Paul B

Now in Gunmetal Grey!

The Jason Arday story is by no means the biggest scandal at Cambridge University. I'm sure the media is going to pick this up and run with it in just the same way ... Or is the exaggerated CV of one Black professor somehow more important than this?

NEW: Who funds Nigel Farage? And why has it taken till now for any journalistic scrutiny? @carolecadwalla.bsky.social who has tracked him for a decade exposes how the UK press & regulators looked the other way 🧵👇

NEW: This is a terrific deep dive into Epstein & Russia by @professorshaw.bsky.social for @thenerve.news which starts with ‘Yachtgate’, Mandelson’s 2008 scandal involving Nat Rothschild, George Osborne & Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska 1/ www.thenerve.news/p/peter-mand...

The debate is about how national, cultural and ethnic understandings of being English interact. My understanding is that the broadly held view is "inclusive nativism" www.britishfuture.org/who-gets-to-...

I hear that you are a racist club now, Man Utd?

Corruption. Nothing less can describe the scale of this influence. I asked ministers this week if they would cap donations at the same time as asking about openness on lobbying meetings, and this was the part of the question they refused to answer.

A correction for the ages (from The Guardian's review of 'Melania'):

A reminder that Liam Ramos, the son of legal residents in Minnesota, is still being held in a Texas prison. A five year old little boy - and America’s global reputation - now scarred for life. (📸 Ali Daniel’s/AP)

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on US imperialist aggression against Greenland, "Threats, pressure and condescending speech. Even from our closest allies for a lifetime" "About wanting to take over another country and another people, as if it were something you could buy and own"

As Underworld's discography from 1994 to 2016 saw reissue, Darran Anderson surveyed how their frantic, beautiful music both embodied the overwhelm of city life and offered a rapturous escape from it Quietus Best Of 2025: How Underworld Embodied the Agony and Ecstasy of Urban Life buff.ly/soNPuTe

The Embassy staff of Germany, France and the United Kingdom sing Schedryk in the Kyiv underground. Wonderful!

American social media platforms are banned in Russia. Have you noticed Donald isn't sanctioning anyone over that?

those who predicted authoritarianism were both dismissed, & deeply misunderstood, by the media my latest for @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2042...

Nigel Farage’s biggest donor—who’s just bankrolled Reform UK with £9 mn—is tied to a platform that continues to carry Russian state propaganda and a Kremlin intelligence-linked influence operation. The money flows from a major investor in Tether—the world’s largest stablecoin—

Senior MPs including Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and Darren Jones are claiming tens of thousands of pounds a year in taxpayer-funded rent expenses while either calling for or implementing benefit cuts on the poorest By me, for the Big Issue www.bigissue.com/news/politic...

this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself it is also free to read youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...

Nice one Private Eye! Out now... 👍

EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification. I glanced down at the message. “Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began. So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...

🧵🚨 The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news. Today our report is published! www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n... 1/11

Yes, yes I know I keep banging on about my fucking book! However, if you want one repost this and I’ll do a random winner pick thing by the end of the week because I’m great like that. ♥️📚 #amindofmyown

🔴NEW🔴 Thread 🧵 @bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12

Since May this year, at least 15 Reform UK councillors have been suspended, expelled, or resigned. Among them, four are under criminal investigation for serious offences, yet the media keeps platforming their hollow figurehead.

Nigel Farage uses private company to pay less tax on £400,000 GB News earnings. Poor attendance record in parliament, collects £94,000 salary+expenses. Has used a trust fund in an offshore tax haven. Previously described people who try to avoid tax as the “common enemy”.

"Every leader meeting with Trump on Monday knows these issues better than Trump and his expert-free team...They not only will not be cowed, they will not be conned." Read @djrothkopf.bsky.social for his insights on the way to a chef's kiss final paragraph. open.substack.com/pub/davidrot...

I wrote about Trump, Epstein, and "Twin Peaks" sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/laura-palm...

New post by me on the implications for global science from America's scientific retreat and what we need to do about it. christinapagel.substack.com/p/americas-r... this is adapted from an editorial I wrote for the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

How does the right tear down progressive societies? It starts with a joke | George Monbiot

My latest post charting the erosion of free dissent in the US open.substack.com/pub/christin...

The BBC v The Ministry of Truth www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

www.liberalcurrents.com/a-disease-of...

🏛️🔥 6. Cassandra - Everything Must Be Said Again 🔥🏛️ NEW EPISODE: Cassandra. Unheeded wisdom or unnecessary pessimism? Woman vs Man? East vs West? Science vs Denial? Why we listen to some people. Why we don't listen to others. 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/0tCz... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

bsky.app/profile/book...

Awful scenes at the shops today as someone's nan got locked inside their cybertruck and had to call tech support to be let out.

The criminal justice system is in a right state, and politicians on all sides won't do what's needed to truly rescue it standard.co.uk/comment/just... Inside this week's London Standard

🎉Publication day for 'Anywhere But Here'! Hard to put into words what it means for a tiny seed of an idea to make its way into the world. Huge thanks to the brave people who spoke to me and to my agent and publisher. Order here Waterstones: tinyurl.com/8fucp49x Bookshop.org: tinyurl.com/hprhh7xu

The logic of witch-hunts and slave trading are evident in the Trump administration’s justification of its deportations, writes @davidallengreen.bsky.social. www.prospectmagazine...

I LOVE IT. London don’t stop!!! 🇬🇧🇨🇦🇺🇦

🔴The 'Gag Order': Trump Comes to Bury Free Speech, Not Defend It The most sinister instances of censorship and repression are happening in America right here, right now, says @alexhh.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2025/03/17/t...

The government is going to slash benefits for some of the most vulnerable people today - and no impact assessment is going to be published to explain why or what the reason is. I hope someone challenges this by judicial review. I'll chip in towards the costs. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/03...

Becky Burke of Book Island (a picture book publisher in the UK founded by my fellow Tokarczuk translator Greet Pauwelijn) was "detained" by ICE at the Canadian border on 2/28. Her father asked that her story be shared in case someone can help her. He writes: