The High Court also heard RTC leader Ben Cullen had threatened physical violence to a resident removing flags, boasting that he was a “violent criminal” who had served 15 years in prison. Full report in today’s Clarion: oxfordclarion.uk/the-clarion-...

The Clarion, 4 August 2026

We're doing a rain dance. You? While we wait for some sorely needed water, here is some news, not all of it cheerful. Including less than savoury details about Raise the Colours; celebrating Oxford Ci...

oxfordclarion.uk

One highways manager told the High Court she had been placed on medication after becoming “fearful of being followed home, tracked and exposed on social media”. Highways staff now wear unbranded PPE, work in unbranded vehicles, wear face coverings to hide their identity, and do not travel alone.

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.

Seattle understood the assignment

This is a man who has a hard time looking in the mirror

Tom Jones, age 86, July 2026, Real Jardín Botánico Alfonso XIII, Madrid. Huge energy and communication. And a voice 35 years younger than he is. Astonishing.

It may or may not be of interest that in Mercadona here in Spain they sell Spanish-style thick-skinned smaller knobbly cucumbers and 'English' cucumbers — called Dutch here — and they are, both varieties, almost completely straight. Bought one of the latter a couple of days ago.

Trickcyclist 🦋🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺@trickcyclist.bsky.social · 2h ago

They can’t blame Brexit for bendy cucumbers. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

The chaos being created by Reform in local government is almost as scandalous as the issues around its funding at national level.

Reform Party UK Exposed@reformexposed.bsky.social · 12h ago

Reform UK Warwickshire under George Finch’s toxic leadership have haemorrhaged councillors. They have now just 17/57. He wouldn’t survive a vote of no confidence.

Fucking fuck's sake man what in God's name is the fucking matter with you? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Kemi Badenoch gives former neo-Nazi advisory role after he withdraws as Tory candidate

Joshua Bonehill-Paine says Conservative leader has asked him to work with party’s culture and integration commission

theguardian.com

ZP is such a mixed bag, really. This seems sensible, and good on him to have said it. Being the ’cause of KS going into political outer darkness, however — his ego claims too much there.

Farrukh@implausibleblog.bsky.social · 7h ago

Zack Polanksi, "We need to look at the £2.7 billion in tax breaks that is given to fossil fuel companies, that should go into jobs in renewables, in nature, in care"

Populist ego. Left-wing populist ego, but the Croissant Principle doth apply here, verily.

Farrukh@implausibleblog.bsky.social · 6h ago

Zack Polanski, "One of my biggest achievements in my one year as leader of the Green party was helping topple an unpopular prime minister" "If we had not won Gorton and Denton, Keir Starmer would not have the leadership crisis that we had, and we wouldn't have had Andy Burnham turn up"

Agree... I do what I can to prevent tracking, I know it's never fully effective but it's worth trying

And when you wanted urgent action, after several requests, and you knew their boss would see it &/or the receipt would be registered… Telex.

Jo The Bewildered 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🎓@smoljomusic.bsky.social · 8h ago

I have been in the workforce full time for most of the last 30 years. Not only can I imagine not using AI, I remember fax machines.

Fun fact. The new Arctic Route from China to Europe takes 18 days, compared to 30 days via the Suez route. Original post

And what is not mentioned here, not even once? Brexit, that's what. Nor is monolingualism. No, it's climate change and the forest fires persuading 'expats' to leave. Really. ~ More British over-65s leaving Spain than arriving for third year running ~ https://archive.is/KxUoU

Frankly astonishing piece by @alexisconran.com on all the data our phones keep on us and what they do with it (it's not good). open.substack.com/pub/scamproo...

~ Spain mulls what to do about child migrants after Ceuta mass crossing ~ https://www.thelocal.es/20260805/spain-mulls-what-to-do-about-child-migrants-after-ceuta-mass-crossing

Spain mulls what to do about child migrants after Ceuta mass crossing

The leader of Spain's north African territory of Ceuta on Wednesday said the number of children left there after last week's rush of migrants was "unsustainable", pleading for government aid.

thelocal.es

~ Ret’d Navy Commander puts Farage right on ‘small boats’ plan | Kmflett's Blog ~ https://kmflett.blog/2026/08/05/retd-navy-commander-puts-farage-right-on-small-boats-plan/

Ret’d Navy Commander puts Farage right on ‘small boats’ plan | Kmflett's Blog

The above letter appears in The Times on 5th August. It can be understood as the traditional Tory ruling class putting right a challenger. Obviously the politics of the letter writer are not known.…

kmflett.blog

Doctorow: ~ Pluralistic: Google is a scammer’s paradise (05 Aug 2026) ~ https://pluralistic.net/2026/08/05/absentee-landlord/#

Here are the stupidest things Kemi Badenoch has said so far today inews.co.uk/opinion/kemi...

My answer is LOL ROFL (dickbrain) The terminally AI-pilled can't even *imagine* some people have *never* asked stochastic parrots to cheat at their job for them.

~ How the Ceuta border crossing incident immediately played into the hands of Spain’s far right ~ https://northeastbylines.co.uk/news/world-news/how-the-ceuta-border-crossing-incident-immediately-played-into-the-hands-of-spains-far-right/

How the Ceuta border crossing incident immediately played into the hands of Spain’s far right

The imagination is where a country’s attitude to migration is built

northeastbylines.co.uk

This is pure extraction of wealth from one group of people to another We urgently need: Windfall tax on oil giants Windfall tax on banks Both are creaming money off us during a cost of living crisis Even Thatcher had the balls to tax the banks Will you @andyburnham?

A side note to this insanity. There's a clear pattern from Badenoch of demeaning local public service, diminishing their contributions to society - hence why she thinks 'nice Lib Dems fix church roofs' is such a derogatory statement. It's going to become a lot more jarring with talk of devolution.

James Austin@jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 15h ago

This is *such* a revealing line about Kemi's world view and contempt for those who do the day to day work of keeping our society functioning

This is *such* a revealing line about Kemi's world view and contempt for those who do the day to day work of keeping our society functioning

And, looked at from another perspective, the extraordinary contortions performed in order to try to avoid agreeing to free movement of people.

Once again we’re in the Arrested Development meme. Did trying to get single market access without free movement of people work in the past? God no … but it might work for us.

Simon Usherwood@simonusherwood.bsky.social · 16h ago

Nick Boles on his plan for a European confederation. Paper with Demos coming later www.thetimes.com/article/8459...

This story is insane www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Ex-MP urges Tories to drop candidate jailed for campaign of antisemitic abuse against her

Luciana Berger says Joshua Bonehill-Paine should have no role in public life because of ‘his racism and his view of women’

theguardian.com

"accused" tells you all you need to know about Bezos.

Paul van der Meer@paulvandermeer.bsky.social · yesterday

Jeff Bezos has accused NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani of portraying hedge fund CEOs as villains to support higher taxes.

~ The Economics of Restore Britain ~ https://simonpearson1.substack.com/p/the-economics-of-restore-britain

The Economics of Restore Britain

It is one thing to say Britain is broken. It is another to explain how you would run it. Restore Britain’s economic paper is the first real test of whether the party can make that leap.

simonpearson1.substack.com