The only thing better than this selection is the accompanying statement by the Nobel Institute: “When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist.” ✊☮️🕊️ www.cbc.ca/news/world/n...

Top picture - Reform votes to cancel the promised new high school in Preston 😡 Bottom pictures - team Preston with Victoria Collins MP knocking on hundreds of doors tonight in the Ashton ward by-election 🔶 Only way to stop Reform is to beat them at the ballot box 🗳️ and take power from them 💪

Who benefits from the abolition of stamp duty land tax? The first answer: people buying very expensive homes. Average saving for someone buying a £10m+ home is £1.7m. Average saving for someone buying a £250k-£500k home is £5k.

🧵🚨 The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news. Today our report is published! www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n... 1/11

The war is Gaza has gone on two years too long. I welcome this ceasefire of course but it’s hard to celebrate after we’ve had such misery and destruction. In this war we’ve seen the worst of humanity. In its aftermath I hope we see the best.

Kemi Badenoch ignored the former Conservative voters who believe in the rule of law, protecting our home for future generations and human rights for all our people. With the help of a snazzy van we made sure people could hear a different message in Manchester today. Join us

Leaving the ECHR won’t fix illegal migration | ✍️ David Gauke

These sound like sensible reforms to help the housing market - reduced time on searches and buyers being able to see solicitors' track record should help chains to move faster. www.independent.co.uk/money/steve-...

A reminder about previous approaches to “help” younger homebuyers which burn public money and increase the housing market: philmorganblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/30/t...

For obvious news reasons - Burnham, terrorism - I’ve not written about the reform councils elsewhere for a few weeks. But the general vibe is “we can’t rule out CT rises”. The narrative, ie blame govt, is therefore already being established. It’s true (central govt £ DOES dictate this), but 1/

Armed, masked men with no identifying insignia removing people from the streets of America. The Tories think it’s a good idea for the UK.

What an admirably clear statement from the Jewish Leadership Council, especially when all of those involved must surely have been dealing with so many other urgent challenges in safety, security and grief + shock today before having this further divisive and distracting intervention to address too.

Larry Ellison has given nearly half a billion dollars to Tony Blair's institute. Now, why do you think he'd do that..? Terrific piece by @carolecadwalla.bsky.social at @thenerve.news

“Most British Jewish voices have consistently been clear that they reject Robinson’s bogus claim to be an ally of their community. It is important that we hear that again now.”

Kemi Badenoch saying “the last time I checked, Northern Ireland did vote to leave” is so on-brand it hurts. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Everything about this is *cough* remarkable. First, making public a without prejudice offer to settle for £26m when your company has just lost a £126m case is not really an exculpation or excuse. Why make it public? Second, this is from the defendant directly, not their lawyers. Which is...

Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Astonishing bravery from security and worshippers outside the synagogue in Manchester looks to have prevented an appalling attack being even worse.

REVEALED: Donald Trump has picked Tony Blair for central role in Gaza ‘peace plan’… …but in our inaugural investigation for @thenerve_news, we reveal extensive previously unreported links to Israeli defence, media & tech. 🧵 1/ www.thenerve.news/p/tony-blair...

Tory party’s long journey away from science, reason, responsibility, common sense and truth is complete

The VIP Lane scandal refuses to go away… If you want to read more about the PPE Medpro, Baroness Mone PPE deals and why this really is just the tip of the iceberg please do check out my new book: viplanebook.com

Good. The money can be used for far better things.

🚨ICYMI🚨 Housing expert and author of Big Capital: Who Is London For? @annaminton.bsky.social joins @hannahfearn.bsky.social to discuss the nightmare of trying to build houses in a system designed to inhibit it 👉 linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow... #starmer #housing #regeneration

Meanwhile, here’s what Farage told Congress about incitement to murder: “What Lucy Connolly said..which was only visible for 3.5 hours, may have been expressed inelegantly, but it was a sentiment that was being felt by a lot of people at that moment, and it should not have been criminalised.”

