Seems to be a misconception that Andrew Windsor is being punished. Living rent-free in a comfortable house on a private estate, supported with money from his brother, is not really a punishment. But it's not intended to be. It's intended to avert public anger at the excesses of the royal family.

Mr Art-of-the-Deal. 1. 'Peace in Gaza'. Not a peace deal. Clearly, not even a ceasefire. 2. Trade agreement with China. Not a trade agreement, but a temporary arragment. China will import 12m tonnes of soybeans (compared with 27m tonnes in 2024) and the US will give China access to AI chips.

Apart from the politics, the shutdown is a live test being conducted by the administration to discover which governmental agencies and functions can be permanently terminated.

What a punishment! Andrew Windsor has been given a no doubt luxurious place to live in a private estate - again rent-free - and enough money to support a life of enforced idleness. Hopefully, Sergeant Plod will be feeling Windsor's collar before long as he investigates allegations of sexual abuse.

No, it's not enough. Andrew Windsor must be invesigated by the police.

I bet Kemi Badenoch is now feeling a bit stupid after calling for Rachel Reeves to resign.

No-one should be surprised. It's vital for the coup that the military is run by people who will say 'yes' to whatever Trump wants, rather than by experts who can obstruct him. The military is the key to ensuring that the Democrats do not win in the mid-terms.

I'm beginning to think that it's the Epstein files that are the distraction (from the coup in progress) rather than the other way round. Apart from anything else - does anyone believe that Bondi has not spent the best part of a year ensuring that Trump's name is removed from the files?

Speaker Johnson will keep the House in adjournment for the indefinite future - probably into next year, if not longer. Three essentials if you're running a coup: neutralise the press, neutralise the judiciary, neutralise the legislature.

"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which".

Hot news. Trump went to war with Xi. It didn't go well. TACO.

Here it is, once more - because too many people are not paying attention. The 22nd amendment says: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, ELECTED. So, for example, a supine congress could appoint him to a third term and that wouldn't break 22.

And then, for her next trick, Sarah Pochin will tell us how angry she feels that black people are under represented in the judicial system but over represented in the prison system. Only 1% of judges are black whilst they make up 12% of prison population.

Sometimes AI video is a good thing.

If the US military wage bill is being settled by a 'private individual' that makes the US miitary a mercenary force.

Has Soldier F been named?

The $250 million Trump grift. He's not suing DoJ for it. He's 'asking' for it. That means the DoJ (aka Pam Bondi) has to agree or reject the request. And, because it's such a large item of expenditure, presumably the request will have to go to the president for approval.

Why are people asking whether Trump is 'allowed' to demolish part of the White House? He's done it. Whether he was 'allowed' to do it is a matter of complete irrelevance.

Rachel Reeves is apparently thinking about raising more tax from lawyers, accountants and senior doctors. No idea how much money that would raise but it's clever politics.

Has the government thought of asking Jason Beer KC - the hero of the Post Office Inquiry - to chair the grooming gangs inquiry? His brand of absolute-no-nonsense forensic analysis could possibly give the survivors the confidence in the process they currently lack.

No, it's not pronounced 'eksetera'.

Katie Lam, a Tory MP, believes that we need to deport legal migrants in pursuit of 'cultural coherence.' The Conservative party front bench has neither commented on nor condemned the statement. We're entitled to believe that Lam's opinion has their tacit approval.

Has anyone yet figured out whether the Trump ballroom is being built by a Trump company, enabling him, of course, to charge the government?

Removing the title 'prince' won't make the slightest difference and will only benefit the royal family. It's a distraction. If there is evidence that he abused underage women, English law enables prosecution, irrespective of whether he is a prince. That's what should happen.

Unintended and very powerful metaphor for what Trump is doingto America.

No - it really was a DNS error.

Hate makes you ugly

Miller must be extremely disappointed that there were no riots yesterday. He will have to figure out more radical methods of riling up the opposition.

Unsurprising that Prince Andrew should have tried to dig the dirt on Virginia Giuffre. Slightly more surprising that he knew her private social security information given that he insists he didn't know her. On the face of it, the information was probably leaked by Ghislaine Maxwell.

NoKings - great turnout. Now what?

The point, I assume, of announcing Santos' pardon the day before NoKings is to do what he can to provoke violence on Saturday. It's all about setting things up so he can invoke the Insurrection Act.

Trump hasn't released Santos for nothing, has he? What favour will Santos be doing Trump?

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

1. Provoke outrage by, for example, invading blue cities when obviously unecessary. 2. Generate public resistance. 3. Watch as the contagion spreads. 4. A few months out from the mid-terms, invoke the Insurrection Act. 5. Post military units at carefully selected polling stations. 6. Secure victory

Loving the fact that Trump is all over my timelines with a grumpy face simply because he didn't win the peace prize. It's as though the universe wants to rub his nose in it.

Let's be clear: Trump has not brought peace or any kind of long-term settlement in the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine. He's brokered a potential cease-fire in the current war. That's a good thing (if it happens), but it sure as hell isn't "peace." So calm down that Nobel boner.

I bet Trump slaps a 50% tariff on Norway sometime in the next few days.

I was hoping that Greta Thunberg would win the Nobel peace prize solely on the basis that it would have enraged Trump. However, a Venezuelan politician who Trump has probably never heard of is almost as good.

Your reminder: the Nobel peace prize is awarded to the person or organisation that's done the most "for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses"

I won't happy if Trump merely doesn't win the Nobel peace prize. I won't be satisfied unless Greta Thunberg wins it and makes him apoplectic with rage.

#racetothebottom I'm not sure that Kemi Badenoch's intention to create a British ICE is quite the vote winner she thinks it is.

The one certain thing proved by the Hegseth-Trump show last week is that the administration is clearly unsure whether the military will do what Trump wants.

The Met must immediately report to Londoners exactly what Rowley has done to root out corruption since his appointment three years ago. After the BBC's expose, Rowley's job must be on the line - unless he can point to genuine improvements to the racist and misogynistic culture of the Met.

Michelle Mone has been ordered to repay the £122 million she got for supplying faulty PPE during the pandemic, because she breached her contract with the government. Baroness Michelle Mone remains an unelected member of the House of Lords, with a vote on proposed legislation.

Who wants to see a video of Nigel Farage calling Nathan Gill a “decent, honourable man”?

Mornin, @thehill.com

Hegseth has called a meeting of all senior military personnel next week. Apparently, no-one knows why. Today, Trump has ordered the the deployment of US troops to 'war ravished' Portland. He has authorised the use of 'full force' if it's 'needed'.

The objective of Miller's attack on 'radical left terrorists' is to cement in place the rationale for keeping away from polling stations the people who will want to check fair play in the mid-terms.

I've been listening to Sandy Denny today and I'll have you know that I've been crying.

Unintended consequences that might be sending a shiver or two down the spine of many Republican Trump-enablers. A precedent has been set: if the DoJ can be instructed to prosecute Comey simply because Trump hates him, what might happen when the Democrats return to presidential power in 2029?