Plus sides to today: Two-child benefit scrapped. Largely progressive tax implications. Good market reaction. No big spending cuts. Nightmare prospect of cutting funding to net zero etc avoided. It's a left-wing budget. Those who say there's no difference between Labour and Tories are bananas.

As part of the ‘No Music For Genocide’ campaign, Massive Attack and Paul Weller have confirmed that their requests to geo-block music in Israel have been approved. www.nme.com/news/music/m...

Reeves' budget is clearly a compromise, taxing many people more and annoying the better off. But it avoids austerity and has a lot that's sensible. And if anyone has to help pay for Brexit, Covid and years of Tory economic mismanagement, let it be those who can afford it. #Budget2026

Don’t forget, no matter how much Nigel Farage tries to shape Reform UK’s economic policy to win votes, at heart he’s a disaster capitalist. #Budget2025

You might think a man who's spent 6 months telling everyone that he will be the next prime minister might take some interest in geopolitics and Britain’s global standing. Apparently not. Nigel Farage was absent for Keir Starmer’s statement on the G20 summit and the Ukraine peace process. Of course.

I’m the same age as Farage. We all knew what racism was. We’re not talking about ‘ye olden dayes of Empyre’. The Clash existed. He knew what he was then. He knows now. He shows us everyday. Believe your own eyes and ears.

The US will hold secret peace talks with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi today, where Russia will reject the moderate European ammendments to its wishlist. The question then is whether Trump blames Zelenskyy or Putin. #r4today www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.

US Republican speaker on #Politicslive utterly dishonest about the Ukraine peace plan, about Europe and about Trump. He tries to justify the original Russian plan which means Ukrainian and European surrender but gains for Putin and the US. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

Credit to European leaders: their counter proposal to the US-Russia peace plan for Ukraine is a massive improvement. A compromise, not a surrender. It's still too generous to Russia but they have to appease both Trump and was criminal Putin. news.sky.com/story/in-ful...

Over at the Daily Telegraph, they're scratching their heads as to why the former mining and steel producinv city of Gliwice in Poland is now 45% more prosperous than Darlington... and why it has new shiny infrastructure... without mentioning EU funds for urban and regional development...

Donald Trump says Ukraine's leaders have shown "zero gratitude" to him for presenting Russia's wishlist dressed up as a peace plan. We've all accepted he's #Putin's not Europe's ally, haven't we? www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3...

The Telegraph’s BBC hypocrisy Follow Sam Bright on Substack. He specialises in exposing dark money and the trends in the far right full of charlatans open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...

Speak Truth...

Congress, pay attention. We the People decide where our money goes — not the President. And we are demanding full support for Ukraine, with everything they need to win. Trump does not hold the power of the purse. The American people do. Act accordingly.

So, we know that Trump's Ukraine peace plan is Russia's wishlist translated into English. They've barely bothered to hide it. The US isn't just abandonning Europe, it's betraying it, instead aligning with Putin and Russia. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Ukraine's allies must accept that while the US has the biggest economy in the world, its democracy is collapsing, and it has been captured by a cult of ignorant, Kremlin-backing grifters. European countries must re-group, standing up to both Putin and Trump. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

Drowning in denial: one in five homes in Reform UK heartlands faces flooding in 25 years Even as the party rolls back climate action, Reform-controlled councils sit on some of England’s worst rising flood risks By Nafeez Ahmed @yorkshirebylines.co.uk

“Over 150,000 Twitter accounts based in Russia tweeted about Brexit during the referendum, an investigation found..Britain "knows" what Russia is doing” but Tories were bankrolled by Russian money & compromised. www.businessinsider.com/russia-used-...

Ukraine's allies from Europe, Canada and Japan have said that the Trump-Putin peace plan has elements "essential for a just and lasting peace", instead of more truthfully saying it's a betrayal of Ukraine and Europe. #SlavaUkraine www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers. Direct result of racism and insecurity unleashed by major political parties. Not enough home trained doctors. Takes years and high debt to become a doctor. A healthcare crisis in the making.

Banks was losing Reform candidate for Mayor of West of England but lost. He’s a good mate of Nigel Paul Farage and an old foe of Carol Cadwalladr. Another Reform Russia link. metro.co.uk/2018/06/10/m...

This is a significant story and it’s sinister it isn’t getting more significant coverage elsewhere.

The Sudetenland was ceded to Germany. It did not stop World War II. Do not let history repeat itself.

The former Reform leader received up to £40,000 to help pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.

