I had a very painful conversation with a Labour comms person over Xmas who insisted that the policy had been properly developed, that an impact assessment had been done, and that the PM was responding to concerns they simply could never have foreseen until going public with it

Is it me, or is Santa jettisoning an awful lot of presents in the sea?

‘As a refugee, I don’t know how I’d have survived without their help’ This year, The Observer’s Christmas appeal is raising funds for the refugee charity Counterpoints Arts, Vanessa Thorpe https://bit.ly/4pLlPD3

Donald Trump's Justice Department quietly deletes only photo of him from Epstein files dump www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

I still bear the scars of Nigel Farage’s cruelty, says former Dulwich College schoolmate. The Reform leader’s rejection of Tommy Robinson won over voters. But new claims from contemporaries could change that, writes @catneilan.bsky.social. https://bit.ly/3KQfasa

“I heard him sing the ‘Gas ’em all’ song on more than one occasion, celebrating the Holocaust and suggesting other racial groups that might also be gassed” 🔗 Graham Noble, a school contemporary, on Nigel Farage https://bit.ly/4puviyy

On Dulwich school trips, Nigel Farage and the other smokers took the ‘Belsen Bus’ The Reform leader was performatively racist at Dulwich College, read now: https://bit.ly/4puviyy

Home Office estimate £1.2bn hit mainly to Universities as we decide that exports in this area should be restricted. Even in the month leading up to Christmas, the turkeys are still voting for it.

Properly shocking.

Around two thirds of Reform's money has come from overseas | me with @catneilan.bsky.social 📰 observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Two thirds of Reform donations come from donors resident overseas or with offshore interests overseas - astonishing story by @catneilan.bsky.social in @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Season finale of the Naked Week out last night— been an absolute pleasure to work on. Investigation from me @catneilan.bsky.social and @freyashaw.bsky.social below — it’s about the scandalous mess that is Supported Exempt Accomm & its massive economic and social costs observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

None of this is news to us in Birmingham. Good to see it covered on The Naked Week on R4. A comedy slot, but a brief canter through a system that impacts residents, neighbours and the public purse. The council has done good work, but they lack enforcement powers.

The harvesting of public money to exploitative providers to profit from vulnerability and need feels like it's endemic.

“The whole system is near-criminal in its ability to harvest public money so that exploitative providers can provide inadequate housing & support to vulnerable people" For our last Naked Week-Observer investigation of the year, we delve into exempt accommodation observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

One minute warning for the final episode of the current series of The Naked Week, and it's a (Christmas) cracker. Fabulous work from our fab investigations team @coramazov.bsky.social and @freyashaw.bsky.social yet again - all will be revealed soon!

This is an excellent piece of work by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and the DfS gang

But letting every Tom, Dick and Harry ex-Tory MP join is... a vote winner?

Apparently it was green sauce day

Nigel Farage has registered a three (3) day trip to the US, bankrolled by Bassim Haidar, valued at nearly £55k Nothing about the nature of the speaking engagement or charity event that he was attending....

"Pro-Kremlin posts attacked BBC after Panorama scandal" @theobserveruk.bsky.social @catneilan.bsky.social

This weeks joint BBC Naked Week and Observer investigation with @catneilan.bsky.social and @freyashaw.bsky.social. Read/Listen below. observer.co.uk/news/nationa... www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Farage is pretty rambling (economy doesn't feel like his strong point) but noteworthy comment here "It's very much our ambition that we would have ppl in ministerial positions who were experts in their areas of expertise...10 energy ministers over 14 years. Not one of them had a clue about energy"

Damning line from the OBR this: "We have assessed that none of the policy measures in this Budget have a sufficiently material impact to justify adjusting our post-measures potential output forecast." Ie it's a budget which does nothing new for growth.

OBR says lower net migration will hurt overall productivity

Nus Ghani on fire (both in scolding the govt and fashion)

"This is not (quite) as chaotic as the Liz Truss Budget" is a bold approach, wonder if they focus grouped that line first

New: Three new ex-pupils come forward, on the record, to say Farage's racism as a teenager was targeted, persistent and nasty. Farage has denied targeting any individuals - but two of the men tell us they recall Farage abusing Peter Ettedgui. w/ Dan Boffey, @drblacklock.bsky.social

I see lots of people claiming this as an exclusive - but @rachelsylvester.bsky.social got the story for @theobserveruk.bsky.social a fortnight ago!

Excellent work from @direthoughts.com and team, exposing serious misconduct resulting in a lengthy suspension for these two peers

Or listen to our findings on episode of The Naked Week www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Read the latest investigation by @catneilan.bsky.social and I, which reveals that against the advice of experts, defibrillators are often neglected and inaccessible leading to tragic and preventable deaths observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Following the BBC R4 broadcast of our investigation into Britain's system of defibrillators, you can now read the full deep dive in @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Another fantastic episode of The Naked Week with @andrewhunterm.bsky.social & @jonholmes.bsky.social This week, we investigate Britain's patchy defib system & reveal some genuinely startling problems Much credit to @freyashaw.bsky.social for the FOI heavy lifting www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Nathan Gill is sentenced to 10 and a half years

The CPS has now released the text of some of Nathan Gill's WhatsApps discussing payments Included in them is this - Voloshyn telling Gill "and other 2 for David you have already with you" As I revealed last month, David Coburn joined Gill on his Oct 2018 trip to Ukraine and joined the 112 board

The prosecutor later states in court how the messages indicate Gill "received €5,000 plus $2,000 for himself on this occasion and that concurrent payments were made to two other MEPs." No other former MEP has yet been charged. bsky.app/profile/catn...

Here's what appears to be the result - Gill and two other MEPs making strikingly similar comments to the European Parliament, following a trip to meet the pro-Putin TV channels

Prosecutor Mark Heywood has today told the Old Bailey: "It is clear that he read from the script he had with him." Gill sent a YouTube link to his speech to Voloshyn and wrote "V should be pleased by this". He was then asked to "encourage other MEPs" to take a similar stance

Exclusive: ‘Deeply shocking’: Nigel Farage faces fresh claims of racism and antisemitism at school Bafta-winning director among contemporaries urging contrition and apology from Reform UK leader, who denies the allegations w/ Dan Boffey and @drblacklock.bsky.social

So proud of the work me @catneilan.bsky.social and @coramazov.bsky.social have done! Read our investigation here!

‘Saviour of Papa Johns’ accused of taking unlawful slice of foreign workers’ pay. A franchisee’s firms have been taken off the Home Office licensed list after a joint Observer and BBC investigation. Read more as @catneilan.bsky.social reports: https://bit.ly/4r44qGR

"McSweeney was “ripped to shreds” by Labour peers over his lack of answers. “They were asking difficult but obvious questions – and he didn’t have answers to anything.""

Not sure this is any way to run an economy

This is quite a story

Political authority, like market confidence, is easy to lose and hard to regain - @catneilan.bsky.social and I report on the week that No 10 lost control observer.co.uk/news/politic...

🚨 Read our investigation into "Papa Johns saviour", how he exploited migrant workers and threatened to cancel visas if they complained This week, he was still on the Home Office's list of approved sponsors. As a result of our work, that's no longer the case 👇 share.google/VFDvHHCxcfza...

Starmer's removal is "inevitable now," says one minister The chaos united previously "mutually suspicious" people against the PM, says another But what caused it? Sources say a row between Wes Streeting and Morgan McSweeney weeks ago may have been key 👇 observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Went to a care home with Angela Rayner to talk about what's next, Labour infighting, and boosting pay for carers www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

“In all of this, of course, she was a newspaper’s dream." Remembering Rachel Cooke (1969-2025). The Observer journalist was the heart and soul of the paper for 25 years. She leaves an extraordinary legacy. https://bit.ly/4ib8GjN