Top recent posts by Global News and Politics Professionals on Bluesky

It's the Gulf of England now, I don't make the rules.

Fair play to education minister Olivia Blake, on the morning broadcast round, whose advice to knackered school kids was basically: there will be plenty of days when you have a job and are really not up to it but have to struggle in, so consider today training for that.

A story that encapsulates so much about British attitudes to its history of Empire. BBC News - Thousands of forgotten Punjabi WW1 soldiers recognised for first time www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Reminded of Patrick O’Flynn, then Ukip’s economy spokesperson, describing Farage as “snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive” back in 2015.

Click bait racist bullshit from the Times/Chris Philp. 12 Cameroonians did not sponsor 15 dependants each. 12 new work visas were issued to Cameroonians. 180 visas were issued to dependants of the (many thousands of) Cameroonians *already here*. Etc. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The stubborn unwillingness of Starmer to engage in any sort of politics (even conviction politics!) is ultimately the reason he is headed out the door. This is an open goal!

Looks like Farage has even lost Chris Mason: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UEFA: "We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision" FIFA and Infantino's brazen corruption has made a complete mockery of the best sporting competition in the world Absolutely shamelessly pathetic

The BBC shouldn't have opinion blogs, because the nature of the BBC charter means that you just get 'well, who is to say what way water flows?' stuff that I think just erodes support for the BBC on all sides.

🔴 ‘There’s No Money In Politics If You’re Straight’: How Farage’s Words Are Coming Back To Haunt Him The Reform UK leader once claimed that only the corrupt could make money in politics. Now questions about his own multi-million pound fortune threaten to bring him down

I mean, I know George Cottrell calls Farage "daddy" but I'm not sure that strictly qualifies him as family

I can't stand the nationalism that accompanies the World Cup, including the left-wing version which involves posting about the worst atrocities the other team's nation has ever committed. And its cuisine. There's no such thing as progressive xenophobia

The "family" in this case being George Cottrell, who calls Farage "Daddy", so probably counts.

My worst new habit is trying to see if I can get likes beneath the AI boomer video slop that has absolutely flooded Facebook in recent months.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has strongly condemned the killing of Palestinian goalkeeper Saleem Khader Al-Ashqar by Israeli forces, "an act that underscores Israel's targeted and indiscriminate killing of Palestinian sporting figures and civilians."

"Trump and Infantino have surely achieved the impossible. When the USA lines up against Belgium on Monday night, most fans from across the world will now be united in their support… for Belgium." inews.co.uk/news/world/t...

Your reminder that every “news” piece about Tilly Norwood is a press release. The creator keeps saying stuff and the media keeps printing it with no other sourcing. None of it is real

I would just like to thank Trump and FIFA for making the World Cup suddenly interesting for all us nerds with no interest in football but an unhealthy obsession with political scandals. It's been a difficult time for us these past two weeks. You've really come through

Harry Kane sounding like I did at editorial board the morning after Arsenal won the league.

Just finished watching the England match as-live, not knowing the result, with two small kids, the BBC played a blinder, no hints as to the score, nothing on the iPlayer homescreen… could go to extra time… and then you press play and the TV says it’s a 2hr14min video. This stuff is sooo hard!

Attention is now rightly being focussed on the process of Farage's gifts from crypto-magnates, but the even bigger questions are about what they mean. Even if the gifts have been declared 100% correctly, how come he and Reform are *so* beholden to crypto? 1/3 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On Graham Platner, and why the tattoo should always have been the end of it, and character more broadly in politics: www.ft.com/content/d8f1...

I cannot think of a single action more designed to say F.U. to the world, and highlight Trump’s view that rules are for little people. Guaranteed to tarnish the World Cup, generate booing of the US team and undermine anything they might have achieved by themselves. www.reuters.com/sports/socce...

I wasn't going to stay up for this match, but now I will out of utter loathing for this MF

Hang on - the wife of Nigel Farage, a man who said he could spend his £5m donation from that crypto-billionnaire "on ferraris if I want", is named *Laure Ferrari*?

Via No 10 today: "People across the UK will have greater confidence in the integrity of elections as the government accepts all the recommendations of the Rycroft Review - including new restrictions on political donations from overseas voters, cryptocurrency, and companies."

American ignorance remains undefeated

Unbeatable AI book spam. I will never receive a better one than this.

Easy for Peter to say 'fair play', but some of us are suffering through the day (writing our newspaper columns) while bearing the scars of extractive industry (wine growers).

When you're too corrupt even for Sepp Blatter, that is presumably time for a reassessment.

UK govt accepts recommendations for further restrictions on foreign money in UK politics - www.gov.uk/government/n...

The Times ought to correct this misleading claim that is an either deliberate or dumb misreading of the stats to promote an entirely false meme of "care worker sponsors 15 relatives"

We are a constitutional monarchy, it is the Prime Minister's responsibility to call FIFA.

