The real threat to democracy doesn't come from 'family voting'. It comes from the losing side refusing go accept they've lost

It's always someone else's fault! Doesn't that sound like the right wing? It comes right out of the Trump playbook.

Look at yourselves Reform.

Naz Shah MP on Gorton and Denton Claims: ‘How Do Supposedly “Sectarian Muslims” End Up Voting for a Radically Progressive Party with a Gay Jewish Leader?’ The Labour MP told Byline Times that, from her experience of 'clan-based politics', it was not present in the Manchester by-election as Reform UK claims

🔴 Naz Shah MP on Gorton & Denton Claims: 'How Do Supposedly Sectarian Muslims End Up Voting for a Radically Progressive Party with a Gay Jewish Leader?'

The MP for Bradford West told Byline Times: "I know what clan-based politics looks like, I have a history of fighting it, this isn't what this is"

Reform Attacks Byline Times For ‘Attempting to Derail a Democratic Election’ – Before Blaming ‘Family Voting’ and ‘Muslim Sectarianism’ for Gorton and Denton Defeat Having imported its own ideas for a DOGE and ICE from the US, Farage’s party now appears to be copying the Trumpian tactics of alleging vote-rigging in elections

🔴 Reform Attacks Byline Times For 'Attempting to Derail a Democratic Election' – Before Blaming "Family Voting" and "Muslim Sectarianism" for Gorton and Denton Defeat

After DOGE and ICE, Nigel Farage's party now appears to be copying the Trumpian tactics of alleging vote-rigging in elections

One senior figure defended Goodwin’s selection, saying “we wanted to galvanise the working class vote and we got that, so it was reasonable to run a right-wing candidate”. “We came second, not third, which was a definite win. It will also focus minds that the next election may be Reform vs the Greens — that’s very helpful.”

Well, perhaps not a *definite* win.

France’s Engie strikes deal to buy UK Power Networks for £10.5bn French utility to acquire owner of electricity cables and power lines across London, south-east and east of England

France’s Engie to buy UK Power Networks for £10.5bn.

Much of UK infrastructure is foreign owned - water, energy, ports, airports, mail, vets, hospitals, care homes, mines, shipbuilding.

Rip-off practices follow. Govts have fewer economic levers.

City prefers speculation to investment.

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

'We're not going to take it any longer': Trump confirms US strikes on Iran Donald Trump has confirmed that the US has launched "major combat operations" against Iran in an eight-minute video on Truth Social. He said Tehran's "menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world". "For 47 years," Trump adds, "the Iranian regime has chanted 'Death to America' and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed." He references the US embassy crisis from 1979 and 1981, where 66 hostages were held for 444 days. "It's been mass terror, and we're not going to take it any longer. We'll bring you more of his words as we get them.

Sooner or later Trump’s going to stop boasting about all the wars he's ended and start boasting about all the wars he's started instead.

Trump had no choice but to act. The Iranians were just weeks away from obtaining the missing Epstein files.

Harrods faces legal action over £1-a-head dining charge not going to staff Case brought by 29 workers and backed by UVW union seen as test case that could lead to changes at other restaurants

Harrods facing legal action over its £1-a-head cover charge to diners’ bills that does not go to workers.

Law requires that all tips and service charges go to staff.

Qatar-owned Harrods hands the 12.5% optional service charge to workers but not the compulsory £1-a-head cover charge.

Britain was, and always will be, a European country. Our prosperity, security, and influence depend on recognising that fact. Dr Al Pinkerton MP, Surrey Heath.

The geography of the continent has not changed since 2016 - Europe still remains our closest and largest trading partner, and our policies should reflect that. There's no need to look across the globe for trade deals when the largest free market in the world is at our doorstep.

The attack on Iran will not liberate its brutally-oppressed people, but make matters worse. It could be a trigger for major conflagration.

US and Israeli strikes on Iran are hugely dangerous: irresponsible, provocative and illegal. Starmer must call out these so-called ‘allies’ - who are acting as rogue states - and use all UK levers to uphold international law.

Plans to make refugee a status of perpetual limbo will do nothing to stop people who need help seeking it nor make it possible for them to rebuild their lives and contribute. I call for humane and effective asylum reforms because I am true Labour, not blue Labour. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The fake-plumber thing was so carefully planned, we used a time machine to alter Guardian articles.

Matthew Goodwin pledges to run in the 2029 general election. While Manchester is "in his blood" - reflecting a focus on prioritising ancestry over birthplace - he is more likely to stand in the East Midlands or south of England than to choose a Manchester constituency again

Trump orders US agencies to stop use of Anthropic technology amid dispute over ethics of AI Hours after exclusion of Anthropic, OpenAI announces fresh Pentagon deal, but says it will maintain same safety guardrails at the heart of the dispute

This is critically important for our future. The struggle over ethical parameters for AI use will determine whether authoritarian states can enact mass surveillance of their populations at granular level and allow machines to decide to kill people.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

"At home, a lot of girls dress the same way. It's boring. I pretty much dress like this all the time. People always get a shock when I turn up to their door to fix something. I work with lots of fortysomething men and they probably just think I'm a bit weird."

Trope doing rounds in Reform circles that Hannah Spencer is a "fake plumber" because those people can't imagine that a Green politician might be anything other than the sum of their horrid prejudices.

If it were a lie she'd have been playing the longest of long games... because here she is in 2013.

There is always a tweet.

Trump says US carrying out 'major combat operations' in Iran an hour ago We have now hear from U.S. President Donald Trump. In a video posted on social media, he said: "A short time ago the U.S. military began major combat operations in Iran." "Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime." Iran "can never have a nuclear weapon." "We sought repeatedly to make a deal." Iran "attempted to rebuild their nuclear programme." Iran is developing long range missiles that threaten the U.S. and others." "We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground." "We’re going to annihilate their navy." "We will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon."

I must have missed the bit where Congress authorised this

Dear Matt Goodwin, why are you such a bad loser? The Reform candidate in Gorton and Denton tried to blame "woke" ideology and "Islamism" for his by-election defeat. Might it be that actually, he and his politics are just not very appealing? ZOE GRÜNEWALD

Perhaps the deeper problem is that Goodwin and his allies simply do not understand this country. That may not be surprising. They claim to speak for ordinary people while observing them from a distance, through the distorting lens of X, a social media ecosystem that rewards outrage and strips away civility and accountability. They tour Hungary and the US in search of ideological inspiration, nod approvingly at Viktor Orbán's pronatalist experiments and Trump's ICE deployment, and circulate among the uber-wealthy and uber-aggrieved. Their "outsider" insurgency looks, on inspection, rather establishment: privately educated, well-connected, and perpetually resentful. The irony is hard to miss. A party styling itself as the revolt of the "silent majority" was beaten by a candidate speaking plainly about work, public services and the cost of living. For all his accumulated titles and platforms, Goodwin scraped second - and responded not with reflection, but with sour grapes. Blaming "Islamists" is easier on a man's ego, I suppose, than taking a long, searching look in the mirror.

“Gorton and Denton…. was a stress test for grievance politics, and grievance cracked first. Reform’s instinct when challenged is not to persuade but to tantrum; not to build trust but to erode it. That’s the playbook. Win, or cry foul”
@zoegrunewald.bsky.social
www.thenewworld.co.uk/zoe-grunewal...

John Curtice is now reporting that this is the Conservative's worst performance in a by-election in the party's history...

Even more pathetic than expected...

Trump style.

Note the insistence that Goodwin, who was absolutely rejected by voters in Gorton and Denton tonight, was a "great candidate"

“It’s high time Labour stopped courting right wing voters who are never going to back them, and focus on delivering for the progressive majority.

"The Greens have broken through not because the system helped them, but despite it working against them at every turn."

Greens win Gorton & Denton By-election! Change Minds → Change Politics

@pimlicat.bsky.social: “When a party loses the trust of thousands of its own voters in its heartlands, that’s not an aberration but a stark warning."

www.bestforbritain.org/greens_win_g...

⬇️

‘People can’t be arsed’: Can the Royal Family be fixed? | The News Agents Are British people done with the Royals? New polling suggests so. Can the public be brought back on side?

"The Royal Family is anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, and it makes Britain look pretty antiquated," says Lewis Goodall.

Should the monarchy be reformed, abolished or are people simply "not arsed" about it any more?

www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/peop...

Statement from Matt Goodwin, UK candidate: Reform "Given the reports we are reading in UK media about family voting and sectarianism, I am deeply concerned about the extent to which the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election is a free, fair, and democratic election." 11:21 pm . 26 Feb 26. 286K Views

Not just a loser.

But a bad loser.

Gorton and Denton by-election result: GRN: 40.7% (+27.5) REF: 28.7% (+14.7) LAB: 25.4% (-25.3) CON: 1.9% (-6.0) LDEM: 1.8% (-2.1) Green GAIN from Labour.

Expect weeks of "family voting" rhetoric from Reform. They're out of the gates on it already.

It mustn't be allowed to wash because look at the scale of that win.

Tactical voting has obviously played a massive part.

Gorton and Denton rejected Reform and its hateful agenda.

LOL