When Angela Rayner underpaid £40,000 in stamp duty, Richard Tice said it was "morally completely indefensible” and she should resign if she had “any moral decency”.
Now we learn he set up four shell companies that let him avoid paying £100,000 he owed in tax and to then transfer the cash to Reform
Packets of all four flavours of Nik Naks, together in a shop
This might not translate globally, but for UK people, this is like seeing the Beatles reform
Matt Goodwin posting on twitter having a go at Waterstones saying… “Hey @Waterstones. Where's Suicide of a Nation? Weird how the No.1 paperback in Britain never happens to be on display…” Not realising he’s standing in front of hardback books.
As an author who also happens to have a book in @waterstones.bsky.social, I at least know the difference between paperback and hardback books, which he’s standing in front of…
📢 We've reached *3000* documented authoritarian-like actions of Trump's second term since Jan 2025...
the two most recent are classic suppression of the press & using the justice system to attack political enemies
www.trumpactiontracker.info
In the pantheon of political hilarity, I think Hegseth quoting Pulp Fiction instead of the Bible deserves a much higher place.
IMHO only beaten by the all-time GOAT, the Four Seasons Total Landscaping debacle -and the fact that "The FIFA Peace Prize" is a thing
share.google/S4Kg8d0JOYug...
our seminal FT scoop about this was literally four months before that interview
www.ft.com/content/0723...
this is super interesting and also encouraging - Ukraine has become the world's leading drone superpower
The significant year on year fall on boat arrivals is broadly unreported by BBC or other media. It has less to do with imminent government changes currently going through than a fall in "push factors" that is Europe-wide
A plausible explanation given the stated claims, if those claims are correct.
I now see what happened with the Mandelson vetting. Ollie Robbins treated it as a normal ambassadorial appointment, where he had sole discretion on vetting. In fact, he should have treated it as the equivalent of a Ministerial appointment, where the PM would expect to be told of any issues. 1/
Keir Starmer: "I was not told that he had failed security vetting, no minister was told... No 10 wasn't told, that is completely unacceptable"
"It is totally unacceptable that the Prime Minister making an appointment is not told that security vetting has been failed"
The health secretary wants to keep us in the dark about Palantir’s systems for handling sensitive health records.
So we’re taking legal action with Democracy for Sale to fight back:
https://goodlaw.social/249f
It is very appalling and sometimes quite frightening to see how trans-exclusionary feminists have allied with rightwing attacks on gender. The anti-gender ideology movement is not opposing a specific account of gender, but seeking to eradicate "gender" as a concept or discourse, a field of study, an approach to social power. Sometimes they claim that "sex" alone has scientific standing, but other times they appeal to divine mandates for masculine domination and difference. They don't seem to mind contradicting themselves. The Terfs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) and the so-called gender critical writers have also rejected the important work in feminist philosophy of science showing how culture and nature interact (such as Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, EM Hammonds or Anne Fausto-Sterling) in favor of a regressive and spurious form of biological essentialism. So they will not be part of the coalition that seeks to fight the anti-gender movement. The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times. So the Terfs will not be part of the contemporary struggle against fascism, one that requires a coalition guided by struggles against racism, nationalism, xenophobia and carceral violence, one that is mindful of the high rates of femicide throughout the world, which include high rates of attacks on trans and genderqueer people. The anti-gender movement circulates a spectre of "gender" as a force of destruction, but they never actually read any works in gender studies. Quick and fearful conclusions take the place of considered judgments. Yes, some work on gender is difficult and not everyone can read it, so we have to do better in reaching a broader public. As important as it is, however, to make complex concepts available to a popular audience, it is equally important to encourage intellectual inquiry as part of public life. Unfortunately, we are living in anti-intellectual times, and neo-fascism is becoming more normalized.
The section that the Guardian censored…
By Prof Judith Butler
Well...
History has proven Judith Butler right (and The Guardian wrong for censoring her). Just look at the reaction of Justin Webb, Hadley Freeman, Janice Turner and other TERFs to Trump. TERFs are not "part of the contemporary struggle against fascism."
BREAKING: We’re taking the government to court over Palantir.
The government is refusing to hand over important briefings given to Wes Streeting about the £330m NHS data contract with Peter Thiel’s surveillance firm
So we’re taking legal action.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-w...
This government's anti-immigration agenda will starve Britain of skilled labour and global talent for decades to come inews.co.uk/opinion/reev...
As the review shows, the BBC has a strong tendency to follow politucal cues. So the government continuing to lean so heavily into "we think its out of control too" while taking net migration from 800k towards 100k this year is a remarkable failure to influence or shape the public politics at all
Hey Johnson, you're deliberately misquoting the Pope to manipulate the masses, Mikey. Pope Leo said, "He [Jesus] does not listen to the prayers of those who *wage* war, but rejects them." The US waged war. The US started it – not Iran.
BREAKING: The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV's teaching authority on just war doctrine — less than twelve hours after JD Vance told a Turning Point USA crowd the pope should “be careful” talking theology.
This is a serious escalation.
It’s official: the UK is rejoining Erasmus! 👏🇪🇺
1/8
Yesterday I was asked a question live on @lbc.co.uk by @mrjamesob.bsky.social :
What happens if the United States intercepts a Chinese cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz?
At the time, I said I didn’t want to think about it.
Since then, I have.
#Hormuz #MaritimeSecurity
Reform UK's energy prize winners, Wigan-based Raymond and June Dibble "are the very same couple who nominated Lee Moffitt to become the Wigan branch chair of Reform UK."
Moffitt appears in the publicity video posted by Farage of their miraculous win. Fancy that!
bylinetimes.com/2026/04/13/r....
Readers of Striking 13 have had a year's head start on the govt's plans to use statutory instruments to secure dynamic alignment with Europe. The newsletter acts like an editorial vehicle for me to call people a cunt, but sometimes I accidentally put news in it
open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
From the Statesman. Badenoch is going to struggle to make this case because she is so obviously mad, but I'm glad she's trying. A clear sign of an anti-populist drift which was unthinkable even a couple of months ago.
Peter Magyar has offered a template which can be used, without too much alteration, in defeating populists worldwide
open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
Trump is demonstrating the importance of credibility in international relations.
He is not credible. He’s shown that others can’t trust what he says, and can’t act as if his stance will be the same tomorrow. He can’t communicate demands or make reliable offers. He made America’s word is worthless.
👇🎯 And a central reason why is ignoring, attacking, withdrawing from, & directly violating the terms of thr international treaties & institutions specifically designed to signal credibility & strengthen the credibility of commitments.
So here is the video of the question I asked Goodwin, and his response
The key question - how much he will lose financially if MCC is wound up - is not answered
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7OP...
Even if Magyar is no liberal, this is why it is still a huge defeat for illiberalism.
For it shows that a powerful illiberal political machine and methodology can be defeated.