The new Prime Minister is writing a "10-year plan" for the UK. The arts & culture MUST be part of it. I've signed @campaignforthearts.org's petition urging @andyburnham.bsky.social to revitalise the arts – to revitalise the whole nation 🌱 Join me: www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10-year-plan/

Prime Minister – put the arts in your 10-year plan for the UK | Campaign for the Arts

Sign our petition urging the UK Government to build a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere.

campaignforthearts.org

The new Prime Minister is writing a "10-year plan" for the UK. @andyburnham.bsky.social the arts and culture MUST be part of it. We've launched an urgent petition to make sure the arts can play their part in revitalising the nation 🌱 Add your name ✏️ www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10...

As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them *The Nerd Reich* www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley

As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them

theguardian.com

11:15am yesterday, our village. Are these the first migrants from Ceuta to reach Dorset? A number of young lads in Cub Scout uniforms leapt out of a minibus & invaded Jill’s shop. They had no idea what Apple Cobbler was and taunted Simple Sally with their woggles. Deport. Now.

A recent bounce in the polls has put Britain's Labour Party ahead of Reform UK in our poll tracker for the first time since April 2025. Explore our poll tracker here

How unpopular is Britain’s Labour government?

Follow our poll tracker to see the sharp shifts in British politics

bit.ly

Donald Trump’s father reared him to have cutthroat ambition. But Roy Cohn taught him tactics, Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark write. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

How Roy Cohn Taught Donald Trump Everything

How Roy Cohn taught Donald Trump to ignore the rules, avoid a paper trail, and make up a good story for the media.

newyorker.com

@somersetccc.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Former neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, creator of satirical Crewkerne Gazette, has convictions including for harassing a Jewish MP

theguardian.com

Hmmmm… Will RichardTice now be calling a by-election in his constituency so he can fight against a bin? 🤔

There's barely anything even on what should be uncontroversial - how we build resilience in our housing, our food and water supplies, our healthcare systems in the face of ever hotter summers.

We are in the third drought in five years. We have the National Trust and NFU - those radical types - sounding the alarm on unprecedented temperatures. But so little from any single figure in politics talking about the climate crisis.

It's sort of wild that the US president declares war and announces peace deals 3-4 times a week now and it's just...barely even news any more? Could it be unhealthy? Who can say!

Ashton Pittman@ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 2d ago

Update: No deal, back to war, Trump says.

Fascinating change in BBC news bulletins about Reform. Farage announcement on small boats only gets the third spot and is balanced by critics saying he's trying to distract from allegations over his finances. Quite the change from the uncritical coverage earlier this year.

Nothing to do with #Ceuta of course ... @theguardian.com @us.theguardian.com @thetimes.com @nytimes.com @cnn.com @cnninternational.bsky.social www.bbc.com/news/article...

Moroccan king's letter confirms naming of major highway in honour of Trump

The highway enters Western Sahara, a disputed territory that Morocco claims sovereignty over.

bbc.com

Diane Abbott here speaking at a Stop Some Wars rally, calling Putin's continuing brutal war against Ukraine "the NATO campaign against Russia". FFS. youtu.be/SMBjoiMskxA?...

Diane Abbott MP

YouTube video by StoptheWarCoalition

youtu.be

Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.

Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says

LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance

ft.com

Another direct result of Trump’s illegal, unnecessary war. Iran will have no qualms about bringing the war to America.

Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

Michigan and Minnesota are among at least seven states coping with cyberattacks aimed at disrupting water systems nationwide.

nytimes.com

Breaking News: Water supplies in at least seven U.S. states were targeted by cyberattacks that officials say appear to be the work of Iran.

Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

Michigan and Minnesota are among at least seven states coping with cyberattacks aimed at disrupting water systems nationwide.

nyti.ms

The Farage drop is, I think, potentially more consequential medium term than the Burnham bounce (which will fade I'm sure). Reform are a one man band, built around Farage's brand. If he becomes toxic (a) he might quit politics (as he has before) (b) whether he does or not they have no plan B.

Luke Tryl@luketryl.bsky.social · 6d ago

Latest leader approvals 🌹Burnham bumps up to +19, 8 higher than Keir’s high of 11. 🌳Badenoch down slightly to break even 🔶Davey drops back to -11 💚Polanski is at -24 ➡️Farage drops to another low, by far his lowest since the election at -32

This statement by UEFA on FIFA attempting to sell off the World Cup gave me goosebumps, what a statement - the beautiful game deserves no less “As so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”

Polanski very stupid for what he shared, but Reform’s pivot from bringing a woman who called for hotels full of asylum seekers to be burned down as their guest of honour at conference, to saying the Green leader should be jailed - is a difficult circle to square

Do think there is a definite world where the next election ends up a pretty straight Labour-Tory fight again

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · last wk.

Westminster Voting Intention: LAB: 28% (+4) RFM: 24% (-2) CON: 22% (=) LDM: 12% (+1) GRN: 8% (-3) SNP: 2% (=) Via @moreincommonuk.bsky.social, 24-27 Jul. Changes w/ 21-22 Jul.

@thetimes.com

Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · last wk.

The Times corrects its splash story headlined "Migrant care workers bring dozens of family members." The Times got this totally wrong. It then used its own error as the basis for an editorial calling explicitly for forced expulsions of people living here legally. www.thetimes.com/comment/regi...

Said this before, will again. Badenoch is the most dangerous figure in British politics. She's not as extreme as Farage or Lowe, but her impact is more pernicious. She actively prevents the British centre-right from adopting moderate positions, and thereby facilitates the radicalisation process.

New mad conspiracy theory just dropped. (Answers: It's a GCHQ building, and I presume black paint and doors are available at B&Q.)

@thetimes.com :

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

Disgusted with @thetimes for presenting this non-story. If it has to be covered at all it should be framed as Discredited Racist Smears Black Cambridge Professor in Sustained Campaign to Undermine Him. Arday quoted & cited sources appropriately. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

NatWest / Coutts knew precisely why they needed rid of Nigel Farage 🧵⬇️ bsky.app/profile/tens...

TensegrityFan🐝🍯@tensegrityfan.bsky.social · 2w ago

It really is quite the coincidence that the address at which one of Nigel Farage’s major sources of income - Direct Bullion - just so happens to share the exact same Devonshire House, London address as Jeffrey Epstein’s UK registered Investment Management company bsky.app/profile/epst...

"The decision to freeze the account of a political party has no known precedent in modern times." www.thetimes.com/article/48c9...

Reform UK’s bank account was frozen after Cottrell donations

Nigel Farage’s party could not make or receive payments for two weeks during the 2024 general election campaign, The Sunday Times can reveal

thetimes.com

Elon Musk, owner of X, has called the editor of the Economist "a traitor to the West, plain and simple" after her recent interview with him. He now argues that "anyone who opposes remigration is a traitor" Musk has been socialising violence since Aug25: "fight or die, that's what it comes down to"

Lemme tell you about the angel of history being blown backwards into the future: The shackles these people have been put in are Hiatt brand, same company founded in 1780 to mass produce shackles for slaver ships.

Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social · 2w ago

The use of extremely online memetic aesthetics to support far-right political goals is like something out of Walter Benjamin’s nightmares.

i've outrun more than a few wildfires in my time and i thought of typing up some advice on doing that but honestly what can i even say because. this many wildfires in regions that do not normally get wildfires like this is a direct result of bad policies and failure to act on climate change.