Derrick Wyatt's Law and Policy Blog

The BBC is right to be self-critical and right to apologise to President Trump. But time for a reality check - there is more fake news on Trump's Truth and Social feed in a day than there is on BBC total output in a decade.

As senior heads roll at the BBC for disgracefully bad editing of Trump's speeches, claims of systematic bias at the BBC seem misplaced. The BBC attracts few complaints from viewers.
For complaints about British broadcasters to regulator Ofcom between January and August 2025 see below ⬇️

The rise of Christian nationalism in Britain A new type of Christianity - more militant, more political - is on the rise. But some in the Church of England claim this is a "corruption" of their faith.

news.sky.com/story/the-ri...
"Bishop" Dewar backs Tommy Robinson
Dewar says: "This nation of ours is under attack! We are at war! We are at war not just with the Muslim, not just with wokeness."
What are the implications of assertive Christian nationalism for other faiths, agnostics, and atheists?

The cost of Trump's tariffs: early indicators It always was the economy, stupid

frasernelson.substack.com/p/the-cost-o...
@frasernellson.bsky.social detects "fraying of the...coalition that...Maga thought was theirs for good."
The reason? Trump's tariffs are raising the cost of living.
Lesson for the UK? Voters could leave Labour for the Tories and leave Reform stranded

Could PR really gain some traction in the current climate?

UK ministers say the SNP is a security threat for saying an indie Scotland would ban Trident subs
Yet polls show most Scots back the deterrent
Time all Scottish parties started backing independence when the time is right
And backing a UK deterrent based in indie Scotland
@proftomkins.bsky.social

Trump gives Hungary one-year exemption from Russian energy sanctions The opt-out comes despite the US increasing pressure on allies to sever economic ties with Russia.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Trump rewards Viktor Orban, Putin ally and anti-EU leader who has sacrificed EU funding to pressurise Hungary's judges.
Being kind to Orban means being kind to Putin too, despite Putin confronting Trump over Venezuela, and offering hypersonic missiles to its government.

Won't be popular, but pay-per-mile charges for EVs would be a fair way to replace the revenues that are being lost from the transition from petrol and diesel.

They would also help to fill the gap if Reeves decides not to raise fuel duty in the Budget... (1/3)

Retailers are raising prices to meet tariffs. Amazon is hiking more than others Prices on Amazon, Walmart and Target have all increased this year as retailers grapple with higher costs due to tariffs.

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/05/a...
As Trump raises more revenue from tariffs on imports, US shoppers pay the price
As it was always obvious they would
Trump boasts he would like to replace federal income tax with tariffs on imports
About as regressive a policy as you could imagine

YouGov poll for Sky news, showing public opinion 2022 to the present, confirming Brits still think climate change is man-made

British far-right activist Tommy Robinson cleared of terror charge — and praises Elon Musk Robinson — who has had backing from the tech billionaire — is cleared after two-day trial over police request to access his phone.

www.politico.eu/article/tomm...
Tommy Robinson thanks Elon Musk for his financial support. Perhaps some thanks also due to an independent judiciary ready to protetct individual rights and uphold the rule of law.

If Reeves increases income tax she will have to resign Like Jim Callaghan in 1967, this chancellor will have to pay the political price for going back on her oft-repeated pledge

thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/raise-income-tax-and-reeves-must-resign-fks7kqqls
Keeping promises to the electorate is one criterion for good governance, but it doesn't trump all others. Such as funding the NHS, and equipping our armed forces to defend ourselves against Putin's Russia.

'Let No One Believe the Lie That Zelensky Could Have Avoided War by Spurning NATO' It's time to bury this myth for good, argues Derrick Wyatt

bylinetimes.com/2025/08/22/r...
If anybody doubts that Labour needs to raise taxes to increase UK defence spending, as Rachel Reeves committed to this morning, remember Ukraine, and Putin's imperial ambitions.

Mission accomplished.

Making Britain’s voting system fairer won’t enable parties like Reform – it’s the only way to challenge them | Zoe Williams Bringing in proportional representation is the best way of defending and rebuilding the legitimacy of our democracy, says Guardian columnist Zoe Williams

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
@zoesqwilliams.bsky.social
There is a straightforward way for first-past-the-post to deliver proportional representation. A contradiction in terms? Not so.
blog soon

I’ve always hated PR voting, but it’s on the way Forget votes at 16, our voting system looks increasingly unfit for purpose. How much longer can first past the post survive?

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
"But it’s also true that our voting system is becoming increasingly ill matched to voters’ actual behaviour. How we solve that problem, I don’t know."
@rcolvile.bsky.social
Might be a way to solve the problem?
Blog soon.

The Rwanda plan could have gone ahead if Tory Ministers had taken human rights seriously Supporters of the Rwanda plan should not think that its failure means the UK needs to leave the ECHR to stop the small boats - it doesn't

derrickwyatt.substack.com/p/the-rwanda...
@joshglancy.bsky.social

Brits want Nigel Farage to step away from the Brexit shredder Polling commissioned by POLITICO shows wide public support for Labour’s EU reset.

www.politico.eu/article/uk-w...
UK opposition parties will reverse Keir Starmer’s EU reset if they get into power
The UK public would rather they didn’t
Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of voters back the deal, which would realign EU and UK food standards, with just 22% who are opposed.

Russia targets UK military satellites on weekly basis Moscow is attempting to collect information from UK spacecraft, according to the MoD.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Russia targets UK military satellites on weekly basis
Last month Germany's Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, said Russia had been shadowing satellites used by their military

European leaders meet in high-security Danish summit after drone disruption Copenhagen is on alert with security boosted by 10 international allies, as EU leaders discuss boosting their defences.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hungary's Viktor Orban, who is one of Russia's closest allies in the EU, claimed Ukraine was "not a sovereign country" as it was being financed by the West.
So do Hungary's demands for 34 billion euros in frozen funds from the EU mean Hungary isn't sovereign either?

At last
A published agenda for the European Political Community - to be held on Friday in Copenhagen
The UK will be deeply involved in the plenary on Ukraine and the security of Europe
Will Starmer want to use the roundtable on migration to send out some tough signals about stopping the small boats?

For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces The premier's policy of treating the terror group as a partner, at the expense of Abbas and Palestinian statehood, has resulted in wounds that will take Israel years to heal from

www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-ne...
How Netanyahu blocked moves by the Palestinian Authority to a Palestine state
"Hamas was upgraded from a terror group to an organization with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad"

Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan in full European and Middle Eastern leaders have welcomed a new US peace plan for Gaza, as President Donald Trump warned Hamas to accept it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Trump's 20 pt peace plan for Gaza in full
He refers to reform of the Palestinian Authority "as outlined in the... Saudi-French proposal".
Hard to believe Trump boycotted the UN
Conference on that proposal and denied a visa to Palestinian Authority President to attend...

Ah - see your point!

Once a court has been set up by dozens of countries under an treaty, making it accountable for errors or creative legal accounting becomes in practice close to impossible. That is why countries act unilaterally and ignore bits of the convention they feel the ECtHR has rendered unfit for purpose.

They could commit to "side-stepping" the Convention if it conflicted with implementing Tory policies essential to the national interest. It would still leave the UK with a human rights record better than many other signatories. Leaving the convention might be difficult to reverse.