Charles Ellis

"This is not right"

Not to mention overlooking 50% of the nation's human potential.

Trump can only see a woman through one lens. Think keyhole peep-show.

Starmer told to accept Trump 'free speech' agenda to win trade deal 'Good chance of agreement, says JD Vance - but sources say his concerns over Britain's hate speech laws 'are still a red line' David Maddox Political Editor • Tuesday 15 April 2025 20:27 BST

"No free speech, no deal. It is as simple as that," the source close to the vice-president said. It is understood that Britain has already offered to drop its proposed digital services tax as a means of getting a trade deal through. But the US wants to see laws on hate speech repealed as well as plans for a new online safety law dropped.

“Take back control of our laws” so American fascists can decide them for us…
I don’t think so.
Just imagine if the EU demanded this of us.
Intolerable for it to even be on the table.
Intolerable to be at this table at all, frankly.
Another Brexit humiliation.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Sounds like a Brexit thing to me.

Sir, Fraser Nelson is right that Britain should resist retaliation against Donald Trump's tariffs ("This is our chance to be free-trade champions", , Apr 5). However, the answer is not a return to Cobdenite free trade. As a medium-sized and open economy, the UK requires a trade system rooted in law. Without rules, we are exposed to arbitrary power.

Mr Trump's tariffs are not economic mistakes. Their use as political leverage is, as Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, made clear, a strategy. The UK's 10 per cent rate isn't a win. We are being tested. The price of a better deal? Perhaps changes to digital regulation, commercial access to the NHS, or even alignment with US geopolitical preferences. What's certain is that transactionalism has replaced trust. To call this a triumph of diplomacy is to misread the moment. This is a structural assault on the international order. The real task is not retaliation but the preservation of a rules-based system in which the UK has influence. The World Trade Organisation remains flawed, but essential. And Europe, not Washington, is now our closest ally. Richard A Edwards Senior law lecturer, Exeter University

“What's certain is that transactionalism has replaced trust….
And Europe, not Washington, is now our closest ally.”

Good letter in The Times. A paper which has done so much to claim the opposite.

Boris Johnson has used his Daily Mail platform to slag off “Adolescence” and compare Starmer to Pol Pot.
This is a politician, a paper and a headline that sum up the debasement of our politics and the toxic level of ‘debate’ it encourages. Grotesque that he gets airtime to insult us all like this.

The way Trump spoke to Zelensky and Vance badmouthed the UK, Denmark & Europe, Leavitt’s crassness about France, Hegseth’s vile europhobia, Musk’s disdain for our democracy, MTG’s unspeakable foulness to the British journalist…
This US regime reeks of bigotry and diplomatic incontinence. Pure trash.

Brexterity Britain - no way out? Without confronting the impairment of Brexit and austerity directly, the Government risks sinking into the same quicksand that swallowed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“When context changes, and US deserting Europe is one such context, you have an opportunity to make the case for changes that otherwise would be off the table”

Brexit and austerity? Or neither? That’s the choice.
It shouldn’t be this difficult to make it.
anthonypainter.substack.com/p/brexterity...

Petition: Review traditional and social media regulation Review media regulation, including social media, to consider the introduction of stricter regulations to ensure truthful reporting, accountability and integrity across all platforms, including newspap...

I've not shared my petition for a few days.

Let's show it some love today and get many more signatures to support our call for significant updates to our media laws.

Higher accountability. Tackle disinformation. Honest and fair media helps us all and strengthens our democracy.

Next time Starmer and Reeves say there's too much regulation, remember this.
This is what a deregulated economy looks like, and we all pay for it, with our health, our ecosystems and, eventually - when the massive clean-up / land abandonment bill can no longer be avoided - our wallets.

So rude. So undiplomatic. So ignorant. So unprofessional.

God America… How quickly you’re pissing away your reputation and your relationships. You may be loving this. But it makes you look really cheap and nasty. And very stupid.

Great thread.

