Thread with links to the English, German, Italian, and French version of our anti-autocracy handbook for scholars! Check it out

The Asset Class by Hettie O’Brien review – private equity is coming for us all A fascinating, infuriating, immaculately researched account of how wealth management giants snap up the services upon which rely to extract eye-watering profits

The Asset Class by Hettie O’Brien review – private equity is coming for us all

Tortoise Media has celebrated the one year takeover of the Observer by axing two photographers. They’d been with the paper for more than half a century. No notice, no warning, no pay off.

Ex-RBS banker sentenced over bribery linked to GRG scandal Stuart Holloway formerly worked as a relationship manager at bank’s infamous SME unit

Prison sentence for ex-RBS banker over bribery linked to GRG scandal by a Scottish Court.

Extorted £274,811 between 2012 and 2016 from clients, threatened financial hardship unless they paid bribes.

Crooked bankers can be jailed but are indulged by authorities in England.
archive.ph/4KjhR

Lebanon accuses Israel of blocking attempt to rescue journalist after bomb strike Journalists Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj were both caught in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, with the former trapped under rubble for hours

Israeli strike kills journalist after ongoing attacks blocked rescuers, Lebanon says

I know it's been chaotic lately but it bears repeating:

Jeffrey Epstein did not act alone.

Arrest them all.

Paracetamol costs have jumped up to 30% due to Iran war, pharmacies warn Chemists in England are also charging customers 20-30% more for common hay fever treatment compared with February

Trump's Iran war has pushed up the price of medicines in England, including painkillers, hay fever medication.

UK is not self sufficient in most things, more prone to imported inflation and economic shocks.

Can easily locally produce generic drugs, but govts lack vision.

Photo of a large spacecraft sitting in a black-walled enclosure, taken looking down to the spacecraft. The top of the spacecraft features the shiny lenses of 26 large cameras in hues of bright blue and magenta. The cameras are mounted on a five stepped platform and arranged in four rows of six cameras, plus a top row with two cameras.

Photo of a mostly black and boxy spacecraft inside a large, black-walled chamber. The picture is taken looking into the enclosure through a wide circular opening. Lifting straps are attached to the spacecraft and connected to a yellow overhead crane hook, holding the spacecraft suspended in mid-air. Two engineers in white overalls are standing on a raised platform near the spacecraft. Two other engineers are standing on the floor outside the chamber observing the procedure.

Plato aces space-like tests 🥇

The spacecraft recently emerged from the Large Space Simulator chamber, where it was subjected to various tests under temperatures ranging from 150 °C 🥵 to –90 °C 🥶

With this accomplishment, Plato is on track to lift off in early 2027👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

🔭 🧪

Has Richard Tice resigned from his front bench & deputy leader positions in Reform yet?

It's a week since controversy over his unpaid tax came to light. It is way more serious than anything related to Angela Rayner.

He called for her to go. But he remains in place.

Why won't Reform take action?

Reform UK unveils plans for Union flags and ‘patriotic’ history lessons in schools The party has announced a string of education policies ahead of St George’s Day

Patriotic history is what you get in dictatorships.

Mind you, Al Capone was keen on it, too.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

THE GOVERNMENT’S SHOCKING & SHAMEFUL IMMIGRATION PLAN AND WHY WE MUST OPPOSE IT YouTube video by Peter Stefanovic

The governments plan to offer rapid routes to settlement for those earning six-figure salaries whilst punishing and making lower-paid workers wait appears to be based on the notion that care workers are “low-skilled” because they are low-paid - its an absolute disgrace

youtu.be/DI1arGGNP50?...

Could Reform UK be the greatest danger to the Welsh language and history since Henry VIII? Wales has faced threats before – but critics warn Reform UK could rival Henry VIII in undermining its language and identity

Wales has faced threats before – but critics warn Reform UK could rival Henry VIII in undermining its language and identity | Niklas George

The coolest thing about solar energy is that you don't need to invade another country to go get it. GREENPEACE

👇🏽

A catastrophic climate event is upon us. Here is why you’ve heard so little about it | George Monbiot Scientists say a crucial Atlantic system is set to collapse. But the billionaire death cult that steers humanity’s destiny just doesn’t do existential crises, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