I mean, Trump’s done far worse things, with serious, actual harm to millions of people around world. But, the symbolism of this, and his boasting about it, is unmistakable. He’s willing to cheat and bully, even when it’s “just” a game, and one which means more to almost everyone else on the planet.

Old enough to remember when Jeffrey Archer threatened Michael Crick in a not dissimilar fashion. Wonder how the story went after that.

DfE: Families in England will see the cost of going to school slashed from Sept, as guidance capping costs on branded uniforms is issued & more free breakfast clubs confirmed Parents at 1,400 more schools will save up to £450 through free breakfast clubs from Sept, when more than 2,700 will be live

Incredible stat: no English team has won in the Azteca stadium for the past four hours.

This is nonsense. The (tiny) tuition fee rise seen so far is massively offset by over a decade of real terms cuts. Adjusting for inflation tuition fees are lower now than a decade ago - when the teaching grant was much larger.

Might stay up till 3am tonight to support Belgium

UEFA has blown its chance at a peace prize here

What you’d call an own goal ?

"It is also dawning on those within Reform that Nigel Farage is simply not acting like a man who expects to be PM. Where they might expect him to throw himself into his job, professionalise the party, handle its vetting, and come up with a policy platform, he is disappearing for weeks at a time."

The mistake Infantino has made is in thinking that Trump would be ashamed enough of his own outrageous corruption to keep this grubby deal quiet - he’s not, he’s proud of it and he’s happy to about it in front of the world’s cameras

‘No one should have drama like that at 4am’ says Guy Mowbray He’s clearly not seen my 2.5 year-old toddler wake up with screaming demands for Weetabix and to watch Cars The Movie

Tbf, nearly every major football tournament of my lifetime, England would have lost that game.

NEW | on the politics’ biggest whiner… NIGEL FARAGE AND THE ‘ESTABLISHMENT HIT JOB’ The man who dined with Murdoch and whose party is never off TalkTV claims that The Sunday Times is bullying him and the man-boy who calls him "daddy". brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/nigel-fara...

Important reminder from @mijrahman.bsky.social that the EU isn't the EU the UK left. Where I'd gently take issue is the implication that UK interests & "instincts" are unchanged. It could, depressingly, be true - but a strategicially astute UK might recognize that its interests have, also, moved on.

Exactly this. Without membership we are in a permanent negotiation with the EU anyway, just with very very little say.

What the fuck is this “oh, he’s just a lil 25 year old” thing? He’s a professional sports player at the world’s greatest football tournament. Just say you’re fine with corruption when it suits you.

Who knew that the beneath the chuckling hail fellow well met stuff there was a bar room bigot with a short temper? Oh yes, anyone who has ever subjected Farage’s spiv selling nylons in an alleyway act to any scrutiny whatsoever.

Tell me you don’t know Artetaball without telling me you don’t know Artetaball.

See, it’s easy to do this…

I think the issue Americans have with soccer rules is a total lack of understanding of how a sport they pay zero attention to most of the time actually works - it is very different to the very high scoring games they are used to.

Imagine Sepp Blatter taking the moral high ground against you...

Important - but also funny - scoop by @rachel-rees.bsky.social and @annasophiegross.bsky.social:

A joke about kids who stayed up late to watch the football has inspired the predictable respones that the government wants to MURDER kids with HEATSTROKE because Britain HATES CHILDREN

I reckon the odds of Reform UK collapsing, and then Nigel Farage reappearing as leader of a whole new party, have got rather shorter in the last few days.

The rejoin debate is focussed on the wrong things - whether opt outs from € and Schengen could be secured. Not whether it makes sense to join the EU of 2026 which is different in character and DNA than the club we left ten years ago. My latest for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Genuinely amazing performance. From the scintillating first half attacks to the heroic 10-man rearguard effort - it had it all. One for the ages! Are we supposed to go back to sleep now????

This is worse than an election all-nighter...

By my reckoning, there is not a single sitting parliamentarian for the SNP who looks more Scottish than Anthony Gordon.

Truly a generational talent…

This is an impressively wrong post! A) we don't measure growth at postcode level. Nobody does! B) Even the *regional* growth figures are >2 years out of date C) Who defines "good" growth?

Throwing in a bit of defamation to top off the corruption.

#OnThisDay 10 years ago ... The Chilcot Report was published showing that Tony Blair exaggerated the case for war, that Iraq posed no military threat to the UK, that Blair had committed the UK to war come what may, and that there was no post-invasion strategy 🧵

If the USA can only protect one room against foreign action, then the federal government has essentially collapsed, has it not?

I’m fascinated as to how what the effect of the “pay your TV license with this QR code” message is. I see it and I think “oh, so the TV detector fans are fake, and the only reason to pay this is to uphold the values of the FT Code.”

