Didn't think I'd live to see that day I got a public thank you from the leader of Thurrock Council

The image is a graphic of Liam Kavanagh, the text reads: "Businessman Liam Kavanagh admits to pocketing millions from Thurrock council"

BREAKING: Liam Kavanagh admits to pocketing millions from Thurrock council

The businessman used taxpayers’ cash to fund a life of luxury and ‘honestly believed he was entitled to the money’

Every year there is a new media initiative to “give voice to marginalized groups”. And every year that new media initiative mainly platforms the few voices of these marginalized groups that are already loudly heard In the mainstream media.

The BBC’s anti-migrant news spree, dissected this is not the article I had planned to write today...

As Bluesky was down (for me at least), I did my rage posting in here instead: open.substack.com/pub/thoughts...

Meet the restaurant boss who flouted judges’ orders for years Jason Wells’ restaurant chain has cheated workers, lost 21 tribunal claims – and not paid a single one

Better enforcement mechanisms against employers are desperately needed following the government's new workers' rights reforms.
"Jason Wells’ restaurant chain has cheated workers, lost 21 tribunal claims – and not paid a single one."
www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Hello, I have a new book out in the spring with Picador and I would love it if you could help me spread the word.

IF WE TOLERATE THIS draws on years of work, to help readers understand why British politics is hurtling rightwards and what to do about it.

Pre-orders: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/if-w...

Meet the restaurant boss who flouted judges’ orders for years Jason Wells’ restaurant chain has cheated workers, lost 21 tribunal claims – and not paid a single one

I’ve spent the last year investigating how the UK's broken employment tribunal system lets rogue bosses evade justice.

But this is the craziest case,by far. A restaurant chain that lost 21 tribunal claims over several years, yet never paid a single one🧵 www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

This week Israel murdered another Palestinian journalist in Gaza

This was Hind Khoudarys damning message to intl journalists last month: "We are being hunted & killed.. while all of you watch in silence.. Israel is killing us one by one, and not just us, our families too.."

Figure 3 shows that the combined real-terms budget of the agencies that have become part of the FWA rose substantially during the mid-2010s, driven largely by additional funding for HM Revenue & Customs in the run-up to the introduction of the National Living Wage, but has been flat in recent years.

The budgets of the Fair Work Agency’s component bodies have been flat or falling in recent years.

The announcement that FWA funding will be increased is welcome, and the Government should commit to keeping this under review to ensure it reflects what the agency needs to do its job effectively.

Figure 4 shows, almost half (47 per cent) of arrears identified in 2024-25 were ‘self-corrected’ and so attracted no financial penalty at all.[8] Labour market enforcement orders and undertakings are also used very rarely: in 2024-25, there were only 25 open LMEUs, and no LMEOs had been used since 2022-23.

Creating the Fair Work Agency is a welcome milestone; but other enforcement challenges remain.

There will be no change to the scale of financial penalties, which are currently too low to be an effective deterrent. In fact, almost half of minimum wage cases are self-corrected so incur no penalty.

We've been speaking to former prisoners and staff at HMP Dartmoor about Radon exposure.

If you have information to share - please get in contact at holly.bancroft@independent.co.uk

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

Thanks! That's quite the endorsement!

Emiliano's account is an essential follow 👇

Informative thread summarising painstaking and important work. (Enraging even without the concluding road-rage clip.)

If you read our investigation on the restaurant that ignored more than 20 tribunal judgments & thought "how bad can it get?" then read this amazing piece by @pollysmythe.bsky.social @londoncentric.media about the systematic non-payment of wages in hospitality
www.londoncentric.media/p/is-your-co...

Rage bait that's meaningful. Superb reporting on a depressing state of affairs on these *Great* British shores. It's wild how refugees get demonised while these absolute parasites ("businessmen" as a category) keep getting exalted. Watch out for the "businessmen" in politics, as the last post shows.

You couldn't have a better illustration of how the legal system is failing workers than this, shocking...

bsky.app/profile/mell...

Meet the restaurant boss who flouted judges’ orders for years Jason Wells’ restaurant chain has cheated workers, lost 21 tribunal claims – and not paid a single one

'Antipodea lost 21 claims at the employment tribunal. We understand the company hasn’t paid any of the sums ordered by those tribunals'

@mellino.bsky.social reports how a restaurant chain lost 21 tribunal claims – and not paid a single one

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Unfortunately, not even surprised but the HR lobbyists keep decrying the 'burden' the Government has just placed on employers...if you are found liable at Tribunal you're guilty of something sometimes something truly horrendous being an employer shouldn't be a get out of jail card....

Excellent reporting. This week saw the rise in minimum wage, following the employment rights bill. They are not enough, but let Reform/Tories in and there will be a bonfire of these protections and chaps like Jason Wells will be laughing even more to the bank.

Right at the top there.

"It has dodged court orders every time by employing workers via a separate company with no assets or cash."

We allow businesses and individuals to draw legal and financial distinctions between themselves that would be nonsense on a social level.

Stop that.

In these cases the issue is more one of limited liability companies, which basically do what they say- limit the liability of company owners.

(Also I hate myself for immediately recognising that that gif was from legal weapon)

We need much better legislation about beneficial ownership to stop this kind of absurd "DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITEEEEE" stuff.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as working in hospitality goes. And folks wonder why they have to deal with cranky waiting and bar staff. There needs to be wholesale reform in employment laws to protect the folks who bust their asses to feed us from all of this shit.

Fair Work Agency’s priorities criticised days before its launch Cornerstone of the UK’s Employment Rights Act ‘in danger of becoming a dead duck’, says Unite boss

Even the government is suggesting there is too much of a burden on employers! www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Meet the restaurant boss who flouted judges’ orders for years Jason Wells’ restaurant chain has cheated workers, lost 21 tribunal claims – and not paid a single one

Every year, workers go to tribunal, make their case, and win.

And then—nothing. The employer doesn't pay. There's no one coming to make them.

It's a justice system that stops working at the final step.

Today, @tbij.bsky.social published an investigation that puts a number on that failure. (1/6) 🧵

Today, the Fair Work Agency launches. It is essential that it has the resources, powers, understanding and implementation to regulate effectively.

many of the positives introduced by the Employment Rights Act will only be as good as the compliance and enforcement mechanisms

We were lucky enough to partner with the UK's best food publication @vittles.bsky.social for this investigation.

Here's their version of the story: open.substack.com/pub/vittles/...