David Head

The BBC is slowly but surely destroying Radio 4 as well. It’s the last bastion of intelligent debate in Britain, yet it’s increasingly becoming a vehicle for culture wars. When the history of the UK in this period is written, the BBC will have a lot to answer for when it comes to stirring division

It's not the most important thing about all of this, of course. But Gaza being less salient in three years time might be worth 15-20 seats to Labour.

Who's gonna say it first?
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SHOCK POLL: NIGEL FARAGE WILL BE PM TOMORROW IN an amazing poll conducted by The Pointless Polling Company, it was revealed that voters' intentions may well change over the next three and a half years and at present it's 100 percent impossible to guess what the next government might look like. However, 99 percent of journalists agree that it would be much more fun if we had an election tomorrow and everybody resigned and everything was chaos and Farage had a go at being PM, just for the hell of it, because it was so much fun when Brexit happened and then the government kept falling every five minutes and we could write endless pieces about (cont. p94)

Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.

I suppose it's times like these when Norwegians are jolly glad they have one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. #nobel

Oh this is not great

Who benefits from the abolition of stamp duty land tax?

The first answer: people buying very expensive homes. Average saving for someone buying a £10m+ home is £1.7m. Average saving for someone buying a £250k-£500k home is £5k.

If you rename the Department of Defense the Department of War, then bomb fishing boats in the Caribbean, and shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper bullet, you should automatically be barred from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for the rest of your life.

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The European Commission is going to investigate allegations that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government placed intelligence officers in Brussels to gather information on EU institutions and recruit an EU official.

I knew Fox News was theater. I just didn't realize it was a repertory theater that recycles actors for different roles.

You'd think a company that had to pay $787,000,000 for deceiving its viewers would be a little more careful about blatantly continuing the practice.

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

Pubs to stay open until early hours in push for UK growth Exclusive: Plans for England and Wales would help ailing hospitality sector but health experts criticise plans

Pubs open longer? Last time I heard, they were struggling for clientele, staff, and with energy costs. And plenty could already open late. So seems fine but one of those slightly overhyped all round announcements. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Should stamp duty be scrapped in the UK? Conservative party says property tax deters people from moving house and stifles productivity

Leunig, a former gov adviser, said scrapping it — while it would boost growth and productivity — would be “a very, very big tax cut for rich people”. One effect would be to boost house prices, making the main beneficiaries the existing owners of expensive properties in the south-east of England.

Fair enough. But spare a thought for A&E staff.

Transforming local government: what next in the East? Local government reorganisation in the East took a step forward in September, with nine proposals submitted to government. So what happens now? Local government reorganisation in the East took a step ...

Local government in the East is changing – with elected mayors next year & new unitary councils by 2028.

Nine different proposals are now on the table.

What happens next?

Absolutely disgracefully biassed intro of #bbcqt (Questiontime) by Fiona Bruce: alone of all the panellists, she singled out a controversial policy of Zack Polanski / the Green Party for comment in her intro remarks. #BbcQT is systematically biassed in favour of the Right, and against the Greens.

‘First phase’ of ceasefire deal to end war in Gaza agreed by Israel and Hamas Donald Trump announces that all hostages will be released ‘very soon’ and Israel will withdraw troops to an agreed upon line

Any reduction of violence must be a good thing. But more layers of bitterness have been added to an Israel / Palestine story already overflowing with tears. We hope for long-term peace but fear this will just be a pause before more conflict. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Conservatives Accused of ‘Trumpian’ Tactics After Barring Second Byline Times Journalist From Conference The National Union of Journalists described the bans as a threat to media freedom which "undermines the Conservative Party leader’s repeated pledge to fight for free speech"

The National Union of Journalists condemns the Conservative Party's decision to ban myself and David Hencke from their conference as a threat to media freedom which "undermines the Conservative Party leader’s repeated pledge to fight for free speech"
bylinetimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Mark Bray teaches the history of antifascism at Rutgers U. He is trying to leave the US with his family bc of death threats they are receiving since Charlie Kirk’s outfit called him an antifa terrorist. Situation sounds crazy. Bookmarking this until I hear they have successfully left the US.

China unveils sweeping rare-earth export controls to protect ‘national security’ The rules come ahead of an expected meeting this month between US President Trump and Xi of China

China would like to remind the US and perhaps EU that their power over global trade is rather less than they think. That actions to restrict imports may have consequences.

www.ft.com/content/c4b2...

I suspect this is Trump's way of consoling Texas for not having made it this far north in the Civil War.

I myself find that the principle that no TV programme with "celebrity" in the title is worth watching is rather life-affirming.

Is there a better indication of how superficial and unhelpful mainstream media has become than that they are cutely musing about whether the domestic terrorist who changed "The Department of Defense" to "The Department of War" will get a Nobel Peace Prize—instead of reporting the fascism/terrorism.

Sod 'the next generation'. Get a move on. I'm 60 & want back the European identity & citizenship that were stolen from me agst my will before I'm dead or decrepit.

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Britain can’t compete alone against the scale of China, America, and India. The economics and the next generation will take us back to Europe 🇪🇺

‘Brexit is a tragedy and it will be reversed.’ 💥

#Heseltine is the best political communicator by a long way.

His emphatic call for rejoining the EU cuts through the noise, grounded in truth, while the counterarguments cling to a dwindling minority of Brexit believers.

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Pay less attention to Trump's brainmush press statements and more attention to who is guiding the operations of DHS units on the ground