Richard Desmond loses damages battle with Gambling Commission, ending national lottery dispute Firms owned by media tycoon launched action against regulator in 2022 after lottery licence awarded elsewhere The media tycoon Richard Desmond has lost his claim for up to £1.3bn in damages from the Gambling Commission, ending a bitter dispute over the regulator’s decision not to award him the 10-year licence to run the national lottery. Companies owned by the former proprietor of the Daily Express and Channel 5 launched action against the regulator in 2022, starting a tortuous legal process that saw Desmond’s costs estimated to have reached £55m already by May last year. Continue reading...

Richard Desmond loses damages battle with Gambling Commission, ending national lottery dispute

JD Vance loudly booed at the Winter Olympics today.

Hey @thetimes.com what is ’racism’ - surely depicting the Obamas as monkeys is just old fashioned racism?

Peter Mandelson issues secret notice demanding press leave him alone – read in full

🚨 This evening, a notice was circulated from representatives of Peter Mandelson, via press regulator IPSO and the Press Association news wire, to all media across the UK

We believe it is strongly in the public interest to publish this memo. This is it in full 👇

plates ready to fall out cabinet

US Stock Market waiting to open

Things are not going so well over at CBS News... Catch up on all the latest updates in our first "Today in Politics" bulletin of 2026: www.meidasplus.com/p/today-in-p...

Brigitte Bardot & fascism. Not just in later life Many obituaries of Brigitte Bardot have noted her support for fascist politics in later life and convictions for race hate crimes. Fascism however was a long term thing for Bardot. The photo above …

wp.me/p15p2Q-fPl

@cynderness.bsky.social Happy birthday!

This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu

“this never happened to the other fella”

Yes, because people have been enacting vicious anti-immigrant policies and using rhetoric echoing Enoch Powell, suggesting immigrants have done incalculable damage to the UK. Who might that have been?

Above all, the police approach in that decade culminated in the unlawful killing of 96 people and decades of cover-up.

Jenrick casting 1980s British football hooliganism as something that was easily dealt with by police and not an era defining issue which we're still living with the consequences of today... He's genuinely the most unserious person in British politics rn

A colour photograph of the former Odeon cinema in Barnet with its Moorish influenced frontage

Former Odeon Cinema, Barnet

1935

Edgar Simmons

www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/barnet-odeon...

The Old Wellington Inn in Manchester, being jacked up on stilts to the new street level during redevelopment. It definitely looks like it's about to waddle out of the picture.

Despite easily being the most British fighting vehicle ever developed, the mock-Tudor AT-AT programme was sadly cancelled due to budgetary concerns

Chloe Kelly’s goal celebration face is the exact look my sister used to give me behind our mum’s back when I was being told off

Ooh have you been around New Barnet today DG?

Of course, a certain rugby club with no ties to the borough continue to enjoy preferential treatment from the council. Labour really like acting like Tories these days, don't they.

Fans disappointed as Barnet FC stadium application refused While Barnet Council's strategic planning committee voted as expected against the club's proposals for a new ground, there was confusion over the council leader's claim that the club had been offered ...

"While Barnet Council’s strategic planning committee voted as expected against the club’s proposals for a new ground, there was confusion over the council leader’s claim that the club had been offered alternative sites."

The ridiculous farce continues. But NIMBYism is so exhaustingly British...

Bears eat week’s worth of honey after escape from Devon enclosure Five-year-old Mish and Lucy get their paws on some snacks before being safely contained at Wildwood Devon If you went down to the woods in Devon on Monday, you were sure for a big surprise. Two European brown bears escaped from their enclosure at a wildlife park – and went straight for a picnic, consuming a week’s worth of honey from the attraction’s food stores. Mish and Lucy, both five years old, enjoyed a selection of snacks before being safely returned to their enclosure by the keeper team at Wildwood Devon, near Ottery St Mary. Continue reading...

Bears eat week’s worth of honey after escape from Devon enclosure

Wernher von Braun enters the chat.

🎶"... These are a few of my favourite things..."🎶

The German term for forcing institutions to become in sync with the demands of an authoritarian movement is "Gleichschaltung"

For all the blanket coverage it's getting today you wouldn't know that fishing contributes a grand total of 0.03% to the UK's economy, or that it is absolutely dwarfed by many other sectors, like the live music industry, which have been badly hit by Brexit but are rarely even mentioned

Modern Homily