Recent posts by Global News and Politics Professionals on Bluesky

Chimp politics. Simply pick the strongest MP and then challenge rivals to a fight

Finding this quite bizarre, the (growing) number of MPs who will say 'problem is the PM has no politics, is not politically experienced....answer is that we need a *different* hunky man with a long and impressive pre-politics career'.

✍️ Spotlight’s Helen Taylor has teamed up with @jyansura.bsky.social of @factcoalition.bsky.social for this joint blog on why we urgently need to tackle the issue of illicit gold, a key means of criminals laundering their ill-gotten gains that has devastating impacts on people and the environment.

No 10 avoids challenging Trump's new outbursts about Europe, and Sadiq Khan - but defends Europe's record on Ukraine - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Come off it. The UK government, including the prime minister, says stronger stuff than this (IMV to an unwise degree) about China *all the time*.

You simply cannot just trust mainstream reporting of cases like this. It is designed to mislead

Also worth noting that the far-right Jewish Power party is pushing to legislate the death penalty for terror convicts

Some thoughts on the Australian social media ban... a significant, symbolic step. A government that is trying to put the well-being and interests of its young people ahead of vested interests. British politicians should take note @theleaduk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/theleadu...

The Australia ban on social media for children is now underway Catch up on my interview with Labour MP & chair of the Children's Online Safety APPG @joanireid.com who thinks the UK should follow suit if the Australian ban is effective 👇

Check again in two weeks and he'll have figured out a way to respond. It's Starmer's fortnight to be forthright rule.

But the good news is, by doing this, we defeated racism in the UK.

Government has now - belatedly -published the impact assessment for the changes to skilled worker and care worker visas announced in May. Impact is estimated between -£2 billion and £-10 billion (central - £10 billion). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6937e6...

Fuck Keir Starmer's spokesman, and fuck the cowards running the Labour party.

This is just an extremely stupid bit of spin that the government is going to have to walk back, which it will probably do agonisingly slowly.

Wondering what the longest period between Keir Starmer making a statement about race and Reform that it is not immediately undermined by something done by his ministers or aides has been. Three days?

Just one of the best bits of journalism and storytelling I've heard in the last year.

🔴British taxpayer's money is being used to fund violence and death on the border with France, rights groups say. In one instance, a 16-yo autistic boy had a gun held to his head by smugglers. Four people have been shot dead in northern France. bylinetimes.com/2025/12/09/k...

extremely good piece by @jamesrball.com, this

On the one hand, I’ve seen Zarah Sultana with my own eyes. On the other, everything else increasingly suggests she can’t possibly be a real person.

With this there would have been no Mo Farah. No Freddie Mercury. No Lenny Henry. No George Michael. No Meera Syal. No Sadiq Khan. No Sajid Javid. No Salman Rushdie. No Hanif Kureishi.

Reuter's own graph shows this change is within the margin of error... yet they still manage to narrate this as positive for Trump.

Badenoch admits Brexit damaged UK economy - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

"Across the world, newsrooms and NGOs are being shuttered or even raided by authorities, all in the name of a crusade to protect free speech. And it’s just getting started." www.theverge.com/features/839...

Delighted this piece is now live on @theverge.com: I've spent months investigating how a supposed war against the "censorship-industrial complex" has been used by the US right to wage war against misinformation research – and free speech itself – across the world. Please do give it a read.

A very nice tribute to Robin Edwards, a regular on the cast at @pitlochryft.bsky.social and a dear old family friend, who sadly passed away last month.

Brutal attack on the decision to leave the EU from the leader of the L̶i̶b̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶D̶e̶m̶o̶c̶r̶a̶t̶s̶ Conservatives.

NEW - Chair and panellists for the grooming gangs inquiry is expected to be announced today by Shabana Mahmood

"One of the problems – not the only problem, but a big one – with predicting the end of the world is that eventually the date arrives, and nothing happens..." Luckily, if you're worried about the future of YOUR doomsday cult, @tom-phillips.com has your back

Badenoch claims Labour using wrong measure to assess whether people are in poverty - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

"Left safely" = outside, on the ground, in the pissing rain. It was lucky I happened to be looking out the window at the time, tbh.

A not very good photo I took on Saturday of the Travellers' Christmas ride as it went down Oxford Street. #london #truelondon

Fantastic piece of work this

Christmas not banned in London's Carnaby Street, shock. #London #truelondon

On international day to recognise the victims of genocide, I’m resharing my story from last month about how Russia’s child abduction programme & alleged war crimes near the hallmarks of genocidal violence www.opendemocracy.net/en/ukraine-r...

I dreamt about chocolate covered ready salted crisps last night so vividly I can remember how they taste and I woke up without any Not acceptable

"They're eating the free speech!"

