Color Scheme

Ben Habib: It was deeply upsetting...

It was deeply upsetting to watch the CH4 revelations about @reformparty_uk Senior figures in Reform appearing to conspire to step round electoral law to allow foreign funding of “off book” polls is frankly disgusting. And it appears @Nigel_Farage was fully in the picture. This cannot be characterised as entrapment, which is the line being taken by Farage. Entrapment is a defence against law enforcement agents inducing a breaking of the law. The ideas, it would appear, all came from Reform. I fought a campaign in 2024 for the democratisation of the party and to introduce checks and balances to prevent precisely this sort of thing happening. I failed in that campaign. It is tragic seeing Reform collapse in a swamp of sleaze.

Aaron Bastani: Zack Polanski is far from the favourite...

Zack Polanski is far from the favourite in Holborn and St Pancras. And Camden Labour is still very much an effective political machine. His best hope to cause an upset is: 1) Focus relentlessly on this Summer’s drought and heat. Say you will be a leading voice as we hit new record highs next year with El Niño. Say you will pressure Burnham to nationalise Thames Water. Even solid Labour voters are open to this argument, particularly when it’s a Labour-Green 1-2 anyway. Talk about how climate breakdown is particularly an issue in cities (heat island effect). 2) Focus on foreign policy, from Washington to Gaza. Again, Labour voters are open to the idea of the Greens putting pressure on the government with issues they care about. Even when they like Burnham. This can be presented as a corrective of national importance (which is true). Stake out the position historically made by the now decimated Labour left. This isn’t ’anti-Americanism’, it’s about Britain being a sovereign, self-governing country. Which the political establishment doesn’t really believe in. Why are US bases IN BRITAIN using dollars? (Answer: because we don’t get a say). 3) Tell voters they will have an advocate with a much larger national megaphone, given Polanski also leads a national party, than with Labour. “I will not only sort your casework, I can also make it national news” is a great sell. 4) Relentlessly say you want to push Burnham left, and put climate change at the heart of the national political agenda. After all, Starmer only went because the Greens already prevailed in one by-election this year. Imagine what another could do? This doesn’t need to mean attacking Burnham personally: yes, his record is mixed to bad (Iraq!) but his personal approval ratings speak for themselves right now. Rather, Polanski as an MP means keeping Burnham honest. People aren’t in the mood for rancour as Labour makes progress in taking on Reform. Do all that and I think they’re competitive. Like I say, though, Camden Labour has a ton of data and a powerful machine.

Alex Wickham: Breaking: Labour have formally...

Breaking: Labour have formally reported Nigel Farage and two senior Reform UK aides to the police accusing them of possible criminal offences following the undercover sting In a letter to Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley, Labour chair Bridget Phillipson writes: “The allegations are unusually serious because they do not concern an apparent administrative error or uncertainty over the permissibility of a donor. The published material describes arrangements which appear to have been designed to conceal the source of political funding and, in the case of the polling payments, evidence which suggests awareness that the payments constituted donations and a deliberate decision not to disclose them. We therefore believe there is a proper basis for a police investigation into whether offences under PPERA have been committed”

Andrew Feinstein: What has Britain become...

What has Britain become? An authoritarian state labelling & treating frail pensioners opposed to genocide as terrorists … all in defence of a genocide in which the UK is an active participant. History will judge all involved in this as no better than those who enabled the Holocaust: Sunak, Starmer, Trump, Macron, etc, & all their cheerleaders … & now it appears @andyburnham is determined to join these corrupt war criminals

Cameron Hudson: This story is wild and is a real...

This story is wild and is a real reflection on the callousness of US policy. "Four Cubans, one Brazilian and one Cameroonian refused to disembark in the Liberian capital Monrovia on 20 August; some of them were allegedly assaulted by ICE agents, who returned them to the plane and promised they would be taken back to the US. A few hours later, however, they were dropped off in another African country: Equatorial Guinea, one of the world’s most repressive and corrupt regimes, where armed men took them to a former luxury hotel turned detention centre in the capital, Malabo, where they have been held ever since."

