Peter Howitt

© Guy Cohen.

It is apparently by Angus Taylor

A hotel we visited in the lake district - Linthwaite House

Metal statue of a demigod? with a head made of thin stone slabs

Loving this statue - a dark god resting

“Some say Ukraine should be grateful for everything, [...] the rest of us should be grateful to Ukraine,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Munich Security Conference, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted the Ewald von Kleist Award on behalf of the Ukrainian people.

He went on to say that
the real issue with Hitler was that you couldn't have a cup of tea and a chat with him because he was so shouty.

Whilst Sikorski makes some very good points there is still an issue with the indirect nature of democracy in the EU that issue is partly driven by fears of national leaders that they will lose control

Europe: a great power in the making Surrounded by an unreliable United States, a belligerent Russia, an assertive China, and a rising India, European statesmen face a timeless truth: to resist competitors, they must become a little like...

"Surrounded by an unreliable United States, a belligerent Russia, an assertive China, and a rising India, European statesmen face a timeless truth: to resist competitors, they must become a little like them."

Obama addresses racist video shared by Trump depicting him as an ape The former US president didn't name Trump, but lamented the lack of

Obama laments the loss of decorum in public office. Yet again he shows his fire and really puts his finger on the issues facing America in its multi decade descent into fascism fuelled by the takeover of democracy by the wealthy and private interests

Unions and Labour MPs call on Starmer to end ‘narrow factional agenda’ Letter signed by 25 rebel MPs claims approach from the top is ‘increasingly unpopular’ with public

Far too late for Starmer and this labour party: "the letter hit out at the culture within Downing Street and Labour’s ruling team.

It said: “It’s increasingly clear that a narrow, factional agenda is being imposed upon the party and that this is increasingly unpopular with the public."

And a vile violent rapist

Russia killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using toxin from dart frog, UK says There is no innocent explanation for the toxin, called epibatidine, being found in samples taken from Navalny's body, the Foreign Office said.

BBC News - Russia killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using dart frog toxin, UK says
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"As Britain experiences these climate extremes at first-hand, it is crucial to build resilience into plans for hotter and drier summers, and warmer wetter winters."

Stop Palantir taking over our public services! Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir.

Palantir, a US spy-tech firm, has been given access to millions of NHS patient records.

Its founder has said the NHS should be 'ripped up'.

Join me in calling on the government to end the dangerous Palantir contract.

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

Western aid to Ukraine.

Before and after Trump.

By @kiel.institute

I appreciate that he's one foot off the Atlanticism train but if there is literally anything Europe needs less of it's the tedious gray bureaucracy of the German center right. Europe is where it is in large part due to varieties of Merkelism and its derivatives

Translating Holocaust Literature in Times of Genocide While designing a poster for a lecture on our new book, In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union (Stanford University Press), one of the event’s organiz…

Key point: "To insist on the Holocaust’s uniqueness as a shield against comparison risks turning it into an exception that cannot illuminate anything beyond itself, and that cannot, therefore, speak meaningfully to the present." lithub.com/translating-...

With thanks to @joelhs.bsky.social — who is wonderfully thoughtful and thoughtfully prolific in his own public writing — for sharing my and Harriet Murav’s essay in LitHub on translating Holocaust literature in times of genocide. @stanfordpress.bsky.social

Indian Author Arundhati Roy Pulls Out of Berlinale Over Jury’s ‘Unconscionable’ Refusal to Comment on Gaza: ‘To Hear Them Say That Art Should Not Be Political Is Jaw-Dropping’ Arundhati Roy has withdrawn from the Berlinale over the jury's pushback over politics and its 'unconscionable' refusal to comment on Gaza.

"... clearly: what has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. It is supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime."

We don't support organisations, or administrations or countries that use terror against civilians, especially women and children, for political purposes. None of this is ethical rocket science.

The blanket proscription was disproportionate given that existing criminal law could deal with any criminal offences by members including the very small number of cases that may meet the threshold for terrorist activity

The Home Sec. relied on the "operational advantages" of proscription (i.e. giving police more power to arrest supporters and seize assets) as a primary reason to ban the group which was obviously unlawful.

Helpfully the court held the right of appeal to the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) was never designed to scrutinise the legality of the initial proscription decision itself and so without judicial review, there was arguably no effective judicial remedy

What does this mean for persons that have been prosecuted and convicted for supporting Palestine Action? Much depends on the exact terms of the High Court’s quashing order when it is issued but clearly any pending criminal cases would be fatally wounded and successful appeals are likely.

Full judgement:
www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...

Open letter to Wes Streeting: release your messages with your private healthcare donors The public has a right to know that health policy is not driven by quid pro quo relationships.

Wes Streeting released his whatsapp messages with Mandelson

We've written to him asking him to also release messages with private health donors (who benefit from NHS privatisation)

@goodlawproject.bsky.social found he is 60%+ funded by private healthcare

weownit.org.uk/news/wes-str...

Liberty responds to court's finding proscription of Palestine Action unlawful - Liberty

We welcome the court’s finding that the proscription of Palestine Action was UNLAWFUL.

This case has exposed a deeper problem where the line between direct action and terrorism has become dangerously blurred.

www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/libert...

These charts show how Trump is isolating the US on the world stage Analysis shows that the world is moving closer to China, as Trump’s isolationism rears its head at the United Nations

"A report from Focal Data, which analyses UN voting records, reveals how Washington’s “America First” agenda has started to redraw the geopolitical map in favour of China.

In 2026, the world is now diplomatically closer to Beijing"

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said she...plans to appeal it: "I am disappointed by the court’s decision and disagree with the notion that banning this terrorist organisation is disproportionate."