Mikkiangelo

Me with a few hundred copies of The Decade In Tory

3 years ago today, I signed 3000 copies of my first book.

I'd been a bored software guy for 32 years, and never dreamed something like this would happen.

I owe so much to @johnmitchinson.bsky.social for taking a chance on me, and to all my followers for turning The Week In Tory into a phenomenon.

'Are you really the doctor?': The realities of life as a Black GP in the NHS

The forces holding back ethnic minority doctors are the same as those stifling the patients we see in front of us, says Matt Hutchinson.

Russia and the rise of the radical right Marine Le Pen meets with Putin before the 2017 French Presidential election (Photo credit Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP via Getty Images)

New post just out:

The relationship between Russia and the European radical right goes well beyond Reform's Nathan Gill being bribed.

In this post I trace the history back to the 1990s and look at the threat it poses now.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...

Are Labour really going to try and tie current economic damage (and hence the need for further tax rises) to Farage and to Brexit, whilst at the same time insisting that persevering with Brexit is the right thing to do?

That feels like gaslighting of the very highest order.

Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Has Accepted £2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election Reform UK has received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations...

Every day is a good day to point out that 92% of Reform's donations were found to come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry. @desmog.com

BBC asking Bridget Phillipson at length about rising antisemitism in the UK (which actually fell last year according to new figures, albeit still very high) but not at all about rising Islamophobia, which is up by 19% year-on-year

How deference becomes client journalism in plain sight We have come through a period of often shameful journalism, bending the knee to Downing Street. Can our journalism recover?

Boris Johnson broke the news model – smirking as he lied on camera, knowing no journalist would dare call him out.

The joke was on us.

Peter Thurlow reports

BREAKING: Gaza journalist Saleh Al-Jafarawi missing, feared killed by Israel-aligned group Well-known Palestinian journalist Saleh Al-Jafarawi has been abducted and, according to reports, shot dead by an Israel-aligned Gaza clan

BREAKING: Gaza journalist Saleh Al-Jafarawi missing, feared killed by Israel-aligned group

Well-known Palestinian journalist Saleh Al-Jafarawi has been abducted and, according to reports, shot dead by an Israel-aligned Gaza clan
www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/20...

We have been betrayed by broken promises, deceit and scandal EXCLUSIVE: One of the first journalists to be given access to the book which has been sending shockwaves along Downing Street and making headlines on Fleet Street, Inside Croydon columnist ANDREW F…

insidecroydon.com/2025/10/12/w...

Man charged with stalking after allegedly targeting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and his family A man has been charged with stalking and possession of a flick knife after allegedly targeting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and his family.

news.sky.com/story/man-ch...

The incredible life of London’s first black mayor over 100 years ago He was the first black person to hold a senior public office in London

www.mylondon.news/news/nostalg...

Paul Holden: why I’ve given exclusive extracts of The Fraud to the Canary and Inside Croydon The Fraud shows the targeting of both Inside Croydon and the Canary are genuinely shocking, Paul Holden says in an exclusive column

www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025...

Boycotting Israel has gone mainstream: ‘We’ve never seen such traction before’ After decades of being dismissed as fringe, the boycott call has been taken up by leading figures across arts, sports and politics

Boycotting Israel has gone mainstream: ‘We’ve never seen such traction before’ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Far-right fascist protesters are 'fake crusaders' cosplaying people who care about women and children Far right fascist protesters don't actually care about women and girls - but are playing up their faux outrage to justify their racism.

www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025...

Donald Trump and Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to chair Gaza peace summit on Monday Meeting will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh and include leaders of the UK, Italy, Spain and France

Donald Trump and Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to chair Gaza peace summit on Monday www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

BREAKING: Diane Keaton dies at 79, according to a report. The actress was best known for her roles in 'Father of the Bride,' 'First Wives Club' and 'Annie Hall.' bit.ly/4o9TDbS

Clive Lewis MP: ‘I Never Thought I’d Hear Myself Say I Think My Party is Making this Country Weaker in Preparation for an Authoritarian-Right Government’ Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu speak to the backbench Labour MP to understand why the Government is focusing on how to ‘stop the boats' rather than fixing people's everyday lives

open.substack.com/pub/bylinesu...

To this day, I have never disagreed with anything Clive has said - on any subject.
(@francesca0912.bsky.social)

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds Reform UK’s oil industry interests are a major turn-off for voters, new research reveals. The think tank Persuasion UK tested five anti-Reform messages on 6,000 adults. According to the research, “by ...

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds

Voters recoil at Farage’s fossil fuel funding.
Via @desmog.com @writesbright.bsky.social

Former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins dead after prison attack

Former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has died after being attacked in Wakefield prison while serving a 29-year sentence for child sex offences, sources have confirmed

#CaturdaySaturday with little Franz:

Not all heroes wear capes.

