🔴 NEW 🔴 Christopher Harborne, Reform’s biggest donor, and Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick share a financial interest in the crypto giant Tether. Meanwhile, Lutnick has been accused of shaping laws that have benefitted the firm 👇🏻

Tethered: How the White House is Helping Reform’s Finances

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has stood to gain financially from the crypto connections linking it to Donald Trump’s administration, DeSmog can report. Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been accused of shaping laws that have benefitted Tether, a firm that issues the most traded cryptocurrency in the world. Lutnick’s family owns Cantor Fitzgerald, which holds […]

desmog.com

What happens if a UK government removes benefits from EU citizens in breach of the withdrawal agreement? My analysis of the likely EU response to Reform Party policy, if ever enacted - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/08/what...

What happens if a UK government removes benefits from EU citizens in breach of the withdrawal agreement?

Professor Steve Peers , Law School, Royal Holloway University of London   Photo credit : Martin Robson , via Wikimedia Commons  ...

eulawanalysis.blogspot.com

Remember how Brexit was supposed to bring the "regulatory agility" for rapid medicine authorisation and make the UK a "world-leading" medicines regulator? Well, that turned out to be yet another illusion. Good new @ukandeu.bsky.social analysis here: ukandeu.ac.uk/the-uk-us-me...

The UK-US medicines deal and the hidden costs of Brexit - UK in a changing Europe

Vilija Vėlyvytė argues that the UK-US medicines deal which will see the NHS pay more for new medicines is an unexpected cost of Brexit.

ukandeu.ac.uk

Securing return to EU single market ‘would win Burnham the next election’ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-single-market-brexit-nick-boles-andy-burnham-b3036607.html #Brexit #politics #Europe #europa #SingleMarket

Securing return to EU single market ‘would win Burnham the next election’

Prime minister urged to promise to extend the protection of Britain’s Armed Forces and nuclear deterrent across Europe, in exchange for access to the EU’s free-trade zone

independent.co.uk

The UK-USA medicines deal obliges the NHS to pay much higher prices for new medicines. This is “one of Brexit’s hidden costs”. EU countries negotiated collectively with the USA, with much greater leverage. Britain negotiated alone with no clout and lost out. ukandeu.ac.uk/the-uk-us-me...

The UK-US medicines deal and the hidden costs of Brexit - UK in a changing Europe

Vilija Vėlyvytė argues that the UK-US medicines deal which will see the NHS pay more for new medicines is an unexpected cost of Brexit.

ukandeu.ac.uk

Ashamed and in jail: their gross lies, arrogantly rejecting an impact assessment knowing it would blast a hole in the economy, their lack of a plan for how to implement Brexit, their likely receipt of covert funding from Russia and knowingly protecting the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

South-East London for Europe (Selfe)@selfe.bsky.social · 14h ago

Johnson, Farage, Gove and Cummings are firmly in the former deputy PM’s firing line. #Heseltine #BrexitCon

1/2 The Panama Canal Authority capping daily vessel transits from September as an intensifying El Niño drives rainfall 34% below average shows how global trade choke points are acutely exposed to climate disruption. Is maritime logistics ready for permanent climate shocks? #ClimateCrisis

Panama Canal to cap ship transits due to El Nino drought

Panama Canal will cut daily transits of ships from September because of low rainfall and amid an intensifying El Nino event.

dw.com

Running around with your friends shouldn't leave you struggling for breath. But for too many of London’s children, polluted air was harming their health. Experts said it would take nearly 200 years to reach legal air quality limits. We did it in nine.

What ULEZ has done for children’s lungs should silence its loudest critics | LBC

Ulez's success must be a call to action to carry on in our efforts to improve the air in the UK, writes London mum and clean air campaigner Ruth.

lbc.co.uk

Musk is openly supporting the AfD in Germany and Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, wants to help Le Pen in the 2027 French presidential elections, and is paying Reform MPs. The €120 million fine imposed on X is gesture politics. You are now at a turning point. Cowardice could spell the end of the EU! 👊

How Elon Musk is helping Germany's far-right AfD party go mainstream

Musk's support for AfD has helped what was once a fringe political party enter the mainstream, lifting it up in front of a global audience.

businessinsider.com

“Farage’s Reform UK has stood to gain financially from the crypto connections linking it to Trump’s administration…Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been shaping laws that have benefitted Tether, a firm that issues the most traded crypto in the world” www.desmog.com/2026/08/20/t...

Tethered: How the White House is Helping Reform’s Finances

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has stood to gain financially from the crypto connections linking it to Donald Trump’s administration, DeSmog can report. Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been ac...

desmog.com

"More than a quarter of UK musicians have lost all their EU work since 2021. Average tour earnings have fallen by 45%, and 59% of surveyed musicians said that touring in Europe was no longer viable." #RejoinEU 🇬🇧🇪🇺

Analysis September 2026: Ten years on from the Brexit vote, how have instrument workshops been affected?

A decade after the UK's split from the European Union, the impact is still being felt by both musicians and makers. Peter Somerford looks at how are regular instrument workshops dealing with the chang...

thestrad.com

“A “hyperscale” datacentre in outer London would generate…carbon footprint of 27,000 flights from London to New York…the campus would consume 2.65bn kWh per year of electricity, equivalent to the demand of more than 1m UK households.” 💯 unacceptable #ClimateCrisis www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Proposed London datacentre will have annual carbon footprint of 27,000 flights to New York

Exclusive: Planning documents show datacentre in North Ockendon would be incompatible with UK net zero targets

theguardian.com

Trump’s BBC writ: "We are invited to believe that the US president is a man of almost saintly virtue whose unblemished reputation—and business prospects—have been irreparably tarnished by one lousy Panorama programme." 😂🤣😂 alanrusbridger.substack.com/p/the-bbc-ha...

The BBC has no choice but to teach Trump a lesson about free speech

The corporation may have lost a director general, but now needs to prove it still has a spine

alanrusbridger.substack.com

'OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Moonshot and the UK govt’s AI Security Institute have all found evidence of AI agents hacking into the systems of third parties during testing. But contrary to popular wisdom, these agents haven’t "gone rogue". It’s actually much worse than that.' www.ft.com/content/a994...

AI hasn’t gone rogue. It’s worse than that

Recent cyber attacks reflect what the technology was trained to do but safeguards are falling short

ft.com

Bridget Phillipson, "Climate change is beyond doubt real and happening, contrary to what the likes of Reform UK would say" "Richard Tice owes an apology to firefighters who were putting their lives at risk, in order to protect people's homes and deal with the fires that we see"

Wow

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · yesterday

St Neots Eynesbury (Huntingdonshire) Council By-Election Result: 🔶 LDM: 47.9% (+29.8) ➡️ RFM: 30.3% (+3.1) 🌳 CON: 6.7% (-3.8) 🌍 GRN: 5.5% (-12.5) 🌹 LAB: 4.9% (New) 🙋 Ind: 4.8% (New) No Ind (-26.2) as previous. Liberal Democrat GAIN from Reform UK. Changes w/ 2026.

🧵 The government has FINALLY heard @libdems.org.uk calls for a shake up of this anti-growth Treasury. Our country needs growth and we need it now. That’s why I laid out our party’s proposals for a new Department for Growth outside of Whitehall earlier this year.

Brexit promised control. Instead, small boat crossings soared and taxpayers face a £5bn bill. A returns deal with Europe could stop the boats and restore control. @maxwilkinson.bsky.social

What is Bluetongue virus and why is it linked to climate change? As temperatures rise, more climes become hospitable to the midges that spread Bluetongue, meaning it is now in the UK. The best way to combat this is to vaccinate and I am calling on the government to do all they can to source these.

The Conservatives and Nigel Farage helped create the small boats crisis with their botched Brexit deal. Now they want you to blame everyone else. Only Lib Dems have a real plan: work with our European neighbours to tackle it.

🤔 How very patriotic to support the man who has levied so many tariffs on our businesses!

Nigel Farage Has Spoken at 15 Trump-Linked Events Since 2024 Election

Nigel Farage has been accused of “toadying up to Donald Trump” for speaking at more than a dozen events linked to the U.

desmog.com

Don't forget current BBC News Editorial Guidelines are to use "story selection" to win the trust of Reform voters. They have been providing Farage with a broadcast platform for the best part of two decades. bylinetimes.com/2025/06/09/b...

BBC Bosses Draw Up Plans to Win Over Reform Voters by Changing News and Drama Output

The Director General Tim Davie and other executives discussed altering BBC “story selection” in order to secure the "trust" of supporters of Nigel Farage’s party

bylinetimes.com

Uncritically broadcasting live Reform press conferences—and leading bulletins with proposals to strip PIP disability support—grants unwarranted legitimacy. Giving minor parties disproportionate airtime compared to larger opposition groups distorts democratic discourse. #FBPE

Ex-BBC News director criticises broadcaster's coverage of Reform's welfare plans

The former director of BBC has criticised the broadcaster for its "bizarre" coverage of Reform UK's policy proposal around welfare.

thelondoneconomic.com

Penistone East (Barnsley) Council By-Election Result: 🌹 LAB: 51.6% (+14.4) ➡️ RFM: 23.8% (-6.7) ◼️ RES: 6.5% (New) 🌳 CON: 11.6% (-7.6) 🔶 LDM: 2.1% (-3.6) 🌍 GRN: 1.7% (-5.6) 🙋 Ind: 2.6% (New) 🙋 Ind: 0.2% (New) Labour GAIN from Reform UK. Changes w/ 2026.

Thank you ITV and Good Morning Britain.

Count Binface meets the press: AUSTRALIA

Count Binface meets the press: JAPAN

Westminster Voting Intention: RFM: 23% (-1) LAB: 23% (+1) CON: 18% (-2) GRN: 14% (=) LDM: 11% (=) SNP: 3% (=) Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 19 Aug. Changes w/ 12 Aug.

Great idea for a windfall tax but also put back the £18bn of public money, (over 5 years) in bank tax cuts that the Tories gave away. #TaxTheBanks www.libdems.org.uk/press/releas...

Conservative giveaway to big banks set to cost taxpayers £18 billion

Hunt slashes Bank Surcharge while raising taxes on struggling families. Conservative cuts to Bank Surcharge and Bank Levy to total £18bn over next 5 years. Liberal Democrat Leader calls for bank tax...

libdems.org.uk

The Green Party of England & Wales@greenparty.org.uk · 2d ago

Small businesses are feeling the squeeze whilst large banks are raking in obscene profits. It's time for windfall tax on big bank profits to end rip-off Britain.

We recommend European competitors anyway. 🇪🇺💪 alternativeto.net/software/cha...

BleepingComputer@bleepingcomputer.com · 2d ago

ChatGPT is experiencing a major outage, and users are unable to sign in, create accounts, or load chats, including previous conversations.