Ian Fraser
@ianfraser.bsky.social
Award-winning journalist and author. Latest edition of my book ‘Shredded: Inside RBS The Bank That Broke Britain’, about the pivotal role of what’s now called NatWest in the global banking crash, was reissued in 2024. www.ianfraser.org
The truth about the migrant “invasion” of Ceuta, in which eighty people died, either by drowning or by being crushed. 70,000 out of the 72,000 people who entered Ceuta have already returned to Morocco Reform UK’s Suella Braverman comes out of the video looking very silly indeed.
The truth behind the Ceuta migrant crisis
YouTube video by Channel 4 News
youtu.be
I recall we had a period of time where the response of Starmer and Cooper to concerns about these groups was ‘I like flags’
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · yesterdayLeaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.
If congressional Republicans had any backbone, they’d block Todd Blanche’s confirmation as U.S. attorney general. Given his lack of independence—he’s close to Trump, who has weaponised the DoJ for his own benefit—and lack of any real moral compass, Blanche is unfit for the role.
Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general clears critical hurdle after deal with GOP holdouts
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has a cleared critical hurdle in his bid to be confirmed to the post after swaying Republican holdouts on a Senate committee to advance his nomination for a floor ...
apnews.com
These oil and gas companies bear a striking resemblance to the firms which insist the UK’s Energy Profits Levy is crippling them financially and destroying their business model.
Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis
Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage
theguardian.com
eBay’s campaign of harassment and intimidation of Massachusetts journos David and Ina Steiner after they wrote articles critical of the ecommerce giant was off-the-scale. Under the terms of a $56 million settlement secured by the Steiners, ex eBay CEO Devin Wenig agreed to pay $2m to the couple.
‘Crush this lady’: how eBay harassment campaign led to $56mn payout
Employees’ cyberstalking of Boston couple involving macabre deliveries ended in jail time and financial settlement
ft.com
“He was not some genius satirist but a bloviating bully with a taste for bigotry who could always fall back on the excuse that he was ‘only joking’.” @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social’s harsh but fair obituary of former Spectator associate editor Rod Liddle (1960-2026).
Liddle to be celebrated
An honest obituary for Rod Liddle, dead at 66, dead inside for many years before that.
open.substack.com
Nigel Farage Exposed: 18 years of infamy as leader of the UK Independence Party, the Brexit Party and Reform UK.
Reform Party UK Exposed@reformexposed.bsky.social · yesterdayThe Nigel Farage Controversies. It’s not just the £5m and Cottrell, his whole career has been scandal ridden.
Incoming Bluesky CEO Toni Schneider wants to reinvent Bluesky as a diversified “big tent,” focused on non-political interests, and to shed its “liberal bubble” reputation. In a Verge interview, he claimed Bluesky was never designed to attract just one specific political demographic. 🤨
Paul Bernal@paulbernal.bsky.social · yesterdayThe new CEO of Bluesky wants to change Bluesky from being a leftist bubble. The thing is, there’s nothing wrong with being a leftist bubble: the idea that everything has to be all-encompassing and suitable for everyone is a trap. 🧵 1/4
As Rod Liddle has died, I notice this column I wrote in 2019 about his attacks on people with M.E. is on the most read again. Rebekah Brooks, of News UK, described Liddle today as “provocative”. In reality, he spread lies about very sick people for cash. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Rod Liddle vilifies disabled people. I’m tired of the hate. We all should be | Frances Ryan
Whether it is ME patients or another target, huge swathes of the media have normalised hatred of minorities for years, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
theguardian.com
Former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson: “Rod Liddle was the greatest satirist since Swift”. Sometimes, you wonder what planet these guys are on.
Rod Liddle, 1960-2026
Rod Liddle, The Spectator’s associate editor, has died at the age of 66. Rod, who was also a columnist for the Sunday Times of London and Sun, died at the James Cook University hospital in Middlesbro...
spectator.com
So that’s both the leader and deputy leader of Reform UK being probed by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
Standards watchdog investigating Reform UK’s Richard Tice
Party’s deputy leader accused of a possible failure to declare an interest, commissioner says on its website
theguardian.com
Good grief. US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr doesn't even know the difference between death rate and death toll.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago😳 RFK Jr's epic CNN crashout 😳 Dana Bash pressed RFK Jr on Trump's culpability for mishandling covid and the misinformation he pushes about vaccines, and the segment wound down with him getting mad and barking at her like a rabid dog Here's the full thing:
Plans from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to put a million data centres in space risks turning Earth’s atmosphere a “fire pit,” warn scientists.
SpaceX plan to launch 1 million data center satellites could turn atmosphere into a ‘fire pit,’ scientists say
The company wants to put a network of data centers in orbit. Scientists say the plan comes with severe environmental risks.
nbcnews.com
Economic historian @ewangibbs.bsky.social provides a useful historical perspective on BP’s £2 billion sale of its North Sea business. It has little or nothing to do with short-term changes in taxation policy.
