Ally Tibbitt
@allytibbitt.me
Journalist | Audience @uk.theconversation.com | Trustee of @mysociety.bsky.social | Co-editor of @gairlochtimes.org.uk | Based in Scottish Highlands but often roaming. Contact via @Signal.org username: allytibbitt.92
Oh. Rats. jonworth.eu/forget-it-th...
Forget it. The Caledonian Sleeper is not going to run through the Channel Tunnel
There's a higher chance that Scotland becomes independent, and joins the EU and Schengen, than the Caledonian Sleeper is extended through the Channel Tunnel under the current political framework. Rea...
jonworth.eu
Some research-backed evidence for cutting back on muirburn: theconversation.com/how-rewildin...
How rewilding could help stop the spread of Britain’s wildfires
Done properly, rewilded landscapes are more fire-resistant.
theconversation.com
Leaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.
You'd like to think some rich person would buy out this awful record company entirely and hand the rights back to the original creators. www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/featur...
‘They make the laws to chain us well’: Folk music fights for its rights
Music historians and artists discuss Dick Gaughan’s fight to reclaim his music, and the protest at the heart of folk music’s continued legacy.
rollingstone.co.uk
Wild that they won't let people auto-save to local device. I dread getting a job that forces me onto MS for anything now.
Heather Burns@heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 2d agoThe most terrifying enshittification I've discovered has been learning that Microsoft Word documents no longer auto-save if you are not saving them to one of their own proprietary cloud services. I'm slapping control-S like it's 1999.
Of course, I live in the only bit of the UK to have had 25% more rain that average this July. I hope this too is not a permanent climate change impact... www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...
Historic July sees record dryness, unprecedented sunshine and exceptional warmth
July 2026 has been an exceptional month for the UK's climate statistics, with records challenged or broken for rainfall, temperature and sunshine, according to provisional Met Office statistics.
metoffice.gov.uk
I don't think people are ready for this kind of joke yet.
So the Tories are trying to out Restore Restore now? Dark days indeed. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Former neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election
Joshua Bonehill-Paine, creator of satirical Crewkerne Gazette, has convictions including for harassing a Jewish MP
theguardian.com
🧵On @thenewsagents.co.uk yesterday, school closures and the lab leak theory were offered as two examples of legitimate questions that were hard to ask. Both have in fact been asked constantly since 2020. But here's a thread on why I think they were wrong and dangerous on school closures 1/12
The caller on Rand Paul’s virtual town hall is all of us.
Capital One says it closed Trump Organization’s accounts after anti-money-laundering review www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Capital One says it closed Trump Organization’s accounts after anti-money-laundering review
Disclosure from 2021 investigation marks first time a bank has formally tied money-laundering concerns to Donald Trump
theguardian.com
@lmacfarlane.bsky.social takes a close look at @danneidle.bsky.social claims on Scottish Government tax policy and the subsequent media reporting on it. www.futureeconomy.scot/posts/587-ha...
Has Scotland’s 48% tax rate really reduced public revenue?
The media should take note: a modelled hypothesis is not the same as definitive proof.
futureeconomy.scot
And the 2026 award for services to disinformation goes to... Google! 🎉🎉🎉 www.digitaldigging.org/p/how-to-pla...
How to plant a nuclear plant in Iran
The question is: what on earth is Google doing?
digitaldigging.org
Big news in the Washington Post. Scotland's top rate of tax lost £30bn in revenue. An impressive feat when all of Scottish tax comes to about £20bn.
It's not just me wondering where all the wasps are then... theconversation.com/where-have-a...
Where have all the wasps gone this summer?
And why you should let them share your picnic ham and jam.
theconversation.com
I couldnʼt be more proud that at mySociety we use digital tools to empower millions of people in the civic aspects of their lives. We’re a small organisation doing a lot, as our annual impact report makes clear - have a look and maybe let us know what you’d like to see us do next year 🙂
mySociety@mysociety.org · last wk.Ever wondered what effect our work has, who uses our services or how we connect with other organisations around the world? Sit back and enjoy a little dose of optimism and positivity with our annual impact report. www.mysociety.org/impact-repor...
Brilliant and far-reaching new investigation into George Cottrell and former Reform treasurer Mehrtash A’zami by @nafeez.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/07/23/p...
‘Posh George’, Two Passports, and a Fraudulent Identity: Convicted Fraudster and Nigel Farage Funder's Connections to Reform UK’s Murky Financial Structures
Why did Reform UK change from being a privately-owned company to a non-profit company limited by guarantee in 2025? Nafeez Ahmed investigates a fraudulent identity used by George Cottrell – and how hi...
bylinetimes.com
A betting account in the name of George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who bankrolled Nigel Farage, received almost $9mn in cryptocurrency from unidentified sources while he was providing gifts to the Reform UK leader great work from @annasophiegross.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/b74c...
Betting account in George Cottrell’s name received $9mn in crypto from unidentified sources
Deposits in Polymarket wallet came as convicted fraudster was providing gifts to Farage
ft.com
It's funny how no-one ever asks where the money is coming from when you announce a cut in immigration.
At least one of the residents of Downing Street delivers on what they promised to do.
Richard M. Nixon@dicknixon.bsky.social · 2w agoLarry laid his mouse in front of the press to be photographed. Lest you ask, this is a real photograph via the Press Association.
Larry laid his mouse in front of the press to be photographed. Lest you ask, this is a real photograph via the Press Association.
In November, a lobbying firm approached me and asked to pay me to write articles critical of the Building Safety Regulator for newspapers. Filmed undercover, their staff admitted secretly paying reporters for copy in British newspapers friendly to their clients: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Lobbying giant filmed offering reporter payment for flattering client coverage in national press
Exclusive: Guardian investigation of CT Group uncovers practice that appears to seek hidden influence over public opinion
theguardian.com
Why is Kemi Badenoch never asked about the hefty funding the Conservative party has taken from the oil industry and its lobby groups whenever she talks about her decision to scrap her commitment to Net Zero?
It's so grim that there was apparently no way to stop this organised far-right intimidation from destroying a valuable community service.
David Leask@leaskyd.bsky.social · 3w agoI am not sure that we appreciate how much hostility there is from the far right to the learning and speaking of languages. 1/2 www.thetimes.com/article/9a33...
I am once again begging Hollywood to stop using the Greek alphabet for an Ancient World movie, if they can't afford to even throw a couple of quid at anyone with an inkling of the language. Unless they really think audiences are dying to see THS THDPSSSSPS
Wow. The Department for Education has just published new projections which estimate that the number of pupils in state-funded schools in England will plummet by more than 9% by 2031 amid falling birth rates And yet this issue receives probably 1,000th of the coverage the immigration debate receives
"UK Single Market" latest: Scottish people pay more for heating oil than anywhere else in UK. The CMA remedy appears to be a proposal that the Scottish Government should organise a price comparison website. www.gov.uk/government/n...
UK’s heating oil households need stronger protections, says CMA
CMA recommends UK and devolved governments strengthen protections for the 1.5 million households reliant on heating oil.
gov.uk
