The Sun corrects Katie Lam's numerous errors and lies about foreign nationals claiming benefits. archive.ph/vQ7Tn

Warsaw Modlin airport to be rail-connected by 2029. Wonder how much it'll really be needed by then.

I feel like the difference is that in Moldova you're talking about post-Soviet style 'virtual parties' and actual bribed voters and, tbh, when people couldn't vote for them any more there was probably little more than a shrug. @acoyne.bsky.social

I keep hearing from certain people about how quintessentially terrible the Brits are, even the ones that didn't vote Leave, and how lovely everything is in the EU. Meanwhile, here are some more hard right populists...

Explosion in Kharkiv ‼️ the city is under russian missile attack right now ‼️ its a broad daylight, Sunday!

Going to launch a campaign for British withdrawal from the OECD, just for a laugh

🔴NEW🔴 Thread 🧵 @bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12

“She paused, her dark eyes sparkling. Then she placed one hand on my arm and flashed a wicked grin. ‘Body language,’ she purred.” From Chapter 10 of my book “Lessons in Diplomacy”: “How to know people”.

This is illuminating. Perhaps Ukraine should be force-evacuating civilians from front line villages, as long as they can get the messaging right as to why.

Yesterday I had the rare opportunity to speak with infantry from Ukraine's 14th Brigade. They had just returned from a 90-day posting in Novoekonomichne - one of the hottest parts of the entire front. Their commander, 'Bobruk,' had some very interesting insights. Thread:

Kyiv-București via Moldova train starting next week. Will take ages and clearly not the best route, but they've set this up quickly

If Britain was a serious country for transport infrastructure: -designate Gatwick the new runway/expanded airport -build Crossrail 2, taking the suburban trains out of Waterloo station -build a fast rail tunnel from East Croydon to Waterloo, enabling Gatwick to Central London in 20 minutes or less

For me it's still 'tweets', 'tweeting' etc., whatever the official term is. Think of it like hoover, xerox, tannoy and so on.

Still no Storm Daniels. It's a disgrace.

I'm waiting for the head scratching in a couple of years when trains are back in public ownership but nothing much has changed.

On the subject of 'EU rules', I'm old enough to remember the 7-10 year free movement restrictions on new member states, the 10 year moratorium on being able to buy Hungarian farmland after their accession in 2004 and so on. 'EU rules' are what the EU and its member states decide to make them.

‼️🇺🇦 The assassination of Andriy Parubiy was ordered by Russian intelligence agencies, - SBU. The killer had been working for the Russians for over a year, leaking information about AFU. He had been stalking the deputy and plotting an escape abroad, but was detained in the Khmelnytskyi region.

After clashing with Maurice Glasman recently, I've come to realise just how pernicious he and his Blue Labour movement are. We could discuss his chumminess with Steve Bannon and JD Vance, endless pandering to the far right and evident hatred of the Labour left. But there's something even worse. 🧵

For me it's still 'tweets', 'tweeting' etc., whatever the official term is. Think of it like hoover, xerox, tannoy and so on.

1/4 Antisemitism is not taken seriously enough in progressive spaces or in pro-Palestinian activism spaces - that is simply a statement of fact Week after week we saw antisemitic elements at pro-Palestine protests, shouting hatred with protesters walking by saying and doing nothing about it

💥🔎 On X/Twitter, Visegrád24 became famous for its anti-Muslim and anti-migration stance as well as waves of disinformation. A recent report brings to light people, funding and political actors tied to their Central Europe-based but international network. @vsquare.bsky.social

Russia's size may have served it well militarily in the past, but it's starting to look like a disadvantage in modern warfare. So vast as to be indefensible.

If Britain was a serious country for transport infrastructure: -designate Gatwick the new runway/expanded airport -build Crossrail 2, taking the suburban trains out of Waterloo station -build a fast rail tunnel from East Croydon to Waterloo, enabling Gatwick to Central London in 20 minutes or less

But the EU machine is moving. Huge steps are being taken on mobilizing money to replace the US on Ukraine and to push Ukraine EU membership forward. The EU finds a way and while sausage making ain't pretty... sausage is pretty great in the end.

Brussels leaks like a sieve b/c so many countries involved and no consequences, etc. So everything plays out in the press. (See this great podcast episode with Politico.EU founder Matt Kaminiski). And this creates drama, will it or won't it happen... etc. But... 3/ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Hugely important perspective from Max. The EU may not be directly seizing the Russian assets. The link to the Russian bank deposits in Euroclear is political I think. But the glass is still more than half full - 140 billion in Ukraine funding is as big a deal as it sounds.

You do know the vast majority of Russian wealth was theft to begin with, right?

Ukraine has ended diplomatic relations with Nicaragua.

Farage says it’s about “the boats”. A Dutch migrant’s farewell in this letter to the editor proves even legal residents aren’t safe.

they should and anyone who thinks it's silly has an unrepresentatively inflated sense of the proper size of the unit of "nation"

As someone who regularly travelled by train from Ukraine to the EU, I probably agree a wholesale change to standard gauge there is unrealistic, but the incremental steps going on now make sense. Uzhhorod for instance makes far more sense as a destination from the EU than the border village of Chop.

Definitely better transliterated as the h here

"i just use it to generate ideas"

I doubt most Moldovan voters were particularly bothered about not having a couple of virtual parties on the ballot. They might have been thinking about voting for them but there was probably barely a shrug.

The global market for these shows is more than 200 times size of Irish market. If the show flops in Ireland its essentially a rounding error for Netflix. The days when historical dramas were made by & for the country they are ostensibly set in...are long gone. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

A gentle reminder. If you call a political party racist, it can’t sue for defamation. If you call a particular politician racist, they can. They might well lose - Lozza Fox has failed more than once - but they can sue, and they might win. This is one of the reasons people are wary of saying it.

Have now had my final EU passport stamps, which is a bit sad. Getting them was the only thing I liked about Brexit.

Have now had my final EU passport stamps, which is a bit sad. Getting them was the only thing I liked about Brexit.

As someone who regularly travelled by train from Ukraine to the EU, I probably agree a wholesale change to standard gauge there is unrealistic, but the incremental steps going on now make sense. Uzhhorod for instance makes far more sense as a destination from the EU than the border village of Chop.

Something under-discussed as Donald Trump and the White House rail against George Soros and promise to crack down on OSF (Open Society Foundations) – Soros himself no longer runs it, and in reality the OSF itself has been in something close to crisis for years. Short thread:

Reform’s Russia connections are a danger to our national security. It’s time for a public inquiry. 🔥

While today he presents himself as the defender of Palestinians under Israeli bombardment, the Russian intervention in Syria was supported by Labour’s former leader Jeremy Corbyn, and his director of communications Seamus Milne. This is why Syrians continue to despise him. bsky.app/profile/ozka...

Westminster petitions should have an option to sign to oppose as well as support

It’s very amusing watching British people lose their minds over ID cards and for me it really underlines the British Exceptionalism that runs through the population. That 450 million Europeans have one without a problem seems to be enough reason for the UK not to have them here.

There is a key moral distinction between immigration policy on new arrivals, no matter how draconian, and on people who have already been granted status, on set conditions. It is about being a country that keeps its word. If we're not that, we might as well fucking give up now.

French railways yesterday a total nightmare. How can it be that difficult just to buy a ticket for a local train???

On a nice note, I finally did I minor thing on my bucket list by visiting the steps at Marseille St Charles