2 of Reform UK's 8 MPs were invited to ask questions at today's #PMQs. That's 25% of their parliamentary party. Has such a large proportion of a party with 8 or more members ever been given such a loud voice at a single #PMQs? Not very anti-establishment, is it?

Ten years on, we have the worst of both worlds on immigration and asylum. Without freedom of movement, businesses face red tape while losing skilled workers. Restoring it cuts business costs, creates quality jobs for Young people, and helps us tackle the crisis together.

As Burnham decides whether to end Palantir’s £330m NHS contract, the questions about its access have never been more vital Read the full investigation, and the documents: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-p... Democracy for Sale is reader-funded. If you value this work, please subscribe 😊

Revealed: Palantir led secret review of how the MoD spends billions

The Ministry of Defence asked the controversial US tech firm how to fix its procurement rules. Its answer? Fewer obstacles for companies like Palantir

democracyforsale.substack.com

🚨🚨 SOUTH WEST WATER FINED £8 MILLION - BUT WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? 🤔 SWW faced a record fine for disgusting sewage pollution here in North Cornwall a few weeks back. I've asked DEFRA where the cash ends up, and if any of it actually make it back to the bill payers affected.

Frequent flyers get air miles. Regular train passengers get nothing back. Caroline Pidgeon is calling for rail miles to reward loyal passengers, and her proposal to the Railways Bill is in the Lords today. @carolinepidgeon.bsky.social

Councillor Vernon-Jackson said he was “deeply concerned about the abuse, intimidation and threats” directed at the RNLI and that the council should “express its unequivocal support” for the charity. www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/politic...

Portsmouth councillors back freedom of the city honour for RNLI

Councillors heard that RNLI crews’ children have been bullied at school over parents’ lifesaving work

portsmouth.co.uk

‘Warm homes plan would create 50,000 jobs, compared with about 1,100 for Rosebank oilfield’

Heat pumps and insulation would cut UK living costs more than new oilfields, study suggests

Warm homes plan would create 50,000 jobs, compared with about 1,100 for Rosebank oilfield, thinktank finds

theguardian.com

America is lost, actually. If members of Congress don’t pull it back from the brink - as Trump goes full bore pro-Russia, and plots martial law to thwart the midterms….we’re gone as a country. It’s little experiment is over.

Byline Times@bylinetimes.bsky.social · 2w ago

🟣 SUBSTACK Will the ‘Real America’ Please Stand Up By alexandra hall hall 🇺🇦🌻 Read below. ↓

Crypto has bought US politics - and now it's doing the same in the UK As Reform takes £100m+ from crypto tycoons, I sat down with Hollywood's most vocal sceptic @benmckenzie.bsky.social to talk crypto, corruption and how to fight back democracyforsale.substack.com/p/crypto-is-...

Crypto “is buying off legislators”, with Ben McKenzie

Hollywood actor Ben McKenzie talks to Democracy for Sale about how crypto has taken over American politics – and is coming for Britain

democracyforsale.substack.com

Wise words from @lordrickettsp.bsky.social on BBC R4 Today after Trump’s abandonment of Ukraine: UK gov’t has to start a conversation with the people about the threats from Russia & what it means for us. Europe can’t keep hoping that life will return to normal, as long as Trump & Putin are in power.

For ages, I tried to hold faith in a “better” America. The proposed live-streaming of an execution, and the abandonment of Ukraine unlocked a deep rage, and clarity that no matter how much times we might hope America is not this, right now, it IS, and we must deal with it accordingly.

Byline Times@bylinetimes.bsky.social · 2w ago

🟣 SUBSTACK Will the ‘Real America’ Please Stand Up By alexandra hall hall 🇺🇦🌻 Read below. ↓

No amount of support for Russia can end the war, because Russia is the criminal aggressor. A modicum of support for Ukraine could, however, end the war, by making it impossible for Russia to continue. This should not be a hard choice.

UNITED24 Media@united24media.com · 2w ago

⚡️ "Give us Starlink, open it for us on Russian territory, and we will destroy his ballistic missile launchers," Zelenskyy stressed that stopping Russian ballistic launches would force Vladimir Putin to negotiate, rendering further energy strikes unnecessary.