Pouria Zeraati: Leftist handiwork in Spain...

Leftist handiwork in Spain and the pure Muhammadan Islam of the Moroccan variety: A video has been published of Moroccan attackers in Ceuta (Spain) who, after spotting a baby dolphin near the shore, smash its skull and drag its carcass around with them. Other videos have also been released showing newly arrived Moroccans in Ceuta beating and eating local animals; including the swans from public parks.

Alex Wickham: Exclusive: UK-specific investor concerns...

Exclusive: UK-specific investor concerns about Andy Burnham and John Healey’s fiscal plans are amplifying the impact of the global bond selloff on gilts, according to analysis by Bloomberg @economics Our economists say that while some of the recent hit to gilts is attributable to global moves likely due to expectations of Fed tightening, and much is due to the impacts of the Iran war on inflation, the UK situation is being made worse by rising risk perception likely due to anxiety over the coming budget It means UK borrowing costs are rising relative to peers because investors remain unconvinced by Burnham and Healey’s plans, according to their analysis In other words, rising UK borrowing costs can’t just be blamed on the global selloff

Andrew Bridgen: This is interesting news...

This is interesting news and it will send a chill through the bones of the tax evading ‘elites’. If President Trump’s administration can do this to the Iranian leadership they can do it to all the off-shore tax haven users and money launderers. Many of them will be sweating in the UK. The U.S. says the tens of billions siphoned out of Iran by the Islamic Republic’s ruling class are no longer safe, as it comes directly for the personal wealth they stole from the country. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the United States has mapped the offshore system used by senior Islamic Republic officials, IRGC figures and their families to hide enormous wealth abroad, and he is threatening to freeze it. “We know where in the British Virgin Islands your accounts are at these trust companies. We know the $100 million houses you have around the world, and we are going to freeze those.” Bessent has previously said the Islamic Republic’s inner circle was siphoning roughly $400–500 million out of Iran every month, equivalent to billions every year, while the IRGC may also be skimming a massive share of the country’s oil revenues. And even figures from within the Islamic Republic are now undermining the regime’s constant claim that sanctions are responsible for Iran having no money. Iranian economist and former government adviser Saeed Laylaz put the scale of internal theft and capital flight far higher: “$40–50 billion is being stolen from Iran’s economy every year, and you’re still focusing on sanctions? This is capital theft and massive capital flight out of Iran.” The money is moved through offshore trusts, BVI shell companies, exchange houses, front traders, crypto wallets and family-controlled companies, before reappearing as luxury property and investments from London to Dubai. Treasury has already gone after regime-linked financiers and networks tied to properties across the United Kingdom, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus and the UAE, while Bessent says roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets has already been seized. Now the pressure is becoming personal. Bessent says weekly bank sanctions are coming, while airline-leasing companies and businesses dealing with the IRGC are also being targeted as Treasury tries to choke the channels that move and replenish these fortunes. The contrast is staggering. The Islamic Republic blames sanctions for Iran’s poverty while people connected to the system siphon billions out of the same economy, hide it offshore and accumulate enormous fortunes abroad as ordinary Iranians watch their wages and savings collapse. Bessent says the objective is to “economically asphyxiate this regime.” That increasingly means not only cutting Iran’s oil and banking revenues, but finding the billions accumulated by the people running the Islamic Republic and freezing the accounts, trusts and luxury properties where they thought their money was safe. https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/2094789366778368249

Lee Hurst: Britain spends £177 billion...

Britain spends £177 billion on welfare (this excludes those on the state pension). The take home pay for someone on minimum wage is £20,800 per year. If we divide the £177 Bn by the minimum wage it comes to 8,509,615 people. Eight and a half million people getting an average of £20,800 without leaving their sofas and doing nothing. Someone justify this to me and tell me this is morally acceptable. Obvs many people will be getting far more than £20,800 and some much less, but the point remains. Explain to a person on minimum wage why they should turn up for work and take home less money than 8.5 million other idle people after deducting travel expenses.
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