So refreshing to hear a political leader @zackpolanski.bsky.social push back about this country’s motonormativity. The motor industry has been terribly effective at convincing us that car is king. We can do things differently as other neighbouring countries have demonstrated.

So happy for Hungarians - a chance to stop the erosion of democracy, corruption, and economic malaise. And such an unqualified middle finger to Trump, Vance and Putin - and all the politicians in Europe who endorsed Orban, like Meloni, Wilders, Weidel, Le Pen. All losers tonight

It may seem like nerdy detail that the increasing weight of cars is worsening potholes, but it matters. The car makers push to sell wider and heavier cars is increasing road maintenance costs and that affects us all. Not to mention worse crash outcomes and less space to pass (wider) parked cars.

The Telegraph just gave a convicted criminal a two-page spread to explain why he's pumping £4 million into Reform UK. They tucked his criminal record away in the small print. So as a former financial crime specialist I’ll do their job for them👇

The party candidate in the local elections that can commit to stop fireworks being let off in Birmingham at random times of day and night (particularly night) gets my vote

Alarm in health service over Palantir staff being given NHS email accounts www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Positive news! Moseley Village railway station has reopened after 87 yr since its closure during WWII. Birmingham has a lot of catching up to do but this is a great development. Let’s get the Camp Hill chords built to increase frequency & get other local lines reopened @richardparkerwm.bsky.social

A sadly familiar scene in many parts of Birmingham. Disgusting levels of litter and neglect. You’d think the road on approach to the city’s principal tip might be kept clean but no. It’s hard not to be left with the impression of a city that has given up on its public realm.

The biggest story in the world right now is that the president of the United States is a demented old man who takes pleasure in torturing and killing people and is committing crimes with impunity. And yet most legacy media outlets are too cowardly to tell it like it is.

Another day, another brain dead proposal. The USA is a joke: Trump seeks $152m to reopen notorious Alcatraz prison www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The power of the visualisation. ☺️

Disappointing this. Ed knows this’ll have zero effect on costs/supply for uk consumers.Feels like he’s bowing to pressure. However, watching the media now start platforming those who oppose this, to attack the gov, after pushing the drill baby drill rhetoric, to attack the gov, will be fun #r4today

Ed Miliband to approve first major North Sea gasfield project in decade

Just what we don't need. Already, our rivers are overloaded with both human and livestock waste, leading in many cases to #rivercide. Now the government, responding as always to lobbyists, wants to make it worse. Then it wonders why it loses public support. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Havering Friends of the Earth have created a visualisation of the proposed data centre.

You'll note Manchester in this list. But not Birmingham. @richardparkerwm.bsky.social knows poor road safety and dense traffic drains an economy of productivity Want to know why Manchester is the city on the up? 👇🏼. They have good leadership

These people have a funny way of saying "Environmentalists have been proved right yet again."

Just a reminder Afsar launched a homophobic mutiny on a primary school in 2019 and both led misogynistic abuse of Jess Phillips in the 2024 elections. But sure, give these losers a headline like this.

Nothing matters anymore obviously, but in the old world of - oh I dunno - a couple years back, this would have been career ending. You'd either have to settle into obscurity or go to the US and start again.

The deep, deep stench of corruption.

MPs urge UK government to halt contract giving Palantir FCA data access www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Stirchley Co-operative Development are under threat and so are collecting statements of support from local residents, customers, businesses, community groups, people who care about affordable social housing, etc. to drive home the local support of the project. Info: www.stirchley.coop/blog/

“Every missile strike is another downpayment on a hotter, more unstable planet, and none of it makes anyone safer,” said Patrick Bigger of the Climate and Community Institute and co-author of new analysis about the climate impacts of the war on Iran, in @theguardian.com:

With the price of fuel going up by the week, change lanes to avoid the impact. Bus tickets are capped at £20 a week. Walking and cycling short trips is free. Fewer short car trips also means less congestion, more reliable public transport, safer and better roads, cleaner air, and healthier people.

