I have nothing, please help

With millions in public money handed to private interests and serious questions over transparency and accountability, why hasn’t there been an inquiry into the goings-on on Teesside? Watch the full episode of Page 94, the Private Eye podcast, on YouTube.

This is a genuinely intolerable reality…

@bjennings90.bsky.social absolutely nails it. (www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...)

Have you seen this 👇? It’s really worrying. I’ll pop a video up later about it in case you don’t have time to read the longer piece 🚨

I need your help, chums. Running low on food & need to pay my phone & internet bills, so am selling some of my records in the hope of generating some income. Take a look, if 2nd hand records are your thing, or repost to reach the vinyl lovers out there ❤️ www.discogs.com/seller/DrJam...

When Ukrainian soldiers are wounded in action, Russian drones target both them and the people who come to rescue them. Join me in a fundraising campaign for vehicles with drone-jamming equipment. snyder.substack.com/p/freedom-is...

I can draw this cartoon for you, using as few lines as possible. www.worldofmoose.com/products/min...

"This country’s taste for self-harm seemed to reach its zenith with the Brexit referendum, but maybe not." A good wrap up by @pollytoynbee.bsky.social 👇

Laut PEN America sind book bans an öffentlichen Schulen in den USA »weit verbreitet und alltäglich«. Oft verhandeln die Bücher Rassismus, Diskriminierung oder Diversität. Annika Brockschmidt beleuchtete die Zensurstrategien republikanischer und rechter Gruppen: www.blaetter.de/ausgabe/2023...

I fear that if Johnson were asked this today, there would be lot of umming & erring, some guff about "the custard of conciliation" & "the tiramisu of time", but he would refuse to answer. That a US President tried to overthrow an election is now unsayable on the British Right & in much of the media

For all the talk of 'Broken Britain', so many things have got better.

Gary Lineker: "This is the mistake the BBC makes. The BBC tries to appease the people that hate the BBC, rather than worrying about the people that love the BBC."

New @therestpolitics.bsky.social LEADING with Polish deputy PM/foreign minister @radek-sikorski.bsky.social - on Trump, Putin, and why it matters so much to the west that Ukraine wins. This, and much more, including a plea to U.K. to get back in the EU alastaircampbell.org/2025/11/161-...

We are so far through the looking glass that the man who tried to overthrow an election becomes president, the people who attacked the Capitol are turned into martyrs, & it's the BBC that gets punished - cheered on by the worst news outlets in the UK & the two most dishonest politicians of our age.

I agree with @arusbridger.bsky.social about BBC governance. Although v hesitant about another rearrangement, the single corporate-style board is massively flawed, not least because there needs to be some distance for the governors/board members from editorial decisions

inspired by this, I have done a free extract of this section of the book here. it is about understanding that *with all its problems* the BBC is as important for our intellectual health as the NHS is for our physical health: naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...

NeverFadingWood is a hard-working translator and teacher who is battling through tough times with courage.

If anyone wants to buy me a coffee or some munchies while im in here that would be appreciated, they only seem to have bad coffee and egg sandwiches in the ward and dont eat egg mayo, the smell puts me off. PP: [email protected]

It is early in the morning, and there are few people about in this 1919 work by William Nicholson of the Cenotaph in London. It is the original white-painted wood and plaster structure designed by Edward Lutyens, it stands out in stark relief against the Foreign Office.

Annette Dittert beschreibt, wie die amerikanische MAGA-Bewegung gezielt Einfluss auf Großbritannien nimmt, um das demokratische System zu destabilisieren: www.blaetter.de/ausgabe/2025... Auch im »Blätter«-Podcast 👉 www.blaetter.de/podcast

Some thoughts on why Remembrance is so important, and why attempts to police it should be resisted.

So close to £17,000! If you love the @bylinesnetwork.co.uk are you're feeling kindly today, please do help nudge the crowdfunder over that milestone. 🙏 Link --> chuffed.org/project/byli...

‘The war which is coming Is not the first one. There were Other wars before it. When the last one came to an end There were conquerors and conquered. Among the conquered the common people Starved. Among the conquerors The common people starved too.’ ~ Bertolt Brecht. #BookWormSat 🖼️ Paul Nash, 1918.

Why am i not surprised? The governments new planning policies released a year ago looked as if they had been written by the housebuilders and they have moved in their direction more than I could ever have imagined since. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Tees Valley mayor Lord (Ben) Houchen promised renewal. Instead, Britain’s biggest regeneration project has turned into a taxpayer-funded scandal - enriching a few local businessmen while leaving public bodies on the brink. Watch the latest episode of Page 94, The Private Eye Podcast, on YouTube.

After reading the Eye's special report on how Tees Valley mayor Lord (Ben) Houchen’s flagship “levelling up” project became a taxpayer-funded scandal, a reader writes... Watch the full episode of Page 94 on YouTube.

I'm terribly sorry, but I have to ask for your assistance again. Marmite, my cat, urgently needs vet visits, medicines, and a probable operation. I'm beside myself with worry at the moment. Any help in the form of donations or reposts would be most gratefully received. 4fund.com/pp2gmh

Interesting article..

An Schulen in Russland wird den Kindern beigebracht, Tarnnetze zu weben, Drohnen zu bedienen und mit Waffen umzugehen. All dies geht auf Kosten von Physik, Mathematik, Chemie, Fremdsprachen und anderen Schulfächern: www.blaetter.de/ausgabe/2025...

It's finally official. At last common sense prevails. We don't have to watch "22 men upskilling" any longer - to coin a phrase from @kevinhowells.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

Uk could learn

wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

Prince william is right to warn that irreversible,world-changing tipping points are dangerously close. Five lie beyond the 1.5 degree guardrail that we are fast approaching. Need for rapid action, especially on methane which has fastest effect. www.heraldscotland.com/news/nationa...

Hier die komplette Erklärung der neuen CDU-Gruppe "Compass Mitte", die sich für eine härtere Abgrenzung von der AfD positioniert: "Die CDU ist in dem Wissen gegründet worden, dass Faschismus immer nur mit Hilfe von Konservativen an die Macht gekommen ist."

Nigel Farage, who has so far registered a total of £280,500 for four hours a month as a "brand ambassador" for a company selling gold bars, thinks a £10 an hour minimum wage for young people is too high bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...

It's obviously a bad thing if any prisoner is released by mistake, but why is it worse if it's an asylum-seeker? It seems just to be taken for granted now that someone is more dangerous because they're an asylum-seeker than because they're a criminal. Something very dangerous is building here.

Go go go, folks. There's bound to be something here that you would like a physical copy of. And of course it would help my friend Jim. Reposts also welcome.

‘If the officer asks me, “How many times a day do you pray?” (I have been asked this) and I refuse to answer, my silence becomes a terrorist offence for which I could be prosecuted.’ Asim Qureshi on misuses of the Terrorism Act: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Wonderful letter about the British Council by Mihir Bose in @financialtimes.com - I don’t understand why successive British Governments have been so careless about soft power on.ft.com/4hQTJn0 Letter: Memories of the British Council library in old Mumbai

Tiffy's Good People. Please help if you can. It's awful when benefits just *stop*, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it quickly. I should know, I'm in the same boat myself.

As context to freeing of an Algerian man, here's some info about HMP Wandsworth, where he was: • Built for 900 prisoners. Holds 1,600. • Daily roster of prison officers c.70. Up to 15 staff on long-term sick leave. • 36% of officers have >3yrs service. • 12% of prison staff leave *each year*.

"How 'War' Becomes War: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Ours of Us" "From the moment the armed services violently engage their first civilians, their prestige will be gone forever, and service members will be destroying the Republic they are sworn to serve." snyder.substack.com/p/how-war-be...

#NowPlaying Björk - "Debut" Always thought this was a funny name for this album, given that Björk's actual debut was in 1977 when she was 11 or 12. Great album, though. So inventive. music.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

I did a lecture on the impact of Brexit on British politics. Watch it here if you're really bored www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztqL...

Thousands of homeless people will be able to open a bank account and five major banks as part of a strategy to improve financial inclusion.

This

It's brilliant and exciting to see Zohran Mamdani elected. More leaders like him please, and fewer like Cuomo, Schumer and the rest of the oligarch-pleasing, hope-destroying, election-losing, right-centrist political class.

Millions now turn to AI for comfort, not just answers. Yet regulation still treats chatbots as code, not companions. In a new blog, Walter Pasquarelli argues: if AI acts like a therapist or caregiver, it should face the same standards. www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/blog/ai-comp... @economist.com