🔴 Brexit Turning Point as MPs Line Up to Make the Case for Rejoining the EU Parliamentarians cite Russian interference and post-Brexit red tape, as Andy Burnham opens up a debate which Westminster has avoided for a decade bylinetimes.com/2026/10/13/b...

Brexit Turning Point as MPs Line Up to Make the Case for Rejoining the EU

Parliamentarians cite Russian interference and post-Brexit red tape, as Andy Burnham opens up a debate which Westminster has avoided for a decade

bylinetimes.com

Negotiate a new UK-EU Customs Union. Re-join the single market. Boost our economy. We need to tear down the Brexit barriers harming British businesses.

But by all means let‘s keep trading insults while the world burns. For goodness sakes. Is Russia interfering in democracy and the Western alliance NOW? Yes. Is Brexit working NOW? No. Does closer cooperation make sense NOW? Yes. Just go from there.

Lifting sanctions on Russian diesel only bankrolls Putin’s war and leaves Ukraine to pay the price - all for a temporary boost in the polls before the midterms. It’s a pathetic, transparent manoeuvre from Trump. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Trump announces deal for Russian diesel as Zelensky calls it a 'gift to Putin'

Ukraine's president sharply criticised the move, calling it an "investment in war that must be ended, not prolonged".

bbc.co.uk

This is the real Russia Report, suppressed five years ago by Boris Johnson “I asked the question coming to Downing Street: was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia? And I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was.” @andyburnham.bsky.social

I thought I had seen it all, but this is an astonishing new low, putting the US in the company of Iran, Afghanistan and N Korea. I abhor the death penalty. The idea that kids, including my own, might see such an execution shocks me to the core. Abhorrent, barbaric, sick, warped, cruel and twisted.

E. Lee van Cleef@workerbee3.bsky.social · 3w ago

www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-h...

Did you know 8 of the top 10 recycling councils in England are Lib Dem led? Mid Suffolk, a Green majority council, ranks 162nd, and Brighton was among the worst in the country when they ran it. @ollygrender.bsky.social put the figures to the government in the Lords in April.

On Monday I joined a Demos panel at Lib Dem conference on hostile states weaponising our information environment. The next day, the PM announced a National Centre for Information Defence, as the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee urged in March. My test: public-facing and answerable to Parliament.

Virtually always the reply is “I would prefer EU membership but think more would be happy with SM/CU” I think we’ve got into a bad habit of trying to second guess what other people would be happy with and then choosing that, rather than simply stating what we think is the best outcome.

ReformUK claim that their two crypto donors don’t want anything in return for their massive donations. Funny then that the first (and only) legislative proposal the party has come up with is on deregulating the crypto sector…

Parties that campaign on British sovereignty are taking large sums from donors abroad. William Wallace said the Representation of the People Bill will not close every loophole, but Lib Dems will push for changes to limit donations and campaign spending.

I joined ITV West Country to discuss NHS dentistry in the Honiton and Sidmouth constituency.

Britain is just looking on as a handful of tax hating billionaires buy our political future.

Fairly obviously Delo is giving this big a donation now as a precaution against an amendment being successful. Normally a donor would drip feed cash over years to keep some control.

A new study in southeast England reveals that "green-blue infrastructure"—like parks, lakes, and trees—creates significantly cooler microclimates in built-up urban areas. Bobby Bascomb reports. #Environment

What green options are best for urban cooling?

Academics have been studying how cities should be designed to protect their inhabitants from extreme heat

eastangliabylines.co.uk

£32 million for cooling and ventilation in NHS hospitals was announced today. In time, the school estate will need the same. Seven children at Littletown Primary in Honiton wrote to me after their school closed for two days in June and I shared their sentiments with the Health Secretary.

Just seen the most extraordinary production of Private Peaceful in Exeter. Brilliant performance. Will be touring the country.Thoroughly recommend it. playsontour.co.uk/private-peac...

Private Peaceful Tour Dates & Tickets

Private Peaceful returns to the stage in an acclaimed adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel, touring the UK in autumn 2026 in a powerful one person production directed by Simon Reade.

playsontour.co.uk

On Thursday, MPs debated the intelligence assessment that treats global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as a threat to our national security. It is a framing that researchers at the University of Exeter - a few miles from where I live - have cautioned against.