Parliamentary and Opposition squeamishness about mentioning Global Company's links to companies affiliated with the PLA and CCP is marked and enduring, and fits a pattern of fragmented discourse around where hostile state threats are posed to our national security.
I'm going to posit the theory that, as ever, Russia is an easier target to focus upon for the Opposition because it's an acknowledged hostile state on the highest tier of FIRS and China is not.
Booby traps disguised as wads of cash on the ground have now injured children in at least two Russian cities in the past six months. The pattern points to a deliberate tactic, though Russian authorities have not publicly identified who is responsible. meduza.io/en/news/2026...
Domino meme Small domino: a they/them in Budapest wants to wear a pride flag Big domino: the EU Army-led NATO coalition occupies Minsk
sorry sorry i process big news through the millennial language of memes
tired: laptop bag made of tyvek
wired, one day: daily me newspaper printed on tyvek
VIOLENCE is never the answer, my granddad used to say. As such, when I appeared on The Weakest Link a few years back, and Anne Robinson asked "What "V' is a noun meaning 'physical force intend. ed to hurt, damage or kill?'," I said I didn't know, and subsequently got voted off without winning a penny. Thanks a fucking bunch, granddad. T Ellen, London
we all know I have no life, so:
Re-upping this one because it's a far more pleasant read than some of the soul-destroying drudge of today, and it features David Attenborough and then-US President Obama. What's not to like.
As evidenced today through Robbins' revelations and yesterday's dissection of the PM's understanding of the Mandelson litany of errors.
www.thetimes.com/article/db12...
Sadly, I think this comes down to traditionalist contempt for due process and ethical considerations deemed beneath the ambitions of incumbent and prospective powers rather than any enthusiasm for enacting real change.
As many people anticipated at the time! Labour of all parties should have been more wary of applying the 'move quickly and break things' approach
*chuckle*
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
A small point from the Mandelson/Robbins saga. Refom and many Tories argue for a civil service than can be more easily bent to the will and whims of their elected political masters.
This is precisely what happened here.
Because clearly persec - vetting - means knack-all if the environment for corruption and worse remains the same in Whitehall, and the outcomes of the vetting process can be so easily negated to enable an inappropriate person to take up their post.
If Labour are serious about reviewing the vetting apparatus following the Mandelson affair then it would preferably sit holistically within the entire structure that manages ethics and integrity in public office.
And why giving police (and the afore mentioned Ethics and Integrity Commission) the appropriate legislation to execute against corrupt public figures is ever important, to top and tail the vetting/persec process.
bsky.app/profile/usag...
It's why the Rycroft review has been so important -
bsky.app/profile/usag...
Or when events don't go their way.
These conditions abet corruption and insiders that will threaten government security apparatus and the trust of stakeholders/partners, and undermine HMG credibility in trade and intelligence sharing.
Frankly, if these are the conditions that've been made in the civil service and government around personnel security, international partners have every right to look at our administration askance and no one in HMG has the right to whinge when they're caught up in negative press.
So, a Commission review into lobbying, disclosures and accesses to government is certainly helpful but it could be made more robust by enabling the Commission to carry out its own dynamic investigation activities where required, based on its findings.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
The Commission's remit will be to assist public bodies in their implementation of the new Public Office (Accountability) Bill that is replacing the Misconduct in Public Office common law offence that Mandelson's being prosecuted for, with two new statutory offences.
bsky.app/profile/usag...
This is the same Ethics and Integrity Commission that unfortunately hasn't been provided with the legislative power to launch its own investigations or field complaints against public officials. bsky.app/profile/usag...
Hence why it's so important that the Ethics and Integrity Commission is given the legislative teeth it needs to conduct its own investigations of public officials. It currently does not have that prerogative.
bsky.app/profile/usag...
“Today’s revelations that No10 put the Foreign Office under pressure to put – not just one – but two political allies into key diplomatic roles points to a very concerning ‘jobs for mates’ culture and a deeply cavalier attitude to conflicts of interest..."
This article on substack & polymarket is really worth reading.
"These guys are all about trapping you, me, all of us into a permanent state of braindead catatonia in which all we do all day is doom scroll and click buttons that send money to billionaires."
open.substack.com/pub/speterda...
I'm all for risk mitigations in vetting but given Robbins didn't even have access to the full Mandelson report, nor the UKSV recommendation template, I'm going to say he's not best placed to comment on the types of people vetted and passed for clearance with added nuances.
I do seriously wonder about the objectives and priorities of government officials in this context.
Really? Try telling that to the vetting aftercare teams across departments having to exert more effort to protect "interesting" people with additional, easily exploitable vulnerabilities. Or the families of individuals granted clearance who are then pressured by a hostile state.
Apparently the more gravitas surrounding your role in government, the less the need for adherence to due process that others accessing similar or even lower classification materials must observe.
Mandelson didn't hold an existing clearance, which is an established prerequisite for accessing higher classification material (in this case, he needed DV with supplements). This isn't difficult. It just becomes so when government says to run rough-shod over due process.