From black rain to marine pollution, the war in Iran is an environmental disaster

A couple of handfuls of the world's richest people are literally orchestrating the collapse of the democratic public sphere, globally, and everyone else is just letting them.

Hang on a second … Reach, home of the unusable websites, generic national advertorial on local news sites, omelette-brained clickbait and paywalling LDRS content, is accusing the **BBC** of making local news provision worse?! ‘kinell 🤦🏻🙄 via @pressgazette.co.uk pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/r...

NEW: Two senior MOD whistleblowers with inside knowledge of Palantir's systems have come forward to @thenerve.news to say government ministers are ignorant of the grave national security risks the technology poses. Hugely important by @charlienotold.bsky.social www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-t...

In England a driver can be speeding, using cannabis and a phone, overtake another vehicle, mount the pavement outside a school playground and kill a 4-year-old girl while uninsured — and receive just 3 years 10 months for causing death by careless driving. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

That this happened at all shows what a problem we have. That the perpetrator was unrepentant, the sentence minimal and the victim DEFENDED that it was "hard" to drive at 20mph shows that we've internalised motornormativity.

Energy insecurity. Higher bills. Exposure to catastrophic economic consequences of Trump's wars. That's what happens when you fail to shift fast enough to renewables, and cut back on support for clean energy. Let's cut bills & create jobs through a clean power revolution.

The deranged attacks on Miliband have nothing to do with North Sea oil & gas, which peaked in 1999. It’s about keeping Britain hooked on fossil fuels. Even with new licences, North Sea output will fall by 95% from 2026 to 2050. Only renewables can deliver British energy sovereignty.

Watch 👀 as drivers mount the pavement where a young mother pushes a baby, 20 metres from a primary school. This is normal in Birmingham. It’s the kind of behaviour which led to plans for an LTN in this area, which have now been abandoned by the Council after 6 years of development.

The way Birmingham City Council has handled the development & delivery of Moseley & Kings Heath low traffic neighbourhood is beyond contempt. They managed to unnerve both opponents and supporters who had invested vast amounts of personal time in consultation www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Ludicrous position for the Lib Dems to take. This is cheap populism.

Six years ago, his principles were entirely different.

So the Telegraph is taking this well

Reform reveal themselves with grimly ungracious comments like this. Decent people want hope, not hate.

I have asked the BBC to scrutinise + correct the factually inaccurate claims made by Mr Nigel Farage about why net migration fell in 'Political Thinking with Nick Robinson' Here is the link if you want to do something like this. www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comp...

Two weeks ago, Peter Mandelson told us he had no recollection of planning to buy a £2m apartment in Rio via a Panama holding company and a Brazilian company. Yesterday we found notarised incorporation documents for the Brazilian company, with Mr Mandelson's signature.

No new scientific finding / just denial of science by the vandals

Different decade. Same tired storyline. Nearly 40 years, and the media conversation hasn’t moved an inch. Not evolved. Not deepened. Not learned. It’s f’ing Groundhog Day journalism. Do better.

Obviously zero reflection in any of this on how operating the largest empire in human history may have turned us into a multicultural nation. We are here because you were there. #Empireland www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Our congested roads contributing to the crisis in our criminal courts. This is one of Brian Leveson’s recommendations to try to tackle it:

Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem. Thank you. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'Drain the swamp'? You *are* the swamp.

Wowsers look at what happened to posts on Twitter/X about London crime after monetisation of posts was introduced… economist.com/britain/2026...

I just finished reading and it is so much worse than I even imagined. Palantir effectively controls some of our most sensitive data - from nukes to the NHS - and Palantir is loyal to the US.

Reflecting on the proposed police reform… “The move to large BCUs fractured local policing, weakened accountability and left leadership disconnected from the communities they serve.” — Baroness Casey Review (2023) **London (Met Police) reduced 32 local boroughs to 12 large BCUs.**