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

Coasteering is great way to spend 2 hours of your life. Can recommend if you’re fit and don’t mind a bit of cliff jumping and sea swimming.

Fossil fuel profits are soaring like… well, like our energy bills. Funny that. But we don't have to let them use every crisis to squeeze us for profit. We can help those struggling & break the fossil fuel doomloop if we TAX THE PROFITEERS. Agree? 👉 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ra...

Don't look now, but the world has now installed 3TW of solar. Took 10 years to get from 100GW to 1TW. Less than 3 years to get to 2TW. Less than 2 years to get to 3TW. Analysts expect *9TW* by 2036.

The World Crossed a Major Solar Milestone. No One Noticed

The next phase of the boom may reveal a shift in who is gaining access to the technology.

bloomberg.com

This is pure extraction of wealth from one group of people to another We urgently need: Windfall tax on oil giants Windfall tax on banks Both are creaming money off us during a cost of living crisis Even Thatcher had the balls to tax the banks Will you @andyburnham?

I can’t believe we’re still having a debate about whether there’s a trade off between job creation and measures to green the economy. There isn’t. The evidence was clear years ago - a green economy creates far more jobs than the fossil fuel economy it replaces. Come on Labour, catch up …

Government contracts to require job creation instead of green targets under new rules

Louise Haigh says taxpayer money must benefit local communities amid backlash from environmental groups

theguardian.com

Palantir hoovering up European defence and NHS contracts whilst funnelling earnings back to the US to pay negligible corporate tax is a complete failure of digital sovereignty. European states must stop enriching tech firms that drain public coffers. Is it time to ban them? #FBPE

Palantir funnels earnings to US to avoid European taxes, report finds

A new study finds that Palantir, which boasts of high profit margins in the U.S., barely scrapes a margin in Europe, which helps slash its tax bill.

politico.eu

FFS we cannot keep doing this… A handful of the richest people hoovering up wealth from everyone else while quite literally making the planet unlivable At what point does someone grow a fucking spine and do something?!

So now the next step is to find out what Capital One's months-long anti-money laundering review by professionals with decades of law enforcement experience discovered about Trump's 300+ accounts...

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · 22h ago

Phang: "Capital One said, 'We don't want the business anymore of the 45th president of the United States, his businesses, his failed sons, and his revocable trust.' So you can imagine -- I am just hypothesizing... but it suggests whatever Capital One uncovered was pretty bad. Makes you wonder..."

On a call with my 70-something parents… Both of them saying they hope someone does something about this climate change …me explaining that unless it’s on their doorstep, leaders are too corrupt or weak to do a God damn thing.

Major oil firms make $93bn profits in just 3 months amid war and climate crisis. They shift profits, dodge taxes, fuel poverty and inflation. They don't bear the social cost of their business. Forever holding people/govts to ransom. Polluters must pay. Need windfall tax now.

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

Quite impressive to completely undermine your own defence and insult most of your party's elected officials in the same sentence.

Chris Terry-Enescu@cjterry.bsky.social · 10h ago

It's OK for criminal ex-neo Nazis to run your bins is a hell of a line.

The UK Conservatives want Jewish groups to meet their new Neo-Nazi ex-con candidate.

Tories offer Jewish groups meeting with ex neo-Nazi activist candidate

Joshua Bonehill-Paine was jailed over neo-Nazi activism, but has been selected to stand in a new Somerset Council seat in 2027.

bbc.co.uk

Jupiter as seen by Voyager 1 (1979) - From Ian Regan - https://flic.kr/p/ihgMbH

8,000 new homes. 1,000 new jobs. We’re transforming Charlton Riverside, creating a brand new neighbourhood in South London. Here’s how we’re doing it:

8,000 homes planned for new south London neighbourhood

Charlton Riverside is planned to unlock investment in the area, improve transport links and guide long-term transformation

standard.co.uk

So Badenoch would recruit a neo-Nazi but *not* someone who didn’t want to leave the ECHR or someone who supported our NetZero commitments. Second chances for this guy but not Dominic Grieve. The Tory party is truly wretched. It’s screwed the country, betrayed its own and lost its tiny mind.

Reminder that the Tories believe any non-British person who commits more than a minor parking or traffic offence should be automatically deported. They “believe in second chances”, apparently, but only for literal Nazis.

Kemi Badenoch defends selection of man jailed for harassing Jewish MP in council election – as it happened

Conservative leader tells press she stands by decision to select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a candidate for local election in Somerset

theguardian.com

Might be helpful to read today's column in conjunction with this one, from January, as they point to the same root cause: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich | George Monbiot

There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don’t tackle the problem because they don’t want to, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is to meet Epstein survivors and may hold a full public enquiry into Epstein.

Burnham 'looking into' conducting Epstein inquiry, says victims minister

Alex Davies-Jones tells BBC Newsnight she discussed an inquiry with the PM when she was re-appointed as minister.

bbc.co.uk

British politics is deeply unwell

-Punched his pregnant girlfriend. -Said he would rape the kids if he was a schoolteacher. -Said chiild sex abuse porn should be legal. Allison Pearson in the Telegraph...

Here is a clear example of how corporate capitalist forces (and their media) try to undermine science & create their own counterfactuals (and enemies) - in this case using useful idiots. A clear example of false consciousness - where publics must be deceived to protect corporate capital accumulation

Huge shift in Welsh public opinion, from voting Leave 10 years ago to 69% now wanting to Rejoin EU: blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/thinking-wal...

From Leave to Rejoin: Welsh Public Opinion Ten Years On

Showcasing current research, comments and analysis on the law, politics, history, culture, government and political economy of Wales from the Wales Governance Centre.

blogs.cardiff.ac.uk

NEWS: For nearly 20 years, Epstein moved over $1B through the major banks. The banks looked away. Sen. Wyden’s 3-year probe exposes it all. But most damning? How Trump and the GOP tried to bury it.

Follow the Money: How Wall Street Bankrolled Epstein, and How the Trump Administration and CBS are Blocking The Truth

For nearly two decades, Jeffrey Epstein moved more than a billion dollars through some of the biggest banks in America. He withdrew millions in unexplained

meidasnews.com

Jezza Clarkson wants people claiming benefits to write a letter to taxpayers thanking them for their generosity – or have benefits stopped. Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm received over £250k in government and EU subsidies, including eco-grants, leaving 100s of acres uncropped. You go first Jezza.

static.klipy.com

www.upi.com/Top_News/Wor... As always, big oil takes and takes and takes particularly at a time when many consumers cannot even fill their tanks…

BP posts 143% profit hike as Iran war sends oil and gas prices skyward - UPI.com

British oil giant BP posted second quarter profit $5.7 billion, more than double the $2.35 billion it made in the April to June period in 2025.

upi.com

The 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

Alonso likes to make friends with everyone he meets.

I did assume that this was a case of a local organisation having totally lost the plot, but Kemi Badenoch is now forcefully and explicitly defending the selection of a former neo-Nazi with a significant criminal history as a candidate. Crackers and terrifying.

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · yesterday

Kemi Badenoch certainly seems to be advancing with her agenda to turn the Conservatives into Reform.