Norway’s a fun opponent isn’t it. Lots of potential for lowkey build-up stuff. Open a few Wikipedia pages about men called Harald. Visit some villages ending in —by. Viking Museums block booked by TV crews. A light hearted feature on the Lloyds Bank Coprolite. Some people arguing North Sea Oil.

Who needs sleep? #noregrets

It’s only July, but pretty confident we’ve just published the story of the year. From @joshhalliday.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Can Barney Ronay make it sound like a magical realist war movie with a bonus reference to Joseph Conrad? Of course he can

Can't stop watching all the plot points, two goals in 98 seconds, their keeper messing about before the penalty, fake elbow to O'Reilly, the King being begged to intervene in Quansah's red, Gordon and the Mexico boss, Kane's helium interview, his embrace with Crouch, Henderson being Peak Englishman

One of my favourite borders - the Belgium/ Netherlands border goes right through this house in Baarle-Nassau (NL) and Baarle-Hertog (BE).

Just incredible how many bright red flags Platner's defenders ignored, and belligerently too. What a failure of judgement.

The closer Burnham gets to No 10, the more worried I get. Britain needs him to succeed. But he is in danger of sounding like yet another populist, posing as an outsider marching on Westminster to declare war on the “blob”. Let’s hope he has some policies up his sleeve. substack.com/@nixonsimon/...

Trying to think of something that could make him less popular in eyes of world than this. Punch Paddington?

"I want Andy Burnham to succeed. Any British person should want that. Yet I am sceptical of his ability to do so. So far as I can see, he is a decent man. But that is not enough to be a successful prime minister of the UK." - excellent column by Martin Wolf:

I recently started a social to-do list where I make an active effort to convert all those longrunning "we should meet up" aspirations (the sincere ones, not the merely polite ones) into actual social engagements and it's working out great so far. Would recommend.

A lot of people say that Roberto Martinez is not an elite level coach, but he somehow managed not to lose the rest of the Portugal camp while substituting off Fernandes against Croatia, sacrificing midfield control, in order to entertain Ronaldo's Make-A-Wish years.

In Blaenau Gwent, 48.6% of children are in income deprivation. It is about 40% in Merthyr, Denbighshire, Neath Port Talbot, Torfaen, Newport, Cardiff, Wrexham, Swansea and Caerphilly. You read our special report in the newsletter: willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/the-hardes...

Times Radio was leading on this garbled nonsense. The media keeps finding ways (inc nonsense) to report "immigration still rising" yet serious outlets show little/no interest in the actual news. (Immigration has fallen fast & will fall further in 2026-27 than almost anybody realises or recognises)

What people perceive as authenticity, I think, is actually for a politician to fit into an archetype.

Thinking of giving up on Spain vs Portugal, which is a sure sign that it is about to get very exciting. Thank me later.

It's fascinating that people with massive skeletons in the closet choose to run for elected office...

The only just outcome now is Belgium to win 4-0, and Balogun to be sent off (again) after conceding a penalty.

"Also the US will get seven points whenever our players carry the ball into the end zone"

Not beating the er, bribery allegations

The Government's response to the Rycroft review into foreign interference in UK politics is now out. They've accepted all of Rycroft's proposals to toughen up the donations regime. (There's no overall cap on donations - except for overseas voters - but that wasn't in Rycroft's remit anyway)

Watching this with two people who can’t remember the Beckham sending off. 🥶

Rumours in UK gambling that the regulator will tomorrow confirm plans to force operators to do "financial risk assessments" (affordability checks) when punters hit loss thresholds, including £1000 in 24 hrs. Industry is dead against it and could sue. Regulator saying nothing. Watch this space...

1, 2 and 4 good priorities, but I am increasingly unconvinced by '3' - the nature of an effective government is that the Chancellor becomes the obvious successor and that will always add a note of friction.

Balogun must be thinking 'why did you make me play in this game?'

A fantastic essay from @adamposen.bsky.social on the implications of Trump's corruption, and the failure of US political and judicial institutions, for the US, Europe and the world. Key excerpt below but read it all. www.piie.com/commentary/o...

People seriously replying to posts 'oh no, you mustn't call FIFA corrupt, that will never do, politics can't get involved in governance of sport'. What planet are you on?

Compromise proposal: Baolgun allowed to play but VAR is manned by the Belgian king

OK funniest outcome is US win the game and it then gets declared forfeit and Belgium proceed to the next round anyway. And UEFA then announce breakaway "World Series Football Cup of Nations" tournament for 2027 - all FIFA member nations eligible to enter except US.

"At the moment, Nigel Farage is the third most unpopular politician in Britain. Unfortunately for him, the first and second place spots are occupied by Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer respectively, and both of them are expected to be out of frontline politics within weeks."

The responses to this bit of football-related fun (and decent advice) showing up this site at its pious, pompous, joyless worst Jesus wept

Matt Forde and Tim Stanley doing their Angela Rayner impressions is extremely telling. They both claim to like her.