Anthony Barnett

RIP the great Martin Parr

The tech oligarchs are the most organised, determined anti democratic force we’ve seen this side of World War II

For way too long this has been ignored, elided and under estimated

What someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time

An extraordinary celebration of empathy. Eat your heart out Elon Musk! Thank you Caravaggio for this Misericordia - in Naples

A new force is stirring on the left Eco-populism is coming for the Labour party.

"This is a time of new forces in politics.

The beneficiaries of this change, so far, have been the radical right...

In Polanski’s campaign, we have, finally, to bottle these new winds into a political programme."

Brilliant article by @meadwaj.bsky.social

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

‘ICE was here’: Dedham church sparks outrage over nativity scene with political message A Dedham church is causing controversy over another political statement in their Nativity scene this holiday season.

Dedham Priest pissing off all the right people by removing Jesus from the church's nativity scene and putting up an ICE WAS HERE sign in His place.

www.boston25news.com/news/local/i...

This needs to be written up in @bylinetimes.bsky.social please @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social & @peterjukes.bsky.social

YouTube video by Byline TV Boris Johnson's KGB Links EXPOSED - John Sweeney FULL Documentary

Since we released this @johnsweeneyroar.bsky.social documentary two years ago, more information has come to light that Boris Johnson went to this meeting to discuss a 'backchannel' to Putin with Alexander Lebedev, who was working for the Kremlin in Crimea at the time

youtu.be/QkZzN3XHEPY?...

A Beginners Guide to Russian Influence: Brexit and Beyond Podcast Episode · Byline Podcast · 29/11/2025 · 31m

To #Brexit and Beyond!

A Beginner's Guide To #Russian Influence In UK Politics with @peterjukes.bsky.social

@goldbergradio.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Call a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy We are concerned about reported efforts from Russia to influence democracy in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere. We believe we must establish the depth and breadth of possible Russian influence campaigns in the UK ‣ More details Sign this petition 100,000 signatures Show on a map 100,000 Parliament will consider this for a debate Parliament considers all petitions

There you go.

Parliament will now consider debate on calls for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy

WaterBear: #CitizenFriday #CitizenFriday is more than a protest against the annual consumer event Black Friday. It’s designed to help people rediscover their agency with a standing invitation to act...

www.waterbear.com/mission/citi...

it’s:
#CitizenFriday!
🤗 Share
🪡 Repair
🌳 Get out in the fresh air

Yay!! I couldn’t be there but Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring just won gold at the APA podcast awards!!

Whole thing was crowdfunded by @the-citizens.bsky.social to highlight 5-year legal case to get an investigation into Russian interference in UK politics. Power to the people!

Welcome!

It is not gatekeeping to say that authors deserve to be paid, and it’s not gatekeeping to say you can get a book from a library — and, be part of a community whilst you do so! — rather than download it instantly from a faceless site from someone who stole it.

With Reform UK leading the polls here and national populism advancing across Europe, effective opposition means putting some old ideas aside. From my latest Nation, State and Politics post...
buff.ly/vG2cdSM

The budget shows how little power MPs have It's sort of democratic. But only sort of.

The budget tomorrow will reveal how little power MPs really have: open.substack.com/pub/abolishw... - by me

Juries are not perfect.

Many of the worst miscarriages of justice have followed jury trials.

But the merit of juries is not so much the power they have, but the power they prevent others from having.

They mean a judge cannot just nod-along with prosecution evidence and give a guilty verdict.

Reform UK and Russian bribes: a Nathan Gill timeline As Reform’s former leader in Wales is sentenced to ten and a half years for taking bribes from a pro-Russian actor, here's a chronology of his actions and the wider context of Putin, Ukraine and Brexi...

The motive! Chilling timeline on Farage's mate Gill and his taking bribes - thank you @thenerve.news! - it's also all about Ukraine and Putin's efforts to undermine support for Ukraine. Take a look: www.thenerve.news/p/nathan-gil...

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

My Facebook feed no longer has anything from people I know. Instead it's 99% AI slop videos of "trains floating on canal boats having accidents in which someone falls into the water". It's horrible, mainly because I can't stop watching them on repeat and the algorithm knows the darkness of my soul.

Great picture look at Murdoch’s face

Europe needs a new approach to tackling national populism
buff.ly/vG2cdSM

Nigel Farage responds to racism claims saying he never ‘tried to hurt anybody’ Reform leader denies racist or antisemitic behaviour ‘with intent’ at school, but says he can’t remember everything from 49 years ago

"Have I ever tried to take it out on any individual on the basis of where they're from? No. I have never directly really tried to go and hurt anybody".

If the press is giving Farage such a platform it must, as ITV News has done, scrutinise. That this isn't being reported prominently is astonishing.

This Saturday, London's Metropolitan Police arrested more than 90 protestors at the Peace Garden in Tavistock Square for holding a sign reading, "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."

As expected, overnight, they dropped fossil fuels from the drafts AGAIN.

You can't make this discussion happen last minute during COP30 just to look good (or in hopes that it will lead to a map that lets developing country oil producers drill for longer).

You have to want to focus on it!

Englishness is a contested identity: we must engage - or lose open.substack.com/pub/nationst...

How to survive a war with Russia As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds, philosophers, poets, anarchists and soldiers contemplate what they have lost, and what is still to emerge.

Outstanding! www.opendemocracy.net/en/ukraine-r... by @amansethi.bsky.social

A government that keeps talking about how bad its inheritance is but really hasn't, at any point, absorbed just how bad its inheritance is. (Which has partly led to it making its inheritance *harder* to fix in some places)