EXCL: Peter Mandelson’s associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel were among concerns raised by the UK’s vetting agency when it concluded he should be denied clearance, sources tell Paul Lewis, me & @direthoughts.com www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Tony Blair on my radio doing full AI Silicon Valley boosterism Unrelatedly…. Tony Blair’s personal think tank has had or been pledged $350 million from Oracle boss Larry Ellison democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

“For here’s the thing: Knowledge does not objectively exist. It is instead an emergent set of relations developed from information exchanged between human beings…” @johnrgallagher.bsky.social on preserving the art of knowledge. meresophistry.substack.com/p/the-growth...

'Leftwing' does not have to mean fiscally loose. "More open policies on migration and Europe and a fairer tax system would be economically “left” of the present government. But they would improve the public finances and reduce the deficit." Me in @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/7235...

This then is also in part why the developing backlash against AI - more big company / government cooperation that doesn't apparently care very much about lived experience. This then is the vacancy in politics - easily filled by populists when others seem deaf.

With respect to those who say the major problem in the UK is growth / cost of living, I'm sorry but I think the way in which everyday life seems at the mercy of often completely unaccountable organisations is worse. And politicians talking in the abstract rather than lived experience.

Recent track record of James is to be right but for net migration to be marginaly lower than his model bsky.app/profile/jame...

Updated net migration projection based on latest data. Net migration may go negative without 'earned settlement', though this isn't guaranteed. With 'earned settlement', in the strict form proposed by Shabana Mahmood, negative net migration looks near certain.

From: Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977), dir. Richard Williams, Richard Williams Productions Animation by Tissa David

The Prime Minister described yesterday's migration stats as "great news". In fact, the government's current immigration strategy is both economically damaging and politicallly self-defeating. But there is a better way. Me in @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...

Short-term contracts and low pay are making careers in animation unsustainable, says their union. “It's basically impossible to buy a house and start a family.”

New immigration stats are out. Firstly, we've seen a decline in net migration of 48%, 171,000, compared to 331,000 for the previous year. This has some fairly serious, mainly negative, implications, even before Labour's draconian anti-immigration policies kick in. 1/18 www.gov.uk/government/s...

Meanwhile in the West Bank yesterday was a particular extreme day for settler violence, under IDF protection

Robert Jenrick is facing renewed scrutiny over whether he knew about illicit US donations to his Tory leadership campaign, after revelations that his wife worked as a lawyer for the British donor who allegedly arranged the money. www.ft.com/content/53e6...

#BBCNews - 'Millions' of pounds saved by replacing Palantir tech in refugee system www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Robert Jenrick's wife was warned that his campaign had accepted an unlawful donation of almost £40,000 from a convicted American fraudster, according to the Times. Police are investigating allegations that Jenrick's campaign illegally funneled the money to his campaign via a UK-based company

crucial context: Peter Mandelson was sacked from the first New Labour government for having a £373,000 *loan* (not a gift) from a Labour colleague (Geoffrey Robinson) to buy a house

By my count this is the seventh Reform councillor suspended after being elected just one week ago*, mostly for expressing direct support for Nazism or other forms of racism.

NEW: What exactly happened in the local and devolved elections in England, Scotland and Wales last week? @persuasionuk.bsky.social has some new polling out today which offers a first glimpse. Thread here on top line findings from each nation. 🧵

MPs thinking they can sound tough is the worst thing to ever happen to British politics.

If, as reported, there was some sort of dispute between Starmer and Mahmood over immigration policy, it‘s pretty clear over on the bad site who won

Labour's Immigration Bill is the most immoral and repugnant thing this Government has done. It would mean a care worker who came to this country looking after our elderly, working night shifts on low pay, would wait 10 years to apply for citizenship But an investment banker could apply in 3 years

Miatta Fahnbulleh, Jess Phillips and Alex Davies Jones; so far all 3 ministerial resignations are women, 2 directly responsible for delivering on the manifesto pledge to halve violence against women and girls. There has been real simmering anger in the women's PLP about not being listened to.

Reform UK claimed to have the “best vetting in the country”. Their candidates told a different story. Here are some with records of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, conspiracy theories and links to far-right groups. They are now in office and must be held to account. 🧵

🚨🚨 Breaking: EU leaders have for the first time ever agreed to formally sanction against #Israeli settlers over attacks on #Palestinians in the #westbank after #hungary dropped months of opposition due to change of government. www.politico.eu/article/eu-f...

