"The politicians basically serve the rich, the wealthy, and their self-interest." Listen to this man in Nigel Farage's constituency.

A £240m contract with the Ministry of Defence, a £330m deal with the NHS, but only £2m of tax in the UK 🤔 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/05/palantir-corporation-tax-uk-2024-accounting-practices

Palantir paid just £2m corporation tax in UK in 2024 despite lucrative public sector contracts

Software group benefits from global systems and accounting practices ‘that enable tax to be shirked’, says union boss

theguardian.com

Badenoch's two biggest flaws are that she's nowhere near as smart as she thinks she is and is incapable of admitting error. Both well illustrated by this fiasco.

Alex Partridge@alexpartridge87.bsky.social · 7h ago

Joshua Bonehill-Paine steps back from being a Conservative council candidate following backlash

No one should face exclusion or discrimination because of who they are. The Green Party stands in solidarity with the trans community and will keep fighting for equality that includes everyone.

"Ignoring extreme heat and raging fires isn't just complacency. It's a dereliction of duty." Experts warn the climate crisis is already costing lives and urgent action from the Government is needed.

I can’t believe we’re still having a debate about whether there’s a trade off between job creation and measures to green the economy. There isn’t. The evidence was clear years ago - a green economy creates far more jobs than the fossil fuel economy it replaces. Come on Labour, catch up …

Government contracts to require job creation instead of green targets under new rules

Louise Haigh says taxpayer money must benefit local communities amid backlash from environmental groups

theguardian.com

The absolute cherry on the cake is concocting this entire thing unprompted, single handedly, surely against all advice, then doing a national media interview about it, and saying that the guy who is now a reformed character and beyond reproach is a leading proponent for SOMETHING THAT SHE HATES.

Badenoch represents double-down conservatism. Never apologise or moderate. Insult your opponents. Patronise journalists when challenged. Contradict yourself, lie, whatever it takes, but never back down. And that's how you end up creating an extremely avoidable Tory antisemitism scandal overnight

Electric Buses Point of no return - have gone from 12% to 56% of new city bus sales in Europe in just 6yrs Europe's 2035 target of 100% zero emission bus sales could be reached as early as 2028 Bravo Europe 🇪🇺!

In a major intervention on climate policy, @greenparty.org.uk leader @zackpolanski.bsky.social has said there needs to be a 'full-scale emergency response' to tackle the 'biggest threat since the second world war'

Zack Polanski brands climate crisis ‘biggest threat since Second World War’ and demands ‘full-scale emergency response’ from Andy Burnham

The Green Party accused the government of an 'astonishing dereliction of duty'

leftfootforward.org

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

#birdoftheday #redordead

Morning!

The modern Conservative Party, where Net Zero gets you out and Neo Nazism gets you in

Anyone who refuses care from a non-white member of NHS staff should be told to pay to go private.

Charles EP Murphy@cepmurphy.bsky.social · 2d ago

news.sky.com/story/nhs-st... stereotypically this has been seen as Old People, but not only would the old people of now have often been born post-Windrush, lot of this will be younger people who've always lived in a diverse Britain. The guy with a pregnant wife likely millennial at oldest

French forces held a fierce defensive perimeter around Dunkirk and lost 18,000 souls. 40,000 became POWs. Without their resolve we wouldn’t have our nation’s story. It’s estimated 20-60k French resistance fighters died during the war. You’re only diminishing yourself with comments like this.

Are we up to speed on just how dangerous Kemi Badenoch is?

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 2d ago

Kemi Badenoch certainly seems to be advancing with her agenda to turn the Conservatives into Reform.

The state of this. A lovely day out for Badenoch and Philp, playing dress up and making pronouncements about early release schemes - having left the country with one hundred available men's prison places, after fourteen years in charge. You read that right. One hundred places.

What a dignified, witty and hard-hitting response to Clarkson’s casually cruel remark. This gentleman has contributed more to our society than Clarkson ever has, or will.

Nettlecake@nettlecake.bsky.social · 2d ago

Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.

The entirety of the NHS, from inception, was made possible thanks to non-white immigrants. Every accusation is a confession. They don’t want talented people regardless of skin colour. They just want white people regardless of skills.

Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · 2d ago

"There's a real thing going on in the composition of the staff...does that not have to be looked at as well?" Nick Robinson, on Today, discussing this news.sky.com/story/nhs-st...

#birdoftheday #fabulouswaders

Morning! Skylark

Just back from holiday and catching up. Interesting quirk in latest @yougov.co.uk polling is they have a different party ahead in each of the four age groups they disaggregate. 18-24 Green 25-49 Labour 50-64 Reform 65+ Conservative

“Musk and co seem to have missed this message. But it’s the real reason why they should hate the film… It makes clear a commitment to international diplomacy isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s a prerequisite to civilisation.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The right hates The Odyssey because of its ‘wokeness’ – but it missed an even bigger threat to its worldview | Peter Swallow

The new film extols the value of a rules-based world order. That’s far more radical than any casting decision says Labour MP and classicist Peter Swallow

theguardian.com

Burnham has a unique opportunity to return moors to the public - on safety grounds.

Andy Brown@andybrown1951.bsky.social · 3d ago

Too much of the British uplands is devoted to grouse shooting moors which get bone dry and very vulnerable to wildfires. They are mainly used for investment bankers to play at being 19th century country gentlemen. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion...

Nigel Farage just took a question from a 'journalist' at his press conference, who turned out to be his former chief adviser Raheem Kassam, who asks him why the media are being so unfair to him

Upside-down inside-out prioritisation—Caroline Lucas' point is critically important: Shocking to discover designating AI data centres as “National Critical Infrastructure” means water companies are prohibited from restricting water to them even in times of drought. Households will lose water first

Caroline Lucas@carolinelucas.bsky.social · 6d ago

Half the country officially in drought - the 3rd in 5 years. Fires raging across Europe. Battles being fought over AI data centres, New episode of *When Nature Becomes A Security Threat*,my podcast series for @therestpolitics.bsky.social, out now. It couldn’t be more timely. Pls do give a listen

Australia’s eSafety commissioner buried a report (released Friday afternoon) that shows the under 16 social media ban didn’t tangibly reduce teen social media use, and also resulted in parents tuning out of kids usage. We traded our privacy for no reason. theconversation.com/more-than-80...

More than 80% of kids still using social media despite ban, new eSafety report finds

The report provides more evidence Australia’s world-leading social media ban isn’t going to plan.

theconversation.com

I’m delighted to announce the 3rd edition of The Unity Game: A philosophical dive into the meaning of life on Earth and beyond, we follow a banker hungry for money, a lawyer exploring the afterlife and an alien discovering the wonders of Earth. Latest editions here: www.amazon.com/Unity-Game-L...

14 Nuclear Reactors in 6 countries in Europe are closed because they have run out of water for cooling. Nuclear Power is no solution, Solar and Wind ARE.