Very important piece from Sam. Labour have been literally hopeless in many areas but its childlike faith in the monorail sellers is perhaps the most dangerous.

strikes me that one of the most obvious things this government should do is properly resource regulators. There’s a gigantic gap between law and its enforcement, yet politicians always focus on announcing new rules rather than applying the old ones www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Harry Cole is a traitor who should be interned

Glad the government has listened and done this.

📣 We also want to see: 1️⃣ Reform of the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Committee which puts rules in place preventing the ruling party of the day from having majority membership. 2️⃣ The appointment of a senior judge to Chair the Electoral Commission.

🎉 Really positive news coming from parliament that the government will scrap the Strategy and Policy Statement for the @electoralcommission.org.uk. ⚠️ We previously warned about the risks of keeping the statement in place in our report, Democracy in Danger 🧵 ⬇️

🗳️ Today, MPs will be debating the second reading of the Representation of the People Bill. One of the big things on the agenda will be adding a ban on crypto donations to the Bill – something that we’ve been at the forefront of calling for over many months ⬇️ 🧵

Tiniest violins for the many European tax exiles and gangsters who never quite understood how much of a geopolitical house of cards the UAE is

Because of course BVI is involved in some way. The unwillingness of Whitehall and Westminster to get a grip on Caribbean tax havens under UK oversight is one of the great systemic scandals of British politics

I can't remember a time when every party was trying so hard not to win the next election.

So much that could be said on the 4th anniversary of the full scale invasion, but it all just boils down to the ultimate admiration for Ukrainians who have endured so much, fought so hard and deserve victory, peace and prosperity. Slava Ukraini!

Edward Lucas is dead right. If Epstein had been British he’d never have been exposed. Our libel law is an ongoing disgrace. www.thetimes.com/article/1786...

Here's a new Q&A paper I have put together with the @spotlightcorruption.org team on why the UK government should implement a full ban on crypto donations in UK politics, including addressing the emerging threat of party political memecoins 🪙🪙🪙 www.spotlightcorruption.org/report/brief...

It's not just my sector though. How can a strong case for Britain be made to the rest of the world if the people tasked with making it in FCDO and British Council face a constant ratchet of shrinking budgets and personnel numbers.

Oh, one last thing on this: I'm really interested in the folk from my generational cohort who are pointing either up (to the over 65s) or down (to the kids) as the people who are "the problem" online, when, um, it's obviously us? The current state of the Internet is literally our fault.

🤔 Fancy doing my job? You won't be bored and #corruption seems to be one of the UK's few growth industries right now! There's just a couple of days left to apply. Details below 👇

🤔 Fancy doing my job? You won't be bored and #corruption seems to be one of the UK's few growth industries right now! There's just a couple of days left to apply. Details below 👇

👏 Great to see strong cross-party support for an innovative way to secure sorely needed funding for law enforcement to fight economic crime in last week’s debate on the Crime & Policing Bill. Here’s Crossbench Peer Lord Cromwell making a compelling case for an Economic Crime Fighting Fund (ECFF).

People rightly want Peter Mandelson to face accountability. But the UK law for prosecuting misconduct in public office is weak & the new Ethics and Integrity Commission lacks statutory standing. 👉Here @suehawley.bsky.social explains how a key parliamentary bill should address both these issues.

⚖️ We’re at court today for the first test of the new #economiccrime #SLAPPs strike out power, as @danneidle.bsky.social asks the judge to throw out an £8m libel claim by Setu Kamal, a tax barrister whose alleged role in a tax avoidance scheme was the subject of a report by Tax Policy Associates.

No-one seems to have noticed, but many of the core developments in the Mandelson/Epstein story these last few days have been broken on this website. @pickardje.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social are both posting each breaking development on BlueSky, not X.

I find the apathy about Trump’s wholesale corruption - by US and overseas institutions- among the most perturbing indicators about our current era.

💥 With public opinion of politicians at rock bottom, the government must urgently commit to root-and-branch reform of the way standards in public life are regulated or risk the future of the UK’s democracy, says @suehawley.bsky.social.

Darren Jones says there's a lack of clarity about non-corporate communication channels (ie WhatsApp, gmail) inside govt - I don't think it's unclear, if you're in the cabinet don't send sensitive info onto your personal email and then onto your mates.

If some random MP's can meme Al Carns to leader on the basis, essentially, he was in the military we can meme Yuan Yang leadership from Bluesky on the basis of her dog.

👇 If anyone in Downing Street is looking for some bright ideas for the PM's ethics statement right now, this article has you covered.

Most politicians and advisers seem to way underestimate the stakes they're playing with. The fantasists, conspiracists and wreckers of Reform UK deeply sympathise with the dictators we face. Idea of them with executive power and access to the panoply of state functions dwarfs most else we've faced.

It’s quite astonishing. Few things surprise me anymore but the way HMG has gone in just over a decade from the world leader in digital government and data analysis to now being an incompetent and creditor purchaser of magic beans and monorails is truly scandalous.

5/5 PMs with approval ratings of measles isn't just a feature of failed leadership. It's Brexit Britain. There's no money for anything people want and were promised they would have, and no one can blame the people who got us into this mess because they got 52% of the vote (let alone reverse it).

Yet this is a government with three years left to run and an enormous Commons majority. For all the problems, there is an enormous opportunity there for someone with the political nous to take it and use it.

“The US administration is on a crusade to save Europe... They have a real soft spot for the UK but feel it is under threat from dark forces that are spreading across Europe.” we're good thanks, lads. as.ft.com/r/b90c2e15-9...

FT exclusive: “The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions and challenge perceived threats to free speech.” via @annasophiegross.bsky.social and colleagues

🚨 Why bringing misconduct in public office charges against Lord Mandelson faces major hurdles ⛔ Why the changes in the #HillsboroughBill probably won't help 💥 And what needs to happen next if we're to restore integrity to British politics Read @suehawley.bsky.social's analysis 👇

I’m somewhat serious when I say time ripe for gutsy government to do sweeping modernisation of everything. New building for Parliament, savage restrictions on lobbying & revolving door, Lords reform. Coordinate radical slimming-down of royal family with King. Pluto to have planet status restored &c.

Yeah, completely agree on all points. Bad advisors always reflect badly on the principal, but in this specific case one of the principal's big flaws is 'he is dogwalked by his staff', so he might just get lucky in who dogwalks him.

Asked 'when Gov is going to issue a new Strategy & Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission', minister answers without confirming expressly any plans to do so. May be a hint that Gov position is shifting to consider repeal of controversial power to direct EC's priorities in Elections Act 2022.

My mum had bombs dropped on her as a child. My dad bled on a beach in battle. I'm not yet bored of rules-based coexistence, because anger isn't the same as education, history isn't a comic, and interesting times don't just happen to someone else.

It represents a spectacular failure of the UK’s vetting process that Peter Mandelson managed to be appointed as US ambassador. This also might have been career-ending for the PM if Mandelson was still in office now. He is very lucky his chief of staff didn’t get his way when he fought to keep him.

🧑‍⚖️ The trial of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Nigerian minister for petroleum resources, kicked off in London today. She stands accused of awarding government contracts worth millions to high-profile businessmen in return for bribes whilst she sat at the helm of Nigeria’s booming oil industry.

Liz Truss waiting patiently by her phone for Reform to ring, not realising it's actually a penguin biscuit

Billionaire tech moguls who love to tell Forbes profilers and audiences Techcrunch what committed liberatarians they are collectively decided masked federal government kill teams enjoying absolute legal immunity are a price worth paying for a regulatory environment more enabling of crypto.

This is your society if the state is so weak it can't step in and your policymaking community are so pathetically craven they can't or won't enforce the law. Will get far worse unless the UK and EU finally put their foot down. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"in most cases, these videos appear to have been filmed secretly - using Meta smart glasses." Argh for the love of god BAN. THE. PERVERT GLASSES.

Starmer maybe rightly doesn’t take bait each time but he needs an outrider - a semi-licensed “off message” attack dog - to make Haw-Haw Farage pay for sucking up to the guy who denigrates British war dead.

There is such huge opportunity cost to each Trump tantrum. So many people with critical jobs have lost another week when they could have been doing something useful.

Main impression after 2 days in London: any politician, official or commentator who now prioritizes party politics, petty scores or their personal career advancement over dealing with this crisis should find a new job. Time to be serious. As a lot of serious people have said for a very long time.

My basic take is: there are three viable routes for the UK to take: MAGA outpost, this Cold War’s Vienna, back within the EU in some way. And they all hurt, and they all involve making an argument to the public, and we won’t know where the public will land when the argument is made. But TINA.

👇 Come and do my job at Spotlight! It's a fantastic opportunity to work with brilliant people tackling an important issue that affects us all. #anticorruption @charitycomms.bsky.social