Mother of hostage killed by IDF gunfire says troops were told to open fire on sight Soldiers involved in the December 2023 killing of three Israelis in Gaza told Iris Haim they were operating under broad orders to ‘shoot to kill’ www.timesofisrael.com/mother-of-ho...

Btw, instead of doing anything to the man who assaulted him, it was *Tatchell* who the police removed, saying his presence was a “breach of the peace”. (Which of course won’t stop the cheering right-wingers from claiming to be victims of the Met’s “two-tier policing”.) bsky.app/profile/beng...

Just looked at video of the Tatchell incident yesterday. Some of the thugs surrounding him from (non-Jewish) far right groups like Turning Point UK – including “Brexit” Brian Stovell, who got arrested outside my local pub for doing a Nazi salute couple of years ago. See Image alt text for details.

I knew my writing students were using AI. Their confessions led to a powerful teaching moment | Micah Nathan

Meanwhile, I'm still reeling from the fact that Richard Tice can't find it in him to condemn someone for saying that Nigerians should be melted down to fill potholes.

Here we go, it’s Richard Tice. He was cheered more than any other speaker / 5

Farage was asked for a Cameo clip to “talk about how the world is going to shit and how secret societies are controlling everything”. He appears to have volunteered several Jewish conspiracy references himself to that request. Wouldn't all hell break out if Corbyn/Polanski did this on camera too?

Yes, and even worse, I am quite sure the PM is being told that the Home Office view on migration is the single key obstacle to the closer ties he claims to want with the EU. So everyone in Brussels and Westminster can see the weakness when he can't apparently overcome this.

There is a credible route to a Clacton recall byelection over the £5m, given rule re declaring donations in 12 months pre-election if could seem related to public life/politics prob does apply. I guess there is a 75%+ chance Farage would win a Clacton byelection? Would it weaken/strengthen him?

“… Cool babies; Strange but not a stranger; Hold tight; Wait ’til the party’s over; Hold tight; We’re in for nasty weather; There has got to be a way; Burning down the house; Here’s your ticket, pack your bags; Time for jumpin’ overboard…” youtu.be/bgJ-hyzl6jg

Reform UK Councillors Gone: Updated Daniel Devaney has resigned

The “Blue Labour” strategy still being promoted by some on Labour right is premised on being able to win social conservatives while holding on to social liberals. Failure state for this strategy is failing to win social cons while alienating social liberals. Here is a map of that failure state:

Some things to bear in mind for politicians considering spouting nonsense about gilts (again) Me, 300 free clicks: - as.ft.com/r/031c1f71-5...

All of this comes down to a political project constructed out of duplo bricks - we'll give the purple brick immigration, the green one renewables, the red one workers rights and hope each doesn't see what the other got. Same internationally, we'll give the US pharma pricing and AI, Europe food etc

I am reminded of Elmer the elephant by the Birmingham political map of 2026 though the quite positive patchwork of harmony message of that storybook may be challenging to emulate in city local politics

The people "credible" on migration are the experts, people who provide services for migrants, economists who understand labour markets and migrants themselves. All ignored regularly by politicians/media, 0 funding, 0 resource, death threats and hostility. Gee whizz if only there was a solution.

personally I think it's a very big deal that the Canada bureau chief for the @nytimes.com — certainly one of the highest-paid journalists in the country — asked an unspecified "AI tool" what Poilievre said & published its AI-hallucinated quotes in her reporting.

Reform candidate who said Holocaust was a hoax wins seat in local elections Jay Cooper posted that the murder of six million Jews was 'propaganda' while also sharing 9/11 conspiracy theories www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

Breaking: it turns out that a strategy that literally every political scientist went 'No, don't do that. That's nuts!' is, in fact, nuts.

We're taking FPTP to bold new exciting places.

Labour has now lost 13 of 17 seats it was defending in Manchester. Greens up ten.

I’m pleased to see people realising this morning that a Lab>Reform seat change can happen because Lab>others and Con>Reform. The underlying vote flow evidence has been screaming this since autumn 2024 😎.

Four wards in from Peterborough in BBC keywards, every one has changed hands, each a different pattern - LD gain from Con, Reform gain from Con, Con gain from Lab, Con gain from LD. And all winning shares under 40% First past the post as fruit machine. Crank the lever, who knows what happens?