Ewan Gibbs@ewangibbs.bsky.social · 5d agoBP exiting the North Sea is a big moment in the history of the industry and Scotland’s economy. It’s been a long time coming, and marks an end to over a century of petroleum activities and more than 50 years of North Sea drilling. BP’s exit cannot be explained by short term tax policy changes 🧵
“Sunlight travels 93 million miles to reach the earth, but none of those miles go through the strait of Hormuz.” Bill McKibben on why solar energy is a no brainer.
Bill McKibben@billmckibben.bsky.social · last wk.So, I finally did a TED talk, and it got released today. I seem to have been quite intense, but I'm grateful they left in my Trump joke. www.ted.com/talks/bill_m...
Treasury Committee urged to intervene and demand transparency over protracted delays to the Dobbs Review of Lloyds Banking Group’s alleged coverup of the £1bn HBOS Reading fraud, says Conservative Party chair Kevin Hollinrake. By @jamesdhurley.bsky.social
Tory chairman questions delay in publishing Dobbs review
Kevin Hollinrake says the Treasury select committee should seek answers from Lloyds and Dame Linda Dobbs over progress on the report into £1bn HBOS scandal
thetimes.com
Ever wondered about the giant yellow structures which are proliferating in Leith Docks? Well, they’re Chinese-made foundations (“jackets” and “barrels”) for offshore wind turbines — and are set to be installed off the Angus coast. Story by @vickyallan.bsky.social
Giant yellow 'minions' at Port of Leith obscure view of Edinburgh
What exactly are Edinburgh's giant yellow structures? We know they are wind turbine parts, but how do they fit together and what do they do?
heraldscotland.com
Why Glasgow School of Art’s iconic Mackintosh building, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh of architects Honeyman & Keppie between 1896 and 1909, deserves to be fully restored. @edwinheathcote.bsky.social
Why the Glasgow School of Art deserves to be fully restored
Years after two devastating fires, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s art nouveau masterpiece faces an uncertain future. It’s time the government stepped up
ft.com
Data centres could have to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in deposits before they’re allowed to connect to the UK’s electricity grid, says Ofgem. The regulator said the projects would have to hit key milestones to keep their place in the grid connection queue.⚡
Data centres could pay hundreds of millions in deposits for power demands
The regulator said a fee of between £237,500 to £712,500 per megawatt should be charged for upcoming projects.
bbc.co.uk
In ‘Indefensible,’ @johnhyde.bsky.social examines the failure of lawyers to prevent the Post Office Horizon scandal, the UK’s most egregious and prolonged miscarriage of justice. The book is published by @brisunipress.bsky.social on 15 Sept.
Author to release book about lawyers' role in Post Office Scandal
A new book will examine lawyers the Post Office scandal .
gazette-news.co.uk
Labour MP Jess Asato who’s suing Elon Musk’s xAI over fake sexualised images created by Grok says the AI tool was trained to generate harmful sexualised content.
Labour MP suing Elon Musk’s xAI says chatbot added own fake abusive content
Jess Asato’s particulars of claim states Grok added explicit sexual material users had not asked for
theguardian.com
A coalition of NGOs, incl SHERPA, Notre Affaire à Tous, France Nature Environnement, as well as the city of Paris, have won a case against TotalEnergies. The French oil giant must now disclose the climate risks linked to emissions from its fossil fuel products and set out plans to mitigate them.
French climate lawsuit offers a window into the next round of the global legal fight
A court ruling expands the options for corporate accountability efforts against oil companies in France, and it may have repercussions in the US and elsewhere.
theconversation.com
ScotWind should be seen as a defining failure of successive SNP administrations (and Green supporters) who insisted it would be formative to Scotland’s reindustrialisation. Reports of £6 billion less activity than expected is only the latest confirmation.
'Disaster': ScotWind to deliver £6bn less to Scotland as spending shifts overseas
A landmark offshore wind programme hailed by Scotland's former First Minister as a "truly historic" opportunity is now set to deliver…
heraldscotland.com
Anthropogenic climate change is fuelling dangerous “fire weather” across Europe, by increasing temperatures, lowering humidity, and prolonging droughts, which dry out vegetation into tinderbox conditions and mean fires ignite easily and spread rapidly.
Devastating European wildfires in maps - and how they're being tackled
A blaze near Bordeaux has torn through more than 162 sq miles (420 sq km) in less than four days, while the Madrid region is seeing its worst fires ever.
bbc.co.uk
PR wins damages and an apology from Daily Mail over “cocaine mums” story. Anna Melton was shocked to discover the Mail added her byline to an August 2025 piece on mothers snorting cocaine at children’s parties. It’s taken the Mail nearly a year to apologise www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/people/...
R.I.P. Bill Oddie (1941-2026). A true polymath, he seemed to make a success of everything he turned his hand to. But it was his conservation work that gave him the most satisfaction. BBC obituary covers fact he was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder in 2009 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The Goodies - Funky Gibbon [totp2]
YouTube video by WiggyStHelensUK
youtu.be
Just heard @helenebismarck.bsky.social talking about her book Fantastic Kingdom: A Stranger’s Notes on a Contrary Country with @calumam.bsky.social on Times Radio and want to read it. “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us, To see oursels as ithers see us!”
