Naomi Smith

‘Empathy that lasts a lifetime’: charity bridges gap between Bradford schools Pupils from schools with differing demographics meet and play under charity scheme set up after city’s 2001 riots

This has made grin, so I'm sharing it 😍 @sturdyalex.bsky.social @pimlicat.bsky.social and @mrkennycampbell.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Excited to read!

The CEO of Palantir.

🥰

POLITICOEurope on X: "🚨 BREAKING: French President Emmanuel Macron warned the US could be about to “betray” Ukraine, according to a leaked transcript of a call between European leaders strategizing about how to protect Kyiv.   Read the story: https://t.co/IT5wYmacsx https://t.co/9BhiFYyTXD" / X 🚨 BREAKING: French President Emmanuel Macron warned the US could be about to “betray” Ukraine, according to a leaked transcript of a call between European leaders strategizing about how to protect Kyiv.   Read the story: https://t.co/IT5wYmacsx https://t.co/9BhiFYyTXD

We all know as Europe does that Trump is an unreliable ally at best, untrustworthy for sure, and working for Putin at worst. High time they negotiated SAFE access for the UK & cracked on with helping Ukraine to victory

x.com/POLITICOEuro...

“I thought Gullis had already moved over to Reform. It's a bit like when somebody tells you a celebrity has died, that you assumed had died 10 years ago. You're like: God, they were still alive, were they?” @pimlicat.bsky.social

Statement on delay of Mayoral elections until 2028 I was running for Mayor because I and my Lib Dem colleagues want to get things moving: improving our environment, delivering growth, getting more affordable homes, tackling the challenges of our healt...

A good statement from Martin Tod who hoped to run in the now postponed Hampshire & Solent Mayoral race

www.martin4mayor.org.uk/news/article...

The Guardian view on US-Russia talks on Ukraine: a warning to Europe to move faster on security cooperation | Editorial Editorial: Washington’s betrayal of its allies has been averted for now, but preparations must be made for a world where its support cannot be relied on

Europe cannot rely on Trump. We must stand with Ukraine.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/03/the-guardian-view-on-us-russia-talks-on-ukraine-a-warning-to-europe-to-move-faster-on-security-cooperation

Labour bearing down on immigration will fix this any day now.

What's past is prologue Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 04/12/2025 · 1h 10m

🆕 What's past is prologue 🆕

🇪🇺 Brexit's back alright
🗳️ lessons from 2024 GE
📰 media's Reeves derangement
🧌 Dungeons & Dragons

@pimlicat.bsky.social, @sturdyalex.bsky.social & guest @samfr.bsky.social put the world to rights.

🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/11Nv...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...

Always fab having Sam on the show.

We catch you up on everything eu uk related, plus the lessons from GE24 for left and right, and Alex reveals just how much of a board games nerd he was as a young thing.

🎧👇

i: Russian spies secretly entering UK on cargo ships #TomorrowsPapersToday

4. If legislators are to insist on food literalism, they should at least be consistent. There's no dinosaur in turkey dinosaurs (and not much turkey). If a vegan hotdog is ruled out on the grounds that it contains no meat, the meat version should also be ruled out, as it contains no dog. 4/6

Democracy for Sale | Peter Geoghegan | Substack A newsletter dedicated to revealing how dark money and hidden influence threaten our democracy. Click to read Democracy for Sale, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Our investigation is also on @itvx.com news at 10pm tonight

This work has taken months. It exposes serious flaws in our democracy. Lobbying reform needs to happen - now

Follow Democracy for Sale to get all these stories, and support our work democracyforsale.substack.com

BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government Ex-Tory MP facilitated meetings with 10+ Labour MPs and met ministers in “cash-for-access operation”

🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister

Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government Ex-Tory MP facilitated meetings with 10+ Labour MPs and met ministers in “cash-for-access operation”

Big story from investigative journalists just breaking. Also on ITV News at 10: open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

Pleased to discover that slightly misnaming the national chess championship you won as a school child is a much more serious offence than repeatedly racially abusing your fellow pupils and telling them they should go to the gas chamber

I've no idea what he's on about. It's the difference between 100% executive power on a minority vote share versus shared power that can curb the worst authoritarian/fascist instincts.

Adding:

"Wales needs and deserves to be treated as an equal part of the UK and the UK Government has a responsibility to act to deliver this equality."

The group includes former cabinet members and senior figures in the Welsh party.

BREAKING NEWS

Over a third of Welsh Labour Senedd Members have written to Keir Starmer to stop undermining devolution.

They say:

"If this was being done by a Tory Government, we would be calling for a judicial review. This must never happen again."

1/2

Labour can either be in opposition most of the time, or the largest party in power more of the time via coalition. PLP prefers the former, the members & unions the latter.

The point is that under fptp we end up with Gvts the majority don't want, made even more likely when the right do these kinds of deals and the left don't. The answer is democratic equality by ensuring equal votes through a proportionate system, but HMG don't want that either.

Yes though Greens and Lab still ran candidates

Though not with the strength of the 2019 standasides by the Right.

Farage tells donors he will cut a deal with the Tories

I wrote a piece predicting this in The Guardian a couple of years ago

The tribal tedium sets in hard for me at times like this. It's bad politics, and dreadful for the country.

If we had equal votes of course none of this would matter. But they won't even do that.

SIGH.

From today's FT lead story on Farage telling donors he'll cut a deal with the Cons we know the right won't take ANYTHING for granted to seize power at the next election. They did it in 2019 and they'll do it again in 2028/29.

So why won't we match a regressive alliance with a progressive one?

In 2019 Farage stood down hundreds of candidates for Boris and look where that got us.

It matters that the Tories love Nigel Farage again. Look up the name Preston Manning, and you’ll see why | Naomi Smith In Canada, Manning quit the conservative party and from the outside dragged it to the right, says Naomi Smith of the thinktank Best for Britain

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...