Ben Stanford

There is some real pissing around at this World Cup Draw. This is going to be one bombastic tournament.

Momentum is BUILDING to restore Electoral Commisson independence 🔥

71% of people think the elections watchdog should be free from political interference.

More than 30 parliamentarians, spearheaded by @philbrickellmp.bsky.social & @lisasmartmp.bsky.social, have so far signed our letter to the PM.

Reform UK gets record £9m donation from ex-Tory donor The £9m handed to Reform UK is the political donation on record from a living person, after Lord Sainsbury left £10m to the Conservative in his will in 2023.

Ahh another true patriot, resident overseas of course!
news.sky.com/story/reform...

Ex Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis defects to Reform UK Jonathan Gullis, a former education minister, lost his Stoke-on-Trent North seat in 2024.

Not sure this defection is one to be bragging about...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tactical voting was pretty decisive in 2024 so there's no reason it can't be again!

Still enough for a sizeable parliamentary majority under FPTP!

Politicians urge Labour to restore Electoral Commission independence All-party group say move is needed to stop UK lagging behind global standards on election integrity

When something is so obviously, so easily, the right thing to do.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Stone Roses bassist Gary 'Mani' Mounfield dies aged 63 Mani's brother, Greg, announced the death of the father-of-two on Facebook.

A true icon.
news.sky.com/story/the-st...

Kidlington fly-tipping: Drone footage shows scale of 'revolting' 60m-long mountain of waste next to river The cost of removing the waste is estimated to be more than the entire annual budget of the local council, which is around £25m.

How does it even get to this? Years of cuts, years of decline, years of absent enforcement.
news.sky.com/story/kidlin...

How times change. This practice is just a given these days.

The first step towards saving our precious BBC: remove Robbie Gibb from the board | Ed Davey The BBC belongs to all of us, and it is under attack as never before. The government must defend it from its enemies, within and without, says Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey

Such a no-brainer to do this and have a clear out after years of political manipulation and stuffing political allies into the BBC top jobs. But the risk is that it might just look like more of the same. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov

🔴The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the ‘Right-Wing Coup’ Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction

By attempting to appease the forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues @adambienkov.bsky.social

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...

New Bill seeks to strengthen accountability of Members and tackle election misinformation The Welsh Government has introduced a new Bill aiming to strengthen democratic accountability by reforming how Members of the Senedd are held to account and tackling misinformation in election campaig...

A recall mechanism soon coming to the Senedd. Alongside the Scottish equivalent, this would bring the Welsh and Scottish parliaments somewhat in line with the House of Commons since the Recall of MPs Act 2015.
research.senedd.wales/research-art...

Here we go again, sigh. Reform UK calls, the broadcasters flock.

Keir Starmer's Election Reforms Will Leave UK Politics Exposed to Dark Money and Foreign Interference, Warns Labour MP The party's former Shadow Democracy Minister said the Government was failing to take the bold steps required to eliminate foreign interference in our elections

Completely fair comments from Cat Smith MP here. So much more is needed and could be done to safeguard electoral law. There's also nothing stopping future Governments from manipulating the Electoral Commission for its own gain.
bylinetimes.com/2025/10/31/k...

Workers' rights bill set for parliamentary 'ping pong' Defiant peers in the House of Lords have maintained their stand-off with the government over proposed reforms.

House of Lords continuing to push back on the Employment Rights Bill. Salisbury Convention anyone..?
news.sky.com/story/worker...

When the depressing state of UK political journalism and the wonderful film that is Dead Man's Shoes merge to create the perfect meme.

Usual caveats but what an absurd situation with First Past the Post.

A regular reminder that the right to free speech is not the right to demand to be heard. Yet so many of the UK's most powerful still clearly merge the two and pander to extremist views.

Politics latest: Minister blames Tories as Home Office found to be 'incompetent' and 'chaotic' A parliamentary report has sharply criticised the Home Office's management of the asylum system that has led to "billions" of pounds being wasted.

When both things can be true at the same time... news.sky.com/story/politi...

New Brighton 10km race this morning. Tough slog that.

Even current law students struggle to grasp the difference. It's so difficult to shake off the gross simplifications and misunderstandings being spread amongst the media, politicians and other commentators.

Screenshot of an Express article; it says: Robert Jenrick lists 30 'activist judges' he vows to axe in war on UK's open border In a bold move, Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a controversial plan targeting what he calls 'activist' judges, at the Conservative Party conference.

I say this with the bluntness it requires: they will get people murdered if this continues. This is not just populism anymore either: it’s completely unhinged and a deliberate choice that does endanger lives. I am not saying this lightly at all.

Events: Call for Papers – The Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 May 2026, University of Manchester, United Kingdom The public law team at the University of Manchester Law Department, in collaboration with the UK Constitutional Law A…

Interesting and timely conference for UK constitutional law folk - ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/03/e...

Water bills: millions of households in England could face even bigger rises CMA poised to give verdict after appeal by five firms for permission to increase bills higher than allowed by Ofwat

Of all the failures and disasters of privatisation of basic state infrastructure and essential services over the decades, this has to be right up there with the railways.
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...

Merseyrail claiming a "Good Service" on the Chester and Ellesmere Port lines. That's an absolute fib. An afternoon of chaos. @merseytravel.bsky.social

Firm linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone breached £122m PPE contract, judge rules A company linked to Tory peer Baroness Michelle Mone breached a government contract of nearly £122m to supply surgical gowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the High Court has ruled.

This so obviously had a stink to it from the very start, all those years ago...
news.sky.com/story/firm-l...

This should really be a given, especially for a Government pledging to clean up politics and remedy some of the worst behaviour of the past Governments. It's also one of those things that isn't necessarily a problem today, but it certainly could be under a future authoritarian Government.

Morning madness. Sisters reunited.