In Northern Ireland, the union has long been more popular than unionism - "Neithers", unwedded by instinct to either constitutional position, lean to remaining in the UK. But what repels Neithers from unionism could over time repel them from the union. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politic...

Former UUP councillor: ‘If my future is in politics, it will be with the SDLP’

Linzi McLaren, who quit over party’s failure to match its words about reaching out with actions, is now firmly in the camp of those seeking a ‘new Ireland’

belfasttelegraph.co.uk

we're now at the "youth hosteling with Chris Eubank" and "arm-wrestling with Chas and Dave" stage of brainstorming justifications for drilling in the North Sea.

The latest Mandelson disclosures reminded me of this www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2k...

'Brian's Hat' Full Sketch - I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson Season 2

YouTube video by Netflix Is A Joke

youtube.com

www.economist.com/britain/2026... Wrote about how the 1990s has a chokehold on Britain, whether it is a luvvies reminiscing at the Groucho or a Jim Davidson gig in Purfleet

Thameslink Southern Great Northern... a name that screams "clear sense of direction".

At the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Essar owed $3.1 billion to VTB, the Kremlin-controlled Russian bank. Our latest story, with the Guardian, reveals that its response to sanctions on VTB was to shift the loans out of the EU from Cyprus to Mauritius. www.source-material.org/essar-stanlo...

UK oil refiner shifted Russian loans offshore – SourceMaterial

Essar shifted billions to tax haven following Ukraine invasion

source-material.org

this all sort of falls apart if you are aware that St Patrick was a Brit bsky.app/profile/mayo...

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 5mo ago

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

INVESTIGATION: Indonesian firms targeted in a palm oil fraud probe supplied European firms, an investigation by AFP and SourceMaterial (@Source_Mat) has found. The European firms include Italian energy giant Eni and Finnish sustainable aviation fuel leader Neste u.afp.com/SLMh

New: Last month, Indonesian authorities arrested 11 people on suspicion of bribery and disguising palm oil as a less strictly regulated byproduct. SourceMaterial can reveal that exporters targeted in this probe supplied major international companies. www.source-material.org/indonesian-e...

Indonesian exporters in palm oil probe supplied European fuel majors

Indonesian exporters targeted in a palm oil bribery probe supplied major international companies, a SourceMaterial investigation has found.

source-material.org

In fairness Jim Ratcliffe, of Monaco, and formerly of Zug, Switzerland, knows a thing or two about moving to a country for economic advantage. news.sky.com/story/the-uk...

'UK has been colonised by immigrants', says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe

In an interview with Sky News's Ed Conway, Sir Jim says Britain faces profound political, social and economic challenges, among them an unprecedented rise in immigration in recent years.

news.sky.com

The year before the EU referendum, the UK car industry was predicting record production of 2 million units a year by 2020. It's kind of mad how little political weather this makes. www.thetimes.com/business/com...

UK car output at its lowest in 70 years, but there is a spark of hope

The government’s target of getting production back up to 1.3 million by 2035 looks increasingly unlikely — unless the Chinese get involved

thetimes.com

Rosa is ridiculously talented and lovely to work with. Sign her up before it's too late.

Rosa Furneaux@rosafurneaux.bsky.social · 8mo ago

A hard post to start the new year: due to organisational changes at their funder, I've been laid off from my role as senior investigative reporter at @source-material.org. It’s been a privilege to work with such a talented and dedicated team on award-winning exposés across the climate beat

A major Tory donor has been sanctioned in the UK and EU for his alleged role in the Russian oil trade. The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia. www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Major Tory donor sanctioned over role in Russian oil trade

The government sanctioning statement alleges that Murtaza Lakhani’s activities in the oil sector have supported the Kremlin

thetimes.com

I wonder has Boris Johnson ever seemed in need of assistance while boarding a flight. bsky.app/profile/flyi...

flyingrodent@flyingrodent.bsky.social · 9mo ago

A constant blazing terror that somewhere, somebody might be getting a free cheese sandwich. Or indeed brief use of a wheelchair.

🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...

BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government

Ex-Tory MP facilitated meetings with 10+ Labour MPs and met ministers in “cash-for-access operation”

democracyforsale.substack.com

Amazon, the biggest data centre provider in the world, is actually *even bigger* than we thought. New investigation based on leaked documents by my colleague @lukewbarratt.bsky.social. www.source-material.org/amazon-data-...

