I was struck by a piece on Radio 4 the other day, asking whether Burnham would be more "pragmatic" - meaning "positive" - about drilling in the North Sea. It was simply taken for granted that drilling was the "pragmatic" option, while opposing it was dogmatic or ideological.

James Murray@james-bg.bsky.social · 3d ago

Wrote about the deafening silence on our summer of climate impacts from Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, business leaders, and even some campaign groups. The dominant climate discourse from the past week has been from those who want to ditch net zero targets and trash decarbonisation policies.

A tiny number of extremely wealthy men have taken power over our world, undermining democracy and encouraging the rise of fascism Read how they hide in plain sight and how we can bring down to earth and end their anti-social behaviour #FightTheOligarchy northeastbylines.co.uk/culture/book...

Beware of oligarchs bearing gifts: book review

Review of Lacunae and Laocoon: For the Triumph of Democracy over Oligarchy by Molly Scott Cato

northeastbylines.co.uk

"What is Fascism?" The third lecture in my new online course, "Hitler and Stalin today" A guest lecture by @marcishore.bsky.social re.bsky.social Hosted by the Munk School @utoronto.ca Full lecture here: snyder.substack.com/p/what-is-fa...

Congratulations to Carol for sticking at this! For a decade the association with Putin and the Russian oligarchs has been hiding in plain sight A disgrace that the security services and the police have not done more to find it and bring these people to justice www.thenerve.news/p/george-cot...

Farage, George Cottrell and Putin’s friend Abramovich

Source reveals convicted money launderer and Reform leader’s close ally worked as a young man for the now-sanctioned oligarch after becoming friends with his son. Report by Carole Cadwalladr

thenerve.news

As Europe burns, Shell has banked £7.4 billion in just three months. It's time to make the biggest polluters pay.

Important point: electoral reform could help make politics less toxic. "Research has found that democracies with Proportional Representation exhibit less severe affective polarization than those with winner-take-all. Partisans become less inclined to vilify rivals they may later need as partners."

Britain's New Prime Minister Sees Proportional Representation as a Cure to Polarization

America needs a leader to champion similar electoral reforms in this country

theunpopulist.net

What could be more performative than the Conservatives calling for a recall of parliament when most of them are on holiday? To respond to a policy needed because of their utter mismanagement of the prison system They are not serious politicians www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Badenoch calls for emergency legislation to stop early release scheme

Last week Andy Burnham announced he was pausing early release plans for September after backlash from survivors and victims.

bbc.co.uk

I don't understand why gifts are exempt from tax My understanding was that they incur capital transfer tax just like other transfers Could at tax expert here please elucidate? taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/07/17/f...

Nigel Farage’s £5m gift: why tax may be due

Christopher Harborne gave Nigel Farage £5m. We originally said the gift probably wasn’t taxable. The facts have changed; it now may be.

taxpolicy.org.uk

Fantastic interview @zoegrunewald ... should be projected on a loop in every public space in clacton until 13 aug.

Zoë Grünewald@zoegrunewald.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Reform donations story is obviously exploding right now, and it just so happened that on Thursday I spoke to Ben Habib, Reform's former deputy leader, about what he knew and what he thinks of Farage now. It's worth a watch, it's pretty excoriating. Some key bits: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq_L...

“Those that apply for PIP should not feel demeaned and deterred from applying” Thank you, Baroness Bennett for highlighting our views that everyone who has been signed off with long-term sickness, deserves support in last night's House of Lords Universal Credit debate.

Well the first set of several million pounds Farage got for Brexit was originally traced back to Russia. I wonder where this came from? 🤔

Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social · 2w ago

A betting account in the name of George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who bankrolled Nigel Farage, received almost $9mn in cryptocurrency from unidentified sources while he was providing gifts to the Reform UK leader great work from @annasophiegross.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/b74c...

This is so true and a valuable thread The system since World War II has worked in the US's favour; we've all got just enough out of it to stick with it We need a new system developed by a coalition of honourable countries. The US can join at some future date if it reverts to honourable behaviour

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 2w ago

This is a subject that's very much on my mind. As November Kelly says, Trump inherited a poker game rigged in his favor and then flipped the table over because he resented having to pretend to play at all. 4/

Wonderful ❤️🇪🇸

Men in Blazers Media Network@meninblazers.bsky.social · 2w ago

Spain’s Nico Williams gave his mother, Maria, his World Cup winner’s medal after Sunday’s final ❤️💛 Nico's parents trekked some 2,000 miles across the Sahara from Ghana to Spain as refugees. Now, their son is a world champion 🥹

This podcast is really good It answers a lot of questions but also opens up a lot more If you haven't listened already, make sure you do! open.spotify.com/show/75APf1v...

