May Bulman

Inside UK’s most notorious immigration detention centre Brook House near Gatwick airport was the subject of an independent inquiry after G4S guards were filmed abusing detainees in 2017. Now, The Independent has obtained stark written accounts from officer...

I've been doing some reporting on conditions inside Brook House IRC. I'm keen to speak to anyone who's been held there or who has worked there. Please get in touch if you might be able to help.

Story based on accounts of force used in a month last year:
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Another absolute must-read on what looks a lot like the Oracleisation of the Tony Blair Institute

Inside the Tony Blair Institute Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?

Comes after we revealed a few months back how Blair and his Institute are lobbying on behalf of their Big Tech pals www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

ICYMI: The Tony Blair Institute is building its own AI tools with the view of selling them to authoritarian govts, in what insiders describe as a bid to rival controversial US tech firm Palantir

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/blair-bids...

Note the wild response we got from TBI's press team ⬇️

Blair bids to build own AI tools to rival Palantir TBI insiders warn of “'insane” plan to transform think tank into a tech company

🚨 Exclusive: Tony Blair isn’t just a big fan of AI — he's now trying to build and sell AI tools to governments

Tony Blair Institute staff have described the plan as 'insane' and compared it to Palantir

New by D4S and @lighthousereports.com 🧵

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/blair-bids...

They fought with Britain and US in Afghanistan – now Taliban are taking their revenge After the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Britain pledged sanctuary to Afghans who faced reprisals for working with UK forces – but thousands are still waiting. Now, as Britain drags its heels, we ...

And I fear the UK isn’t far off doing something similar, despite the clear dangers people face www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Germany drops promise to resettle hundreds of Afghans Interior ministry will tell 640 people awaiting sanctuary ‘there is no longer any political interest in their being admitted’

Where have we got to when a European govt is telling Afghans who are at risk of being killed for work they did for said govt that they will not be brought to safety as promised because there’s “no longer any political interest” in helping them? Terrifying shift www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

The Home Office also recognise that this may have an impact on user of care services who are likely to be older people and those with disabilities. The Home Office believes that despite these points the changes are justified for a number of policy reasons including reducing net migration and ending reliance on overseas recruitment.

Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.

"You can't stay and you can't go" - State Violence at the UK-France Border — Humans for Rights Network

🚨EMERGENCY AT THE UK-FRANCE BORDER 🚨 Today we are launching our new collaborative report reveals that people attempting to cross the UK-France border are subjected to horrifying levels of state violence. www.humansforrights.org/state-violence

Small boats in the Channel: Questions raised over France's new net interception policy The authorities are preparing to test a technique that was previously considered too dangerous for passengers' lives in order to stop migrant boats. There are also concerns over the criminal liability...

French coastguard and customs union representative @remivdp.bsky.social warns there's 'no way' to carry out such manoeuvres safely: 'It’s clear that one day there will be fatalities caused by this'

Great reporting @tomasstatius.bsky.social @julia-pascual.bsky.social
www.lemonde.fr/en/global-is...

French police to use nets to stop small boats crossing Channel New tactics to stop boats set to be introduced despite warnings there is ‘no way’ to carry out such manoeuvres safely

NEW: French police will use nets to try to stop small boats crossing the Channel – despite warnings this could be deadly

As UK pressure on France mounts, sources tell @lighthousereports.com and @lemonde.fr interceptions at sea will now take place, with nets
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

It will clearly make it harder for refugees to feel safe, to be able to secure employment, to try and fulfil their potential. At the same time it will be massive bureaucratic headache for the Home Office. On top of processing asylum claims, they'll need to review all the ones they done previously.

It’s actually mad that me and the far-right have exactly the same take. No notes.

Thought the plan was to smash the smuggling gangs not emulate them.

BBC News bulletins leading on the story of an Algerian man being mistakenly released by the prison service.

