Alan M

Just wait till they start leaving it to AI ....
#wato

And did you? :)
I've been through fairly intrusive vetting too, but my point is how much of what is learnt is put into a report, then abridged for a summary, then abridged again for an exec summary before reaching the decision-maker.
#wato

Or he could have gambled that M was precisely the sort of smarmy individual who Trump would get on well with. A gamble which has spectacularly backfired now that all this new info has emerged.

Reform's new Welsh leader lives down to expectations. Quote from the Tory leader in the London council he left: "We look forward to the former Cllr refunding his councillor’s allowance paid to him during his prolonged absence from Barnet".
barnetpost.co.uk/2025/12/31/f...

#wato

Presumably mid-level civil servants do vetting donkey work, then pass report up the chain to No10 (which won't have full details), then someone in No10 (McSweeney?) reads & summarises (again) before passing to Starmer complete with top page 'exec summary'.
Too many summaries spoil the vetting
#wato

Clearly the vetting processes employed by both the Foreign Office and the security services are not fit for purpose - and presumably have been so for many years.
#wato

Why do news prog's persist in interviewing Kelin? Waste of time.
#c4news

Not sure Johnny-come-lately's like McSweeney would have been across whole Mandelson history & can easily see how he would have phrased vetting summary given to Starmer in a less than negative light to achieve a desired result.
He needs to go. As always when backroom folk become the story.
#c4news

Probably too busy trying to redact Trump from documents (and failing there too) to do a proper job with victim redaction.
It's also already been established that the redaction method can be undone with copy & paste.
#c4news

Can Michelle Mone be granted a personal bit of legislation too please?
#c4news

Hasn't Starmer got one too, for his DPP pension? #c4news

apparently (acc to a lawyer earlier on the radio) because it is incredibly difficult to prove cases of financial misconduct sufficiently to get a conviction

URGENT: DOJ Deletes Epstein Files Again — And They Directly Implicate Trump For the second time in just three days, the U.S.

WHAT THE F--K!!!

The DOJ has JUST DELETED these Epstein Files again, after a NYT's article from 2016 was shown to corroborate much of it!

Share Everywhere: We Screen-Grabbed what they just deleted:

krassencast.com/p/urgent-doj...

Feel a bit off commenting on the student loan situation, given I had benefit of a grant and free univ education incl postgrad, but it is all a bit of a mess. Would have been more sensible to set it up as a graduate tax in 1st place rather than a loan at exhorbitant interest rates. #wato

How Trump Appears in the Epstein Files

Nothing to see here. Just that the lawless criminal in the Oval Office, his wife, and Mar-a-Lago are referenced 38,000 times in 5,300 Epstein files.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/u...

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

This deserves reposting.

Movie review from Guardian on Melania.

Reminder Farage loves Trump #c4news #newsnight #bbcaq

Trump Sues IRS, Treasury for $10 Billion for Tax-Return Leak President Donald Trump sued the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service for at least $10 billion over an unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns to the press during his first term in office, poten...

Infinite money glitch:
• Become president and therefore be in charge of the Department of Justice)
• Sue the US governm for large sums of money
• Order your own DOJ to settle the lawsuit
• PROFIT!

This turd is just looting our treasury. These are YOUR tax dollars!
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Reform by-election candidate endorsed by far-right activist Tommy Robinson

Reform by-election candidate endorsed by far-right activist Tommy Robinson

www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/new...

Trump v Iran is like Trump v Maduro - I find myself looking at a lose-lose scenario
#wato

I still remember that my wife's auntie in Germany was approaching retirement as a teacher and in the final months of her work they told her the pension age was changing and she'd have to do another year. #wato

The tenor of our Sarah's entire coverage of this China visit is denigrating and negative. Why? Would she prefer us to isolate ourselves from what is now probably the world's biggest manufacturing nation?
#wato

Talk about being deluded ... move into a caravan park home site in Christchurch right up against the banks of the River Stour and then express shock at being evacuated due to flooding for the 3rd time in 3 years.
#bbcnews

"I was only following orders"
Sounds familiar.
#c4news

Well, yes, but then what ...?
I fear I am too world-weary to appreciate such gestures.
#c4news

Seriously, what is Starmer expected to do with a bunch of flowers?
#c4news

The final quote from Badenoch in this piece is "This is a tantrum dressed up as politics", which is supposed to be a condemnation of Robert Jenrick and other defectors.

It's just her bad luck that it's also a perfect description of her leadership 'strategy' and style.

And there I was, thinking all these defections were making the Tories almost electable again.

I said 'almost'.