🏖️Thames Water's creditors have been trying for months to win a holiday from the rules as part of their bid to formally take over the utility.
🤔 Right now, Ofwat's Board are SPLIT over whether or not to let them.
✍️ Write to the Board of Ofwat now. Urge them to reject the creditors
This is such an insightful, wide ranging and ultimately hopeful interview with @quinnslobodian.com
How Elon Musk and the Tech Billionaires Hijacked the State and Our Minds
With Matt Gallagher on @bylinetimes.bsky.social
bylinetimes.com/2026/04/17/h...
And can I just add… No one at Palantir seems to be able to read or write.
“We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism”
Take out the vapid tautologies and you get:
“We must resist pluralism”
Great tell.
🔥🛢️BREAKING: The Russian oil refinery in Tuapse was hit hard overnight, footage shows widespread fires raging across the site, with a lot of separate fire outbreaks visible.
The crew of the Russian ship went out on deck to watch the attack on their ship from the front row.
“Prymary” unit strikes two Russian landing ships, Yamal and Nikolai Filchenkov, as well as “Podlyot-K1” radar system in Crimea.
If you read one thing today ...
An essential article by the great @billmckibben.bsky.social
billmckibben.substack.com/p/big-oil-br...
UK Chancellor to bank CEOs to discuss how to limit the economic impact of the Iran war.
Why bank bosses only? Shows where power is
Would they urge
Lower profit margins at banks
Tax on windfall profits
No mortgage default repossessions
No subsidies for banks
Regulation of shadow banks
Thought not.
NHS hospital waiting list down to 7.22m appointments for 6.11m individuals.
Down from 7.77m when Tories left office.
2.70m waiting over 18 weeks.
Illnesses has huge social cost - pressure on public services, welfare, economic output.
Must expand NHS capacity.
Mobile air defense group shoots down Russian Shahed over Cherkasy region
More than half of Britons support rejoining EU 10 years on from Brexit vote.
Brexit was secured with lies. It hasn't delivered any of the claimed economic benefits.
Post Trump world will be more polarized.
Nobody under the age of 28 had a say on Brexit.
Need another referendum.
A serviceman of Ukraine’s 38th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment downs a Russian cruise missile using a MANPADS.
President Trump, your Melania movie has bombed
Elon’s emails to Epstein.
Location: Starbase, Texas
Former political prisoner Nasrin Parvaz reads a letter to Keir Starmer signed by more than 100 pro-democracy, pro-justice and anti-war British-Iranians, including other former Evin detainees Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Aras Amiri. Full list of signatories is at togetherforiran.org
The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, Washington DC
These two women are suing Andrew Tate, alleging he raped them. Here they visit the social media companies that created Tate. Please share.
*one voice altered to disguise identity
Right now, three oil refineries are burning simultaneously in Russia. Novokuibyshevsk and Syzran are burning after tonight's night attack, and Tuapse, in the video, is burning for the third day after the last attack.
A Ukrainian military ground logistics drone follows traffic rules, yielding to other road users.
The Birds of Magyar unit destroyed Russian TOS-1A MLRS. The vehicle was initially critically damaged by Bulava loitering munition, causing detonation of a few missiles, and later finished of by FPV strikes.
Bulava loitering munition strike causes the Russian TOS-1A 220mm MLRS to open fire on its own cover group.
Security Service of Ukraine claims that during the overnight strike on Sevastopol, multiple Russian naval and infrastructure targets were hit.
• Large landing ships Yamal and Azov
• One additional warship of unknown type
• Dolphin communications system, MR-10M1 “Mis-M1” radar
• Yugtorsan fuel depot
Heavy bomber drones deploy mine barriers along Russian logistics routes.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has set an ambitious goal to transition up to 100% of frontline logistics to robotic systems.
To meet new target, Ukraine’s MoD plans to contract 25,000 UGVs in the first half of 2026, twice as many as were contracted throughout all of 2025.
🥖Russian drone operator base destroyed by AASM HAMMER airstrike from MiG-29
It's the opposite of his intention, but the Idiot Emperor is forcing the world off fossil fuels. This week's column.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
MP introduces Bill to prevent England water companies from "delaying" payment of fines.
Companies negotiate fines, which are later deferred/waived. It is a licence to abuse.
Execs rewarded for boosting profits through illegal practices, face no fines.
Bill won't become law. Govt/Tories oppose it.
Central banks meet to gauge threat of Lehman-style bust.
Tests incomplete - shadow banks, including hedge funds & private equity are unregulated.
UK Govt deregulating retail banks.
Major banks will be bailed out by the public purse. No incentive to behave responsibly.
I wrote a piece on my favourite Edinburgh building on BuildEdinburgh.Substack.com Can you guess what it is (it's not the Castle)?
Wes Streeting supports welfare cuts to fund defence.
He lets private equity make billions from outsourcing NHS, social care.
Silence on corporate welfare spending.
Since 2010 HMRC failed to collect £500bn in taxes. Capital gains and dividends taxed at lower rates than wages.
