After the first constituency poll, Labour has drifted further out and Reform and the Greens have come in. A vote for Starmer is a vote for Farage.

🚨 POLL | Greens LEAD in Gorton and Denton ** Labour drop to distant 3rd ** 🟢 Grn: 33% (+19) ➡️ Ref: 29% (+15) 🔴 Lab: 26% (-25) 🔵 Con: 5% (-4) 🟠 Lib: 2% (-1) Source: Omnisis, 13-19 Feb (+/- vs GE2024)

NEW How Palantir captured the Ministry of Defence How a close read of public domain documents show how MoD was commercially colonised by Palantir By me, at FT www.ft.com/content/5207...

If you support more cycle parking and oppose more car parking in Temple Cowley - please fill in this consultation! It closes today! (My responses in next post) letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxford_templ... /1

New Omnisis poll of Gorton and Denton by-election gives Greens a *two point* lead over Reform and four points over Labour. Basically neck and neck and within margin of error. Hannah Spencer (Greens): 22% Matt Goodwin (REF UK): 20% Angeliki Stogia (Lab): 18% Charlotte Cadden (Conservatives): 3%

Labour lost three council seats last night. 1 each to the Greens, Lib dems and Plaid. Reform were 2nd or 3rd in each. The Greens also won and beat Reform in another local election. So when they say vote Labour to stop Reform, they couldn't be more wrong. Vote almost anyone but Labour to beat Reform.

Labour lost three by-elections yesterday - all to different parties mobilising disaffected voters on their liberal left flank: Greens (see below), Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru. Starmer/McSweeney strategy of marginalizing the left flank to go after socially con Reform curious continues to backfire

Delighted to see the new pic-nic tables out on Meadow Lane Rec - already in use! Fundraising done by residents association IFRA and @damohaywood.bsky.social contributed as local councillor at that point. We'd surveyed local teenage girls who said they wanted round ones in approx this place.

Never in a million years did I ever fathom when I resurrected the Epstein story in 2018 that it would lead to first arrest of a British Royal in four centuries. Not since King Charles I was arrested in 1647. open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...

Normalize laughing derisively in men's faces when they deserve it.

ICYMI 👀📘 The Spring 2026 European Rail Timetable is now on sale! One book, rail schedules for almost all of Europe – fully updated for 2026, with new routes, night trains and key connections to inspire your next journey. Your adventure starts here 🚆✨ shorturl.at/OfDsh

Excited to see that the @europeanrailtt.bsky.social is over here. One of my son’s favourite publications, we’ve just been for lunch in the Rusty with it planning imaginary journeys.

Happy New Year of the Fire Horse to those celebrating. 🔥🐎

Breaking: UK government is confirming it’s dropped plans to delay local elections at 30 English councils

The key thing about this story isn’t actually what the PR firm did - awful as it is - it’s that the journalists they smeared *were investigating the undeclared funding that brought Starmer to power* That’s why Josh Simons commissioned them To stop reporting on Labour Together breaking election law

Cabinet Office looking into Labour Together report claims, says minister

2nd story on BBC radio 4 bulletins now Still huge questions to answer about Labour Together smearing journalists and sources As I revealed yesterday, senior Labour insiders knew - and person who commissioned it, Josh Simons, now a Starmer minister…. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/starmer-al...

“A year after the $1.1 billion overhaul,” which added a new lane each direction, “the 405’s rush hour drive times were a minute slower than they were before the workers broke ground. Five years later, traffic was worse at all times of day.” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Banbury gets this, and we get.. more lab space. CITY CENTRE PLAYGROUND WHEN, @oxfordcitycouncil.bsky.social ?! Maybe we should #bemoreBanbury Bit of imagination?!

Friday 13th or Valentine’s Day? We choose love for the Clarion Weekend newsletter. Featuring: ❤️ Oxford loves Swindon 🌟 Michelin-starred restaurants 💰 Budget Day for Oxfordshire 🧀 Say it with cheese 💃 No, it's not a “big organised party” Read online or by email: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

NEWS: Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler has RESIGNED after newly released emails exposed a years-long personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — including advising him on handling sex crime accusations, media scrutiny, and accusers.

I read three student newspapers in the course of writing this & on the off chance any student journalists at York, Exeter or Cambridge are reading this; God you’re all so much better than student journalism was in my day www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🚨 WATCH: Nigel Farage says Jim Ratcliffe was "in the dictionary's definition correct" to use colonisation to describe mass immigration Cambridge Dictionary Definition: the act or process of sending people to live in and GOVERN another country How are migrants governing our country Nigel?

Palestine Action have WON their judicial review in the High Court! A massive victory for free speech, freedom of association and the right to protest. A massive defeat for the draconian attempts by Keir Starmer's government to curtail our fundamental rights.

New Swingometer! Dropping my latest Gorton & Denton update now as I have teaching all morning tomorrow. I take a look at the leaflet wars underway in the seat, and how I've ended up caught in the electoral crossfire: open.substack.com/pub/swingome...

Actually Farage my experience as an East Londoner is that I feel colonised by privately educated people from backgrounds like yours. #r4today

strong vibes of that time the banks said the metaverse would be a $4 trillion industry

Today two separate people who aren't into politics told me they were now following @greenpartyhan.bsky.social over on Instagram and love her. She posts more there than here. I'm going up to G&D on Sunday to campaign for her, along with other Oxford Cllrs. www.instagram.com/hannahtheplu...

⚡2026 is a turning point. UK #climate & environmental activists face both crisis & opportunity. Fascism rises, the #climate agenda is under attack, & political representation is urgent. 🧵A longish thread on why we must unite behind @zackpolanski.bsky.social & the @greenparty.org.uk 💚

Chuffed to be the most popular leader with young people! Thanks, guys! 💚 www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

“Are you firmly in favour of rejoining the European Union?" - Robert Peston “Firmly very much in favour. Brexit has been a disaster under any criteria, under any measure" - Zack Polanski

"As a survivor of sexual abuse which began when I was a young gymnast on the Olympic pathway in Australia, I know how this trauma can scar you for life". If you are an athlete based in the UK experiencing sexual abuse please do get in touch via our confidential channels so we can help.

Thanks to all the charlatans, quacks and fools who've allowed measles to reach my child's secondary school in London

Public reporting deters crime. We urge it for burglary, assault, fraud — so why not road danger?? Reporting helps tackle reckless driving and save lives. The Daily Mail mocking this as “villainy” misses the point. Accountability on our roads protects everyone. www.the-londoner.co.uk/jeremy-vine-...

Would-be London taxi drivers attending the taximan's school in Kennington embark on a bicycle tour of the city in order to learn "The Knowledge". 1947

Regular readers will already know how much I love country dancing and I am very into this article in today’s Cherwell (Oxford Student Newspaper) “Unlike so much at Oxford, this is a place where mediocrity can flourish”

The recent Epstein files release revealed Casey Wasserman’s ties to the convicted sex offender’s close associated Ghislaine Maxwell.

Isn’t it time we changed the language of “sex trafficking”? Instead use “Rape trafficking”. Sex implies consent. There is none. This is rape, coercion and abuse of vulnerable people. Our language should reflect the harm inflicted. Words matter. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026...

our FT story from June 2023 showed: Mandelson stayed at Epstein’s $77m townhouse in Manhattan in June 2009 while the financier was in prison for soliciting prostitution from minor in 2010 and 2011 Epstein noted that “Petie” was with him in Paris, where the financier owned a sumptuous apartment

Reform politicians are happy to throw insults from a distance. But when it comes to debating their ideas? No show. Richard Tice pulled out. Farage won’t face me. Now their candidate in Gorton & Denton has ducked our candidate Hannah Spencer. Vote Green.

And there's your side road zebras being possible in Wales from 11th March this year. www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2026/35/...

Does anyone else who cycles regularly do that thing where you assume that just cos it's dry in the morning so it will remain all day, and then go out without waterproofs? It's clearly very silly, I'm soaking. IMO Rain needs to focus its efforts on the time I leave the house.

Gave a speech today at Full County Council budget. Thought it was funny that the Tory leader said he didn't understand it. Probably because it involved actual data from credible sources, rather than just random culture war headlines. 1/3 of food inflation due to climate change (1/2)

20,000 doors knocked in Gorton and Denton this weekend alone. Only the Greens can stop Reform here.

This is the funniest headline I seen in a long time. And bravo to whoever underlined the desperation with the juxtaposed link.

No-one seems to have noticed, but many of the core developments in the Mandelson/Epstein story these last few days have been broken on this website. @pickardje.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social are both posting each breaking development on BlueSky, not X.

Hot on the heels of the (very good!) Warm Homes Plan, today the government is launching the Local Power Plan, which from a quick scan looks, if anything, even more exciting! Ed Miliband’s DESNZ, continuing to show how it’s possible, even in this government, to do positive things of consequence 👏💫

Using hydrogen as a fuel to replace natural gas has been strongly promoted by vested interest groups. Many including myself raised serious concerns about scalability, cost and efficiency. The more time passes, the more it looks like those concerns were well-founded.

This looks like it could become truly delicious www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Last chance to win a £100 voucher for kids cycling kit. Fill in our family cycling survey now: www.cyclesprog.co.uk/blog/win-a-1... Please share @kidicalmass.bsky.social @bikewalkscoot.bsky.social @emilykerr36.bsky.social @bicyclemayorbath.bsky.social