Keir Starmer, "Politicians who lie to this country, unleash chaos, and walked away after Brexit" "Who equivocate on Putin and Ukraine" "Who even now go to America and grub around for money" "Talking this great country down" "No more lectures from them"

Unite created phoney job to prevent challenge to leaders, says whistleblower Union gave a Heathrow baggage handler a ‘ghost post’ and let him keep his first job, according to claim ✍️@JonUngoedThomas https://bit.ly/4nX84A8

Apart from the unnecessary hardship this will inflict on individuals, this will be bad for integration and social cohesion, bad for the economy, and will increase irregular migration. [And, as @robfordmancs.bsky.social has shown, it's hugely unpopular and out of step with the British public]

New from me: a *free* short version of my Political Quarterly piece on universities... The issue is settled now: the massified and accessible Higher Education system we have spent tens of billions building since the 1970s is coming to an end. (1/2) politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

Exactly the right language and tone from Starmer here -no nonsense about "legitimate concerns" or weasel words about cost/practicality. Now government needs to put his money where the PM's mouth is (in policy terms)

Ex-Brexit Party MEP and Reform UK leader in Wales pleads guilty in Russia bribe case

Nathan Gill is no fringe politician. He was the leader of the Reform Party and before that UKIP in Wales. A Brexit Party MEP. A friend and ally of Nigel Farage, who in 2016 called him: "terrific," and "as honest as the day is long." This is a MASSIVE story www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So to recap: 🟣Farage made Gill Welsh UKIP leader 🟣Gill left UKIP 2 days after Farage and has admitted to his first count of Russian bribery THE SAME DAY 💎Gill joined Brexit party and re-elected to Brexit Party during the bribes period 💎Gill made Welsh Reform UK leader 11/14

This is a very important story in the context of Nigel Farage’s publicly expressed - if apparently unconnected - admiration for Putin and other links with a regime that only wants to harm our country.

I really hope the Starmer speech on patriotic renewal is better than this summary of it, which basically argues that New Labour and the Tories let in too many immigrsnts but this one is going to give you a youth club instead so please don’t vote Reform www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f9444c6...

"In May, after a Justice Department review of the Epstein case files, Bondi and her deputy updated President Trump. They told him, according to senior administration officials, that his name was in the files..." www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

For those asking, I'm in agreement with all the points in this blog (written by a Lib Dem activist who also opposes) www.libdemvoice.org/id-cards-we-...

Yet another delay to the project that's meant to fix our delayed trains. Far from great

So notice how the weekly Monday morning press conference of Reform follows the same pattern namely say something controversial and say it loud. The gullible press lap it up and save you the bother of doing your own advertisement for the event. Straight out of theJossef Gobbels playbook.

How Trump’s ‘private’ police force is putting US democracy on Ice Fears are growing that next year’s midterm elections could be the next target for Ice agents. @hughtomlinson.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3W1bohs

Andrew Tate says London is too dangerous to go out at night in. He wouldn't know much about that because since May 28th 2025 he has an arrest warrant pending for Rape and Human Trafficking. So he hasn't been in the UK never mind London.

I’m watching and it’s astounding. We all knew something like this was going on - but the extent of it! While so many were suffering, dying, sunk into loneliness - a few were absolutely RAKING IT IN. The COVID health crisis was a very, very lucrative opportunity for some.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Guardian “The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money review – a devastating picture of the biggest spending scandal ever” www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Vance says it's a "statistical fact" that most "lunatics" in politics are aligned with the left. Government data & independent analysis show that right-wing extremists are responsible for 75% of domestic terrorism deaths. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Elon Musk is no friend of our United Kingdom. He should be held to account for allowing truly vile and illegal child abuse content on his platform.

Zarah Sultana calls in lawyers as row deepens with Jeremy Corbyn over new party The former Labour MP alleges ‘attacks’ on her character as group’s implosion drives 1,400 supporters to Greens. @catneilan.bsky.social https://bit.ly/422tTFM

8 days to go… come on people 😱 petition.parliament.uk/petitions/71...

🔴The British News Organisations 'Obeying in Advance' to Donald Trump The coverage of this week's Trump state visit is a worrying sign of what will happen if a Trump-like figure is ever elected on this side of the Atlantic www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-britis...

Impeccable.

Trump Spends Entire U.K. Trip Trying To Figure Out Where He Knows Prince Andrew From

So far, Labour's plans for political reform would do nothing meaningful to stop Elon Musk buying his way into election influence in the UK. There are some welcome details in the plan but the plans aren't good enough: