1/8 A question that keeps coming up on the @mrjamesob.bsky.social show on @lbc.co.uk is "What if Trump just declares victory and runs away?" I am only a Simple Seafarer - But I have given the matter some thought over the last few weeks. If it were easy to answer I would have rung in already...

This is an extraordinary front page for a British newspaper to run. Donald Trump’s delinquency, derangement & imperilling of international security is somehow a stick with which to beat our own Prime Minister, who has negotiated the current horror show rather well. It is actually sickening.

Impressive so far. A refusal to be bullied into an illegal war by a mad US President should unite the nation. But Brexit Britain is, of course, not a normal nation.

fascinating to watch Starmer pivot from accepting the "finality" of Brexit to admitting how much economic damage it has done

Trump now appears to be on course to green-light America's withdrawal from NATO....possibly even tonight. My natter earlier today with @mrjamesob.bsky.social on @lbc.co.uk 🎧: audioboom.com/posts/888166...

You can simultaneously think beef tariffs are bad and accept that keeping them was something both the UK and EU government wanted to do, as manifest in these negotiations. Money is the root of all evil but if I lose all mine at poker it's fair to observe I suck at cards. bsky.app/profile/expl...

Wondering what leverage in negotiations looks like? Australia's new FTA with the EU provides 16,830 tonnes of tariff free access for beef. Australia's FTA with the UK, completed with a desperate Johnson administration, provided 35,000 tonnes tariff free, rising to unlimited over 15 years.

Friedrich Merz has worked hard to curry favor with the U.S. president. But their Oval Office meeting begged two important questions: How far is German Chancellor willing to go to stay on Trump’s good side — and at what political cost?

Greens ahead of Labour for first time, comfortably in second place, and only two points behind Reform. Meanwhile, the left-leaning bloc is on 51% while the 'scrap net zero' Reform-Tory bloc is on 41%. www.businessgreen.com/news/4526368...

This week's column: the Green surge is in part because Labour consciously decided they didn't want the votes they got in 2024:

Reform UK are now down on average five points in the polls from where they were six months ago

On the TV and radio explaining how our economic plan is working - with support on the cost of living and unlocking investment. In an ever volatile world, we are building a modern Britain that is richer, fairer and stronger.

Investors slash BoE rate cut bets as Iran crisis overshadows Spring Statement ft.trib.al/FKIkzdC

Trump 2.0: -Bombed Iran (twice), Venezuela, and Yemen -Allowed Israel to repeatedly violate a ceasefire and kill civilians -Ripped healthcare and SNAP away from millions -Deployed masked ICE agents to terrorize American cities The "Peace President."

kind of astounding to consider that Trump won the 2024 election to a significant extent because Biden's support for Israel became so politically toxic, then he decided a good governing strategy would be to become full on a client state of Israel

HANNITY: There are people who say Israel dragged Donald Trump into it. Your reaction? NETANYAHU: *evil laugh*

Ossoff: "The president owes Americans a real explanation. 2am posts on Truth Social just aren't good enough when you're sending Americans into combat. He was dancing at his beach club the same night he ordered air crews to launch into combat & hours before our service members endured missile salvos"

Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has all but stopped since yesterday. Read the @financialtimes.com Economics editor, Sam Fleming's analysis of what the impact the war in Iran will have on the global economy www.ft.com/content/31bf...

"Farage would be meaner" isn't going to cut it as an argument especially after Lab get whacked in London in May.

Interesting @labourbusiness.bsky.social AGM yesterday with a video from #LabourParty Small Business Minister @blairmcdougall.com & Q&A from Political commentator & Pollster @pkellner.bsky.social chaired by @emilywallace.bsky.social.

The BBC has its problems—but they are nothing compared to American billionaires who control much of US media, writes @arusbridger

Even right-wing media hated Pam Bondi’s bizarre behavior at the Epstein hearings www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/quic...

Brian Allen Scottish comedian Lewis MacLeod did a Trump impression so painfully accurate it feels less like comedy and more like a deposition transcript. 😂🤣😂🤣💙😎👏

Plus a Slovenian superstar called Sesko - who scored the equaliser!

What Jim Ratcliffe meant to say is ‘how fantastically immigration has transformed this country in all spheres of life.’

The Express hopes people believe that Brexit reality is punishment by the EU, when it was the Express and other right wing press who pushed for Brexit to punish Britain. It is pure misdirection. The EU isn’t “wreaking havoc in revenge”. It’s doing exactly what any economic bloc does: 🧵 👇

✅ Clarkson is right, people aren’t voting Reform for policies 👉there aren’t any. It’s a protest vote powered by nostalgia not a plan for future. Reform use farming as a prop. Their real plan is USA trade deal, hormone-treated imports and they’ve appointed Ben Goldsmith 🔗 archive.ph/2026.01.31-0...

