The government wants feedback on targeting debt relief for poorer countries that spend up to 70% of government revenue on interest to private creditors. Here’s an idea: marry it up with CARICOM’s call for reparative debt relief. Result: UK moral leadership. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Labour has got the message – developing nations suffer most from bond market turmoil | Heather Stewart

Just as Brown and Blair did in 2005, Andy Burnham aims to champion debt relief to help developing countries

theguardian.com

Interesting that @thetimes.com frames public sector pay as a sink for taxpayers’ money rather than having any positive or multiplier effects. We’re talking about living wages for over 6m Britons, 18% of the workforce.

The more people that read Stephanie Lamy’s breakdown of the far right activist network that hunted Jason Arday (it includes Orr himself) the better for the future of our society. These people must be stopped from manipulating our public sphere. share.google/hvlCBiW0F9Bk...

Comment un réseau d’élite a chassé Jason Arday

Le racisme scientifique est une pseudoscience qui abreuve la propagande d'extrême-droite, dont masculiniste. Longtemps relégué aux marges, il s’installe dans les universités et cherche à imposer ses …

share.google

Alan Lester@alanlester.bsky.social · yesterday

Just a reminder: 163 articles were published on Jason Arday in the week after he resigned. Same outlets: 13 articles on Cambridge academic James Orr after allegations of misconduct & a broadcast showing him seemingly engaging in illegal activity. bylinetimes.com/2026/08/18/t...

Snap up an advance copy of 'Prisoners of Empire' by @amalkc.eurosky.social at 20% off w/code PRISONERS20 here ➡️ tinyurl.com/3zn84zn7

Alan Lester@alanlester.bsky.social · yesterday

This powerful book by Amal Chatterjee identifies clearly and unequivocally the mechanisms enabling colonial economic extraction long after colonialism is supposed to have ended. Highly recommended: hurstpublishers.com/book/prisone...

Just a reminder: 163 articles were published on Jason Arday in the week after he resigned. Same outlets: 13 articles on Cambridge academic James Orr after allegations of misconduct & a broadcast showing him seemingly engaging in illegal activity. bylinetimes.com/2026/08/18/t...

The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday

The media's coverage of the academic's life was fuelled by the campaign of an established far-right network

bylinetimes.com

It's out. The book that brings together so much that I think about, and speak of. Do read it. Do share it. Do talk about it.

Alan Lester@alanlester.bsky.social · yesterday

This powerful book by Amal Chatterjee identifies clearly and unequivocally the mechanisms enabling colonial economic extraction long after colonialism is supposed to have ended. Highly recommended: hurstpublishers.com/book/prisone...

This powerful book by Amal Chatterjee identifies clearly and unequivocally the mechanisms enabling colonial economic extraction long after colonialism is supposed to have ended. Highly recommended: hurstpublishers.com/book/prisone...

If you think a distinct sub category of human exists because some medieval warlords agreed that the border of England should be on the River Tweed, you are, Im afraid, an absolute maniac bsky.app/profile/theh...

Dan Snow@thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 3w ago

England is a made up thing. It has no basis in the ineluctable laws of nature. Its extent is defined by Edward II getting his arse handed to him. Athelstan conquering York. The Welsh of Cumbria were incorporated, the Welsh of Gwynedd were not. It is a political idea, an aspiration - not taxonomy.

Dear tv and radio producers. Thankyou for the invitation. But, no, I do not want to appear on your show to defend the idea that I am English, after 50 years of living and working here, because the increasingly feral right want to turn this into a "debate" and you cannot see how you're being played

Hegseth is a guy who lectures Europe on upholding its civilisational integrity Firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed www.thetimes.com/article/238b...

Firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed

The war secretary announced that the execution of the Fort Hood terrorist, scheduled for December 3, would be ‘public’

thetimes.com

1/5 Brighton & Hove’s Black & Colonial History: After retiring from the RAF Bert Williams MBE spent his time uncovering the stories of Black people’s presence in Brighton & Hove. However he faced prejudice, excluded from institutions which did not take him or his work seriously.

It’s good to hear Badonoch unequivocally condemning Braverman’s and Reform’s disgusting ethnonationalism. Let’s hope it’s a milestone in the Party leaving its most poisonous culture war era behind. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Kemi Badenoch says Tories would scrap inheritance tax on family homes

Tory leader says her party is "coming back", as she aims to convince voters it has changed after 2024 election defeat.

bbc.co.uk

Ahmed Reid on the wall of silence that’s prevented us appreciating a key part of our history and the Black scholars who knew. www.theguardian.com/news/2026/oc...

The Register that shatters the myth of Britain’s role in profiting from enslavement

In this month’s newsletter: for Caribbean scholars, the evidence of how deeply slavery shaped Britain’s wealth has never been in doubt. Plus, heritage walks in Manchester

theguardian.com

Anti-reparations activists love to talk about slavery in the Sokoto caliphate, quoting the stat that it contained more captives than the entire USA. Less likely to note that Lugard helped its slaveowners suppress a slave revolt 70 years after British abolition. www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/o...

