Sat in for this interview (as a tech) and was utterly fascinated by the conversation. The fact that we so often think of democracy/not-democracy as a binary is at the core of why we rarely see authoritarianism coming. It's time to wise up. Thank you @srd.bsky.social for such a wise explanation.

I did not have insider knowledge. I have just been around Brussels negotiations for a long time... EU agrees a mandate for UK negotiations as I predicted. With the bonus that the future path becomes clearer - if you pay you can have more. www.politico.eu/article/uk-s...

Visualize your data.

The effort to keep this information out of public view has reached a level of intensity where the American people are clearly entitled to "adverse inference", i.e. you're allowed to assume the worst.

New - I understand angry MPs this afternoon spoke to Starmer at PLP committee to ask he sack whoever was briefing against Streeting or who authorised any attacks. He refused to say he would sack anyone or that there would be consequences. MPs said they took this as backing McSweeney.

This sounds reasonable but is 100% wrong. Whether you or agree or disagree with a study is completely immaterial. What matters is whether the study was conducted properly and generates valid results. And it's impolitic to say but it's true: you have to have some level of expertise to judge that.

Yeah whoever jacked up tariffs on coffee from Brazil earlier this year must be a real bonehead

asking for volunteer: have recently branched out into youtube & tiktok on Trump. (www.youtube.com/channel/UCdh...) I really need marketing/video social media help to improve video content and video editing tips/skills! Please email [email protected] if you can help - pref ongoing!

you saw it/still see it very clearly with this place - I'm happy to be here but many people have stayed on Twitter, even while admitting that Twitter is now rubbish, because the idea of purposely spending *hours and hours* curating a follow list from scratch just feels completely alien to them

whereas you know - I still vividly remember once spending something like seven straight hours rewriting the full HTML of my blog from scratch, just because I fancied a change - our experiences of the internet have been so different that we're essentially different species now

"The BBC isn’t perfect – but it’s ours. If we don’t defend it now, we may lose a cornerstone of British democracy."

A good example of someone using "economically inactive" to mean "available for work but choosing not to" and forgetting it covers students, early retirees, carers, severely disabled people, parents with very young children etc...

What on earth is this nonsense from a Blue Labour MP? What, you want a policy targeting zero illness, no full time caring responsibilities, no skills mismatches or career breaks and you think we should heavily crack down on migration until we get there? Just not serious policy/politics.

asking for volunteer: have recently branched out into youtube & tiktok on Trump. (www.youtube.com/channel/UCdh...) I really need marketing/video social media help to improve video content and video editing tips/skills! Please email [email protected] if you can help - pref ongoing!

NEW The letter the BBC could send back to Trump A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim By me. Enjoy. emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...

Jeffrey Epstein mentioned Donald Trump by name multiple times in private correspondence over the last 15 years with an associate and an author in Trump’s orbit, according to newly released emails from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/p...

"In one email, Epstein told Maxwell, 'I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.' He added that an unnamed victim 'spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.'" “'I have been thinking about that,' Maxwell wrote back." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...

“They are focused most intensely on Covid-19 shots, but are also looking at vaccines more broadly. Prasad wants to make it more difficult for vaccine makers to tell doctors they can offer their shots together, something providers have done for decades to more efficiently protect people from disease”

Donald Trump is coming for the BBC and for your wallets. I urged the Prime Minister to stand up for the 23.8 million licence fee paying households, and tell Trump he won't get a penny.

Ed Davey is Starmer's conscience.

Minister Sir Chris Bryant on Politics Live: "I don't think that there is a leadership challenge going on, I've seen absolutely no evidence of it" Says he read about supposed texts from Wes asking ministers to resign, says he's "outraged I haven't had such a message, don't know any minister who has"

Just re sharing this as it comes to light just how vulnerable the BBC is to capture by anti democratic forces ...

“I’ve come to this anti-vax conference with a message: that we need to be more boldly anti-vax,” said Mark Gorton, the head of the MAHA Institute…(he) called for the elimination of the childhood vaccination schedule & removal of vaccines from the market. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Bombshell report reveals Trump 'loyalty test' hidden in interviews of judge nominees

NOAA cut funding to the Alaska Earthquake Center, directed by my friend Mike West. As a result, seismic monitoring by nine stations in Alaska tracking tsunami-causing earthquakes will go offline by the end of the month. This endangers people in Alaska, Hawaiʻi, and other parts of the Pacific.

If you think that “the slow vanishing of employee benefits” is a better trade politically than “the other lot saying you broke your promise on income tax”, you are out of your tree: www.ft.com/content/1160...

Confident in the work we have done to reach this conclusion www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

EXCL: Downing Street has launched an extraordinary operation to protect Keir Starmer amid fears among PM’s closest allies he is vulnerable to leadership challenge in wake of budget. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

There's an exclusive, closed-to-media MAHA summit tomorrow. Here's the full agenda I was leaked In attendance will be JD Vance, RFK Jr, Bhattacharya, Makary, actor Russell Brand (who is facing rape and sexual assault charges), and dozens of other MAHA influencers and people in Trump's orbit

This reminds me of an SDP bigwig in the 1980s who didn’t believe the opinion polls and wanted to reword the Q: “Which party do you *really* intend to vote for?”

PM joins Health Secretary in recognising return of racism ("that frankly I thought we had dealt with decades ago" - a slightly detached tone) My column this week is about why government needs to go beyond calling out language/rhetoric about racism + act on it www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My analysis - how did No10 radicalise this cohort of loyal, centrist, careerist Labour MPs who are now all out for regime change? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Nearly two years ago, I wrote about the extraordinary influence of former Tory spin doctor Sir Robbie Gibb on the BBC. It's still a helpful backgrounder for what's going on now. New readers start here: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...

This is the march the Polish president chose to grace with his presence today.

Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro: “I ordered the militarisation of the entire country starting at 4pm by land, sea, and air.”

My alma mater did something ... good?

"On another occasion, a BBC executive forbade me from writing for the New Statesman, imploring me to ask The Spectator instead, saying that would be perfectly fine." goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/the-truth-...

Is anyone else also internally screaming about this BBC nonsense? I feel like someone's pumping hallucinogenic gas into my house. Nothing makes sense

Absolutely disgusted to hear about the racism Wes Streeting mentions here directed at school children who were visiting Parliament. He has taken the post down, rightly, to protect the children. But it's wrong that he had to do it. Disgusted with so many people in our country. Racism is never OK.

Emergency accommodation is a lifeline for families fleeing domestic violence. At a time of crisis, our partnership with Women’s Aid and Airbnb will help families get the care and support they need.

This ⬇️

we need to protect both the independent, expert creation of evidence and information *and* the communication of it by independent, non-partisan, media organisations. christinapagel.substack.com/p/informatio...

yes. being a leftwing ex-Orthodox Jew, I maybe straddle a wider range of views among my friends and family than some (than many?) it may be shocking to learn that: every bias I have ever seen the BBC accused of, I have also heard someone else say they have the precise opposite one

In response to some of the comments: If you agree with *all* the reporting of a news organisation that is both independent *and* non-partisan, then it's very unlikely to be independent and non-partisan. This is true regardless of your politics. Agreeing with all its reporting is the wrong test

A brilliant example of what Lewis Goodall talks about when he argues why right-wing radicals keep winning. They don't play by the rules and simply don't care. Whereas the institutions they want to destroy do even when said rules are contorted to absurdity and are blatantly being used against them.

Information underpins democracy and the BBC is a key part of that. We need to protect our institutions open.substack.com/pub/christin...

🔥 The row between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana gets even more bitter tonight as the two row over hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of donations. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The idea of a $1 billion lawsuit from Donald Trump is utter nonsense www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

This analysis explains Labour’s approach too. Ageing white men must be placated at all costs in all circumstances.