Obviously zero reflection in any of this on how operating the largest empire in human history may have turned us into a multicultural nation. We are here because you were there. #Empireland www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Oh For Fuck’s Sake #EveryGrifter

Latest ‘Cut’ reflects on Wes Streeting’s leadership aspirations. Temporarily unpaywalled. www.healthpolicyinsight.com/cowpers-cut-...

the STORY

The Boris Johnson Fanzine never, ever lets us down.

“THE story”

I’ve resigned. Standing down was the right thing to do. I’d become the story.

"Journalism largely consists in saying 'Tim Allan has resigned' to people who never knew Tim Allan was employed" - GK Chesterton

Wales just looking

Men’s Six Nations 2026. France looking dangerous. Ireland looking like England under Eddie Jones …

I think the problem with this approach is the power of US money rapidly makes them the only ideological show in town on the right, and then regardless of domestic opposition to MAGA, you are one bad economic run from them getting power.

Epstein even helped Mandelson with his speeches... 1/2

On your last point yes 100% On the Starmer point - maybe it’s that the Mandelson/Epstein scandal on its own terms is 11/10. Huge and shocking

I think the complicating factor is it’s two scandals. One is Starmer’s (why did you appoint the Epstein guy) the other isn’t, and it’s about money - leaking market sensitive info, which would have been a scandal even if the recipient wasn’t a sex offending. The Q under aired so far I think is…

But this surely does speak to the ethics of the prime minister himself, which is why he’s been out fighting for his political life today, and one reason there’s been so much push for the correspondence etc?

I think it’s also a current scandal fwiw. It speaks to the PM’s judgment in a very particular and dangerous way and is too close to the bone in terms of what voters suspect. The doing of it is a scandal borne of a previous govt, the indifference/recklessness in the face of it is this one’s

Two. Am nervous about an assumption that maximal release of documents is always and definitely right. We need to protect the privacy of the vetting process. We have careful disclosure rules about criminal offences for good reason. In the heat of scandal and drama we need to keep our heads

One. This is a massive scandal for the govt of 2008 and Mandelson. But it’s not a Starmer govt “scandal”. The crisis for the govt is about the PM and advisers’ judgement. That is deep, but it’s not a scandal. We need to focus on what this actually does and doesn’t mean about the PM and his operation

If you want a break from snow or ICE, I have a #longread in the current @harpers.bsky.social about a mystical drift through London. Includes Blake, Hawksmoor, the Sex Pistols, Derek Jarman, John Dee and conversations with Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair harpers.org/archive/2026...

“In our experience, it usually does take quite a while for prosecutors, justice departments and governments to sit up and take notice of what Private Eye has been saying all along.” 🧵4/5

Ian Hislop, Private Eye’s editor, said: “It’s nice to see that Private Eye was getting close enough to the truth fifteen years ago to make some really appalling people – and their fine upstanding legal representatives – nervous. 🧵3/5

…over a cover it printed in March 2011 referring to the controversy over the paedophile sex trafficker’s friendship with the then Duke and Duchess of York. 🧵2/5

PRIVATE EYE NAMED IN EPSTEIN FILES In the latest files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein released by the US Justice Department, the Eye is denounced as “an absolute rag of a publication” by Epstein’s then lawyer, Paul Tweed… 🧵1/5

The irony that it is Groundhog today is apposite.

Bad news first, or really bad news? The bad news is that the latest BMA resident doctors ballot for further industrial action in support of the 2008 Pay Differential Historical Re-Enactment Society saw 93% (or 26,696) of BMA member resident doctors voting yes. www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-ce...

I would say 1. Management systems need managers not “front line staff” 2. Management systems need systems designed and implemented by guess who. This is a classic example of short term savings leading to long term costs. But I think you knew that.

It also appears to misunderstand that 80% of waiting list removals do not happen at the hospital admission and treatment stage. As the Public Account Committee pointed out last year: www.hsj.co.uk/daily-insigh...

The hours of meetings I have sat in over the years discussing what in effect was gaming have been brought back in stark reality. Waiting for a osteoarthritis LH MRI at Warwick H and helpfully said Id take a short notice cancellation. Got offered two that I couldn't make and have been told....

This is a quite spectacular miss of the point. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

One key point from Richard - that ongoing support for Ukraine is essential.

When Jim Mackey finishes his interim stint in charge of the NHS in England, the Department For Health But Social Care will be looking for a new national figurehead. But who could be the perfect person for the job? [coughs] news.sky.com/share/12317159

the oldest adage in journalism is “follow the money” new in the FT:

Bless. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...

OPCW found "a chemical warfare agent and its degradation product" in a sample "collected in August 2025 from deteriorated barrels buried under the soil" at a Chemical Weapons related location previously not declared by the Assad regime opcw.org/sites/defaul... [pdf]

"We'll take our stand for this land & the stranger in our midst..." Powerful. Brutal. Inspirational. A loving tribute to Renée Good, Alex Pretti & the good people of Minneapolis. Plus, it name-checks all the villains: the Puppy Killer🐶, Pee-Wee German🇩🇪, the Orange Atrocity🍊💩 & above all: ICE🧊🚫 1/

Aah. Instagram would like me to subscribe. No. cheerio.

The people of Minnesota have executed one of the most impressive civil resistance campaigns I can remember: - Organized a city wide general strike - Maintained nonviolent discipline amidst violence - Mobilized 10,000s in subzero temps to protest and watch ICE - Flipped public opinion against ICE

Ain’t no media briefing like a Wes Streeting media briefing.

We need to get out good, verified information to the public as rapidly as possible, so counteract populist, conspiratorial, and authoritarian narratives that are produced by systems that work well in our modern information environment.

The events of the last 24 hours show why it's important to build functional verification structures in public and counterpublic spaces to resist the authoritarian erosion of our democratic systems, as described in this thread.

I’m allies of Wes Streeting.

CNN put together a clip of JD Vance claiming ICE agents have "absolute immunity" followed by him two weeks later claiming "I didn't say that officers who engage in wrongdoing would enjoy immunity"

Very good piece by @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/airport-bo...

A thousand times this. If we want to take defence spending from circa 2.5% of GDP to circa 3.5-4% of GDP the question isn’t “how do we pay for it?”. That’s the easy bit - a combination of taxes and borrowing. The real question is about real resources and what do we want to do less of?

🚨Rare and exciting opportunity 🚨 We're looking to hire an exceptional economist to work on fiscal policy at the IFS. We don't do this often. It's a chance to shape, carry out and communicate research on some of the highest-profile topics in UK economic policy. [1/4]

Terrific column by @duncanrobinson.bsky.social:

This is basically why I think Labour's choice to punt social care into the election year will bite them. To get re-elected you basically needed moderate economic growth, people could get a doctor's appointment the same week and fewer potholes.