Amazon has twice as many data centres worldwide as previously reported

Amazon uses far more data centres across the globe—and has a bigger impact on the environment—than previously reported, leaked data reveals.

source-material.org

Coal-fired data centres at least sound a bit steampunk. Wood-fired data centres just sound deranged. finance.yahoo.com/news/drax-sh...

Drax Shares Surge on Data Center Hopes

Drax Group Plc shares surged to their highest level in over three years as investors bet that UK utilities could become major beneficiaries of the country’s rapidly expanding data center industry.

finance.yahoo.com

Can't recommend today's SourceMaterial offering enough, by @marcusleroux.bsky.social. It's the story of the son of a lorry driver from Calabria who has often struggled to distance himself from the Italian mafia and is now poised to buy 11 North Sea gasfields www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...

North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial

Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud

source-material.org

Francesco Mazzagatti is awaiting approval to buy a terminal that provides a fifth of Britain's gas. We took a close look at episodes in his career that experts say ought to be of interest to the regulator in charge of stewarding the UK's oil and gas. www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...

North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial

Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud

source-material.org

"Transparency is a one-way door". A leaked Amazon document reveals its anxiety over disclosing how much water their data centres use.

Rosa Furneaux@rosafurneaux.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Amazon strategised about ways to keep the public in the dark over the true extent of its data centres’ water use, a leaked internal document obtained by SourceMaterial reveals → www.source-material.org/amazon-leak-...

this is a dizzying yarn with a drunk Australian getting hit by a car in Paris at its centre and threads leading to the dictator of Congo-Brazzaville and a prominent Irish family via Monaco and Dubai. villagemagazine.ie/dubai-heir-c...

Dubai Heir, Congo Air - Village Magazine

When Paris police picked up a drunk Australian carrying €195,000 in cash, they uncovered an alleged money-laundering scheme led by a Dubai-based Irish horseracing heir linked to British royals.

villagemagazine.ie

I'd love to have attended the meeting where this came up.

At dawn in Accra, Ghana, Lydia Bamfo (51) sets out to collect plastic waste. For 25 years she’s battled the tide of rubbish overwhelming her city. Now she says the World Bank’s “solution” has done nothing to help workers like her. 🧵

William of Ockham: we're gonna need a bigger blade.

Some heartwarming football content from earlier in the week. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Irish League and German clubs to fulfil European Cup tie, 65 years later

Glenavon's 1960-61 European Cup tie against East German champions Wismut failed to go ahead due to the Cold War.

bbc.co.uk

On the Kneecap website you can buy a £25 “RUC not welcome tee”, in reference to a police force that was reformed and renamed before Mo Chara was in primary school. marcusleroux.substack.com/p/the-real-t...

The real trouble with Kneecap

The perils of the single transferable victim

marcusleroux.substack.com

A lie can be half way around the world before a preliminary crisis analysis has its trousers on.

Oliver Morton, Eater of Sun@eaterofsun.bsky.social · last yr.

Doesn't mean there was nothing to learn from it but does mean that a lot of quick off the mark renewables-trashing shit-talk was unwarranted arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Fresnillo, one of the UK’s largest mining groups, has been told it should pay as much as $630 million to a Mexican community whose land it illegally mined for gold, according to documents obtained by SourceMaterial → www.source-material.org/fresnillo-so...

Fresnillo faces $630m demand to restore 'illegally-mined' gold – SourceMaterial

The goldmining giant lost access to a Mexican mine in 2013 — now a court-appointed review says it must return $630m of gold it mined there.

source-material.org

I wonder if this cross-examination is building up to the 1976 Republican News column where Adams wrote, cryptically: "I'm an IRA volunteer". www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/...

Gerry Adams denies under oath that he was the senior IRA figure released for talks in 1970s

Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has denied under oath that he was the senior officer of the Provisional IRA released from internment as a precondition for talks with British officials about a ceas...

belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Isobel Oakeshott is a Reform cheerleader - but in 2018 she said the Kremlin “struck gold” with Arron Banks, who Reform’s West of England mayoral candidate. The article is still online. New from @marcusleroux.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/does-isabe...

Does Isabel Oakeshott still believe Arron Banks was “used by the Russians”?

Oakeshott is a Reform cheerleader but in 2018 she said the Kremlin “struck gold” with the party’s West of England mayoral candidate. The article is still online.

democracyforsale.substack.com