David Brindle

Mind receives largest donation in its 80-year history

Astonishing donation to @mind.org.uk

www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/mind-re...

It’s ‘colossal’ - Chris Mason says so. Do keep up.

In other news …
(bottom p11, @thetimes.com)

Wes Streeting to offer resident doctors bigger pay rise to end dispute Health secretary to increase pay offer and guarantee working conditions for resident doctors only

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

👀

Weird and almost universal revisionism today. Even at the time, it was pretty clear that Mandelson wasn't appointed *despite* his dodgy links but *because* of them. Trump's Washington is a dirty swamp. Mandelson was deemed a man able to swim in it. This wasn't a secret. Everybody said it out loud.

Strategic re-set, you say?
A black day for @washingtonpost.com and for journalism

Appreciating this attention to detail @pickardje.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Say what you like about the Right Honourable Peter Mandelson, Baron Mandelson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham, he still has the capacity to surprise. We knew about the weakness for very rich people. We assumed he was behind plenty of briefing to journalists. But blimey, we didn’t know he was just forwarding the prime minister’s emails to a paedophile financier. Monday’s revelations were gobsmacking in every way. Take the way that the then-secretary of state passed the market-sensitive information to the trader. You might have imagined that these transactions involve untraceable accounts or burner phones or pieces of paper stuffed into envelopes and handed over in underground garages. As it turns out, Mandelson was simply pressing “forward” within seconds of the messages arriving on his BlackBerry and winging them on to Jeffrey Epstein’s Gmail account. I guess that was the one thing that GCHQ didn’t expect.

You have to admire Peter Mandelson's capacity to deliver surprises. thecritic.co.uk/pete...

Happy transfer window day to all who celebrate

and yes she did travel business class with the kids in economy fwiw

I can also reveal that:

Ferguson received flights from the disgraced financier in 2009 for herself and her daughters which were worth over $14,000 at the time, other documents released by the US Department of Justice show.

you can get 5-1 against a Labour win, which seems good value

link?

Grim reading in annual official report on use of Mental Health Act. Out-of-area placements rising even though they should have been ended by 2021.
www.cqc.org.uk/publications...

Trademark complaint from Tannoy incoming

Times apology for Trevor Phillips column arguing that Labour’s NEC ‘should simply have made it possible for Burnham to carry a dual mandate’

… but also ‘nothing in this game for two in a bed’

John Knight obituary Disability campaigner at Leonard Cheshire whose mischievous personality brought a fresh perspective to the charity

A privilege to have been able to write this tribute to the remarkable John Knight. What a life.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

He’s losing the conservatives

As he went on, another possibility sprang to mind. Perhaps Johnson has recruited some of the sarcastic writers who used to work for his British namesake Boris, filling his speeches with lines that were best understood as jokes against their employer. How else to explain the complaints that Russia was “more emboldened”, the warning against “the indulgence of self-interest” or the injunction to “call evil and madness what it is”? Hoyle looked round the room like a hawk when Johnson came out with that last line, daring anyone to laugh. It was the kind of speech that would have been largely anodyne at many other points over the last century. As it was, it was like a toast to your parents’ long and happy marriage delivered while your father was loudly banging his secretary in the next room. “We see the UK and Europe stepping up as faithful partners today,” Johnson said, speaking on behalf of the unfaithful partner currently posting screenshots of private messages from fellow leaders. He w

US Speaker Mike Johnson has been sent to win Britain over. But can he hear the words coming out of his own mouth? My SKETCH. thecritic.co.uk/calm...

‘I’m surprised to notice that Jenrick’s pint is now almost half empty’
- broken Britain, eh?

Boris Johnson’s pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 - how it’s going …

Recalling that Nadim Zahawi’s first job in government was 18 months as a wholly unsuited junior minister for children & families. Awful appointment by Theresa May.

Well …

Jim Thomas obituary Other lives: Health and social care consultant with a deep suspicion of rules for the sake of rules

One of the good guys …

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Just one of the many great reasons to join me at the European Social Services Conference in Malta in May

connect.esn-eu.org/public/confe...

I’ll shed no tears if I never hear another politician saying they shed no tears

Fantastic …