Vongole

Reform UK, the Russian spy and rolls of Kremlin cash: the inside story of Nathan Gill How did a former Mormon bishop end up pleading guilty to taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia in the European parliament?

I knew Gill and Farage and the rest of the UKIP crew in the European Parliament

They were crooks and shysters to a man

They repeated Putin talking points and appeared on Russia Today

UKIP then and Reform now are both a threat to our democracy

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Hannan and Frost in the Telegraph.
Sunak in the Times.
Kwasi Kwarteng in the iPaper.
Johnson in the Mail.
Gove editing the Spectator.
Farage everywhere.
All of them shamelessly honking out their ‘Listen to me!’ garbage, as the country flails around in the unbelievable mess they’ve made.
Nauseating.

The men who raised the flags Nigel Farage says this summer’s movement was led by ‘ordinary people’ expressing their patriotism. That’s not what we found

"it is striking how many of the key players we have looked into — the people who have gone out of their way to put up hundreds of flags — seem anything but ordinary."

manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

A Brexiter writes...

Dominic Cummings Lobbied Officials to Hand 'Test and Trace' Contracts to Palantir After Secret Meeting With Peter Thiel Exclusive: Boris Johnson's senior advisor pushed for Covid contracts to be handed to companies run by Trump-supporting tech billionaires Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison

Dominic Cummings pushed for Covid tech contracts to be handed to a company run by a Trump-supporting billionaire after holding a secret meeting with him alongside Boris Johnson.

Officials were lobbied to ignore official procedures and bypass ministers in order to get the contracts signed

“The first step to fixing the Health Service, Thiel said, was to break the public away from the idea that it is “the most wonderful thing in the world”. “Highways create traffic jams, welfare creates poverty, schools make people dumb and the NHS makes people sick,” he added”

Thank you @Ruth

Log In Welcome to the National Trust 2025 voting website, hosted by independent voting service provider Civica Election Services.

If you're a member of the National Trust remember to vote for council members by midnight tonight.

Use the Quick Vote option.

Entryist pressure group Reform Trust is trying to seize control. Stop them

Voting is quick and easy if your membership card is at hand

secure.cesvotes.com/V3-3-0/nt25/...

Jonas Salk administering the polio vaccine to a child. Photo source: The New Atlantis.

#ResistanceRoots

Jonas Salk was born on this day in 1914 in New York City. He is best known for developing the first safe and effective polio vaccine, one of the most significant medical breakthroughs of the 20th century. He famously refused to patent his vaccine or seek any profit from it. /1

Our cover this week

“Europe should take heart and recognise its own strength. Its military budget is already four times larger than Russia’s; its economy is ten times larger. Far from shying away from a financial contest with the Kremlin, Europe should embrace it—and win the war”

With a little help from Bob Dylan… Why does Bob Dylan’s masterpiece, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’, keeps playing in Paul Connew’s head as he tries to review the state of Britain’s political, media and public opinion landscape?

👀

“Needless to say, copies of the Byline Times special issue have been circulating widely this week among the ranks of anti-Reform parties in the corridors of Westminster.”
www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/wit...

I keep being told spending cuts are easy. Honest proposals such as those recently outlined by Policy Exchange show they are not

My column www.ft.com/content/f086...

Trade’s contribution to UK GDP ‘stagnated’ since Brexit, warns WTO Export of goods are languishing at 17% below pre-Covid levels

“In its first formal review of UK trade policy since Brexit, the WTO found that UK trade performance had weakened since the 2008 financial crisis, with Brexit named among the chief causes of a marked slump in goods trade since 2018”

God, failure is tedious…

www.ft.com/content/8f4d...

D66 gives one of four important wins for liberals in the last few months together with Romania, Moldova and the surprising success of Neos in Austria.

Of course far right populism hasn’t been defeated - it’s not a flash in the pan that wl go away.

But it shows liberalism can win 🧵

A graphic illustrating the Digital Services Act. A smartphone is surrounded by yellow EU stars and icons such as a lock, shield, bell, and document with a magnifying glass, symbolising transparency and safety. Text reads: “DIGITAL SERVICES ACT – Unprecedented access for researchers to online platforms.” The European Commission logo appears in the bottom right corner.

✅ More transparency online.

As of today, researchers can access data from the biggest online platforms.

Why?

To study their societal impact and address risks like illegal content and scams – making the online world safer, especially for minors.

→ link.europa.eu/RMdwCV

Coventry South needs a by-election soon Zarah Sultana has no mandate for disarming the people of Britain and betraying Ukraine

"To say 'Zelenskyy is no friend of the working class' is an insulting, facile distraction from the fact that Sultana refuses to support the Ukrainian people’s fight for existence."

Proper cold fury and moral clarity from @paulmason.bsky.social on Sultana.

open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/c...

Rupert Murdoch-owned @thetimes.com of London completely fabricates a hit piece on @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social , gets called out by former mayor Deblasio — then deletes it.🤔

A screenshot of a tweet by Elon Musk (@elonmusk). The tweet reads: “When Tolkien wrote about the hobbits, he was referring to the gentlefolk of the English shires, who don’t realize the horrors that take place far away. They were able to live their lives in peace and tranquility, but only because they were protected by the hard men of Gondor. What happened to the nice man who was brutally murdered while walking his dog will happen to all of England if the tide of illegal immigration is not turned. It is time for the English to ally with the hard men, like Tommy Robinson, and fight for their survival or they shall surely all die.” Below the tweet is a grey box that says: “This post is unavailable" indicating that the Tommy Robinson tweet he's QT'ing is missing. The timestamp reads: “8:02 AM · Oct 29, 2025 · 1.9M Views”.

The "hard-men" of Gondor were getting their shit kicked in until they were rescued by foreigners and a girl.

The Shire was doing fine until they let a fascist demagogue ("Sharkey" aka Saruman) take over, close the gates, impose a bunch of thug-enforced rules, and despoil nature for profit.

Trump Is Demolishing Four Pillars of American Power By rejecting the lessons of the previous century, the president has undermined America’s advantage over China and Russia.

Four pillars of power helped the United States win the Cold War. The same pillars will almost certainly determine whether China or America wins today’s power competition—but instead of bolstering them, “Trump is bulldozing them,” Michael McFaul argues.

'No Faith' in X and Meta to Tackle Abuse in Politics, Says Speaker's Inquiry as It Suggests MPs Leave Platforms Damning report finds social media giants are failing in legal duties to remove threats

🔴‘No Faith’ in X and Meta to Tackle Abuse in Politics, Says Speaker’s Inquiry as It Suggests MPs Leave Platforms

Damning report finds social media giants are failing in legal duties to remove threats

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/29/x...

"The reason why the reactionary right hate the ECHR is because it gives ordinary citizens the right against the secretive and authoritarian state that they want."

–George Peretz KC, Chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, speaking at our conference rally.

@georgeperetzkc.bsky.social

The biggest problem in the world isn’t climate change, future pandemics, or democratic collapse.

It’s that far too many of our most brilliant minds are working on *everything but* those problems. 🧵

Exclusive: US military officials required to sign NDAs tied to Latin America mission, sources say U.S. military officials involved with President Donald Trump's expanding operations in Latin America have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, three U.S. officials say, a development that raises new questions about a military buildup that Venezuela fears may lead to an invasion.

I don't understand this. Members of the military are required to keep national defense information secret - no NDA needed.Unless it's about unlawful orders? I wish we could see a copy of the NDA. www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Waking up, again, to the sound of two white men on the radio arguing about whether it is ok to be made "mad" by the very sight of black and Asian people on TV. 😒

Indeed. You cannot give human beings that much power and money, and not expect them to turn into raging megalomaniacs.

It's why so much of the history of political thought centres on the dangers of unconstrained power.

Red states are preparing for an end to the Voting Rights Act An end to the Voting Rights Act would free up Southern states to dramatically overhaul their congressional map.

Some Republicans across the south are preparing to redraw their congressional maps to boot Democrats out of office — if the Supreme Court issues a ruling on a case gutting the Voting Rights Act in time for the midterms.

Sunday book recommendation:
Hannah Arendt - The Origins of Totalitarianism

The Pentagon’s Preferred Propaganda Model The Trump administration is trying to muddle reality—and create apathy.  

After the Pentagon forced a mass exit of journalists who understood military finance, tactics and technology, their replacements have arrived: cranks, conspiracy theorists and both foreign and domestic propagandists
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

YouTube video by Professor Christina Pagel 10 things you should know about that have happened in America this weekend

10 things you should know about that have happened in America this weekend

youtu.be/onI_z18AP_w

Straight to ‘let’s have a debate about whether racism is racism’ for *almost* all of the UK media. Nothing learned from the lessons of Brexit, Trump & Johnson. But on we go.