Grumpy Says

a century of glaciers melting 🧪🌐

Partly because so many formerly leftwing parties have turned to the right, there's a lot of confusion about what right and left mean in politics. I hope this helps:

The right defends economic power.

The left resists economic power.

The UK Must Urgently Distance Itself From Elon Musk and Space X, Warns Parliamentary Report

The UK's infrastructure has become far too reliant on the far-right billionaire, who could 'politicise' our reliance upon his companies, the report warns

The UK Must Urgently Distance Itself From Elon Musk and Space X, Warns Parliamentary Report The UK's infrastructure has become far too reliant on the far-right billionaire, who could 'politicise' our reliance upon his companies, the report warns

🔴The UK Must Urgently Distance Itself From Elon Musk and Space X, Warns Parliamentary Report

The UK’s infrastructure has become far too reliant on the far-right billionaire, who could ‘politicise’ our reliance upon his companies, the report warns

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/04/t...

Sanctioned six times by the Kremlin, banned from both Reform and Conservative Party Conferences… what better time to support @bylinetimes.bsky.social by subscribing to our monthly newspaper

👉 subscribe.bylinetimes.com/editions/

Starmer was briefed on Mandelson’s Epstein links before appointing him, say civil servants PM had been given ‘summary of reputational risks’ but did not know about contents of emails before PMQs, MPs told

Starmer was briefed on Mandelson’s Epstein links before appointing him US ambassador.

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor stripped of privileges, but Mandelson's Labour whip not withdrawn.

Starmer withdrew whip from 7 MPs for opposing two-child benefit cap.

What is Mandelson's hold over Starmer?

Right now, Russian ammunition depot in Dovzhansk, Luhansk region, under drone attack.

Hey friends down in VA -- if you care about science, Democracy, or the livability of our planet, please turn out tomorrow and vote for @abigailspanberger.com and the Democrats

Ofwat letting water firms charge twice to tackle sewage, court to hear River Action bringing legal action against water regulator over who should foot bill for firms’ past failures to invest

Ofwat letting England water firms charge twice to tackle sewage, court to hear

Companies billed people for sewage disposal, used cash to pay dividends and exec bonuses, dumped sewage in rivers.

Now charging again to fund promised investment, not raising capital from shareholders. Customers fleeced

Alex Gerko earned £682mn from trading firm XTX in 2024 Profits split between company’s quantitative traders rose more than 70% from a year earlier

City speculator Alex Gerko earned £682mn from trading firm XTX.

£1.28bn shared by 30 people.

Mathematical models used to place bets in securities, $250bn every day.

Speculation doesn't produce goods/services, productivity. Increases wealth of some.
archive.ph/4Lulk

Exclusive: Rachel Reeves Insists She Will Not Put Up Income Tax, VAT Or National Insurance Chancellor tells HuffPost UK: "We will stick with those manifesto commitments."

Before Rachel Reeves' big speech in a few minutes, a reminder of what she told HuffPost UK in April

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/exclus...

Chancellor Rachel Reeves to set out priorities in pre-Budget speech - live updates The chancellor is set to pledge the upcoming Budget will focus on

Looking forward to hearing why hard pressed working people will have to pay more tax, when the 50 UK families who collectively own £2/3 TRILLION - equal to half the population - remained untouched

Dead chancellor walking - dead government walking

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw...

'Nigel Farage is Not My Friend...He's Just a Very Handsome Man' The wife of a Russian spy gets in touch...

NEW: ‘Nigel Farage is not my friend…he’s just a handsome & stylish English gentleman’

The wife of the Russian agent who Nathan Gill has admitted to accepting bribes from says Nigel Farage is not her ‘good friend’ after saying that he was her ‘good friend’
1/

open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

YouTube video by The Rest Is Politics: Leading The Man to Blame For Brexit? | Michael Gove

It's very brief and you could miss it after 1.5 hours (maybe Alastair and Rory did miss it), but at 1:30:00, Michael Gove admits that he and Vote Leave did not spell out the trade-offs involved in leaving the EU.

You don't say.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwrm...

Good to see Victoria Derbyshire on #Newsnight cutting through his patronising blustering bollocks, but he keeps going with his plan to cut benefits to taxpayers who aren't British citizens and deporting others.

Victims robbed of £4bn in ‘insulting’ car loan redress scheme, say claims firms Financial Conduct Authority defends interest rate of 2.09% as critics describe proposals as ‘hypocritical’

Victims robbed of £4bn in ‘insulting’ car loan redress scheme.

No one forced banks to sell dud products, they don't want to pay. Govt/Regulators line-up with banks.

Execs got bonuses, won't bear any cost, bank customers will.

Hurting victims is the norm - Post Office, Grenfell, mortgage prisoners

Picture of Stewart Lee and the text : Is the problem with modern politics that voters are stupid, or is it that no one pushes back against the populist sideshow acts that mislead them? And is it wrong to think the government should act? Stewart Lee on the lies told by right-wing populists

From Charlie Kirk to CCHQ, the right has realised they can lie and not be challenged. Why?

In this week’s column, Stewart Lee looks at the ways populists mislead modern voters

British.

If you agree the govt should not strip away our right to protest, add your name

You might not agree with every protest you see, but these anti-protest laws could stop you having your say on anything from disability rights, employment rights or even your local library shutting.

The government must stop this attack on protest now. --> act.gp/43pAgnt

An extraordinary realignment of British politics

If you want to see @TheGreenParty take on Reform - this is the moment

Join.greenparty.org.uk

This week's hotlist 🔥

From Lily Allen's new tell-all album to this year's exquisitely installed Turner Prize in Bradford

www.thenerve.news/p/the-nerve-...

John Sweeney: Reform, Russia & the result in Caerphilly The Nerve’s Reform correspondent went to Caerphilly on the eve of polling day to catch the mood of a bell-weather by-election: would Reform defeat Labour?

And here’s John’s full report on the Nerve:

www.thenerve.news/p/llyr-powel...

Watch this.

And follow @thenerve.news

Hunting for a Russian spy, Moscow gold and the Reform Candidate…

Watch our film folks.

War Diary Day 1,343
Kremxit?

A beginning of an ending for Vladimir Putin’s regime?

Russia is losing roubles and fresh meat.

And when that happened to the last Tsar, things did not go well for him.

You can read my 2,400 word take if you join my Patreons:

patreon.com/posts/kremxit-…

Screengrab of John Sweeney interviewing Plaid Cymru’s winning candidate, Lindsay Whittle

HOW TO BEAT NIGEL FARAGE, by @johnsweeneyroar.bsky.social & @plaidcymru.bsky.social Lindsay Whittle

A thread 🧵

Cities Vs. Climate Change: Global Exhibition In Paris Inspires Action From Paris to Belém: 10 Years of Global Climate Action—celebrates a decade of bold urban responses to climate change since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

NEW: “If we’re honest, we’ll admit that many cities still need to take their first steps toward more sustainable city-making. And every city needs to go much further & faster.” @forbes.com writer @carltonreid.com interviews me on our bold Paris Exhibition launched by Mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social.

Important piece by Brent—please check it out!

A Ukrainian strike drone armed with 82-mm mortar rounds kills four Russian infantrymen during a night operation in the Donetsk region.

Why the banking industry is not a paragon of free markets, efficiency, or honesty Despite making record profits and paying record returns to shareholders it resents paying taxes.

State support for UK banks

Bailouts: Govts found £1162bn (£133bn cash+£1,029bn guarantees) in 2008
£895bn QE
State is the lender of last resort
£85k bank deposit safety guarantee
PFI profits
£22bn a year interest on reserves deposited with Bank of England

Who else gets this level of state support?