Here's a great new episode of the pod that takes you inside the football boardroom. Me & Charlie Methven on... ⚽️ #Trump 'brown nosing' by Infantino ⚽️ #MoSalah saga ⚽️ Tony Bloom and how gambling syndicates work podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Government should simply stop pressing the button in the DfE marked “low quality degrees” and instead start pressing the button marked “high quality apprenticeships”, duh!

Why Starmer’s ever-shifting priorities leave all sides disappointed. www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

Justice for this woman, who made the weird blob better.

EXC: Richard Tice has been accused of discouraging racism victims from coming forward after dismissing the allegations against Nigel Farage. Lord Mann, the Government’s independent advisor on antisemitism, says Tice may have "retraumatised a victim" www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

I’m at a Kemi Badenoch speech on welfare where her opening sentence was: “On Friday, I worked a shift in a cafe with James Cleverly.” That would have been quite a surprise for customers. About the dignity of work, apparently.

YouGov founder Peter Kellner estimates there is now a majority of 8.1 million in favour of rejoining the EU. Nine years is a long time in politics. Story by @katenicholson.bsky.social 👇 www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ex-pol...

We're probably going to miss our target... donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05... But if you donate to this excellent cause by noon today your money will be doubled and (if you drop me an email) I'll give you free access to the members-only London Centric stories I'm working on.

this was such an interesting episode

My first time hosting an episode of @ohgodwhatnow.bsky.social was made so much easier by @jonnelledge.bsky.social and Olivia Brown being equal parts fascinating and funny as we discuss how the far-right online eco-system is warping our perception of reality... open.spotify.com/episode/0icp...

On the whole customs union debate, worth bearing a few things in mind. The 'research' on which the claims of economic benefit are based isn't about a CU but about the EU accepting 'deep alignment on goods and services' - which it won't. 1/3

This is such an insightful post from @peterhyman.bsky.social. It’s amazing how uninterested so many in government seem to be in getting from A to B or even in what B is. A rare exception was Shabana Mahmood’s sentencing reforms open.substack.com/pub/peterhym...

EU tech/competition law Commission begins investigation into whether Google has breached EU competition law by using online content for AI purposes - ec.europa.eu/commission/p... nb this is applying 'ordinary' competition law, not the Digital Markets Act or AI Act

In 2022, a cocaine conspiracy and a damning corruption inquiry sent shockwaves through the British Virgin Islands What went wrong? And has anything really changed? Our reporter travelled to the BVI to find out 👉 bit.ly/4oHeyCS

Now approaching 1,000 press ups in my 100 press ups a day challenge. I’ve done press ups in pubs, on pavements and in corridors. Tiring work bit the money we have raised has kept me going - we are at 80% of our target, please consider a donation to help us get there! www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-he...

Unzoomed #691 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️ unzoomed.com first thought on the image: ‘this looks like a nice, interesting city it would be good to visit, and I probably have’. Might comment more if I remember when it’s spoiler free.

UK will go further to stop ‘abusive’ Slapps lawsuits, Lammy says www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Latest RocknRoll Politics podcast: Brexit- Is this the beginning of the end? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/r...

The other side of this that no one talks about. I wrote a story about a guy with dual nationality who evaded justice for years. I recently learned he renounced his Brit citizenship and got deported under the rules www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

This statement appears to be untrue for 95-99% of British people convicted and imprisoned abroad

Great new episode.... ⚽️ Infantino brown nosing Trump ⚽️ Tony Bloom #bhafc and gambling syndicates ⚽️ Mo Salah at #LFC Me & Charlie Methven on the pod that takes you inside the football boardroom. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Ofcom is reviewing how one major platform is dealing with hate crime - including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice. It does not want to publicly say which platform. It is opaque as to whether all forms of racism have similar or assymetric levels of priority www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Senior Tory Triggers Backlash After Getting Bent Out Of Shape About A Biscuit www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/senior...

Honestly think the *least* bad thing about this advert is that the writers refined it using AI prompts. The big problem with it is that the message is 'are you a misanthropic loser? Try McDonalds!'

Deporting the Irish and British-Israelis will surely go down well.

If you read one comment piece today it should be this for sure, so subtle and interesting www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Paramount's approach to WBD me of my approach to buying our flat, except with the crucial difference that our plan is to sell our flat when we die, so it didn't really matter if we overbid, whereas Paramount does actually need to make *money* at some point.

This story reminds me of my approach to bidding for our flat, except with the crucial difference that our plan is to sell our flat when we die, so us bidding at a higher point than it is actually 'worth' is wholly irrelevant other than to our future corpses.

Kept thinking of this skeet while reading our excellent piece about Paramount going 'why aren't you answering? We've bit well in excess of what you are worth'.

I would be interested to see the statistics per country per year behind this statement “We, the UK, take back our citizens if they’re convicted of criminal offences overseas. It’s only reasonable to expect other countries to do the same thing" www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Channel 4 are showing all of the African Cup of Nations games live. (With 3-4 games a day, I would have thought there would be an audience for a nightly highlights programme, but can not see any plans to produce one) www.channel4.com/press/news/a...

Cllr George Madgwick, the Reform Uk group leader in Portsmouth, has been facing down a barrage of overt racists on X who object to a Bangladeshi student being identified as a local campaigner for the party

The justice system has the opportunity to launch the funniest* investigation here news.sky.com/story/badeno...

Everton v Sunderland in the FA Cup third round, 2026. The clubs first met in the FA Cup in 1891. Also 1910, 1925, 1935, 1938, 1958, 1959, 1964, 1966 & 1979. And 2005 & 2012

Unzoomed #690 2/6 🔴🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️ unzoomed.com

It's got to the point where it's not just a badge of honour if Trump calls you a terrible reporter, it's a badge of shame if he doesn't.

Watching The War Between the Land & Sea and I'm trying to suspend my disbelief here but there is absolutely no way UNIT would get planning permission for that massive pipe in the middle of Westminster, they'd be tied up in challenges for literally years

Today in Israel's Knesset, the far-right Jewish Power party wore hangman's noose pins to a discussion of their bill to legislate the death penalty for terror convicts

Does Lisa Taddeo usually write like this? Because this is not what I expected from her reputation. It’s a tad ripe

How about monkey tennis?

Real “you had one job” stuff from TfL at Finsbury Park here.

Susan, you're shouting at biscuits

This is a great example of people being confused about what uncertainty means. In this case, the problem wasn’t uncertainty (if it had been, investment would have picked up) — to the contrary it was the absolute certainty of material additional barriers to trade *at least* post Lancaster House.

Is there a word for the specific form of enshittification where an app bombards you with so much extraneous crap it becomes much less suited to its original purpose? [please, Spotify: I just want to LISTEN TO MUSIC - which is literally what I pay you for 🤷🏻‍♀️]

Incredibly emotional report from Waad al-Kateab (who made For Sama) on @channel4news.bsky.social just now - as she and her husband return to Aleppo and her home town. Will share link when it’s on here. If you can watch it without crying…

A lot of people on here think she is fulminating at biscuits for no reason. I prefer to think that she has badly misunderstood what the little dots are meant to represent.

My column in tomorrow’s FT: on how Netflix and streaming created a huge consumer surplus, but at the cost of a supply side crisis for the artists that produce their material:

Disgraceful of Kemi Badenoch to say Jackie Long has not said anything about grooming victims/survivors when Jackie has done so much empathetic and important reporting on this issue & platforming victims/survivors.

Tickets still available for this great gig in #Birmingham on Thursday night.... The return of Jamie Perrett PLUS a #Brum debut for @thelovelybasement.bsky.social Support live music in a brilliant #grassroots venue www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Bir...

Tickets still available for this great gig in #Birmingham on Thursday night.... The return of Jamiem Perrett PLUS a #Brum debut for @thelovelybasement.bsky.social Support live music in a brilliant #grassroots venue www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Bir...

Feel quite sad for Salah, who must at same level both a) know he’s been crap this season and b) fear he will never recover his old form and c) has gone through a shock bereavement. (Which IMV continues to be crazily under-discussed when people talk about Liverpool’s poor form)

I applaud this mission (and welcome Dan to BlueSky) and hope that something can be done about kleptocrats wherever they are.

Joke country with joke institutions.

My excellent BGE colleague and co-author is hosting an outstanding event this Wednesday to discuss the book with an all star cast - well worth a look!

I’ve become convinced that the most tedious psuedo-clever argument is that something is kind of like religion

How Labour should respond to the Green surge – and why it’s not calling them “nuts”. Enjoyed discussing with @rmcunliffe.bsky.social on today’s NS podcast. m.youtube.com/watch?v=k_mc...

How Labour should respond to the Green surge – and why it’s not calling them “nuts”. Enjoyed discussing with @rmcunliffe.bsky.social on today’s NS podcast. m.youtube.com/watch?v=k_mc...

My line of columns for The Herald will come to an end on Boxing Day, so I've little concern about bodying this now... This is not accurate. Peggie lost most of her claims against NHS Fife, and only partially won her harassment claim on process grounds.

In fairness, I've been heartened by the number of columnists for Scottish papers who are pushing back on the, frankly stupid, spinning of the Peggie case we're seeing. Who'd have thought that the people you pay to think might have nuanced thoughts?

I wrote a SubStack about my books of the year, enjoy! The photo is in no way related to the books, it is just from the section feat. links to my latest articles. open.substack.com/pub/sianushk...

And that's why Paramount is the 'normal' owner of WB in some ways, because 'wait a second, this is harder than it looks!' is the history of so much of Warner Bros.

Oh look, coverage that isn't premised on the briefings folks got from FWS or Peggie's lawyers.