Dan Bedford Comte

Labour minister falsely linked journalists to ‘pro-Kremlin’ network in emails to GCHQ Exclusive: Josh Simons pressed intelligence officials to investigate reporters, in emails described as ‘McCarthyite smear’

Truly whacko behaviour from Josh Simons and Labour Together. Trying to get the intelligence services to investigate critical journalists! He's got to go www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

📖 Sharing that Peckham ranks among England’s top 10 constituencies for library use 🎒

Our libraries offer warm, safe spaces and brilliant programmes that bring people together.

With half term here, it’s a great time to visit your local library and explore everything on offer

Great work from the FT's John Burn-Murdoch www.ft.com/content/b474...

Thefts in England and Wales are much less common than they were in the 1990s Four small line charts showing estimated annual incidents from 1981 to 2025 from the Crime in England and Wales Survey (which interviews adults about their experiences of selected crimes in the 12 months before). Cover vehicle-related theft, domestic burglary, other household theft, and pickpocketing. Data source: Office for National Statistics (2025). Note: This data captures many incidents that were not reported to the police. The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.

People living in England and Wales are much less likely to be victims of theft than in the 1990s—

Several data sources show that theft in England and Wales has declined in recent decades.

One of those is police records — but they only capture reported crimes, and many people don’t report thefts.

"Electricity bill rises between 2021 and 2025 [were] £169 in real terms. Of this increase, £112 results from wholesale fuel (gas) prices (66%), a £28 increase was due to increased network costs (17%), and £22 from policy costs (13%)."

How The Simpsons Explain America's Political Realignment How the Democrats lost Homer Simpson but gained Mr Burns

I use @electionstudies.bsky.social data from 1972 to model how characters in The Simpsons would have voted in presidential elections

It turns out to be very revealing about how the demographic coalitions of the Democratic and Republican parties have completely rearranged themselves...

Imagine! How could wind and solar ever compete with fossil fuel electricity across an entire year, across an entire block of 450 million people!?😉

Even today, some things can be said with absolute certainty. These lines will never cross again. www.nathanielbullard.com/presentations

Here's how Aurora Energy Research sees the UK offshore wind auction (AR7) cutting bills for consumers "£1bn by 2035"

* CfD payments go up
* Other costs go up (balancing, capacity mkt)
* Wholesale prices go down
* Overall costs go down

www.linkedin.com/posts/ivan-b...

🧵A political/media guide to the "truth" about net-zero

1) Add up costs to install & run a net-zero energy system
2) Pretend fossil-fuelled alternatives wld be free
3) Do say "eco zealots are bankrupting us"
4) Don't say "free cars if we scrap net-zero" cos it sounds ridiculous
5) That's it!

1/10

Amazingly, Zahawi only got round to deleting the below after the press conference announcing his defection to Reform.

Happy 13th birthday to the most essential artwork of the current era, @kcg.bsky.social ‘s “This is fine,” to all those who celebrate.

Britain’s world: The strategy of security in twelve geopolitical maps – Council on Geostrategy James Rogers and Andrew Young offer this collection of visualisations that outline the United Kingdom’s global position and interests

Do you like maps? These are good maps.

www.geostrategy.org.uk/research/bri...

The best time to leave X was a year ago, the next best time is today.

Threatening to strip someone of their citizenship is no joke That this Labour government seems to find Alaa Abdel Fattah’s predicament a laughing matter is unconscionable

Excellent piece by @stephenkb.bsky.social. UK citizenship is a right for those who qualify, not a privilege. If you have it, you are entitled to the full protection of the British state - at home and abroad. What you believe and what you say are entirely irrelevant. Anything else is despotism.

Great article cutting through the noise and showing the progress we’re making in the transition. Particularly love the below chart showing just how rapidly renewables are becoming an integral part of our electricity generation.

Full article: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Enfield Dispatch #88: Gambling firms accused of 'preying' on borough's poorest

The first 2026 edition of Enfield Dispatch splashes on an Edmonton community group's claim that gambling firms are "preying" on the borough's most vulnerable residents by exploiting legal loopholes for adult gaming centres.

Another great story by local journalism student @finnlogue.bsky.social!

Cycling is changing at speed – but is Britain keeping pace? Emulating the bike-friendly highways enjoyed by our continental neighbours will take a lot more money and political will

Cycling in booming in London but fairly stagnant UK-wide. What’s going on? I spoke to some people who know about these sorts of things.

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/de...

“Enoch Powell says he wants to give me £1,000 to go back to where I came from. Which is great, because it’s only 20p on the bus from here to Dudley.” - Lenny Henry

Hydrogen’s role in a clean power economy » Green Alliance Green Alliance is an independent think tank and charity focused on ambitious leadership for the environment

Hydrogen gets plenty of hype as a zero emission fuel, but direct electrification is increasingly recognised as safer and more efficient wherever it’s an option.

Our new report explains where hydrogen does and doesn't makes sense, + the challenges around production, leakage, storage and transport.

Far down in Saloni's post, an example worthy of becoming a standard reference argument against extending the y-axis to zero (or showing full range)

Enfield Deprivation Recent government figures on deprivation highlight the exacerbating division of wealth in the London borough.

Deprivation in Enfield amongst highest in country

pa-training.shorthandstories.com/enfield-depr...

📢 The 2025 Budget special of Top of the Charts just dropped 📉

Keep scrolling for six charts that tell you what you need to know about this fiscal event 🧵

Whatever else this government do (and there's plenty of issues with this budget) ministers will always be able to point to this as an incredible important contribution to the country's future. Almost half a million kids taken out of poverty.

NEW! How should Labour respond to the two key issues to voters of the economy and immigration and what are the electoral stakes this week of the budget?

Read on for our answer...

@nprcoxford.bsky.social @jrf-uk.bsky.social

To give an idea of how damaging this change is, a typical dual fuel household will see their bill rise by £2.50 in January.
A household using an electric storage heater - already most at risk of fuel poverty - will see a £100 increase. That is deeply unfair and needs to be addressed

Getting Britain out of the hole A plan for the UK economy

New essay out today by me and @acjsissons.bsky.social - ‘Getting Britain out of the hole: a plan for the economy’. You can read the whole thing here getting-out-of-the-hole.uk

A chart mega-thread follows 🧵

NEW: The high cost of living is on the forefront of the public's mind. The government should launch 'a war on bills' - a multi-year policy campaign to bring costs down. There are no silver bullets, but there are lots of small things that the government can do to show that it's on people side. (1/4)

Cutting home insulation funding will imperil UK’s climate goals, Reeves told Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households Rachel Reeves has been told that cutting funding for home insulation at the budget would risk the UK’s climate goals and hurt low-income households in a joint intervention by energy firms, fuel poverty charities and environmental groups. In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies urged Reeves not to take such a damaging “short-term fix” to slash funding for more energy-efficient homes to pay for a reduction in energy bills. Continue reading...

Cutting home insulation funding will imperil UK’s climate goals, Reeves told

The BBC: quite a big deal.