise men at the Muckrakers this week discuss who among party leaders would make the most agreeable companion in bending the elbow among the roving intelligentsia of the saloon bar... Well this & other things in this week's look at political life...

* The asylum hotel scandal Pecksniff can’t print * Immigration panic shown to be a media myth * Tory HQ admits it’s lost 131 constituency parties * Reform’s “real people” turn out to be AI inventions This and more in Pecksniff's Diary ⤵️ @eastangliabylines.co.uk @pecksniffsdiary.bsky.social

Our ancestors celebrated the new year at Hallowe’en, not in January. Samhain marked the moment between light and dark – when the old year died and the new one was born. 🌒 Find out more ⤵️ @eastangliabylines.co.uk @peterthurlow.bsky.social

"I would argue very strongly that the Conservatives and Nigel Farage, the champions of Brexit, caused the small boat crisis themselves. "It's about time that we held them to account for that." @eddavey.libdems.org.uk

Ed Davey, "We've seen evidence of Russian interference in Poland, Germany and France" Keir Starmer says it is a serious problem but refuses to agree to an investigation into Russian interference in British politics