Maureen Nicholson

Charging for things is so so so so underrated

Just to be clear, Elon Musk’s disabling of starlink/starshield helps Putin target civilians rather than Ukrainian forces. By hampering air defences, he’s not just helping Russia’s military. He’s helping it commit war crimes

'Which taxes do you want to raise instead?' should be the default question to anyone who calls for reductions in immigration.

The Times - which has v much joined in the rightwing clamour to reduce immigration - now reporting that Mahmood’s “success” has cost the economy £4- to £7Bn. Would they like to now honestly confirm that fewer people = less spending power for all. There’s a high price to pay for this nasty obsession.

How it started / How it's going

Bill Bryson’s words seem appropriate to post right now

Since its foundation in 1824 the bravery of Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers has saved more than 146,700 lives at sea. Hundreds of those volunteers have died attempting to save others. They are the best of us.

Un passage du document, stipulant en anglais que la France va «accepter» sur son sol les migrants interceptés dans les eaux britanniques, ne figure pas dans la traduction française. ➡️ https://l.liberation.fr/1sJ

The problem with Muslim migrants is they don’t really subscribe to British values like letting women play a full part in public life. [Muslim woman becomes leader of a London council] This is an affront to British values.

The legitimate investigations into a proven and convicted fraudster? Interesting choice of parallel.

I don't disagree but I would add that in any case, the Good Law Project's 'we need an inquiry/we need regulation' campaign is unhelpful because it moves the focus away from an issue of individual editorial judgement to a call for regulation that a) not gonna happen and b) is not that relevant.

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Immigrant detainees at Delaney Hall ICE prison in Newark, NJ have been forced to cook, clean, & repair the facility for as little as $1/day and sometimes for free. They are on a hunger & labor strike; protesters outside have been tear-gassed. Here's our report, including a quote from a detainee:

Tony Blair, a lobbyist with close ties to the Trump administration and fossil fuel industries, says the UK should drill more oil and get closer to the Trump administration

"When did we start calling any flat that isn’t designated as affordable ‘luxury’? Anyone who’s seen a new-build one-bed or studio flat in London knows it’s not ‘luxury’. Liveable, yes. But no one is building Peckham flats for Russian oligarchs or Middle Eastern royalty."

Deeply pathetic that BBC is reporting this as a Reform power struggle rather than explaining that Reform's policies would require deporting people -including pensioners - who have lived and worked here legally for decades. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK universities cut jobs, research and teaching amid squeeze in overseas students - www.ft.com/content/ded7... I don't really understand why any administration would not try to reverse the fall in overseas student numbers, but I guess I'm a naive liberal

ICE agents pepper-sprayed Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey.

If you were horrified watching elected leaders run & scramble because of gun violence, just imagine how my daughter Jaime felt in school running from an active shooter before she was killed. Now, become a part of the solution & only vote for people determined to address gun violence in America.

1/6 🧵The Pope has put his finger on Trump’s greatest weakness on foreign policy. With his narcissistic delusion of omnipotence, he doesn’t understand how Great Powers maintain hegemony. Along with Hegseth he thinks it’s all a matter of brute force. Alliances, diplomacy & soft power are ‘woke’.

Your regular reminder that the US had a pain-stakingly negotiated and workable deal with Iran when Trump came to power, but he tore it up. He's now desperately trying to secure a deal much worse than the one he set aside.

Marathon talks? Compared to what? It took years for Obama to deliver a detailed Iran deal. The Trump admin are packing it in after 20 hours. (H/T @bgrueskin.bsky.social)

Just a reminder that the senator who sponsored the bill which became law with broad bipartisan support that states a president cannot pull the US out of NATO without congressional approval was … Marco Rubio.

This is HUGE mistake. I would understand continuing with the visit, despite humiliating circumstances, if it had any genuine chance of restoring transatlantic relations. But it won’t. Trump will bask in the spotlight, and go back to slagging off the UK one day later. www.nbcnews.com/world/united...

❗❗ FT exclusive: A broker for Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to three people familiar with the matter www.ft.com/content/744e...

Golden retriever runs 15 feet after owner mimes throwing tennis ball

So do we think Robert Jenrick is busy reading loads of Psalms this morning? 🌴

Afghan women have now been banned from applying to study in British universities by the Labour government www.gov.uk/government/s...

"The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better." The Defense Secretary calling for a billionaire ally of the government to take over a media outlet & make it more pro-government. This is what authoritarianism looks like. But in other countries they try & hide it.

✋ Former USG war crimes lawyer here. Apropos of SecDef's remarks this morning: Denial of quarter—even the declaration of no quarter—is a war crime. And recognized as such by the US Government. From DoD's Manual for Military Commissions.

Such a dismal tale about the UK govt: so obsessed w competing with far-right to keep out foreigners that it won’t let in the brightest & best from war-torn countries even when they’re hand-picked by the FCDO, lest they ask to stay. Soft power sacrificed, but how many Reform voters will it convert?

As someone with the honour to know and work with many bright young Sudanese - this breaks my heart. For the students, for the universities, for their communities (and ours in the UK) who will miss out on this opportunity. What a cruel and short-sighted policy.

The word on this morning’s episode of Yakka Dee is “hedgehog” and I love the idea that someone scheduled this to get the nation’s toddlers trolling the right by shouting HEDGEHOG all day 🦔 🦔

I'm not a commodities guy but I don't know how many more events like this the markets will be willing to overlook because Trump occasionally shouts, "nearly done!" at a reporter from his golf cart.

Actually, this on a banknote

I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public. I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are. 1/ Here's what I can share:

This is appalling. The Home Office rejected an appeal from the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, that would have protected outstanding students in some of the world’s most dangerous countries from changes to the UK’s immigration system www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This very straight news piece buried deep within the FT never uses words like corruption or insider dealing but every detail is quietly devastating. Why is the FT virtually alone in the UK media in covering this important story?

🧵Feels like shouting into the void, but it is essential to note that the Trump/Rubio gutting of the State Department and blowtorching of US diplomatic capacity and credibility is an accelerant to this spiraling war and will seriously undercut US/allied efforts to pick up the pieces after. 1/

Absolutely insupportable. Labour have a massive majority. It’s a hugely popular issue. To fail to act would be a dereliction of historic proportions, and utterly inexplicable.

I see the papers which screamed ‘tAKe bACK ConTRol’ now want the UK to be nothing but an obedient servant of the USA