Thank God for Bluesky: A little love letter to the people who would not compromise with Nazis iandunt.substack.com/p/thank-god-...

Ukraine was not told what happened. "Our task now is to obtain complete information about what has been said in Russia and what other reasons Putin has found to prolong the war and to pressure Ukraine, to pressure us, our independence," Volodymyr Zelensky said in an evening address from Kyiv"

Here's a great piece on the subject of who's paying for spivvy Nigel from @petergeoghegan.bsky.social. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/75-of-refo...

European natural gas.. down 43% YTD #TTF_F

The Trump administration released its latest National Security Strategy--and one thing that can be said is that there is no more pretending. It’s a plan to weaken European unity, to make Europe MAGA, to force Europe to take economic dictation by the USA…. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

this story isn’t going away www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Last year Sky News was rending its garments over Starmer's free eyeglasses: WHAT INFLUENCE DID LORD ALLI BUY? Now, RefUK get £9m from a crypto bro, they have not one word about the donor's interests; just BRAVO NIGEL, barely concealed glee, and "what a huge boost... money goes where momentum is". 🤡

GB News is nothing short of a hate-filled propaganda arm for the far-right

Reform gets largest ever political donation by an individual in UK history from a crypto baron living in Thailand This is not normal www.ft.com/content/db73...

We kept the receipts. These comments, taken together, paint a picture of the man he is today.

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." 👀

🇩🇪🇺🇦🇺🇸 German General Christian Freuding says the most unsettling change in Europe isn’t happening on the battlefield but in Washington, - The Atlantic The direct lines he once had to U.S. defense officials “day and night” have been “cut off—really cut off.”

So much for all that bleating about being misled by the Treasury from the BBC's political editor Chris Mason ..... www.ft.com/content/48c2...

A lot of journos got addicted to the years of chaos. It made for clicks and content and that's deeply fucking problematic if we want this country to actually work. Yes - hold the government to account and do it robustly. But partisan news coverage has leaked into mainstream from the GB news sewer.

Apparently the government trying to make the gilt market more in its favour is akin to insider trading, and the FCA should be involved, according to the tories and Dan Hodges. I mean, what the fuck are you people talking about?

The absolute state of the BBC news just now - which seems determined to drag the government down over the budget. Where was all this attention to minute detail and concern for absolute accuracy when the Tories were lying their way through their chaotic reign for 14 years? It's frankly absurd.

👏🏽"We must all now confront the reality that the Brexit deal significantly hurt our economy. We have to keep reducing frictions. We have to keep moving towards a closer relationship with the EU. And we have to be grown up about it. To accept that it will require trade-offs."👏🏽 Music to my ears. ~AA

...that we might have to reach for a manifesto breach of some significance... "As the process then continued, it became clear to me and others that we might be able to do what we needed to do with our priorities without that manifesto breach."

Government sought to manage public expectations before Budget. Shock, horror. Can't the BBC find some real news?

Anyway, here are some front pages from the day after the most disastrous fiscal event in the UK since Robert Peston started a run on Northern Rock...

Reform UK went into Durham Council promising to find huge savings. They have managed to GROW the authority's deficit by over £11m *in the last two months*. Grimes recommends “serious consideration” to increasing council tax “by the maximum 5%.” ~AA northeastbylines.co.uk/news/politic...

Rachel Reeves did not tell me what the weather would be this morning.

The press (both left and right) have been manufacturing crisis after crisis since Labour came to power. IMHO they are a big part of why we continue to stagnate and why fear of Reform dominates no10 policy. Labour need room to breathe and they aren’t getting it.

I asked someone at work why they were so angry about the budget because he just kept complaining about it. He had no idea why. Just that it was a disgrace. Mentioned something about the mansion tax despite living in a 3 bed semi down the street from me. Why has the country lost its marbles??

The Co-op is backing the government, supporting the people in our country and our farming industry. In news totally ignored by all major news outlets the Co-op has said "Today’s Budget provides the clarity & certainty that small shops and local communities have been waiting for". 1/3

The tide is turning. Even the Telegraph is now admitting the damage the Brexit deal has done to the economy.

Trump's approval ratings keep falling. My post on why the Republicans are in serious trouble. samf.substack.com/p/maga-meltd...

1/ The Wall Street Journal reports that the main focus of the US-Russia peace talks is to get commercial advantage for American companies, and personal benefits for individuals linked to the Trump Administration. European officials are said to be shocked by the plans. ⬇️

It’s clear that the primary interest of the US in “peace negotiations” is to create opportunities for Trump, Witkoff, their family members, business partners and cronies to make billions from business deals with Russia, and Ukraine is just the annoying nuisance in the way.

“But Putin will not be around forever. He might not be around for much longer. He’s perched on the top of a powder keg of his own making and he can’t get off.”

Gillian Tett: Trump went to war with Brazil's Lula, and in the end, Lula got everything he wanted, while Trump gained nothing whatsoever. This is not a unique case. Trump's trade wars are going spectacularly badly for the United States.

Net migration to Britain has fallen by almost 80% from its 2023 peak, according to data released on Thursday.

Today's migration stats illustrate the migration doom loop in action... (from my presentation at the IMF last week)

"I would never have done that" Or was it not meant to be hurtful? Which one is it Nigel? Who is lying here?

Dam right…and Cummings, Gove etc

New net migration figures at 930am. Net migration fell half a million to 344,000 in 2024 from 848k in 2023 56% of people think it went up last year 17% think stayed the same 14% think it went down 2025 figure to be lower again 16% expect that 38% think it will be up 31% about the same

Net migration to UK drops 69% www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Steve whitkoff is an actual traitor

On the other side, Ukrainians will not - cannot - quit. Taken together - that Putin has erred fatally in his overt war and the current oligarchic regime harms Russians - the problem of the war is political. But the weight of a nation's will is inexorably greater than a regime's desperation.

As for Farage’s use of racist slurs being confined to his childhood - well, that's not what Alan Sked, the founder of UKIP, claimed in this 2014 interview. He says here that Farage was using the "n" word as late as 1997. Farage would have been about 33 at time. www.theguardian.com/politics/201...

new allegation concerning Farage’s behaviour when he was 18 years old

He’s the absolute worst of us. This Thanksgiving, as you sit around the table with family & friends, be the opposite of Trump. Pledge this Thanksgiving to be the exact opposite of Trump.👇

Since Trump really start declining in early June nothing he and his regime have done have been able to stop his fall. He just keeps dropping. It's pretty remarkable.

‼️‼️

Evidence from Farage's teacher at Dulwich College to his headmaster

According to a new study from a respected US think tank, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Britain’s decision to leave the EU has meant that its GDP is between 6 per cent and 8 per cent smaller than it would have been.

If you receive legal threats from Nigel Farage for your reporting of Reform, please get in touch. We have employed a defamation lawyer specifically for this purpose and would love to help (and we do so on non-commercial terms). www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.

"Mamdani said Trump was a fascist & Trump practically got on his knees to kiss his shoes. Mark Kelly & company asked troops to not obey illegal orders & Trump called for their deaths. Both cases demonstrate that standing up to Trump without compromising works a lot better than bending the knee."