Funnily enough I don't remember these cases ever leading the bulletins when an average of ten prisoners were mistakenly released a month in the final year of the last Government

"REVEALED: TERRIBLE REVENGE OF TALIBAN THAT SHAMES BRITAIN"
Full Story: t.ly/lgf5h

#Afghan Security Forces are still being hunted down.

#TheIndependent
#TomorrowsPapersToday
#IBPAPERS
@the-independent.com
@hollybancroft.bsky.social
@fahimabed.bsky.social
@maybulman.bsky.social

They fought with Britain and US in Afghanistan – now Taliban is taking its revenge After the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Britain pledged sanctuary to Afghans who faced reprisals for working with UK forces – but thousands are still waiting. Now, as Britain drags its heels, we ...

It’s hard to believe that 4 years on from the fall of Kabul, Afghans who served with UK troops are still waiting to be relocated to safety

Now a painstaking analysis by @lighthousereports.com and partners reveals the extent of the peril they're facing, with 110+ ex-security forces killed since 2023

Many of these “illustrations” aren’t based on verified intelligence at all.

Our analysis of 43 official IDF videos found recycled 3D environments, spatial inaccuracies, and assets lifted from unrelated artists and institutions.

The global far-right is brainwashing a town near you 📝 A guest essay...

🔴 The global far-right is brainwashing a town near you

Fascist memes are changing Britain, and the government is totally out of its depth.

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

Starmer to end asylum ‘golden ticket’ of resettlement and family reunion rights People granted asylum will have to earn right to invite family in plan charities call ‘straight from populist playbook’

The idea that being a refugee is somehow a “golden ticket” is genuinely awful. These are people who the government have recognised are in need of protection. Do they think people chose that? That that’s what people wanted?

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

Larry Ellison's £257m patronage has reshaped the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) into a well-funded engine of techno-solutionism. Our essay of the week tracks the symbiotic relationship between the TBI and Oracle.

By @petergeoghegan.bsky.social & @maybulman.bsky.social

buff.ly/rt5ONlT

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Authoritarianism is on the rise globally. Join us at #Lab25 to understand this challenge & build a movement to resist.

@labourlewis.bsky.social, @minnierahman.bsky.social, Shabna Begum, Amna Abdullatif, @maybulman.bsky.social (@lighthousereports.com) & @joemulhall.bsky.social (@hopenothate.org.uk).

Estimates of the size of the "shadow economy"

France 7%
Germany 7%
Italy 8%
..even Estonia 7%

UK: 5%

Idea that ID cards are some kind of panacea...

www.ey.com/content/dam/...

This. We have had ID cards in Italy since always and people can readily see how the shadow economy is doing there

& who published a report calling for digi ID cards & claiming they’ll reduce small boats the day before Starmer’s ID plan was trailed?

None other than the Tony Blair Institute, whose huge influence on Starmer’s govt & closeness to its tech donor we revealed this wk bsky.app/profile/mayb...

The idea that digital ID cards will stop people working in the shadow economy and thus reduce small boat crossings is baffling

The very nature of the shadow economy (the only way asylum seekers can find work) is employers don’t check documents.. That would obviously continue with ID cards

afaict the evidence base that digital ID will reduce the number of people migrating to the UK is "Macron says so". I hope he is duly flattered. Digital ID will be useful for many people, unusable for others, but fundamentally the issue here is with employers who don't do right to work checks

Inside the Tony Blair Institute A former PM, Trump's 'CEO of everything' and NHS data - what could go wrong?

🔴 NEW: Larry Ellison’s £257m bet on Tony Blair

Our investigation with @lighthousereports.com reveals how the Tony Blair Institute has been accused of pushing the interests of tech tycoon Ellison — Trump’s “CEO of everything” — and his company Oracle

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

Inside the Tony Blair Institute Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?

Great (read scary) investigation into the Tony Blair Institute, its relationship with a US tech billionaire & efforts to get NHS health data opened up for AI

I also had no idea TBI was so big: 900 staff!

HT @petergeoghegan.bsky.social @maybulman.bsky.social

www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...