Once Upon A Time In Sokoto review – exuberant history lesson on intra-African slavery

Inua Ellams displays a Stoppardian or Fraynian relish in turning complex topics into enjoyable theatre in his latest play

theguardian.com

Each protest costs £150,000 of tax payers money and means there are fewer police on the streets to protect white women & girls. The only consolation is that some of the men most likely to threaten them are part of the protests: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Protesters scuffle with police as migrants brought ashore on south coast

The Home Office said 149 migrants were brought ashore and taken by coach to a processing centre in Kent.

bbc.co.uk

Does this mean that, for the first time since Johnson & his acolytes polluted the Conservative Party, it’ll discard far right culture war scapegoating of migrants, trans people, people of colour & the “woke”? I'm a classic old school Conservative, says Kemi Badenoch www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I'm a classic old school Conservative, says Kemi Badenoch

The Tory leader seeks to echo Margaret Thatcher as she sets out her guiding political principles.

bbc.co.uk

Ninety years ago today, Oswald Mosley tried to march his Blackshirts through the Jewish East End. 🧵 He had thousands of uniformed fascists behind him and 6,000 police clearing the way. But the people of the East End got there first.

Access the 2026 report on the teaching of empire and recommendations here: ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...

Alan Lester@alanlester.bsky.social · last wk.

And here’s what right wing propagandists get so wrong about the teaching of Empire: alanlester.co.uk/blog/teachin...

1/2 Dead right www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Can teaching schoolchildren about Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade remain optional? | Morgan Ofori

Mounting evidence about how slavery shaped Britain shows that teaching about its history cannot be a matter of choice

theguardian.com

1/5 Despite the headline, the practical gap between CARICOM reparations calls and the British government’s position is not that wide. King will not apologise for slave trade on Caribbean tour www.thetimes.com/article/db84...

King will not apologise for slave trade on Caribbean tour

Charles will face renewed calls for reparations, including from the president of Guyana, who says nations who benefited ‘need to do the morally right thing’

thetimes.com

100% this ⬇️

Cath einon@irrelevant1974.bsky.social · 3mo ago

1/2 Interesting story of London’s but not Britain’s first purpose built Mosque in London: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

‘A beacon of peace’: London’s oldest mosque celebrates centenary

Fazl Mosque was used as an air raid shelter in the war – but that is not its only link to a pivotal moment in world history

theguardian.com

It’s essential that more and more organisations & individuals fight far right disinformation wherever it’s found.

Llan@llanfertrellis.bsky.social · last wk.

Misinformation and disinformation will be bane of future discourse. Add that to the plummeting IQ due to smart phone addiction and I fear for the future.

The far right thrives on lies and disinformation. We’re debunking some of the most common myths they peddle, exposing the harm they cause, and showing why their claims don’t stand up to scrutiny. Read our new report: hopenothate.org.uk/2026/10/01/f...

Far Right Fact Check

Disinformation Debunked - What the data actually says.

hopenothate.org.uk

I’ve never seen a BBC correspondent try to build such a huge mountain out of such a tiny molehill. Chris Mason’s hysterical quest to undermine Andy Burnham, based on a few noncommittal words: Chris Mason: Why Andy Burnham's about-turn on Manchester City matters www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Chris Mason: Why Andy Burnham's about-turn on Manchester City matters

The prime minister's comments on Man City were revealing on several levels - and leapt on by many in football, the BBC's political editor writes.

bbc.co.uk

It’ll be interesting to see if the electronic tracking of domestic abuse offenders released from prison early today will show a convergence on Crowborough, Dover & other far right, anti-immigrant rallying points.

1/2 Sorry, one more reparations post today: some express astonishment at the calculation that Britain could ‘owe’ $18 Tn to the Caribbean (reparations campaigners aren’t demanding this - they’re not stupid & know it’s impossible). But just think how easy it would be to solve the

It’s time we stopped normalising those who actively foment opposition to any discussion of reparations. We should presume accountability for past & ongoing wrongs and label them “activists” as well as those campaigning for reparative justice.

Alan Lester@alanlester.bsky.social · last wk.

1/2 ... and while I'm at it: every anti-reparations activist also claims that we should be focusing on modern slavery rather than historic, as if they are mutually exclusive. As this event shows though, ...

1/2 ... and while I'm at it: every anti-reparations activist also claims that we should be focusing on modern slavery rather than historic, as if they are mutually exclusive. As this event shows though, ...

Alan Lester@alanlester.bsky.social · last wk.

1/3 Every anti-reparations activist I debate with insists on the overweeing importance of African slave-traders' complicity in supplying Britons with captives for the plantations. Their argument is precisely that of the C18 scientific racist and justifier of slavery Edward Long:

1/3 Every anti-reparations activist I debate with insists on the overweeing importance of African slave-traders' complicity in supplying Britons with captives for the plantations. Their argument is precisely that of the C18 scientific racist and justifier of slavery Edward Long: