Covid fraud under the Tories cost the UK taxpayer £10.9bn. VIP lanes and crony contracts. Lack of anti-fraud controls in Covid scheme. Money handed out for non-existent employees Newly formed companies got public money No competitive tenders Poor checks on quality. How much would be recovered?

‘Poverty is a human rights violation. We cannot realise our own human rights until we address tax’ I talk to Scotland’s human rights chief who says poverty is trashing citizens rights to food, warmth, education and healthcare. ‘It robs people of dignity’. My Big Read @heraldscotland.bsky.social

The most transparent administration in history is now hiding both the complete Epstein files and the complete video of the Sept. 2 boat strike from the American people, only releasing the parts of each that they want you to see while concealing the rest.

Mark Kelly: "They are not silencing me. I'm still speaking out. I still am going to do my job every single day regardless of whether this president wants to kill me, hang me, execute me, or shut me up. I'm not gonna shut up."

Again in the DC Circuit Trumpster judges deliver the goods. www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

“When it comes to voting rights and redistricting to ensure partisan advantage, the Court acts like our blatantly racist past that prevented racial minorities from being elected to state and federal legislatures never happened. History for me but not for thee.” www.dorfonlaw.org/2025/12/raci...

“Out is support for democratic ideals and honestly defending their expression and expansion. In is foreign policy as a money-making venture.” www.americaamerica.news/p/do-you-sup...

Mamdani: Oftentimes when we win elections, we tell people to go home and just trust us. But the message really has to be that we want you to come along with us… That’s something we’ve been looking to share with New Yorkers: We want to not only win with New Yorkers, but also govern with New Yorkers.

Summing up the UK govt's budget: Inequalities, profiteering, regressive taxation and neutering of public investment do not provide firm foundations for the economy. We need a Budget for the masses, not just for the super-rich, bond markets and corporations.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JULf...

Farage in Scotland: it should make our collective stomachs heave that this repulsive and dangerous extremist has come to spread his poison in our country. Anyone who supports this man is morally in the gutter My column in the Herald today

According to a new study, members of Congressional leadership perform 47% better in stock market trades than their rank-and-file peers, thanks to access to nonpublic information. Today would be a great day to ban ALL elected officials from trading stock, don't you think?

Rising racism blamed for collapse in number of foreign nurses coming to UK. UKIP/Reform/Farage damaged the economy with Brexit, now destroying the NHS. The UK is an ageing society, without immigration the economy can't function. Will we ever get an honest debate?

The dripping contempt the right wing SCOTUS majority holds for district judges is truly a sight to behold every time. When they deign to give actual reasons for their shadow docket holdings, it’s “look at the absolute idiots who keep getting everything wrong!”

Wow! The Supreme Court basically just said, if you want to do racial gerrymandering, have at it. Let’s be clear, what Texas did was racial gerrymandering, plain and simple. SCOTUS just opened the floodgates.

Simply amazing that the Supreme Court declared an end to legal race discrimination in the affirmative action case two years ago and now allows overt racism in both immigration arrests and redistricting. Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.

Political donations are inimical to democracy and should be outlawed immediately

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has granted a stay, allowing Texas to use its new congressional map in 2026, delivering a major win for President Donald Trump and his unprecedented national effort to rig the upcoming midterm elections.

The Roberts Republican Court lets Texas redistrict POC out of any voting strength reversing the lower court in an emergency appeal. When will people believe me??? It is the Republican Court, end of story, full stop. Nothing else. The three libs dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

On Tuesday, the court will consider whether to further cut back campaign finance limitations. Here's Amy Howe's case preview

Crypto investor gives £9m to Reform UK as donations exceed those to Tories. Super rich don't donate, they invest to shape party policies to secure advantages for their class. Normal people can't match them. Direct donations to political parties must be criminalized.

“There is no other way to put it. They were trying to rip a food bank off” bit.ly/4rz8SNY

UK energy bills to rise by £108 to pay for infrastructure upgrades. Since 2020 energy companies made £125bn profit. 6.1m live in fuel poverty. £4.43bn energy bills arrears. 128,000 a year die in fuel poverty. Eliminate privatisation of profit. Use it to fund infrastructure. Nationalise.

Nigel Farage used an LBC appearance in September to accuse the Bank of England of being “dinosaurs” for seeking to place restrictions on the use of Stablecoins by crypto firms like Tether. He did not declare that Reform had just received a £9 million donation from one of its biggest investors

Cryptocurrency backed by Farage’s biggest donor Christopher Harborne helped “turbocharge” money laundering says NCA One Russian laundering network that switched to Tether in 2020 enabled “sanctions evasions and the highest levels of organised crime including providing services to the Russian state”

Himes: "What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service ... any American who sees the video that I saw will see the US military attacking shipwrecked sailors."

Guardian environment correspondent Paul Brown’s valedictory piece on why we should be wary of Keir Starmer’s “nuclear renaissance” is well worth a read.

Still keeping an eye on the as yet unfulfilled Scottish National Party '21 manifesto & subsequent Scottish Government commitment to create a Register of Scottish judges interests, as confirmed by the then FM Nicola Sturgeon @nicolasturgeon.bsky.social petercherbi.blogspot.com/2021/08/judi...

Time to admit the truth: Brexit has been an unmitigated economic failure, says The Telegraph. Brexit Effect: UK GDP down 8% Investment down 18% Productivity down 4% Employment down 4% Immigration not cut No trade benefits No regulatory freedom Why do some still vote for Farage? archive.ph/L2Gqp

This belies Trump’s “concern” about drug trafficking. Eventually we will find out the corrupt back story.

Attempt to downlist conservation status of Peregrine Falcons to allow international trade is thwarted at CITES Conference. #CITESCoP20 Good news for Peregrines, but not sure why UK voted to support this proposal! #RaptorResearch raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/04/a...

Jury trials in England & Wales for crimes that carry a likely sentence of less than 3 years will be scrapped. Bad move Money may be saved but justice and trust in the system will be the biggest casualty. Poor and minorities at the mercy of toff judges.

🔴NEW: The Lochaber food bank in Fort William claims energy multinational SSE tried to "rip them off". After a year of fighting – and questions from The Ferret – SSE has promised to re-issue the correct bill…but it is still unresolved. www.theferret.scot/f...

Culture is one of the few strings left in this country’s bow. We don’t build things anymore but the world cares about our art, literature and heritage. So why are politicians slashing funding for the arts? These fools would kill the only success story we’ve got My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column

Christopher Harborne—a crypto investor known in Thailand as Chakrit Sakunkrit—handed Reform UK £9m on 1 Aug. Harborne owns a reported 12% stake in Tether Holdings Ltd, which operates the $185bn stablecoin USD₮. In a wholly unrelated development, Reform leader Nigel Farage keeps talking up crypto.

We get the politics the few pay for. #democracy - it would be a good idea www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BOE Cuts Banks’ Benchmark Capital Requirements. Just as the AI bubble readies to burst, and shadow banking is running amok. Lower buffers will reduce bank ability to absorb shocks. Guess who will bail out banks? We haven't recovered from the last crash. archive.ph/ivAJV

From 2029 British workers and businesses will be paying another £26bn a year in tax—and most will not be spent on better hospitals, libraries or happier lives. Whatever bilge comes from Farage and Badenoch it isn’t getting splashed on “benefits street”. Instead, Reeves has weaponised the bond market

Fix the Court is 1 of the only, if not the only, org. working on: — Free PACER legislation — A judicial gift ban — Workplace conduct reform — Exposing *all* A3 judges' conflicts — Increasing court security funds If you appreciate our work, plz consider a Giving Tuesday gift fixthecourt.com/donate.

Goshawk dies from gunshot injuries in Aberdeenshire. Police Scotland appeals for information. #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime #BirdingScotland raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/01/g...

When Rachel Reeves was in Riyadh last month, she paid homage to MBS and agreed to provide £5bn in UK taxpayer guarantees to businesses owned by the Saudi public investment fund. That came a week after the execution of one of her host’s citizens for an “offence” committed as a child.

Some things are not that complicated. Killing shipwrecked civilians who pose no direct threat is illegal. Period. www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...

So, seems like we’re not all that serious about fighting the war on drugs after all. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/u...

UK Govt bends to Trump's imperialism. NHS to pay 25% more (3bn) for drugs after UK–US tariff deal. Money will buy less, higher taxes or longer healthcare queues as Trump wants bigger profits for US companies. Build your supply chains or be blackmailed. Whatever happened to 'take back control'?

‘The cruelty, brutality and ugliness was having a profound emotional effect on me. It was making me unhappy, making me see humanity as something disgusting’ Here’s the story of why I left Twitter, and why the world is a happier and more beautiful place without it In @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Crucial point from @jenrubin.bsky.social: The leaks about the bombings show there's a ton of deep consternation inside the military and civilian leadership about what's happening. And that can only get worse. On the pod Jen is so illuminating on this scandal: newrepublic.com/article/2038...

It's great that reporting on the double tap has spotlighted the abject criminality of this Administration. But don't forget: Venezuela is not waging war on America or Americans, and the men killed were not combatants. The first strike was every bit as illegal as the second.

Still keeping an eye on the as yet unfulfilled Scottish National Party '21 manifesto & subsequent Scottish Government commitment to create a Register of Scottish judges interests, as confirmed by the then FM Nicola Sturgeon @nicolasturgeon.bsky.social petercherbi.blogspot.com/2021/08/judi...

Britain has a secrecy problem. In 2024, the govt answered just 29% of Freedom of Information requests - the lowest rate since FOI began. Secrecy fuels corruption, bad governance, scandals covered-up to protect elites. Ministers don't answer questions in parliament. Sham democracy.