James von Simson

Shabana Mahmood threatens Trump-style visa ban on three countries Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will face Trump-style sanctions if they do not start taking back more illegal migrants and criminals

Somebody is briefing the Times that the Home Secretary finds inspiration in Kristi Noem's leading the Trump mass deportation effort - which has gone much too far for Americans

What a kamikaze piece of political madness that is on the eve of their asylum package
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Labour is a “godsend” for Farage says the far-right.

Just some British patriots in Benidorm, taking over a street in Spain to shout in their own language about unwanted foreigners. It’s a blessing that they are too thick to understand irony.

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Silicon Valley, 1990s: Free and open access to all the world’s knowledge will usher a new utopian age of information!

Silicon Valley, 2025:

lately i've been thinking about how LLMs must feel really amazing to use if you're a dumbass, but incredibly frustrating if you're just basically competent in life.

the extent to which journalists will circle the wagons around even members of the profession who have serially violated every professional ethical standard possible is astounding

look I don't believe in the antichrist but if you do believe in the antichrist this is pretty much in the zone of broadly antichristy behaviour

I cannot emphasize enough that increasing foreign investment in the US and shrinking US trade deficits are in direct, irreconcilable tension w/ one another.

*US TO LOWER TARIFF RATE ON SWISS GOODS TO 15%, GREER SAYS
*SWITZERLAND AGREED TO $200B INVESTMENT IN THE US, GREER SAYS

Seems like there's some diminishing returns kicking in here lads.

Increasingly likely that "all pain, no gain" will be the title of the post-mortem of this government.

Truly a battle of wits

Oracle hit hard in Wall Street’s tech sell-off over its huge AI bet Larry Ellison’s software company falls more than rivals over its borrowing and reliance on OpenAI contracts

"S&P Global warned that a third of Oracle’s revenues will be tied to a single customer by 2028, referring to its reliance on OpenAI... “That is a huge liability and credit risk for Oracle. Your main customer, biggest customer by far, is a venture capital-funded start-up""

on.ft.com/43wiTBk

He’s on a mission from God.

Was any of last nights briefing from Number 10 done with the public in mind? Hard to think of a more perfect example of why so many people are now thinking, whatever the risks we may as well roll the dice on Reform/the Greens/someone else because it’s perma chaos as it is.

Rachel Reeves signals she will break manifesto pledge with Budget tax rises Chancellor hopes to win support from Labour MPs by lifting two-child benefit cap

"Research released this month by economists at the Bank of England, the Bundesbank, King’s College London and the universities of Stanford and Nottingham underscored the economic hit from leaving the EU. Brexit had reduced UK GDP by 6-8%"

on.ft.com/4p1NoHv

From the diary of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, 1912

Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

1. Clampdown on benefit cheats!
2. Clampdown on benefit cheats doesn’t work.
3. Blitz on red tape!
4. Blitz on red tape doesn’t work.
5. Go to 1.

Currently we’re between 3 and 4. I’m confident we’ll be back at 1 by Christmas.

pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.

Meanwhile, if anyone thinks there are are many Reform voters who think "I have zero trust in Labour on immigration, the small boats are still arriving, but *this* latest gesture at hardline policy is the one that will make me look again" I have a bridge to sell you. So who is this policy for?

The politics of breaking manifesto promises The history of politicians who go back on their words has lessons for Rachel Reeves as she mulls raising taxes

“Nobody thought a Labour government would have to raise taxes by more than £70bn,” claims one insider in this excellent piece. Shows the problem of the climate of fear in meetings created by some of Starmer’s aides, in that plenty of Labour insiders, did, in fact, think this!

this is the craziest thing I've read in a long time???? Meta projected that 10% of its revenue last year, $16 billion, came from scams. Meta intentionally charges the scammers MORE and knows that people who click on scams are more likely to see more of them www.reuters.com/investigatio...

The UK Labour Party defines itself as a "democratic socialist" part in the first sentence of Clause IV. And has since the 1990s.

That's how woeful the BBC claiming it's a term with no definition is. Good grief.

Chris Mason: The justice system is failing and the buck stops with Lammy Problems in the prisons and the courts are not new but they are growing and the government doesn't have a grip on them.

On average, more than one prisoner a week has been wrongly released in the last ten years (data.justice.gov.uk/prisons/addi...) Strange how the buck stops with Lammy but not with any of his predecessors. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If Labour cranks up income taxes, the left will boo loudest Many seem to believe in the common good without shared sacrifice

Good stuff. Time for tax rises. www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Trump ally Infantino to award first Fifa Peace Prize at World Cup draw in DC Fifa unveils a new Peace Prize to be awarded at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, citing a mission to honor efforts to end conflict

Actually, although it's commonly known as 'The FIFA Peace Prize' its correct name is 'The Jewelled Rimmer Trophy'

Back in September he was in Kuala Lumpur presenting at a conference after a panel of beauty pageant contestants…

The men who raised the flags Nigel Farage says this summer’s movement was led by ‘ordinary people’ expressing their patriotism. That’s not what we found

It's not a grassroots working class movement.

"Wherever we looked for prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...