Posh George: The criminal behind Farage | Times Investigates

Podcast · The Times · Posh George: The criminal behind Farage is season 13 of Times Investigates - bringing you award-winning investigative and true crime podcasts from The Times and The Sunday TimesF...

open.spotify.com

Corporate bosses now earn 130 times the average wage The Green Party's policy is to limit that to 10 times Economic leaders should be modelling modesty and service not greed www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Pay gap widens as UK bosses get 130 times average worker’s salary

In its final report the High Pay Centre says the median remuneration of a FTSE 100 CEO has risen to a record £5.06m

theguardian.com

George Cottrell opened account days before mystery Reform donation. The convicted criminal funding Nigel Farage opened an account with an obscure overseas payments company days before using it to channel “unexplained” £500,000 to Reform UK. More questions. What Reform knew? archive.ph/W1KTc

George Cottrell opened account days before mystery Reform donation

Sunday Times revelations raise new questions over the provenance of £500,000 gifted to Nigel Farage’s party by the convicted fraudster’s mother

thetimes.com

Jane Baston, @greenparty.org.uk Bournbrook & Selly Park, Birmingham, @brumgreens.bsky.social Cabinet Member for Equalities, Communities and Social Justice rebuts the Reform UK motion for our city to cease being a place of sanctuary for refugees.

When did journalists (especially BBC) start trying to predict the news rather than reporting it? The tightness of the Burnham operation is making them look faintly absurd They need to focus on accurate reporting of what has happened rather than reporting leaks and putting pressure on politicians

And yet, Crapita still keep being given contracts.

Jonathan Calder@lordbonkers.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Cabinet Office has confirmed it is looking to take the scheme back in-house following “unacceptable” service levels.

Brilliant new series from Caroline Lucas for Goalhanger Don't miss it! open.spotify.com/episode/6h1w...

The Secret Security Threat The Government Don’t Want Us To Know

The Rest Is Politics · Episode

open.spotify.com

🤯 More drilling in the North Sea? 🥵 On his first day in No. 10 the new PM is going to alienate everybody who cares about our climate 😰 What's next, the devastation of our countryside? 😭 I had hope but he's lost me on day -2

Excited to share short version of Episode 1 of my podcast series - Government refusal to release the full version of the Joint Intelligence Committee Report on ecosystem collapse is unforgivable - how do we prepare for threats when their full extent is hidden from us? www.google.com/search?q=you...

✍️ SIGN OUR LETTER TO ANDY BURNHAM: WE NEED A FAIR VOTING SYSTEM! Together with @compassoffice.bsky.social & @unlockdemocracy.bsky.social, we've written to the incoming Prime Minister, calling for urgent action to fix our broken democracy. Add your name 👇 actionnetwork.org/petitions/an...

Dear Andy Burnham: it's time for a fair voting system

Dear Andy Burnham: it’s time to scrap First Past the Post. Our voting system only breeds instability and chaos, and poisons our political culture. We know you agree. Now is the time to fix our demo...

actionnetwork.org

In general, those who don't know anything about fiscal policy and have not spent a fair bit of time thinking about it will almost certainly gravitate to the most basic -- and wrong -- '101' understanding, and listen to the most conventional -- and wrong -- advising voices.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon.bsky.social · 3w ago

I remain unconvinced that someone who has expressed no previous interest in fiscal policy, has no obvious economic policy expertise and whose views on the topic are unknown is an ideal candidate for Chancellor.

Good to see that we finally have a duty of candour enshrined in law A legal requirement to tell the truth is important but only a first step We need those with power to listen to those in whose service they should be working

Liam Thorp@liamthorp.bsky.social · 3w ago

Andy Burnham hugs Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall after a landmark Hillsborough Law finally passed through the House of Commons today A moment in history

£10 billion of public money was wasted on unusable PPE Much of it went to friends and associates of Tory ministers Government corruption, on a massive scale, that must never happen again

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3w ago

Johnson government wasted ‘vast’ sums on PPE, Covid inquiry finds

WOW -- Danish reporter *goes there* with Rutte "You sit next to Trump when he talks about conquering Greenland, lashes out at allies like Spain -- things it doesn't seem like the old Mark Rutte would approve of. Does this have any affect on your self-respect when you sit there and say nothing?"

Farage, Tice and now Jenrick Crooks and snake-oil salesmen to a man It's good to see the financial and criminal authorities finally doing their job Time for them to look back at the dodgy money that funded the Brexit campaign

The i Paper @theipaper.com · 4w ago

Police launch investigation into £37,500 donation made to Robert Jenrick campaign trib.al/7b4NvZn

‘These recommendations would fundamentally reshape how lobbying activity is captured, bringing the transparency that has long been missing. Mistrust foments in the dark, and sadly that’s where the overwhelming majority of lobbying currently occurs’ www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

All lobbying should be publicly declared in transparency laws shake-up, watchdog says

Ethics and integrity commission chief says overhaul is crucial to help restore trust in standards

theguardian.com