An oversight

The panel for yesterday's Today debate included one person who isn't a peer.

#R4Today

Dear USA.... This cartoon summarises perfectly why we Europeans do not trust a single word that comes out of Trump's mouth, or that of his coterie, and why we will not support him, in anything.

Dave Mason, Songwriter Who Co-Founded Traffic, Dies at 79 The English singer and guitarist wrote mainstays of the classic-rock canon like “Feelin’ Alright?” and “Only You Know and I Know.” He also had a successful solo career.

Dave Mason, who co-founded the band Traffic and wrote “Feelin’ Alright?” and other classic-rock staples, has died at 79.

There's no amount of equivocating that will ever justify voters not voting for Kamala Harris.

Everyone who turned up at the polls should've voted for Kamala Harris because the contrast was stark. Trump started an insurrection on the Capitol building and people just forgot.

2/2 "the chances [now] are more likely 2%...a 1-in-50 chance every year. The expected lifetime...is about 35 years...chances of [humanity] living...100 years, is very small...The agreements...between countries, are all falling apart. Weapons are getting crazier...even AI, will be in control...soon"

'The chances of you living 50 years are very small': Theoretical physicist explains why humanity likely won't survive to see all the forces unified Live Science spoke with Nobel prize-winning physicist David Gross, who recently received the $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, about the quest to unite all the forces and w...

1/2 Nobel prize-winning physicist David Gross, inspired by Einstein, with a very grim warning:
"after the Cold War...there were estimates there was a 1% chance of nuclear war [every year]. Things have gotten so much worse in the last 30 years [continues]
www.livescience.com/space/cosmol...

Live updates: Vance to depart for Iran peace talks in Pakistan, source says | CNN Vice President JD Vance and top US officials are expected to depart today for Islamabad, Pakistan, ahead of a potential second round of talks with Iran, sources said. Follow for live updates.

Vance departs for Pakistan, well he may as well; he's going down with Trump's fake deal, I mean, a "just" war is just war, isn't it?
www.cnn.com/2026/04/21/w...

What should have happened: the REIT paid no tax but the Tice companies holding shares in the REIT paid £98k tax on the dividends they received. What actually happened: none of the companies paid any tax.

Our new report: Richard Tice signed accounts wrongly claiming £98,000 of tax exemptions

A 🧵 with the evidence:

The Case for Replacing Keir Starmer If Labour MPs don't act soon then they risk losing their century-long position as the dominant party on the left of British politics

"There is a reason why Reform are running in these elections on a slogan of ‘Vote Reform. Get Starmer out’ and it is not because Starmer is somehow secretly massively popular."
open.substack.com/pub/adambien...

Bereaved family members of Covid victims write to Nigel Farage urging him to sack his Croydon candidate who said COVID was a "staged event" by the US military, with vaccines used to control the population.

Reform has not responded to our story revealing his views

bylinetimes.com/2026/04/15/r...

The Case for Replacing Keir Starmer If Labour MPs don't act soon then they risk losing their century-long position as the dominant party on the left of British politics

The unavoidable truth for Labour MPs is that if they don’t act soon then they not only risk losing the next general election, but their century-long position as the dominant party on the left of British politics

www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-case-f...

PFI distances mps from the long term consequences of bad decisions.
£62.6 b: The original capital value of all current 665 projects.
£136 b: Liabilities (2025)
£363 b: Approximate final cost including full lifetime payments.
Final cost, C 6 x original value.
Who's to blame?

You always have to pay attention to what is actually happening, not what Trump says is happening. Because Trump lies about everything. Too often media serves as Trump’s daily stenographer, passing along his propaganda verbatim.

🛡️ @timothysnyder.bsky.social joins Sky Defense!

Our ambassador is raising $500,000 for interceptor drones and other air defense equipment to help protect Ukrainians from russian attacks.

Join us — let’s make a difference, strengthening Ukraine against terror:
u24.gov.ua/news/timothy...

The workers politics forgot Modern politics has a picture of work that is half a century out of date. And it contributes to lack of political trust and a weaker economy and society.

This is a fascinating & far reaching analysis linking work, self worth/place ("ontological security"), (dis)trust in politics. Here's one gem:
"Work is not just a hobby we pursue for a few hours a week — it is fundamental to our sense of self and identity."
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...

Everything stems from the strategic decision to go all in on Trump when it was obvious that was highly risky.

Mandelson and everything else flows from that.

Yes, Ukraine. But it wasn't just about that at all.

It’s clear we won’t regulate AI for safety’s sake As usual, governments will barely affect the trends that most affect our lives

A new AI model is going to put the global financial system in jeopardy. And much else besides. And we have no adequate means of regulating it. Cool, cool.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Good grief, maybe the Ad was written by an AI, but demonstrates:
1. "AI" is NOT intelligent, it's an algorithm quickly scraping content & presenting it in deceptively natural ways.
2. It megaphones prejudice, negative stereotypes, bias, illegal, immoral or antisocial content, propaganda & noise.

If you step back, it is truly extraordinary that so many people went to such great lengths and broke so many conventions and risked their political careers and the only outcome of all these efforts and risks was appointing a washed-up old spinner to an ambassadorial post

An advert promoting an AI company at Bristol Airport has been pulled after backlash.

The advert showed a female AI worker who will 'never ask for a raise'.

Pregnancy vaccine reduces baby hospital admissions for RSV by 80% A study confirms the vaccine gives excellent protection for babies against life-threatening chest infections.

As it's the weekend, let's take a moment to enjoy and celebrate what for the entire country is an unalloyed good-news story!

The Starmer-shaped hole where a prime minister should be Mandelson scandal shows he has never successfully made the transition from an opposition mindset to a governing one

Brutal but bang-on from Bush - @stephenkb.bsky.social.

‘I feel like I’m losing her’: the families torn apart by older relatives going far right It starts with a ‘back in my day’ nostalgic meme – then suddenly your elders are sharing AI-generated ‘boomerslop’ and repeating conspiracy theories …

Fascinating.

Fall in UK net migration threatens to carve deep hole in public finances Issue is expected to come under the spotlight in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement

"If annual net migration were to be 200,000 lower on average than the OBR’s current assumption over the five years of its forecast, the cumulative 1mn hit to labour supply could add up to £20bn per year to forecast borrowing." 👀

A 25-Year-Old could have stopped Brexit! - 10-Year Anniversary YouTube video by Femi - F Politics!

I could have stopped Brexit!

📅 April 2016: I posted my FIRST Brexit video, disproving Farage's immigration lies.
📅 June 2016: Referendum
📅 June 2017: Nigel admitted to them.

If UK media had said what I was saying, we wouldn't be here.
#DecadeOfBrexit

Record number of homes in Great Britain turn to green energy as fuel prices soar Iran war drives demand for solar panels, heat pumps and EVs, with energy bills expected to rise 18% from July

Heat pump orders up 2x in a month. Solar panel inquiries up 250%. EV leases up 85%.

The Iran crisis has made energy security feel personal.
I understand why: I have solar panels, a heat pump & EV on a flexible tariff. When gas prices spike, my bills barely move.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Kaine: Nations all around the world have secretaries & ministers of defense. Do you know of any that has a secretary & minister of war — are you aware of any nation in the world that calls this function war rather than defense?

Vought: (deflects)

Kaine: I will tell you, there's no other nation

STUBB: I think, at the end of the day, United States will find themselves in quite a lonely place.

I'm most pro-American president in Europe. I'm avid transatlanticist. I want relationship to work.

When the numbers were going up, the Channel boat crossings dominated BBC news & much of the media daily. They have fallen 34% in the first three months of this year, but you wouldn’t know it from the media coverage.