Peter Walker

Of course not.

Blimey! Apparently cycle lanes will endanger children.

Perhaps file this one in the same place as the months of, "Ulez expansion will cause chaos" coverage followed by tumbleweed once it actually happened and worked fine.

Sadiq Khan’s Oxford Street plan ‘will fuel shoplifting and mugging’ Association of residents and businesses in central London says scheme ‘solves nothing’

Sir Sadiq Khan’s bid to pedestrianise Oxford Street will turn the thoroughfare into a haven for shoplifters, muggers and criminal gangs, local residents have warned. The Marylebone Association, which represents local residents and businesses, said that rather than creating the “world-class boulevard” touted by the London Mayor, the plan will add to soaring crime rates on Europe’s busiest shopping street. Branding the proposals “dangerous, unworkable and catastrophic for the surrounding neighbourhoods”, the association said they would make the shopping district a “magnet” for miscreants.

Yes, yes, it's famously the case everywhere that the moment you remove cars, crime rates soar.

For those replying with weary sighs of, 'Oh, you've just not been paying attention' – no, there is a difference here, in the *openness* of it. Sure, there are plenty of media racists with an educated veneer, but they will deny it if accused. Lucy White is full 1970s NF.

Yup. It's certainly more extreme than 90s BNP; possibly more so than 70s NF.

This is one of the changes in the UK media landscape that should be more remarked on: the fact that being a very open, proud, outright racist is no longer a bar to being a pundit on some TV stations (in this case GBN and Talk TV).

Yes! I went for the ultra-thick gloves today.

‘Chaotic and indecisive’: key findings of report on UK’s Covid response under Tories Second report focuses on responses by politicians including then-PM Boris Johnson and the decisions they made during pandemic

For an instant guide to the report, this very full précis of its findings by colleague Jessica Murray is a good place to start.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Dominic Cummings ‘poisoned the atmosphere’ of Boris Johnson’s No 10, Covid inquiry finds Report from inquiry’s second module also says Johnson as PM ‘at times actively encouraged’ chaotic culture

If that wasn't depressing enough, here's a separate story about the "toxic" and really very macho environment in Boris Johnson's Downing Street at the time.

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

‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response Report on handling of pandemic contains stinging criticism of ‘toxic and chaotic’ culture inside Boris Johnson’s No 10

My story from a day reading the very long and very damning report by the official Covid inquiry into the actions of government during the pandemic.

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

For anyone cycling in London today: it's colder than you think. I'm normally an advocate for not overdoing the layers or coats. Ignore that - go nuclear.

None of this to say that the issue of overlapping rights should be ignored. But it does feel that those who are saying, "The supreme court ruling was simple, what's the delay?" risk seeming disingenuous.

You want leisure centre staff to ask question people about their gender based on how they look? What could possibly go wrong? The guidance accepts that it might be unrealistic to provide facilities for trans people, thus potentially excluding them from the public realm. Legal challenge, anyone?

Under the new guidance, places such as hospital wards, gyms and leisure centres will be able to question transgender women over whether they should be using single-sex services based on how they look, their behaviour or concerns raised by others. If there is doubt they are telling the truth about their sex, they could be banned from using those services once those running them had considered “relevant factors”.

The EHRC document states it is “a legitimate aim” to provide single-sex spaces for “ensuring the safety of women or the privacy and dignity of women and/or men”. The guidance said that if transgender people are excluded from a space, organisations should consider whether there is a suitable alternative for them and that it would not be proportionate to leave them without essential services, such as access to lavatories. But it also outlines how in some cases that may not be possible owing to the physical constraints of buildings or high costs. It said: “It may be that offering alternative arrangements is not reasonably possible […] this may be because of the type of service being provided, the needs of the service users, the physical constraints of any building, or because of the disproportionate financial costs associated with making those arrangements.”

The final code instead says it would “unlikely be proportionate or practical to ask for further evidence of a person’s sex” even if doubts were raised. It said “there is no type of official record or document in the UK which provides reliable evidence of sex” because people can change their sex on passports and driving licences without a GRC. But it says that if there is “genuine concern about the accuracy of the response” it may be proportionate to exclude a transgender person anyway. It said any questions should be asked sensitively and information should be stored securely.

The Times has been leaked the full EHRC guidance on trans people/single sex spaces, and what it mainly confirms is that for all the calls for immediate implementation, this is still a vast, largely unresolved ethical can of worms, and a job creation scheme for lawyers.

Update: I am assured by Reform that the list exists, and has been sent to other newspapers. It will be with me soon, I am told.

Over on X, the co-founder of the Brexit Party is posting open racism about Shabana Mahmood, saying she should be "deported". Blaiklock left the Brexit Party v quickly over anti-Islam posts but now identifies herself as a supporter of Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain.

On Monday, Reform held a press conference to say the councils it runs had identified £330m in savings, and that it had a list setting out the details. Since then I have asked Reform several times to see the list, and have been told repeatedly it will be sent. It has still not been sent.

*Some of the claims have been made some years before, but anonymously, when our story yesterday has several ex-pupils who went on the record about what they said were Farage's comments.

He also asked why the claims were emerging now*: “At any point in time, when Nigel was leader of Ukip, when he stood in the 2010 general election, the 2015 general election, during Brexit, maybe in 2019 general election, you would have to ask yourself, why this come up before?”

After prime minister's questions we had our first ever media "huddle" with Reform UK - normally it is just the govt and then Tories. Nigel Farage's spokesperson reiterated the denials of racist and antisemitic behaviour when Farage was at school, saying it was so long ago people could mis-remember.

If you missed his news....

Sweet moment at PMQs as Keir Starmer congratulates the newly-engaged Lib Dem MP Josh Babarinde "a lifetime of happiness" with his fiancé after Babarinde proposed inside parliament this week. Babarinde looks very chuffed.

“He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers.” Worth saying that Reform reject this.

‘Deeply shocking’: Nigel Farage faces fresh claims of racism and antisemitism at school Bafta-winning director among contemporaries urging contrition and apology from Reform UK leader, who denies the allegations

Blimey. Some pretty big questions for Nigel Farage to answer about this.

www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

Ofcom receives complaints over GB News item on defendants’ ‘foreign-sounding names’ Lib Dem MP says way figures were compiled on ‘non-British-sounding’ surnames in court was ‘frankly racist’

“No doubt the methodology is incomplete.”

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

“No. I’ve always kept far right elements out of my party. I’ve always known that. You’ve know me for goodness knows how many years. I've always made sure we've never had BNP types in. I think what Goodin said, it was nuanced. It perhaps doesn't look as ugly as you try to make out, is the point that I would make.”

At the Farage presser I asked him about Matthew Goodwin's comments about minority ethnic Britons not always being truly British, and whether Goodwin's appointment to lead Reform's student wing meant his bar on far right elements had gone. Farage said Goodwin's comments were "nuanced".

There is supposedly a policy document setting out how a Reform government would save £25bn a year, but when I arrived it wasn't ready as the only stapler had broken. You can start as many new parties as you want, but some things in politics are constant.

The Reform argument is that by taking such measures they can prevent tax rises for UK nationals. But, of course, a policy which makes trade with the EU more difficult could end up costing the exchequer significantly more.

I’m back at the same Westminster venue where yesterday I saw Richard Tice to watch Nigel Farage set out plans including the unilateral removal of some benefits for EU/EAA nationals with settled status - a move Labour say could start a damaging trade war with Brussels.