Red lines for Ukraine and Europe: * no more land given up * no disarming of Ukraine * no blocking of NATO membership * no rehabilitation of Russia Putin's plan, backed by Trump, crosses them all and makes Russia a G7 member again. Total capitulation. #r4today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Donald Trump has warned President Zelensky to agree to his peace proposal, giving Putin all he wants, or lose access to US intelligence and weapons. This is a surrender to Russia and a betrayal of Ukraine and Europe and the USA, too. #r4today www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

Whatever he, JD Vance and Karoline Leavitt say, we know that Trump's administration is getting more dishonest, outrageous and extreme. The fact that they're pushing Ukraine to surrender to Russia fits the narrative that Putin has dirt on Trump, who is now burning down everything around him.

Important to remember, as Boris Johnson's reputation is further destroyed by the #CovidInquiry, that the people who backed and pushed him (and Brexit) are those behind Nigel Farage, wanting to continue the corruption and chaos with a Reform government. #r4today

Europe cannot back the #Ukraine peace plan cooked up by Russia and backed by the US. It gives Putin all he wants and would mean all the lives lost, destruction and cost were in vain. It's a beyrayal of Zelenskyy by Trump. #r4today www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

Expert on BBC News says Trump's #Ukraine peace plan is basically Putin's wish list. It's not a 'peace deal’, it's a surrender to Russia that Europe cannot accept. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

The UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was “too little, too late”, with a "toxic and chaotic culture” at the heart of Number 10. This was literally Vote Leave in power, Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings totally out of their depth. #CovidInquiry #bbcpm www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

In BBC sitcom Mammoth, the brilliant Mike Bubbins plays Tony Mammoth, a 70s Welsh PE teacher who is cryogenically frozen in an avalanche in 1979. Cue culture clashes and gaffs delivered with fondness and real humour. Really looking forward to series 2 next month. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Up to 50,000 nurses could quit the UK over the government’s immigration proposals, plunging the NHS into its biggest ever workforce crisis. Will our political leaders and media elite ever be honest about the need for people from abroad? #r4today www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Good to hear Andy Burnham comment on Shabana Mahmood's cruel plans for refugees, noting the difficulty of implementing them and that they would hinder integration. #r4today www.bbc.com/news/article...

🚨EXCLUSIVE: Dinner with Mr Brexit: Bannon’s European Revolution – Planned with Farage, Backed by Epstein 'The Movement'. Farage's partner Ferrari started it. Steve Bannon and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were providing almost daily support bylinetimes.com/2025/11/19/d...

The real BBC bias story, narrated by Anna Ford

Labour MP Clive Lewis hints he would give up his seat for Andy Burnham to challenge Keir Starmer's leadership. Ironically, Lewis is well worth keeping in parliament but Starmer's lost and we must avoid the nightmare of Nigel Farage as PM. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Defence secretary John Healey says there's a Russian spy ship on the edge of UK waters directing lasers at RAF pilots. Putin's been undermining and attacking Britain and Europe for years. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

You can tell a lot about someone from the company they keep. Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer have moved even further towards Farage and Reform. The Express and other appalling, dishonest and divisive people are thrilled. Then again, it's a huge recruitment drive for the Green Party.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's Asylum Plan 'Conflates Control With Cruelty'. Starmer won't tell the truth about immigration, won't defend human rights and won't stand up to Britain's far right media elite. People didn't vote Labour to get Reform UK. open.substack.com/pub/bylinesu...

Farage, Boris Johnson & Rees-Mogg apparently plotting assaults on UK democracy with Bannon, who was reporting back to Epstein. Nothing to see here, newspaper folk… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Water company United Utilities enjoys 131% rise in profits after bills go up £112. UU has 205+ criminal convictions. Loses over 175bn litres of water to leaks. In 2024 dumped sewage 450,778 hours in rivers//akes. No exec prosecuted/fined Rewarded with higher price and profit. archive.ph/7aP8O

Tommy Robinson regards Labour as having been converted to his far right, nationalist cause. That's where Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and Shabana Mahmood have taken the party.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood vows to end the UK’s ‘golden ticket’ for asylum seekers, deliberately playing to the Tories, Reform and GB News. But none of them will start to back Labour, while progressive people abandon the party ever more quickly. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a loyal ally of Donald Trump, has been deemed a “traitor” by him for supporting the release of the #EpsteinFiles. We can guess why Trump's desperate for them not to come out. #TrumpEpsteinPedoFiles www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

BBC has a case against Trump. WhiteHouse Chief Press Officer called the BBC ‘100% fake news.’ Which is defamatory and untrue.

Shabana Mahmood is now seen by many as the leader of Blue Labour, the reactionary clique at the centre of the government. She wants to make life harder not just for new but previous refugees in the UK. This Reform-lite Labour only drives voters away.