Let’s go for it! Tell everyone you know to join @bsky.app and TOGETHER let’s send them packing

The upcoming budget appears to have cuts to Public Spending and to Benefits.

But there is loads of money available from getting rid of Brexit or taxing the rich instead.

RT if you want to tax the rich, and Like if you want to get rid of Brexit.

Petition: Review traditional and social media regulation Review media regulation, including social media, to consider the introduction of stricter regulations to ensure truthful reporting, accountability and integrity across all platforms, including newspap...

Let's get some momentum behind the media reform petition today!

Who can you get to sign it?

Where can it be shared to reach a wider audience?

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

Please give this a last push.

Fight Fascism. Say No to Putin, Musk, Trump, and their treasonous toady, Farage.

REJOIN EU protest

Outside Birmingham Arena. Friday, 28th March.

Please repost and share.

1. Trump and his Death Eaters cannot tolerate any rival power. Europe, when united, is a major trading and diplomatic bloc. They see Russia (much less of a threat to US hegemony) as an excellent instrument for breaking up Europe, by threat or by force.🧵

We might yearn for paradise, temporal or spiritual. But to our descendents our habitable planet will look like an almost unimaginable paradise. No tech fantasy, no space station or controlled environment will ever compare.
Fight for what we have. This is our heaven, and there can be no other.

Screenshot from "Letter from our correspondent" in "Papua New Guinea Courier"

The Papua New Guinea Courier is in rare form.

Geoffrey Mallett: As the instigators of partition in Palestine, the UK and the UN share a moral duty to protect the remaining Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank. This will necessitate opposing the Trump-Netanyahu alliance. In the past we have appeased the US in return for its military support for Nato, but Trump's actions demonstrate that he cannot be trusted even by longstanding allies of the US. We should not be coerced into betraying the Palestinians by any promises or threats he might make.

We know that appeasement is a high risk game. As well as being morally feeble.

Doing what’s right and standing up to the barrelling menace of the Trump/Musk presidency is the far better, wiser and ultimately, safer thing to do.

(Letter in The Times)

Imagine the position emerging with tariffs.
The FOTUS will subject the EU to tariffs, ignoring the UK because our trade is broadly balanced. The right wing will have agreed this already so that Reform can claim a legitimate Brexit benefit. It will probably be the first Brexit benefit of any kind.

text reads "The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, suffering, struggle, loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

We can each rise from this and become better people for it. 🙂

George Monbiot sums up the BBC perfectly.

Post from Dr Farbod showing a picture of someone painting grey paint over a wall of multicoloured words describing respect and diversity… such as FAIRNESS, COMPASSION, INTEGRITY… “This picture was taken at the FBI academy at Quantico two days ago. It's immediately iconic... but in a profoundly ominous way.”

Guardian article extract: Picture of asylum centre with Mickey Mouse cartoon on the wall… Headline: Robert Jenrick has cartoon murals painted over at children's asylum centre Paintings were considered too welcoming at Kent centre for lone children arriving in UK

Rubbing out humanity and hope….

When governments turn prejudice into policy, their countries fail…

YouTube video by Peter Stefanovic NO Nigel Farage - the vaccine rollout was not helped by Brexit

If UK news shows are going to give Nigel Farage a platform to spout this absolute boll**** about Brexit & the vaccine rollout (unchallenged) I’ll happily come back every week to correct it

We cannot allow them to rewrite history.

If you agree share this FACT CHECK widely
youtu.be/MUrf7addcTA?...

🔥 This is an absolutely devastating set of figures on the UK public's view of Brexit.

Absolutely damning. Look at each category one by one - particularly the economic ones. YouGov article on these data here. 👉 yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

Table of trade deal impacts, showing Brexit impact hugely outweighing all the trade deals the UK has done since.

Happy 5th anniversary of Brexit!

What a farce.

Led By Donkeys doing what it does so well 👇🏼👇🏼👌🏼

The tech barons are teaming up with the far right. We need to resist them with truth, creativity and humour. 100% of what we do is funded by small donors. Could you become one of them?

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