Excellent piece from @alexanderrose.bsky.social on @frasernelson.bsky.social article. Could also have been called ‘How Hate Makes Money for Tech Bros’ - well they much be feeling the pinch…

The Tory refusal to be honest about the scale of their Brexit disaster and associated trade-offs has utterly discredited the party, perhaps permanently, radicalised the right and raised the spectre of a Faragist Trumpian tyranny. The country risks being trapped in a doom loop.

Very succinct WSJ summary of the staggering migration shock that successive Tory governments inflicted on Britain as they tried to mitigate and hide the economic consequences of the Brexit disaster

🚨 Attention to any and all LabourList followers campaigning in Gorton & Denton 👀🚨 🔴 LabourList is sending a reporter to Manchester this weekend to catch up with campaigners in the run up to this month's crucial by-election... 🙌 Let us know if you're there too!

How the Brexit “European Revolution” was created by Bannon, Farage with Epstein as their patron and donor. Superb piece by @peterjukes.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social #Brexit #Farage #EpsteinFiles bylinetimes.com/2025/11/19/d...

Elon Musk is a white supremacist. Case closed.

Board of Peace - Season 1

President Trump, your Melania movie has bombed

‘ICE Out’: Protest Songs From Bruce Springsteen, My Morning Jacket, NOFX, and Others Bon Iver have released a new charity single to benefit the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. ✊ www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

🔴Reform UK’s Plans For a British ICE Key figures in Nigel Farage’s party are demanding a UK version of Trump’s immigration enforcement agency, in the wake of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good bylinetimes.com/2026/01/30/r...

I'm not prone to exaggeration but this is probably the biggest scoop I've ever been involved in Mandelson's partner took £10,000 from Epstein to pay for his osteopath course while Mandelson was de facto UK deputy prime minister, according to new files more to follow www.ft.com/content/c950...

With Palantir and Mandelson both back in the news, it’s worth revisiting this — the Epstein/Mandelson/Thiel connection, and how Mandelson’s lobbying company introduced Starmer to the Palantir team bylinetimes.com/2025/09/12/p...

Tommy Robinson posted "vote for Matt" - endorsing Matthew Goodwin, the Reform candidate in Denton and Gorton. In 2018, Farage left UKIP due to the party's association with Tommy Robinson, also saying that this might work for an 'online figure' but could not work in party politics at all.

Highlighting the Tommy Robinson support for Reform's candidate makes sense for Labour and the Greens: it can motivate turnout; it can raise doubts among softer Reform considerers. Distancing makes sense for Reform/Goodwin, though may do so quietly since they have pro + anti Tommy Robinson voters

BBC interviewer a few minutes ago on R4 says (clearly scripted) that multiple mentions of Trump in new file drop “doesn’t suggest any wrongdoing”. Do they need a better lawyer to clear this language? It may not “prove” anything yet, but it definitely “suggests” many lines of inquiry.

The Erasmus+ deal is signed and a UK/EU youth mobility agreement is the next prize. Pleased to talk to Henry Bonsu on Times Radio about the negotiations last night. This will be good for the economy, good for young people and is popular with the public. Let's make it happen. youtu.be/juY9LDjTvto?...

Half of Britons say they are following news of recent shootings by ICE agents in the United States at least fairly closely Very closely: 15% Fairly closely: 35% Not very closely: 23% Aware, but not following: 17% Not aware: 10% yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...

Britons have become less likely to see the Tories and Reform UK as very different, as Suella Braverman becomes the latest Tory to defect to Farage's party Very similar: 14% (+1 from 9-10 Sep 2025) Fairly similar: 34% (+1) Fairly different: 22% (+1) Very different: 10% (-11) Don't know: 20% (+7)

Delighted to join @heidialexander.bsky.social @andyburnham.bsky.social & GM leaders for the signing of the concordat between the Government & GM on the huge commitment to NPR, including work on a through, underground station at Piccadilly. It will be a game-changer for connectivity in the North.

Great to deliver my first keynote speech to the Fabian Society today and speak to @ayeshahazarika.bsky.social I talked about how Labour is rewiring the country, taking on vested interests to deliver the change we promised whilst Nigel Farage is for the failed economic status quo

As promised, Labour is today publishing its huge and radical leasehold reform plans. Including, capping ground rents at £250, eventually moving to peppercorn. All the measures announced later today. Residents of Manchester who want to be kept abreast of these changes - sign up below👇:

This evening I spoke to BBC North West Tonight: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BBC Verify has analysed footage of the shooting of Alex Pretti from multiple angles, piecing together a detailed picture of what happened, frame by frame. No doubt about it, it was an execution. www.bbc.com/news/videos/...