“Reform.... present themselves as the anti-establishment insurgents, but banning independent journalists like me from party conference isn’t anti-establishment. It’s the establishment playbook.” Am taking being barred from Reform conference as badge of honour! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Reform UK bans three journalists who have investigated party from its conference

Guardian City editor Anna Isaac, investigative reporter Peter Geoghegan and broadcaster Michael Crick refused entry

theguardian.com

And if you want to read some of the stories that Reform dislike so much, do follow Democracy for Sale! democracyforsale.substack.com

Democracy for Sale | Peter Geoghegan | Substack

A newsletter dedicated to revealing how dark money and hidden influence threaten our democracy. Click to read Democracy for Sale, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

democracyforsale.substack.com

I didn't mean to turn this into a thread, but the issue has got me properly triggered (again). Read on for how this approach has been embedded in every aspect of government, who has driven the process and how it works.

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d ago

Officially, the water industry in England is regulated. Practically, it's unregulated. There's no difference between what it does under the eye of the Environment Agency and what it would do if the EA did not exist. The EA is completely useless, by design. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Bravo @mapquest.com…. for not bending the knee! #LakeOntario-Now&Forever🇨🇦

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d ago

> @techcrunch.com @mapquest.com techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/m...

I read to my kid (age 4 as of May) for an hour every night from age of 1. Clearly it’s not [every] night, but I’m the one who reads to her most nights. And I usually read 3-4 books (an hour). She has an enormous library. She started reading to [me] two weeks ago.

“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the whistleblower warned.

USPS Whistleblower Warns New Rule Could Keep Voters From Getting Ballots—What To Know

“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the whistleblower warned.

forbes.com

From Robin Rouby-Progressive Cartoons

As if we need a reason to take utilities into public hands, away from investers. As for the witless environment agency....

Best for Britain@bestforbritain.org · 2d ago

This is deliberate. And it's illegal. “This level of criminality shows that water companies do not believe they, or the government, will ever do anything meaningful to stop them.” https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/01/dry-weather-sewage-discharges-soar-as-water-companies-face-scrutiny

Not in my house. A couple of good friends who have come from Afghanistan. Take them from me at the government's peril.

Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · 2d ago

Will making it harder/impossible for care workers/middle skill migrants on work visas to settle improve integration cohesion? No. But will it save money/be good for the economy? Absolutely not, quite the opposite. But at least it's popular? .......... inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Can't get a moment's peace on this bloody planet.

Officially, the water industry in England is regulated. Practically, it's unregulated. There's no difference between what it does under the eye of the Environment Agency and what it would do if the EA did not exist. The EA is completely useless, by design. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Dry weather sewage discharges soar as water companies face scrutiny

Exclusive: 7,280 suspected illegal spills in rivers and sea recorded in first five months of 2026

theguardian.com

1/Farage's social housing planis evidence of his true goal to build white , male apartheid state-not unlike old South Africa. (a) In prioritising UK born citizens for social housing, he is demoting non-British born citizens, a two tier citizenship. Many in the second tier will be of colour. (cont)

Sir Keir Starmer is resigning as an MP. I hope he's not trying to upstage Mr Burnham on his first day as PM. It would be petty. I would hope he will chose to do more international work. He was not good at protecting the Palestinians of Gaza or the West Bank, but he would have the space to improve.

It's not just the ballroom that has to go. It's the bunker below.

Joe Walsh@walshfreedom.bsky.social · 2d ago

The Supreme Court today said the current president had the unilateral authority to tear down the East Wing of the White House and build a monstrous ballroom. That means the next president will have the unilateral authority to rebuild the East Wing and tear down the monstrous ballroom.

I'm not a conspiracy guy. I generally believe things happened just as they looked. But, being ex-military and working with weapons, I've yet to hear an explanation for how Bone Spurs was hit in the ear with a high-velocity rifle round and ended up with nary a scratch or a scar. It doesn't happen.

Now that is responsible journalism. Chances are 100% of what Trump says are lies anyway.

Why?

Gillian Martin@gillmartin.bsky.social · 2d ago

The 40 iconic Kennedy Center weeping willow trees on the south and west terraces of the Potomac riverfront of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which stood as a powerful living symbol of a nation in mourning following President Kennedy's 1963 assassination are chopped down

Parliamentary motion against Mahmood's vicious immigration reforms gathering further signatures. Think it's pretty clear there's going to be concessions but they'd need to go very far indeed for the plan to be even halfway acceptable inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Mahmood's 'hardline' immigration reforms hit by growing rebellion

More Labour MPs to publicly oppose Home Secretary's changes to indefinite leave to remain

inews.co.uk

"I want your children's lungs to be smaller and less functional" is a bold electoral strategy.

Sad to discover he's just another silly boy.

Leo Murray@crisortunity.bsky.social · 3d ago

Pleased to see Tories are still incapable of learning the lesson that “ending the war on motorists” is not an election winning stance in London, which has the highest walking & cycling rates, lowest car ownership & best public transport of anywhere in Britain. It’s like they don’t know any of this

What the lying Liar said just after the referendum...

Nature fact: If you encounter a bear, make yourself look big From the Private Eye archive. Issue 1621, April 2024.

"A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." — U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776

Imagine Labour were in opposition and two very senior shadow cabinet members, seen as leadership rivals to the leader, had resigned within days of each other. Think how that would be reported - the tone, frequency, and prominence. Now tell me the media landscape is not skewed in this country.

Farage is celebrating Iceland voting 'no' in a referendum on starting EU accession talks. But unlike Britain, that country is already in the single market and the Schengen area.

Policeman dances at the Notting Hill Carnival, demonstrating the best of community policing

As I said at the #MarchOnWashington yesterday, we are not powerless. We have to get out the vote, and we have to protect the vote, and we have to vote in such massive, overwhelming numbers that the results are clear and convincing, and no one can steal it from us. www.ms.now/liveblog/mar...

March on Washington 2026 live: Defend the Vote, Lincoln Memorial

Follow live updates from the March on Washington 2026 at the Lincoln Memorial, featuring Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, AOC and Bernie Sanders.

ms.now

So why do Americans permit this madman to continue as president? Is it not time to remove him? Why is there any argument when he is so obviously very ill?

Marlene Robertson🍁🇨🇦@marlenerobertson.bsky.social · 4d ago

Trump is a classic malignant narcissist. He judges everyone in a friend to foe framework. To Trump, the only people who matter are those who validate him. Trump is a mentally ill man which is only made worse by his cognitive decline.