Unhook ourselves from oil and gas and we unhook ourselves from dependency on dictators, autocrats and expansionist regimes all over the planet. Renewables and other low-carbon energy sources are not just good climate sense. They are also good political sense.

Hopefully this is the first step and will be backed up by enforcement.

FTSE at record highs and the pound rising at the same time. This doesn't happen often, they usually go in opposite directions.

Starmer's tweet couldn't be clearer but a bit awkward when one of the main government comms platforms literally does this as a feature now

The current geopolitical situation keeps making me think of the moment in The Fellowship of the Ring where Elrond says to the Council of Elrond "you will unite or you will fall". But who is our Elrond, and where is Gandalf? Musk is obviously Saruman and Putin is Sauron.

Starmer backs Danish PM in saying Trump has no right to any claim over Greenland - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

As a follow up, because a lot of the predictably outrage responses are about "appeasement", I would add that resistance or appeasement, dependence or detatchment, they reside in action - often quiet, deliberate action that takes time - rather than strident public statement.

You also don't escape it, by punching your abuser, while the door is locked.

So Ukraine can't attack Putin's residence but Trump can attack the Venezuelan Defence Ministers house? The hypocrisy is out of this world.

Well that's at least two Labour MPs with a conscience. I hope this is the beginning of the end for X in the UK (and Europe).

The Government coming off X is the bare minimum and realistically at this point I think we should seriously be looking at taking enforcement action against the company, in line with the Online Safety Act and VAWG Strategy. I will be pressing the Government on this when Parliament returns next week.

There is, to my mind, no justification for the continued use by the UK Government of X as a platform for official comms. There hasn't been for some time, in fact, but if the latest developments around AI-generated image abuse and CSAM don't change the policy I really don't know what will.

A good point that media outlets misreport this story if they give agency to the AI Grok itself - which generates contradictory statenents whenever prompted to do so www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...

Even just a post saying these reports are extremely concerning and we are urgently looking into it would do but the silence is disgusting.

Several French government ministers have reported the unlawful production of sexualised material without consent to the police and prosecutors. The UK government, which published a high profile strategy on misogyny just before Christmas, has yet to say or do anything www.politico.eu/article/fran...

French authorities will investigate the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence platform Grok on X, the Paris prosecutor's office told POLITICO.

X/grok creating and platforming sexually explicit material of children isn’t just a lapse, it’s criminal. Elon Musk and his companies should be held to account. It’s been over a year since I dumped X. It was the right decision then and even more so now. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Why is Trump reading these names out like he's never met these people before?

Since David Frost has NEVER been right about anything at any point when it comes to Brexit, this feels like a strong endorsement for our participation in Erasmus.

Can't think of a stronger endorsement for Erasmus.

The Telegraph: now advocates for mutiny. The enemy within.

HURRAH! Petitions are crap at making gov'ts do things they don't want to. But they are good for two things: First, making them explain why they won't do something, but second (and more important) nudging/giving them permission to do something they DO want, but that's been crowded out bandwidth-wise.

Three days ago Starmer was arguing that the UK shouldn’t think about rejoining the EU because it would unpick all these great US trade deals.

Utter stupidity from both the car manufacturers and the EU. Might as well say "here you go China, we didn't like our car manufacturers anyway." Those companies pushing this will be dead by 2035 if they don't invest heavily now.

Please remember this next time you hear Nigel Farage and Reform say we must leave the ECHR to control our borders

It’s not him being a teenage Nazi that’s the issue here: it’s that he’s still one now, he has been throughout and his politics are those of the racist, fascist far right. The difference between him and e.g. Griffin is that Farage knows where the line is and that he should push at it, not cross it.

This is the same group that seems to have an open invitation to appear on every single BBC political programme going, without ever declaring their funding

🔴 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 👇

It is absolutely wild that the guy who won’t stop yelling about law and order is now personally stepping in to keep January 6 documents hidden from the police officers who were attacked that day. He knows exactly what’s in those files and he is terrified the country will see it.

Just want to highlight this point as it won't be well known - key advisers (sherpas) to European / allied countries will be in regular touch and trying to agree how to handle every Trumpian madness. The result isn't pretty, but arguably it could be a lot worse.

Time to move.

Finally, a foe worthy of her talents.

Anyone noticed how UK media is a lot less obsessed with Farage’s alleged antisemitism than Corbyn’s alleged antisemitism? Odd that.

Truly shocking that Rachel Reeves had the audacity to call herself the U14 girls chess champions when she won the U14 girls chess championship but some bloke thought she was talking about something else.

Nicked this from the ever wonderful Alex Andreou, Chris Mason waxing lyrical about the run up to Hunt's budget in February 2024, quite the contrast eh.

This is how Chris Mason, like a child filled with wonder, described "the choreography and theatre that surrounds a Budget" in Feb 2024, when a male Tory Chancellor was in post. "Plans, or even just options, can be floated... Reaction to them can be tested. Opponents can be teased or wrongfooted." 👀

Is Farage still facing scrutiny over his partner’s £885k Frinton home. Is it aggressive tax avoidance? Has he misled voters? Where’s the transparency? What’s happening? Just asking questions. #FrintonGate

I wonder if it's time to retire the role of "political editor" altogether Return most of the coverage to the Economics Editor, the Health Editor, the Home Affairs team & so on. Leave the "who-said-what-to-whom" & "what-does-it-mean-for-the-polls" to others. The BBC doesn't need to foreground this.

Hang on a sec, if the OBR had not downgraded productivity by £16bn Rachel Reeves would have had £20bn fiscal headroom based on last years budget. The exact amount most commentators said she should have budgeted for. So.. she was right and everyone else was actually wrong? @bestforbritain.org

Rats in a sack

Another good episode this week. I think I agree with @sturdyalex.bsky.social re 2028 election. Interest rates will be about 3%, Govt borrowing costs down giving more headroom and allowing them to cancel the tax freeze. Masses of renewables due online by 2028, will be Net Zero on grid at times.

“Speaking outside his chateau in France, former Brexit Party and UKIP MEP Coburn…”

And here's David Coburn again in the European Parliament accusing the EU of "unwarranted imperialism in the Ukraine" Coburn denies taking any money from Russia to make these statements www.youtube.com/watch?v=52W7...

And Here's David Coburn on Russian state television accusing the EU of "interfering in the Russian sphere of influence" on Ukraine www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJS...

Here's UKIP's former Scottish leader David Coburn, who has denied taking Russian bribes after being named in Whatsapp messages between Nathan Gill and a pawn of the Putin administration, being applauded by Gill for arguing against Ukraine's entry to the EU

A question for the Sunday supplement. Why did Reeves get such bad press about her relatively small fiscal headroom but Hunt didn't? Despite Hunt cutting NI and leaving himself even less fiscal headroom. @bestforbritain.org

Interesting that Reeves has been hounded by critics over the relatively low fiscal headroom and yet I don't remember the same happening to Hunt, even when he cut NI despite it being unfeasible. Why is that?

Woman to woman, I can tell Kemi she’s coming across as that really nasty cow at school who spends her time bitching and bullying other girls and ends up sitting on her own at lunch.