As heroic Moldovans ignored threats of violence and huge financial inducements to vote for being European, one of Farage’s closest political allies pleads guilty to taking Kremlin money for political interference. A reminder of what is at stake.

'He accepted bribes from a Kremlin stooge': James O'Brien on Farage's ally admitting to bribery youtu.be/c9jUX5LDWVs?...

Long overdue

a longstanding, complicated problem: [exists] donald trump: [suggests stupid and over-simplistic solution that will make things worse] everyone: well, that's a stupid and over-simplistic solution that will make things worse columnists: he has a point about the problem existing, liberals!

One of the things about @ezraklein.bsky.social’s pod with T-N Coates is that Klein talks of a glory days in 2008 when Dems controlled Congress etc but this was a super narrow control which lasted by narrowest margins in the Senate until 2014 and had already gone by 2010 in the House. 1/2

‘For a sense of how much Moldova has mattered to Putin, one only has to look at how much Russia has spent to rig this election and the widespread bomb threats.’ Great piece on the significance of the Moldova election by @snellarthur.bsky.social. ~AA bestforbritain.substack.com/p/in-their-d...

Outstanding summary of why Moldova's rejection of Russian electoral influence - bribery, really - matters to us from @snellarthur.bsky.social.

*Benny Hill theme tune*

With more than 90 per cent of Moldova's election results now in and the pro-Russian bloc trailing pro-Europeans by 20 points, it's fair to ask whether Russia has lost Moldova? arthursnell.substack.com/p/has-russia...

With more than 90 per cent of Moldova's election results now in and the pro-Russian bloc trailing pro-Europeans by 20 points, it's fair to ask whether Russia has lost Moldova? arthursnell.substack.com/p/has-russia...

Preliminary results from the Moldovan electoral commission show the Russian stooges having done poorly. If these results continue, this is incredibly good news. pv.cec.md/preliminare

My Kyiv today 💔

Terrific piece this - will tell you more about why the government is unpopular than anything you’ll read about politics this week:

Reducing the numbers of people coming to work and study in the UK will turn this around any second now.

So excited by this, an Iranian wine made with grapes smuggled into Armenia where they’re fermented and bottled. Human ingenuity and determination at its absolute best.

Your regular reminder that London is way safer than any large US city and of course mass shootings never happen at all. Thank God for Sharia law!

HUR intercepted an order from a Russian commander to execute unarmed, wounded Ukrainian prisoners.

A thing to watch for, discourse-wise, is racism-deniers & facilitators in ‘mainstream’ media trying to detoxify ideas that have been beyond the mainstream pale since the Eighties. The Liddles & Littlejohns openly relish the opportunity that Farage offers them to remove what’s left of their masks.

They could save time and just have a catch-all headline with: “Supreme Court Allows Trump” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...

I'm grimly reminded of this: theonion.com/netanyahu-th...

As an immigration lawyer, it seems to me that the only thing we talk about more than immigration is how we don’t talk about immigration

the brilliant @zoejardiniere.bsky.social is on my podcast next week and her command of basic but essential facts, such as this is really worth tuning in for.

"How many traitors are in Farage's new party?" would, I suggest be a better line than Digital ID. To beat Reform, make wavering voters ashamed to back them.

We used to help countries defend themselves against stuff like this. Under this administration, that help has been stopped. www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/e...

The problem with "build youth club"/"fix high street" schemes is that REFUK purports to answer fundamental questions about who we are as a nation (cynically, of course) whereas Labour says "here's a complicated funding scheme for local projects." One is not an answer to the other.

Trump to impose 30% tariff on JD Vance's love life.

"I can't understand why people aren't investing in the US right now"

Windows

It’s shocking to imagine the people who’ve been recruited to ICE in a society that glorifies violence and guns and has a rapist as president.

Good job he cut all those aid programmes so he can spend it on Milei now. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

Yields were up everywhere today. A little more here than elsewhere but the budget and global worries about debt are a bigger issue than Burnham. Pound is down against the dollar because US GDP was revised up.

"Some TBI staff – including a number who left in recent years because of Ellison’s influence – say the cash injection has produced a culture that is dominated by a form of AI boosterism, and which, as they see it, amounts to lobbying for Oracle."

Nice. Now negotiate a return to the programme known as the EU.

"Oh no. Not again."

“Negotiating tactic” Trump has tactics?

I *am* very old, but you don’t have to be to recall Burnham’s last leadership tilt which ended with him becoming a national joke. Perhaps he’s changed and he’s the man for the moment, but Marie is likely to be right (this is often the case tbf).

Odd, how we can’t afford to give Americans healthcare, but we can afford to drop $200,000,000,000 on Argentina with a moment’s notice.

Bloody Martin Clunes up to his tricks again.

Strikes were (again) carried out at 'Kacha' airfield in occupied Crimea, which is subject to many strikes recently. In the past days and weeks, Mi-8 helicopters, Be-12 anti-submarine aircraft and now An-26 transport planes have been destroyed alongside radar systems at or near Kacha.

I wonder whether we’d do better in understanding and countering a whole lot of ‘negative’ forces if we recognised more widely the power of ‘participation’ and its psychological rewards. Sentiment needs specific and targeted challenges; sweet reason is insufficient.

Quite. So many Labour people on this website visibly have no idea of just how bad things have got for ethnic minorities since they came on, and how their visible indifference lands.

I was once in a cafe minding my own business and two blokes at the next table, in impeccable local Gloucestershire accents, were discussing how to catch a swan to eat it. I imagine their families had migrated to England with the Saxons.

I worked in counter-terrorism/CVE from 2002-2011, talking directly to violent extremists in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. These so-called extreme Islamists often had little interest or knowledge of Islam. Participation is an end in itself, not the ideology. No doubt similar for many US killers.

It needs real devolution of power over taxes and services so people feel the locus of decision making moving nearer to them, giving them more say and control. Some signs that Labour is getting more serious about this too.

It’s odd that there’s all this talk about the “crisis” with NHS drug prices. This is a crisis in which, thanks to good negotiation and bulk buying, the NHS is paying less for drugs than anywhere else. I thought we believed in market foces? www.independent.co.uk/news/busines...

“Perhaps next time we should offer him a tour of the local spray tan studio and a Happy Meal."