NHS official pushed to add patient data to Palantir platform while also advising company ft.trib.al/5F32aYS

Photographer Murdo MacLeod patrols Scotland's hills with members of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, which has since 1988 published daily forecasts of the avalanche risk in six mountain areas. h/t @severincarrell.bsky.social @theguardian.com

Peter Gummer to quit House of Lords after damning conduct committee report recommends 12-month suspension over introduction of PPE company to govt and failing to cooperate with earlier inquiries. Top reporting from David Conn

From byelections to regime change: how gambling on any event fuelled the rise of prediction markets

A Whitehall scoop: A bill is coming to increase the number of paid ministers 11 new salaries will be created to bring the payroll in line w/ the average size of a modern government "The PM believes that ministerial office should not be reserved for those wealthy enough to fund it for themselves"

Completely mad proposal from the Commons to hide the names of MPs staff who have parliamentary passes which could prove invaluable to vested interests looking to buy access to Westminster. Staff members taking hospitality + freebies would no longer be identified.

astonished to find "actually, it's Tolkien" is a verbatim quote of Badenoch talking about her "orcs and goons" line, and not a sketchwriter's invention. please could her next television pool interviewer ask her to describe the goons of Middle Earth?

Head of Police Federation of England and Wales arrested on suspicion of corruption

🎉 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 🧵 ⬇️

IPSA announces MPs salaries for 26/27 increased to £98,599 - how long until Parliament decides after all it might be worth adjusting the tax thresholds and the £100k 'tax trap'?

‘Do what you really want to do while you’re still alive’: Masayoshi Takanaka, the Japanese guitar hero surfing a second wave in his 70s

The Guardian’s positive action work experience is open for applications! There are (paid) schemes for disabled, BAME, and working class wannabe journalists. Because the media needs more people like us. Info here: workwithus.theguardian.com/entry-level-...

Labour Together ‘making clean break’ after former director resigns as minister

Undercover officer 'got free romance trip to Venice' www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

"Simons described Pogrund’s treatment as 'a disgrace', although the letter does not include an apology. It also notably declines to praise the journalism or acknowledge the treatment of Paul Holden, the South African journalist and author of The Fraud [...]" - @pronouncedalva.bsky.social

Few developments: - In a statement this evening, Labour Together's new management describes the scope of APCO's report as "indefensible" - Simons said he "acted too hastily" in appointing firm - Simons's resignation letter did not address outstanding questions about earlier statements Full details:

JUST IN: Josh Simons quits government. Starmer: "to avoid any ongoing distraction from delivering the Government’s mission, you have taken the difficult decision to step aside." Laurie Magnus probe found no breach of the ministerial code. Story to follow

pipeline from @thefence.bsky.social to guardian going strong

The latest @londoncentric.media piece in the “largest mass eviction in London’s modern history” saga. The day started with @jim.londoncentric.media and I heading out for Omar Aziz’s mansion (once home to Schopenhauer) at 6 this morn. Read below open.substack.com/pub/londonce...

Had my first piece in @theguardian.com yday about the campaign of illegal interference waged by PSNI & Mi5 against former BBC journalist Vincent Kearney. Reading this paper everyday, cover to cover since I was about ten - so I'm delighted to have written for them www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Breaking: *Asif Aziz's mass evictions of Londoners appear to be BACK ON *Sadiq Khan personally demands immediate response from the landlord *Leading homelessness charity cuts ties with the Aziz family and refuses donation *Questions over legality of paperwork www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

not even the greens would legalise whatever strength of copium they're huffing in no 10

Gorton and Denton by-election result: GRN: 40.7% (+27.5) REF: 28.7% (+14.7) LAB: 25.4% (-25.3) CON: 1.9% (-6.0) LDEM: 1.8% (-2.1) Green GAIN from Labour.

🎵 hello darkness my old friend 🎶

Very stylish podium backdrop, this. Though it does look a little like Theresa May is going to announce her latest Brexit deal (this one for real this time)

Strong language here from one of the nation’s leading constitutional experts on this legislation

Finally, it's out! We proved how rhetoric has become more hostile towards immigration in the UK, with @porcelinad.bsky.social @michaelsavage.bsky.social Garry Blight and the amazing Guardian data science team www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

Data journo jobs! The Guardian is looking for a data journalist jobs.theguardian.com/job/10037823... And a sports data visual journalist jobs.theguardian.com/job/10032205... Come and work with us!

Ministers are examining ways to ease the burden of student loans after weeks of pressure over a policy pulling more people into repayments, the Guardian understands. www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...

'Peers should be screened in full public view. Elevation to the House of Lords is a privilege. More rigorous scrutiny of who gets a job for life in the unelected upper chamber is long overdue' | ✍️ The Times View

Reform’s Danny Kruger criticises UK’s ‘totally unregulated sexual economy’ Asked what role a political party could have in undoing the sexual revolution, Kruger said: “A limited but important one.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

If you've not previously read in on Asif Aziz and Criterion Capital's influence on London, here's some of our reporting from the last year. There's many, many more stories in the works on his business activities and role in the capital. Any tips appreciated. www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

NEW: Josh Simons, under investigation over his role in allegedly smearing journalists who had written about late donations to the thinktank he led, has made a late declaration of personal donations. £2,500 donation from Trevor Chinn (who gave sums to Labour Together) declared a month late.

If any other organisation continued to treat gay people as second-class citizens, they'd be held up to public ridicule and odium, if not legal action. How does the Church of England still get away with it? www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/religi...

every clip of ministers talking about plan 2 student loan repayment thresholds irrevocably jokerfies me and I guess I cannot be alone in this. plus the postgraduate repayment threshold which has been frozen since it was introduced - 10 years ago!!

Some amazing photographs here from Tom Jenkins. www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f...

Asif Aziz's Criterion Capital halts mass eviction after London Centric uncovered what was going on. Hundreds of Londoners now receiving bizarre door-to-door visits blaming misinformation and being asked to record videos saying they don't want to be evicted. www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

‘Peter Mandelson tended his own mythology and influence over the party, of course. But many were attracted to the politics of pure means that he represented, irrespective of ends.’ Online now from the next issue: @piercepenniless.bsky.social on Mandelson and Epstein. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Met Police confirm Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Crucial point from @direthoughts.com Josh Simons says that Labour Together thought it had been the victim of a hack, including of Electoral Commission But EC hack had nothing do with donations information - as was known *two months* before he hired APCO to investigate journalists

Constitutionally Labour Together isn't part of Labour BUT the reason why it has to report donations to the Electoral Commission is because it's wholly or mainly made of Labour people trying to influence the party. Schedule 7 PPERA if you want the details www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/4...

Something new: This is a statement by the Electoral Commission from September 2023. It stated "information related to donations" to parties & non-party campaigners (e.g. Labour Together) "is held in a system not affected by this incident." That's two months before Simons commissioned APCO.

🫥 Dan Bloom at POLITICO reports that Simons accidentally leaked that Laurie Magnus was going to investigate in a message to a group chat of 2024-intake Labour MPs. The message was later deleted.

Some key questions for Josh Simons which, at time of publication, he has not answered.

following Cat's scoop: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...