Is the US about to invade Cuba? My latest substack... christinapagel.substack.com/p/is-trump-a...

A week of Republican gerrymanders youtube.com/shorts/W0AsM...

“If your neighbour’s house is on fire, you don’t wait and watch. You help to put it out before the fire spreads to yours. That’s the interconnected world we live in, and an important lesson for all politicians watching the crisis unfold.” Excellent from @profdevisridhar.bsky.social

Thousands are marching in Selma calling for a full restoration of the voting rights act.

Joanne Rowling's fellow traveller Kellie-Jay Keen is speaking at Tommy Robinson's rally tomorrow. Transphobia is the engine that pulls the train of fascism.

My latest US midterms update Republicans have added 8-11 seats through gerrymandering over the last 3 weeks - but Democrats can still win the House if every Democrat voter who can vote, votes christinapagel.substack.com/p/midterms-u...

OUR NEW BMJ editorial: Andes virus should reset WHO’s default approach to airborne risk. 🧵 1/ For severe pathogens with person-to-person transmission, the starting point should be precautionary airborne protections — not waiting for definitive proof after spread occurs. www.bmj.com/content/393/...

A round-up of Trump anti-democratic actions in just the last week that you may not have read about - from foreign aggression to domestivc nationalism to election interference to undermining science. subtitles available youtu.be/jiJjX7OtXlw

I hope I live to see the day when this is sung at Westminster. #Rejoin.

Opposition to genocide is being conflated with very real threats to Jewish people. It's not just a false smear: It stops people believing that antisemitism is real - when it is a very real menace that needs to be fought.

⚠️Airborne precautions are required!⚠️ Doctors should know better, especially seven years into an airborne pandemic!

‘Comrade Trump is the unwitting hero of a green revolution.’ This fresh take is the most uplifting news article I’ve read in a while. www.thenerve.news/p/cory-docto...

A week of corruption in Trump's America youtube.com/shorts/zvOkD...

NEW: I’ve written a call to arms. Journalists are being murdered in unprecedented numbers by a Western ally that operates with total impunity. Enough. Publishers & editors have failed us. But if we can’t speak up about this, what is journalism even for? open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

More info about the studies blocked here: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

BREAKING: FDA Fears Vaccine Safety Study May Undermine Public Anxiety

If you made more noise about Polanski than Farage you're the problem - you. The struggle of Jewish people for safety and dignity is absolutely not helped by them being instrumentalised by our unscrupulous media.

Read the thread.

A week following the Trump administration's assault on truth youtube.com/shorts/-BUHs...

This is so terrific! Pithy and on point. Farage’s owners……

I was devastated to discover that PHS have today reduced the frequency of COVID wastewater reporting to 4-weekly. We were at record lows in Scotland, and at zero in Shetland, allowing some freedom for immunocompromised folk. But now we don’t know. A lot can change in 4 wks. 😢

Delighted to be on this panel yesterday at Westminster, discussing the important new report by @99organisation.bsky.social & @mrmarkethomas.bsky.social on steps UK can take to protect its liberal democracy. Read more here 99-percent.org/defending-uk...

The Palantir pipeline also includes 4 members of the House of Lords, the ex head of MI6, 2 generals & a former chief adviser to the PM. 3/

The UK govt is Palantir’s 2nd biggest customer. Why? Or, more to the point, how? Our latest @thenerve_news investigation reveals a web of cronyism into the highest levels of govt. But Palantir also has a spin machine that uses political journalists to launder its PR 1/

And yesterday there’s another suspiciously timed article just as the Met is on brink of signing a Palantir contract, a slew of headlines appear about how it a trial of the software resulted in the force ‘rooting out’ ‘rogue officers’. Nice publicity if you get it! 4/

Read our new report in @thenerve.news. Palantir has been able to take root in the UK because lobbying & spinning is so easy here. We have a tiny journo-political class that incessantly overlaps, a hotbed for cronyism that’s enabled Palantir to infiltrate every aspect of state 5/

Nice move.

TEASER! A new @thenerve.news has dropped into your favourite NHS contractor that’s also involved in blowing up schools in Iran. Any guesses which?

Correct! It’s techfascist favourite, Palantir. We’ve found a revolving door of UK officials who’ve gone from the highest levels of government into Peter Thiel’s firm. Transparency experts describe it as an ‘acute risk’ for corruption www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-r...

Our new article on Trump’s mental health and whether doctors should comment on it. www.bmj.com/content/393/...

Orwellian

Shetland has finally got its own podcast thanks to the efforts of local veteran journalists Pete Bevington and Jane Moncrieff. Sheeks Aboot Shetland, designed to be a forum to discuss local issues in a “light-hearted but not light-weight” manner, has launched at the weekend. shet.news/c31nl

📌 ICYMI — Bereaved Covid Families Demand Nigel Farage Sack Conspiracy Theory Reform Candidates Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice tell the Reform leader that the conspiracy views revealed by are "an insult" to the 230,000 people who died in the pandemic

All the talk is of a blue wave in the 2026 Midterms. But Republicans do not need to get more popular to hold the House - they just need to stop enough Democrats voting in key seats. I've done a deep dive in my latest post. christinapagel.substack.com/p/how-republ...

when there's an enormous backlog of asylum claims, re-litigating all the previous 5 years seems like a really stupid way of slowing things down further. Quite apart from fact that most 'illegal' arrivals are from most repressive countries and have zero 'legal' routes! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Really sad to hear about massive drop in vaccine uptake for MMR & the huge measles outbreak of 2024 (biggest in Europe)- good article highlighting issues around convenience of access, vaccine hesitancy due to disinformation and complacency over risks of infection v disease

How Much Brain Do You Really Need

Just takes seconds. Please do vote 😃

New piece of whether uk govt had abandoned pandemic preparedness: www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...

Five ways that Trump May stage a coup: www.thenerve.news/p/donald-tru...

recent ways Trump has weaponised the state against his enemies... youtube.com/shorts/it3jI...

This is long and written in 2023 but I'm glad I spent time reading it. It touches on many of the profound societal shifts brought by the pandemic to a focal point, which continue to accelerate. We are in deep trouble. But it is not inevitable. johnsnowproject.org/insights/end...

Really helpful analysis

Essential listening 👇🏻 It feels more and more surreal, like a bad dream. But sadly it is just accurate, courageous, reporting.

I have no idea why the likes of Putin, Trump or Netenyahu thinks you can bomb a people into cooperation, loyalty or love of the nation doing the bombing. Pretty obvious it is the reverse…especially kids robbed of their parents, grandparents, siblings, homes and often limbs.

If there are any US constitution experts who'd like to volunteer to analyse the actions on the TrumpActionTracker from a constitutional perspective - please get in touch! It's a big undertaking but I think would provide an important lens. [email protected] www.trumpactiontracker.info

Latest Trump message to Iran: “Open the Fuckin’ Straight you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” This is a waterway the President has said is largely unimportant to the United States.

Translation: Net Zero threatens the value of our proprietor's investments. The world must cook for the sake of his portfolio.