While we are transfixed by the antics of our supposed "leaders", a catastrophe of astonishing proportions has been creeping up on us. Climate scientists now believe it is more likely than not to happen, and soon.
This week's column.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Migrant care workers to leaflet Shabana Mahmood constituents over longer wait to settle Campaign is said to be first time Labour-affiliated Unison is lobbying en masse against a key party policy Migrant workers and the UK’s largest union will carry out a mass leafleting campaign in Shabana Mahmood’s Birmingham constituency to protest against a planned change in immigration policy. The Labour-affiliated Unison union says the changes will adversely affect migrant care workers. About one-third of all care workers and one-fifth of all NHS workers are migrants. Continue reading...

Migrant care workers to leaflet Shabana Mahmood constituents over longer wait to settle

Car finance compensation scheme faces challenge and delay The move could further delay payouts to millions of drivers who were mis-sold motor finance.

Car finance compensation scheme faces challenge and delay.

First the Treasury tried to subvert the Supreme Court judgment.

Then the FCA subverted the court outcome to help banks.

FCA has no independence from the finance industry, unfit to be a regulator.

Well this one carries a trigger-warning...

Starmer drama, Tice's taxes… the usual week of nonsense

But also...

A deeply disturbing website where men share tips on drugging and assaulting their partners

Barely bloody covered - and where are the arrests?!

AOC is all sensible Americans right now, Americans who have completely lost patience with the wildly incompetent, lying loons currently running things who undermine our sanity, wealth, and wellbeing.

Reporter: What do you make of Republicans saying that Virginia—

AOC: Wah wah wah.

We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no.

What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.

Of course the "Trump envoy" is Paolo Zampoli, his Eurotrash party boy and model agency friend who introduced Melania to Trump and was last seen getting Epstein victims/whistleblowers deported by ICE.

More Than Half of American Men Believe Abortion Should Be Legal. They Need to Speak Up. Men for Choice is a nonprofit that’s mobilizing men to protect reproductive freedom

61 percent of American men identify as pro-choice. They may not know how best to get involved, but their engagement is critically important. Men for Choice is a nonprofit that’s mobilizing men to protect reproductive freedom.

Influencers Are Spinning Nicotine as a ‘Natural’ Health Hack

RETURN OF A "NATURAL" KILLER
Wellness influencers are pushing nicotine patches, gums, lozenges, and pouches to treat Alzheimer's, cancer, Parkinson's disease, "male vitality".

RFK, Jr. openly pops the pouches.
Now a former tobacco executive is joining the CDC

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/w...

Use of toxic Pfas in consumer goods must be urgently restricted, MPs say Commons committee heard from residents of Yorkshire town with the highest levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in UK On 15 January, members of the House of Commons environmental audit committee (EAC) visited Bentham, the North Yorkshire town that has the highest levels of Pfas contamination in the UK. Colloquially known as “forever chemicals”, Pfas (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) do not naturally degrade or decompose. This persistence gives them special properties with useful applications in both industrial and consumer products. Continue reading...

Use of toxic Pfas in consumer goods must be urgently restricted, MPs say

Number of billionaires globally could reach 4,000 in next five years There are now 3,110 billionaires but analysis shows ‘deep structural acceleration’ in wealth creation around world The number of billionaires in the world could reach nearly 4,000 by 2031, figures suggest, as the super-rich accumulate wealth at an accelerating rate. There are now 3,110 billionaires globally, according to analysis by the estate agent Knight Frank. This is forecast to rise by 25% over the next five years, taking the total to 3,915. Continue reading...

Number of billionaires globally could reach 4,000 in next five years

They paused Oversight Committee hearings the minute we started getting answers about the Epstein files.

Now it’s “roundtables”: no rules, no oaths, no subpoenas.

You do the math. Because the moment accountability shows up, they shut it down. The survivors deserve better.

Some "Turning Point" child turned up at one of my kids' universities today doing a "debate me" thing.

Pretty much the whole campus turned out to laugh at them because most young people aren't racist wankers.

Any "extraordinarily brilliant person" would know his presidency is in free-fall after his disastrous decision to enter another endless war-of-choice in the Middle East & that on November 3rd accountability is coming for the most corrupt criminal Administration in U.S. History.

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