Ken Crook

This is utterly damning, and yet still about as generous as possible

Trump has a rally tonight in Mississippi, in case you're wondering how things are shaping up for Republicans

BBC News just interrupted its coverage to go, live, to Nigel Farage - a man with no contitutional standing in our setup - responding to the budget - a document which nobody has seen yet. WHY

Well you can't get much clearer than that. Restore are Putin stooges.

Your monthly reminder that if you're using ChatGPT to do your science, you're failing your colleagues, community, and all of us. Here, ChatGPT makes up data and presents it as the real thing — then apologizes when confronted.

The great U.S. betrayal of #Ukraine and why #Trump is selling out the West for Putin - In my latest Lowdown podcast I talk to author & legendary justice campaigner @billbrowder.bsky.social shows.acast.com/the-lowdown-... via @acast & And on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_J6...

Europe is the future now www.arguably.uk/p/europe-is-...

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I was having conversations with journalists just a few months ago about whether democracy was doomed. Look at this year: Orban defeated. Vukic defeated. Bolsonaro Jr defeated. Trump heading to likely defeat in midterms. That’s the beauty of democracy. Voters can respond. Don’t count it out yet.

After years of obstructing the EU, Orbán is apparently being lined up for a promotion to obstruct the entire world.

In one day, two politicians - Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vucic in Serbia - with ties to Trump have lost surprise elections thanks to high turnout. The rise of the international far-right is not inevitable.

We’ve made Oxford Street traffic-free – and that’s just the start. Soon there’ll be green spaces for arts and music too | Sadiq Khan

In his acceptance speech, Lula says he will work to regulate digital platforms in Brazil. “Digital crimes must be dealt with like real-life crimes.” This comes after Meta directly interfered with the Brazilian elections, favouring Flávio Bolsonaro.

Vučić’s defeat could mark a geopolitical turning point for Serbia. It could also inject fresh momentum into EU enlargement across the W. Balkans, where progress has stalled for years. A Serbia firmly anchored in Europe would transform the region’s outlook and significantly weaken Russia’s influence

Incredible. Student List are candidates selected by groups of students to form an anti-corruption party. Another youth-led movement overthrowing an authoritarian government in Europe.

Now that we know Elon murdered the Ukrainian children reminder that Andrew Puzder aggressively threatened the EU after they started talking about divesting in the aftermath. www.ft.com/content/d1e2...

The EU doesn't care about the Euro or Schengen. Straw man

Le Pen is not Meloni. France is not Italy Those drawing simplistic parallels risk underestimating how disruptive a Le Pen presidency would be — for France, the EU, and wider geopolitics

I fear this stuff sells, if not to the marginal voter but to the Republican base who might not otherwise bother to turn out. The last time I was in Michigan I was peppered with questions by a couple about why "you let Britain be taken over by Muslims". When I objected they asked if I was a Muslim

It seems impossible for our political system to hold the politicians tied to the actual invasion of our Capitol to account, but any random Muslim candidate is reflexively labeled a terrorist.

Again, worth analysing Burnham as if he is really good at politics: moving red lines from things EU can't accept (free movement) to things it might (euro). Changing terms of debate on an issue from negative (uncontrolled immigration) to positive (Brits can go abroad for work).

Fascinating Jeremy, now tell us about the time you cut national insurance twice as an electoral game despite knowing we couldn't afford it.

So in a huge surprise to absolutely no one, it turns out that NIH director Jay Bhattacharya's new journal based on the premise of letting his friends and only his friends publish essentially whatever they want is full of crackpot nonsense from retired cranks.

I think @andyburnham.bsky.social wants to rejoin the EU. Not spin. It's incredibly bold to even raise free movement. Perhaps testing the water to see if public opinion on immigration has changed. The Europeans are paying attention

Yes, but your two big ideas so far have been police and crime commissioners and Brexit. Shall we check on them first?

This is just dreadful stuff from Kuenssberg: "What has the government done to cut the national debt?" ONS: "Public sector net debt was provisionally estimated at 94.0% of GDP, 0.7 percentage points lower than a year earlier"

“In any case, regulation still leaves the underlying problem untouched: that of corporations squatting upon public infrastructure. Addressing that requires us to transform the relationship between technology and the public.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Grim stories from Brazil. Indigenous voters going to the city a day early because they don’t trust their state not to cut off their travel routes on election day: www.instagram.com/reel/De4z6kP... - while many flights to the north east, a pro-Lula region, have been cancelled without explanation.

On Thursday @godin.bsky.social will be in the Bellingcat Discord server to discuss the techniques and insights emerging from his ongoing satellite imagery analysis of changes to Gaza’s landscape over the past three years of intensified conflict. Join our live Q&A: discord.gg/bellingcat?e...

Why EU free movement is an opportunity, not a threat – as Burnham makes the case, read @johnspringford.bsky.social for Arguably. “It is strange to reject one of the few policies that we know would raise growth and improve our fiscal position.” www.arguably.uk/p/eu-free-mo...

Very impressive that he's talking about this.

"The Home Office has identified a new problem with migrant care workers. The people presented as a burden on Britain because they earn too little have become so indispensable that they must be prevented from finding a better or higher-paid job." ukandeu.ac.uk/unaffordable...

Unless I am misunderstanding something in these figures, deportation figures under Donald Trump are comparable to the Obama administration. Even deportations of long-resident migrants not at the border itself: www.migrationpolicy.org/publication/...

France is trying to come to terms with a disturbing new development tonight - a terrorist attack on black people and muslims in a town just south west of Paris 1/ www.lemonde.fr/societe/live...

A gambling company closely linked to Nigel Farage’s right-hand "Posh George" Cottrell got its licence using a document which appears to have been faked. Major coop w/ @coramazov.bsky.social and @georgegreenwood.bsky.social democracyforsale.substack.com/p/gambling-s...

😳 WOMAN REPORTER: Do sexual abuse allegations mean nothing to you, sir? TRUMP: Wait. Wait! Wait wait wait. Slow down. Who are you with? REPORTER: NBC, sir. But they are very serious sex abuse allegations TRUMP: Quiet! Isn't she a fresh person? You're a horrible little reporter, aren't you?

The more you read of this story, the worse it gets

The poisoning of the US rightwing mind long predates Trump. But now, under Trump, we are seeing the logical conclusion of politics built entirely on a lack of shame or any aversion to lies. Even promoting the rapists of children, and their defenders, is now deemed acceptable political territory.

What gets missed about rioting: it's great fun. An essay davidaaronovitch.substack.com/p/the-joy-of...

The Russians have made their strategy dependent on Trump delivering final outcomes that the Trump administration is now too weak to achieve

There’s a long read from a few weeks ago about the heroic role of the BBC’s chair Samir Shah (Paywall but with free trial) nickcohen.substack.com/p/the-bbc-fi...

A good thread!

Violent Jewish settlers believe God gave them the West Bank, Iranian theocrats slaughter dissenters in the name of Allah, evangelicals keep the corrupt Trump idiocracy in power, Yet BBC thinks the real enemy is Richard Dawkins and the “chippy” atheists who fight reactionary religion Piece from me

Billionaire Reform donor was in business with foundation linked to Iranian regime www.theguardian.com/politics/202...