Did you try Majir Tom instead?

The Employment Rights Bill is promising. What could let it down?

The Employment Rights Bill will improve workers' rights for millions, but will vulnerable groups be excluded from protections?

This is written like it was just fortuitous that this particular judge was assigned to the Coskun case co-sponsored by Toby's FSU.... Like the judgment was solely at the judge's discretion.

No, the judgment was rooted in English Law with a heavy nod to the ECHR.

Strange, Toby doesn't mention ECHR

1️⃣So while politicians from all over the world patt themselves on the back now, lets not for a moment forget that the majority of politicians said this, not just these four.
(World leaders, journalists, politicians etc)
Some later changed their minds thankfully. Others went silent, sort of

🚨 @zackpolanski.bsky.social: The Green Party is the "most favourable party in London" 💚

This is just the beginning. 📈

UN preparing to scale up aid deliveries to Gaza from Sunday <article data-history-node-id="429983" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/un-preparing-scale-aid-deliveries-gaza-sunday" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/un-preparing-scale-aid-deliveries-gaza-sunday" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">UN preparing to scale up aid deliveries to Gaza from Sunday</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>A UN official told the New York Times that Israel has green lit the scaling up of aid deliveries to Gaza starting on Sunday.</p> <p>The ceasefire agreement struck by Hamas and Israel stipulates an increase in aid deliveries into the Strip, as well as the opening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, although questions remain around how the aid will be distributed and which agencies will be permitted to do it.</p> <p>The UN said that some&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-calls-trumps-plan-window-opportunity-aid-and-hostage-release" target="_blank">170,000 metric tons of food,&nbsp;</a>shelter and medicine is being held in warehouses outside Gaza and that aid workers are "ready and eager to act".</p> <p>As part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump's 21-point plan, Gaza's crossings will fully reopen on Monday, allowing the entry of 400 aid trucks daily, expected to rise to 600 in the following days.</p> <p>UN spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric said it was engaged in negotiations with Israel to determine the amount of aid and frequency of deliveries, as well as the opening of more crossings.</p> <p>“What has changed dramatically yesterday to today is the fact that the guns appear to have been silenced,” Dujjaric said. “It’s safer for our people to operate".</p> <p>The UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa) said they had enough supplies in its warehouses to fill 6000 trucks and that their teams stand ready to initiate distribution of life saving aid in the Strip.</p> <p>Sam Rose, Unrwa’s director of affairs in Gaza, told Middle East Eye that questions remain around the agency's ability to deliver the aid due to an ongoing Israeli ban on its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.</p> <p>While the current ban does not apply to Unrwa’s activities within Gaza, the “no-contact” policy bars their trucks from entering the enclave.</p> <p>Rose said the agency is preparing to get other organisations to bring their supplies into the strip.</p> <p>“What we’re advocating for is that Unrwa be allowed to distribute those supplies once they get to Gaza,” he told MEE. “The legislation says nothing about Unrwa’s activities inside the territory.”</p> <p>Rose emphasised the centrality of Unrwa expertise to securing an effective large-scale distribution of aid in Gaza.</p> <p>“We've got enough food to feed everyone for between two and three months, and the population is starving. We've got shelter items for hundreds of thousands of people, blankets for over a million people.”</p> <p>Unlike other NGOs, Unrwa’s long history of working in Gaza means it has secured the networks and community’s trust to coordinate fast and effective aid distribution, he added.</p> <p>“We have an ability. We're making everyone's lives much more difficult inside of Gaza if Unrwa is not permitted to be part of aid distribution,” Rose said.</p> </div> </div> </article>

UN preparing to scale up aid deliveries to Gaza from Sunday - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/un-preparing-scale-aid-deliveries-gaza-sunday

This is a major shift in Labour comms. It seems Brexit will be blamed for the budget.
But naming the issue is not enough. They now need to name the solution or be left behind parties that will.

In 30years I have never been this upset with the words coming out of Government

This includes a plethora of Tory Health Secretaries

I am not part of BMA leadership

I am just a GP who gives up his time freely to advocate for patients, the NHS & make sure the facts are correct

The UK’s failing fiscal framework is a Brexit tribute act The path and peak of policy uncertainty over the past year eerily mimics sentiment at the time of the 2016 referendum

This from Andy Haldane gets some basic stuff wrong, notably this:

"A £30bn will need to be filled in this year’s Budget,e ven though a stalled economy needs a 1% of GDP fiscal tightening like a hole in the head."

Just wrong. Not how the fiscal framework works at all.

www.ft.com/content/1c4d...